Which comes first, the hobby or life? Obviously, life wins every time. Slow down yet again.
I'm still struggling through the self-designed mini-album. One agonizing page at a time. It's not as bad as that, I'm having fun in the creating, but find it amazing how much still remains a challenge. Especially the mechanical aspects. If I could ever commit to a dedicated Crop group, there would be an explosion of creativity and skills from which to draw.
I'm hoping for the luxury of creating a few designed albums before the end of the year... particularly those on YouTube I still drool over. Over the past several weeks the complete Tropical Travelogue and Le Cirque collection pieces have filtered into the house. I was surprised today when finding the Le Cirque 8x8 pad; something never expected! Several weeks ago I posted a link to a YouTube video featuring a flip-flap album created from the Le Cirque collection. With the 12x12 pad in hand I thought to pull together the measurement to get the album started. Of course, in the manner all too familiar now, the album was built using the 8x8 pad. Naturally. The 12x12 could have been used, but when completely unfolded, would measure 36 inches long and over 24 high. The problem with these proportions become abundantly clear. A mega mini??? Purpose defeated.
It's taken awhile to decide where and to whom the albums will ultimately go. I plan to make a childhood scrapbook for each of the boys, and one each for my sister and one brother. Insofar as these gifts go, each will be copied versions of other albums. The total lack of self-generated creativity will always work against my favour; yet, it's possible that, in time, it may all click together some day.
G45 came out with a line of pigment inks that takes the guess work out of colour coordination decisions. That's very exciting news for partially colour-blind individuals! In the latest haul I bought two of the five available colours, and will buy the other three over the next month.
The Mister celebrated his birthday this week and I created a stunning tag instead of the usual card. As soon as the weather clears, and the pain isn't as crippling, I hope to photograph and post it here. Again, there were several unanticipated mechanical problems, but was able to overcome them without great interruption. This was the first full size tag I've created and was very pleased with the results. See? Some of this may eventually rub off into real creativity.
I hope to get a real jump on the Tropical Travelogue project this week. The plan is to create one page from a tutorial and one from my own creativity. That's the plan... now to make it a reality.
Showing posts with label plans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label plans. Show all posts
Monday, October 15, 2012
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Productivity
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| Little Darlings Page Element |
__________________________
There was a special father-daughter soccer game this evening. We brought along the camera to capture a few unique elements since this year's soccer album needed a few more photos Everything went well until the very last moments of game play. The star of the show was running full out chasing the ball before it went out of play. Very close to this area was a mom also taking pictures of the game. Predictably, it turned into a disaster. Before anyone could take corrective action, Miss J ran into the lady on the ground. Almost. The lady had a small dog, leased, sitting directly in front of her, and it being fully conscious of the mayhem about to take place jumped up and attacked. The Miss ended up with multiple and deep bite marks on her thigh and lower leg. These quickly turned into a very ugly blue mixed with red blood. I've never seen her cry over an injury before, but this incident caused large wet tears to well.
Fortunately for all, the dog is fully vaccinated and current with all other required shots as well registered with the, but will still be sequestered in the pound for ten days due to asinine city policy . What is wrong with that picture? I was spitting mad that despite following all the rules the family has to be separated from the family pet, and to add insult to injury (so to speak), must pay impounding fees. The lady was generous enough to allow a picture of the dog and its victim. That will be a great page to scrap... when animals attack.
Tomorrow we run down to the doctor's office for a tetanus shot. At any rate, the team won the game at 2-0.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Ready! Set!...
Every single item needed for the Little Darlings mini is within reach. The last of the coordinated supplies came in today. This is it... beginning Thursday morning it gets done, one page at a time.
The Tim Holtz Tattered Rose distress ink was not what I expected. It's as flesh coloured as it gets. I'd expected a stronger hint of rose or coral; be that as it may, it still functions as planned. Although, if the either the Worn Lipstick or Moss Green happened to fall into my shopping buggy, I wouldn't take issue.
(Should anyone with two days of artistic training ever happen upon this site, they must forgive the misapplied terms because every application will be wrong.)
Ivory and brown are the two base colours that will be used throughout. I'm not crazy about using the Vintage Photo ink colour for distressing as most scrappers seem, because while it presents a lovely brown, it always comes out looking overly dark for my tastes, and despite all attempts I can't get it to tone down. In most cases I prefer working with the Tea Dye, but this has redder tones and might clash with this paper. A compromise may exist between the two, but I haven't found it yet and probably won't in the distressed lines.
I'm positively itching to get started on this mini, but there are several firm commitments between picking up the scissors/glue/inks and the starting bell tomorrow. Just to be sure, I went through all the page templates drawn up last month and still love every detail.
Even at this late hour I haven't fully committed to the final overall size. The decision to modify the book to the 8x8 size was based upon an abundance of that sized quality book board on hand. There are nine 5x7 photos included in the album and I fear that the 8x8 size may turn out to be a smidgen too small. The photos are the originals from almost 100 years ago, or about half that, so cutting them down isn't an option I'm comfortable with. And, making re-sized copies of the photos defeats the purpose of creating a safe place to permanently store them, which is exactly why the mini is being created! It's a historical preservation effort. A curiosity happened today as I reviewed the photos going in the Little Darlings album. On the back of one photo my mother had written, "My little darling." So very fitting.
The idea of documenting the album's construction still appeals. Each day I plan to post pictures of the work accomplished. Maybe, just maybe, it will all come together nicely enough to want to show it off when victims visit the house ;)
Look for pictures beginning Thursday night!
__________________
Through sheer determined effort, I discovered my worst fear: the Graphic 45 Tropical Travelogue is slowly fading out of publication. There's still time to gather everything I'd like to have, so there's no panic involved, but it's getting harder to hit one store and find an entire collection intact... a little here, a little there. Unfortunately, this interrupts my budgeting plans as it's probably best to accumulate it quickly before it becomes a complete hit or miss endeavor. As is the case in the Once Upon a Springtime collection. What a nightmare!
The Tim Holtz Tattered Rose distress ink was not what I expected. It's as flesh coloured as it gets. I'd expected a stronger hint of rose or coral; be that as it may, it still functions as planned. Although, if the either the Worn Lipstick or Moss Green happened to fall into my shopping buggy, I wouldn't take issue.
(Should anyone with two days of artistic training ever happen upon this site, they must forgive the misapplied terms because every application will be wrong.)
Ivory and brown are the two base colours that will be used throughout. I'm not crazy about using the Vintage Photo ink colour for distressing as most scrappers seem, because while it presents a lovely brown, it always comes out looking overly dark for my tastes, and despite all attempts I can't get it to tone down. In most cases I prefer working with the Tea Dye, but this has redder tones and might clash with this paper. A compromise may exist between the two, but I haven't found it yet and probably won't in the distressed lines.
I'm positively itching to get started on this mini, but there are several firm commitments between picking up the scissors/glue/inks and the starting bell tomorrow. Just to be sure, I went through all the page templates drawn up last month and still love every detail.
Even at this late hour I haven't fully committed to the final overall size. The decision to modify the book to the 8x8 size was based upon an abundance of that sized quality book board on hand. There are nine 5x7 photos included in the album and I fear that the 8x8 size may turn out to be a smidgen too small. The photos are the originals from almost 100 years ago, or about half that, so cutting them down isn't an option I'm comfortable with. And, making re-sized copies of the photos defeats the purpose of creating a safe place to permanently store them, which is exactly why the mini is being created! It's a historical preservation effort. A curiosity happened today as I reviewed the photos going in the Little Darlings album. On the back of one photo my mother had written, "My little darling." So very fitting.
The idea of documenting the album's construction still appeals. Each day I plan to post pictures of the work accomplished. Maybe, just maybe, it will all come together nicely enough to want to show it off when victims visit the house ;)
Look for pictures beginning Thursday night!
__________________
Through sheer determined effort, I discovered my worst fear: the Graphic 45 Tropical Travelogue is slowly fading out of publication. There's still time to gather everything I'd like to have, so there's no panic involved, but it's getting harder to hit one store and find an entire collection intact... a little here, a little there. Unfortunately, this interrupts my budgeting plans as it's probably best to accumulate it quickly before it becomes a complete hit or miss endeavor. As is the case in the Once Upon a Springtime collection. What a nightmare!
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Lots to Cover & So Many Photos
We're back from vacation and there's much to cover in this post.
EDIT: Picture Revised. The original photo posted reference a haul from last week. This photo was the one intended for this area. Apologies from the author.
Several items ordered before we left arrived in the mail today. I referenced a vintage stamp, paper, postcard company a post or two back, the order shown to the left. The order was a sampling of some of the many products available and not surprisingly, was happier with some items more than others. The various stamp sets are perfectly suited for several projects I'm due to begin in the coming weeks. The little boy alpha stickers will quickly disappear. The postage card/journaling tags will slowly find secret spots as other projects evolve. I'm not sure how much the baby book chipboard stickers and chipboard pieces will actually end up in the Graphic 45 Little Darlings mini-album I begin work on this month, but with product in hand I'm now certain the colours match perfectly. This was more luck than anything else. The Flower Shoppe cartridge from Cricut also arrived and this one will save over $100 within a day of work. These cartridge offers endless dimensional flower combinations that, for under $20, cost about the same as one standard punch of this type. My deepest regrets, EK Success.
Charms are used extensively to decorate the outside binding of mini-albums; a charm bracelet for a book, as it were. During each major phase of the vacation I bought several charming (ahem) charms representing that event; and, other pieces I thought might come into use down the road. The dinosaur charms are precious! I plan to use these within the Texas vacation mini as tag danglies. I'll post pictures of how they're used once put into pace. The cute little pot bellied pig will be seen again in the upcoming mini album project using the Graphic 45 Olde Curiosity Shoppe paper collection. Unfortunately, the gift shop at the Japanese Gardens didn't have a koi charm of any sort, which was a major disappointment... the quest will continue.
Next are the photos of the book's layout almost naked, before attaching the vacation photos and other memorabilia inside. I've flipped at a breakneck speed through most of the pictures we took and can already tell I'm going to add a few more pages to the album. I suspected this would be the case, and planned accordingly, but waited until knowing exactly what we had before committing to the work. (See post: TP & Thinking, June 26th, 2012) Those, of course, aren't represented in this showing because they are still locked in my head and scattered throughout various parts of the scrapbooking room.
School starts back this week so I'll have many hours each day to devote undivided attention to several upcoming mini-album projects. The baby book, the boy's younger years, and two identical copied-to-the-letter Old Curiosity Shoppe albums - one for here and one as a Christmas gift. The album I plan to shamelessly copy - not once but twice - is shown on YouTube here. Almost needless to say, but said, is that all the paper lines will come from various Graphic 45 collections. Does the company sell stock? If so, buying in could prove a solid investment.
I promised to cover a whole bunch. Delivered, with a smile. Blessings!
PS... The vacation was positively awesome. We had a blast.
 |
| Crafty Secrets & Cricut Haul |
Several items ordered before we left arrived in the mail today. I referenced a vintage stamp, paper, postcard company a post or two back, the order shown to the left. The order was a sampling of some of the many products available and not surprisingly, was happier with some items more than others. The various stamp sets are perfectly suited for several projects I'm due to begin in the coming weeks. The little boy alpha stickers will quickly disappear. The postage card/journaling tags will slowly find secret spots as other projects evolve. I'm not sure how much the baby book chipboard stickers and chipboard pieces will actually end up in the Graphic 45 Little Darlings mini-album I begin work on this month, but with product in hand I'm now certain the colours match perfectly. This was more luck than anything else. The Flower Shoppe cartridge from Cricut also arrived and this one will save over $100 within a day of work. These cartridge offers endless dimensional flower combinations that, for under $20, cost about the same as one standard punch of this type. My deepest regrets, EK Success.
 |
| Butterfly, Turtle & Potbelly Pig charms |
 |
| Dinosaur charms |
Along side the need for a quick buildup of paper and fabric scrapbooking flowers, I've also found my charms collection miserably lacking.
Charms are used extensively to decorate the outside binding of mini-albums; a charm bracelet for a book, as it were. During each major phase of the vacation I bought several charming (ahem) charms representing that event; and, other pieces I thought might come into use down the road. The dinosaur charms are precious! I plan to use these within the Texas vacation mini as tag danglies. I'll post pictures of how they're used once put into pace. The cute little pot bellied pig will be seen again in the upcoming mini album project using the Graphic 45 Olde Curiosity Shoppe paper collection. Unfortunately, the gift shop at the Japanese Gardens didn't have a koi charm of any sort, which was a major disappointment... the quest will continue.
 |
| July 27th, 2012 |
I couldn't resist posting one of my favourite photos of Martin feeding the koi during our visit to the gardens. The fish practically climb out of the water for their kibbles. The little guy's mouth is wide open waiting for him to drop in the pellet. Is this a great shot or what? I love it!
Next are the photos of the book's layout almost naked, before attaching the vacation photos and other memorabilia inside. I've flipped at a breakneck speed through most of the pictures we took and can already tell I'm going to add a few more pages to the album. I suspected this would be the case, and planned accordingly, but waited until knowing exactly what we had before committing to the work. (See post: TP & Thinking, June 26th, 2012) Those, of course, aren't represented in this showing because they are still locked in my head and scattered throughout various parts of the scrapbooking room.
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| Front Cover |
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| Inside Front Cover |
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| Japanese Garden Pages |
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| Museum Pages - Info Bundled, Ready to mount |
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| Self-descriptive |
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| Family Photos & Small Pocket Page |
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| Flip Page Details |
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| Glen Rose - With Back Inside Cover |
( How nice it would be to quickly figure out how to neatly arrange the photos, but this is a first and it's late! :D
Oh, well)
I'm particularly proud of this mini-album because, although I've learned many of the techniques from other great scrappers, the layout, paper combinations, and design are 100% mine... no scrap-lifting involved.
School starts back this week so I'll have many hours each day to devote undivided attention to several upcoming mini-album projects. The baby book, the boy's younger years, and two identical copied-to-the-letter Old Curiosity Shoppe albums - one for here and one as a Christmas gift. The album I plan to shamelessly copy - not once but twice - is shown on YouTube here. Almost needless to say, but said, is that all the paper lines will come from various Graphic 45 collections. Does the company sell stock? If so, buying in could prove a solid investment.
I promised to cover a whole bunch. Delivered, with a smile. Blessings!
PS... The vacation was positively awesome. We had a blast.
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Boing, Boing, Busy
That whole stamping category process continues. The first day I knocked out about 100 stamps, since then only a few packs at a time. Slowly, but surely. This will curb my appetite for large random stamp purchases. (Boy, oh boy, what a meager set with such limited range, or so I know now going through the process!)
Today's focus was working with the Miss on a Father's Day card. Her ability grows.
I've virtually copied and completed two different types of mini albums, step-by-step. It's a long-standing threat, but it's time to break away from the masters at YouTube and develop my own style. And, in my fashion, design not one, but three, all at the same time.
Graphic 45's Playtimes Past is a charming collection. I don't mind cutting the paper any longer, but I only had a 12x12 inch pad. Not so much room for error. I found another 12x12 during one of the more recent excursions for only $7.00. Mine! Now there's back up, not so much nail biting. There's no getting around the fact that G45 fashions its lines with women in mind. They do publish more masculine lines - and do a marvelous job - but even then many of the details scream feminine. The Playtimes Past is a very fair mixture for both sexes. I want the more masculine pages used for a carefully selected collection of my boys childhood pictures. That leaves about 1/2 of the paper unused. However!! When I begin making pages for them, I can begin designing the feminine pages for my sister's girls; using the same page styles, but frilly it up a bit, more ribbon and sparkles, etc. So two MA's for the work of one. Not a bad idea.
The third will be a no-frills summer camp mini. I've selected a Tim Holtz Retro Grunge paper pad for the project. A little dark, perhaps, for a girl's summer album, but I'm sure this will fit her to a Tee. I think to pattern this after the wallet-style just completed for this coming Christmas photos, with major modifications since we're only looking at less than 25 shots.
First though, I must pull together a couple (four or five) regular 12x12 layouts. There's a very gratifying feeling when completing projects. LO's only take a day or so and therefore seems as if I'm accomplishing much more than when compiling a single mini. Perspective.
In less than 10 minutes I pulled together the first LO. Add paper and embellishments, and it's a done deal.
Today's focus was working with the Miss on a Father's Day card. Her ability grows.
I've virtually copied and completed two different types of mini albums, step-by-step. It's a long-standing threat, but it's time to break away from the masters at YouTube and develop my own style. And, in my fashion, design not one, but three, all at the same time.
Graphic 45's Playtimes Past is a charming collection. I don't mind cutting the paper any longer, but I only had a 12x12 inch pad. Not so much room for error. I found another 12x12 during one of the more recent excursions for only $7.00. Mine! Now there's back up, not so much nail biting. There's no getting around the fact that G45 fashions its lines with women in mind. They do publish more masculine lines - and do a marvelous job - but even then many of the details scream feminine. The Playtimes Past is a very fair mixture for both sexes. I want the more masculine pages used for a carefully selected collection of my boys childhood pictures. That leaves about 1/2 of the paper unused. However!! When I begin making pages for them, I can begin designing the feminine pages for my sister's girls; using the same page styles, but frilly it up a bit, more ribbon and sparkles, etc. So two MA's for the work of one. Not a bad idea.
The third will be a no-frills summer camp mini. I've selected a Tim Holtz Retro Grunge paper pad for the project. A little dark, perhaps, for a girl's summer album, but I'm sure this will fit her to a Tee. I think to pattern this after the wallet-style just completed for this coming Christmas photos, with major modifications since we're only looking at less than 25 shots.
First though, I must pull together a couple (four or five) regular 12x12 layouts. There's a very gratifying feeling when completing projects. LO's only take a day or so and therefore seems as if I'm accomplishing much more than when compiling a single mini. Perspective.
In less than 10 minutes I pulled together the first LO. Add paper and embellishments, and it's a done deal.
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| Our only snow 2012 |
Monday, April 30, 2012
Progress Steady Now
I'm almost to the point where I can begin constructing pages for the mini-album. I shiver with a girlish nervousness simply thinking of sitting down and beginning the first page.
I own a fair collection of Cricut cartridges; like everyone else, there are the go-to favourites. There's still so much uncovered possibilities in these cartridges; options available that have only been skimmed. For instance, I tried to make a card and envelope from one of my cartridges, and the effort was a miserable failure. This was in the early days with the Cricut, when getting the image I selected was magical. A few more hours under the belt, and I'm looking at some of the functions best left alone until now.
In the upcoming (and future) project, there are dozens of tags and envelopes to make. Though willing, the thought of constructing all these by hand, with only a limited supply of "hard" dies was painful. I pulled a dozen or so cartridges out to look at again and found (duh) that there were literally thousands of possibilities with the Cricut. The amount whittled down to three primary and a couple more secondary cartridges to work with. More interesting to discover was that some of the cartridges contained complimentary images to others.
Martin, at the least bit of prompting, hung the six-foot wire rack today. The hope was to transfer all the punches from the the shoe bag to the new rack.. He had no sooner packed the electric drill before I began moving punches. The result? Ugly. This will never work for what I imagined. Never. Had it been in the closet I could have lived with a little bit of ugly, but this is front and center of the entry into the room. Aaack! Instead, I've began loading the rack with "pretty" items taking valuable closet space. Such as: tatting thread, glass jars with colourful contents, all the bright colours of glitter and stickles, Tattered Angel bottles, etc. That takes care of the short shelves, but the wider spaced shelves on the bottom half stay empty for the time being. In the meantime, most of the punches are scattered between the table and closet floor.
Decisions, decisions... The SSD Annex hosts another 75% sale Tuesday through Friday this week. The scope of the 75% off is rather limited, but 10 sheets of name brand, heavy weight paper for $1.00 is worth the trip. There's more, but won't know what until getting there. Now it gets tricky. TM also brings out a new line of products at 66% off this Tuesday. The problem is money. Martin generously offered $50 split between each sale, because I'd already spent my allowance. What he may or may not realize it how hard it is to walk out of either for less than $60. I could be extra sneaky and take him with me! He's worse than I when it comes to, "Oh, you could really use this. Right?" Yes, I think so is the only reasonable reply. Honestly, there's not much more in supplies I need for now, but the hunt is highly addictive.
Time to wrangle up the punches!
I own a fair collection of Cricut cartridges; like everyone else, there are the go-to favourites. There's still so much uncovered possibilities in these cartridges; options available that have only been skimmed. For instance, I tried to make a card and envelope from one of my cartridges, and the effort was a miserable failure. This was in the early days with the Cricut, when getting the image I selected was magical. A few more hours under the belt, and I'm looking at some of the functions best left alone until now.
In the upcoming (and future) project, there are dozens of tags and envelopes to make. Though willing, the thought of constructing all these by hand, with only a limited supply of "hard" dies was painful. I pulled a dozen or so cartridges out to look at again and found (duh) that there were literally thousands of possibilities with the Cricut. The amount whittled down to three primary and a couple more secondary cartridges to work with. More interesting to discover was that some of the cartridges contained complimentary images to others.
Martin, at the least bit of prompting, hung the six-foot wire rack today. The hope was to transfer all the punches from the the shoe bag to the new rack.. He had no sooner packed the electric drill before I began moving punches. The result? Ugly. This will never work for what I imagined. Never. Had it been in the closet I could have lived with a little bit of ugly, but this is front and center of the entry into the room. Aaack! Instead, I've began loading the rack with "pretty" items taking valuable closet space. Such as: tatting thread, glass jars with colourful contents, all the bright colours of glitter and stickles, Tattered Angel bottles, etc. That takes care of the short shelves, but the wider spaced shelves on the bottom half stay empty for the time being. In the meantime, most of the punches are scattered between the table and closet floor.
Decisions, decisions... The SSD Annex hosts another 75% sale Tuesday through Friday this week. The scope of the 75% off is rather limited, but 10 sheets of name brand, heavy weight paper for $1.00 is worth the trip. There's more, but won't know what until getting there. Now it gets tricky. TM also brings out a new line of products at 66% off this Tuesday. The problem is money. Martin generously offered $50 split between each sale, because I'd already spent my allowance. What he may or may not realize it how hard it is to walk out of either for less than $60. I could be extra sneaky and take him with me! He's worse than I when it comes to, "Oh, you could really use this. Right?" Yes, I think so is the only reasonable reply. Honestly, there's not much more in supplies I need for now, but the hunt is highly addictive.
Time to wrangle up the punches!
Monday, April 9, 2012
Table, Organization & Tricky Deals
There's no comparison between my crafting table "during" the creation of a LO and the rare times when I'm not. One looks as if a slow motion explosion has taken place, and the other a nice orderly oasis of quiet. Without exception, and from a hard earned lesson, the table gets cleaned in between projects. I've said it a hundred times already, but I can't think with a disorganized mess in the line of site. I can't! In the future I'll have to make sure any haul mention will be during those times between projects. I want to start photographing/videoing them... for future reference. And that simply can't be done on a disorganized table.
I find that once again there are more scrap room organizational changes necessary. It's the paper! There's a small box sitting on the floor layered with colour coordinated long paper strips. There's no other place to file them neatly as they come in varying widths and lengths. I'm thinking the solution to this could involve using the shoe tree bag currently used for punches; but then, what with all the punches?
This, too, has become problematic lately since it's very difficult to find a particular punch within the current system. Punches don't file into neat categories, be that size or theme. The card ring with punched images is the only way of really knowing what I have available anymore. That's a real lifesaver. But most of the punches proper are heavy and restrict some options. Maybe....? We have a few open-wire baskets, primarily used with wire shelving systems out in the garage. (Always a treasure trove of storage possibilities!!!) I'm thinking using these at the back and hanging under of my craft table where they have both the weight and extra area to spread them out instead of riffling through small sleeves as required now. Each time I wanted a punch it would require bending over and crawling under the table; bothersome, but "do-able" until I come up with a better system, and to a certain extent, I'm already doing with the current system. The only other option would be to hang the other six-foot wire rack (the twin to the rack shown here) somewhere within the room. And, as these things go, doing so would require rearranging that area, also. Either way, something has to give somewhere.
The craft room was originally set up as the computer room. I hadn't actually began scrapping at that point. But, should we move again, the room would be set up specifically as a craft room, alleviating most of the organizational challenges dealt with over the past year. One thing for certain... that computer desk with hutch would never grace the room! I would certainly buy another crafting table instead. And paint the room in pink and lime green, if I want.
____________________________________________
I submitted the latest LO for the CSI challenge with only hours to spare, and then only after I decided to settle with the photography results on hand, which were all less than idealistic. Before this project, I never, in a million years, would have never considered the tricky problems with photographing a matte finished photo with a glossy. Well, I sure do now! I'm convinced that it can't be done. Oh, sure, hundreds of photographers would testify to the contrary. But not with MY skill set! I literally spent almost two hours, some with Martin's help, trying to capture a true page likeness. In every case it became a contest of shadows. Even though I had two different skies to work with - 1 sunny and 1 rainy - and an abundance of natural and artificial light sources, there was no coaxing out a single great photo. I guess the lesson taken from the experience is to consider this problem when thinking of using two different photo surfaces in the future.
All the myriad of talents learned thus far are about to be put to a functional use. My husband went on a new diabetic medication delivery program. It's not insulin, but he has to administer a shot within an hour of eating dinner, never after. He does well with the morning shot, but 9 times of 10, he forgets the evening dose. I'm about to put together a 6x6 or 8x8 cutely decorated page to remind him each evening. It will say something to the effect of: No pot before the shot, or some other silly thin. I can't wait to jump on this project. Just right after I pull together an awesomely adorable ocean themed LO. ;D
I find that once again there are more scrap room organizational changes necessary. It's the paper! There's a small box sitting on the floor layered with colour coordinated long paper strips. There's no other place to file them neatly as they come in varying widths and lengths. I'm thinking the solution to this could involve using the shoe tree bag currently used for punches; but then, what with all the punches?
 |
| Pink Shoe Bag, very weighted down |
This, too, has become problematic lately since it's very difficult to find a particular punch within the current system. Punches don't file into neat categories, be that size or theme. The card ring with punched images is the only way of really knowing what I have available anymore. That's a real lifesaver. But most of the punches proper are heavy and restrict some options. Maybe....? We have a few open-wire baskets, primarily used with wire shelving systems out in the garage. (Always a treasure trove of storage possibilities!!!) I'm thinking using these at the back and hanging under of my craft table where they have both the weight and extra area to spread them out instead of riffling through small sleeves as required now. Each time I wanted a punch it would require bending over and crawling under the table; bothersome, but "do-able" until I come up with a better system, and to a certain extent, I'm already doing with the current system. The only other option would be to hang the other six-foot wire rack (the twin to the rack shown here) somewhere within the room. And, as these things go, doing so would require rearranging that area, also. Either way, something has to give somewhere.
The craft room was originally set up as the computer room. I hadn't actually began scrapping at that point. But, should we move again, the room would be set up specifically as a craft room, alleviating most of the organizational challenges dealt with over the past year. One thing for certain... that computer desk with hutch would never grace the room! I would certainly buy another crafting table instead. And paint the room in pink and lime green, if I want.
____________________________________________
I submitted the latest LO for the CSI challenge with only hours to spare, and then only after I decided to settle with the photography results on hand, which were all less than idealistic. Before this project, I never, in a million years, would have never considered the tricky problems with photographing a matte finished photo with a glossy. Well, I sure do now! I'm convinced that it can't be done. Oh, sure, hundreds of photographers would testify to the contrary. But not with MY skill set! I literally spent almost two hours, some with Martin's help, trying to capture a true page likeness. In every case it became a contest of shadows. Even though I had two different skies to work with - 1 sunny and 1 rainy - and an abundance of natural and artificial light sources, there was no coaxing out a single great photo. I guess the lesson taken from the experience is to consider this problem when thinking of using two different photo surfaces in the future.
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| The problematic glossy photo! Urg! |
All the myriad of talents learned thus far are about to be put to a functional use. My husband went on a new diabetic medication delivery program. It's not insulin, but he has to administer a shot within an hour of eating dinner, never after. He does well with the morning shot, but 9 times of 10, he forgets the evening dose. I'm about to put together a 6x6 or 8x8 cutely decorated page to remind him each evening. It will say something to the effect of: No pot before the shot, or some other silly thin. I can't wait to jump on this project. Just right after I pull together an awesomely adorable ocean themed LO. ;D
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Latest LO
The LO mentioned last post is now 99.9% complete. There's a journaling note required completely forgotten about. I think it looks tacky, but may be able to correct it with some glitter in the morning. (This tag will be removed before framing the page.) The only other item left to attend involves good sunlight, camera and tripod. I'll edit this post to include the photo after a satisfactory picture is cropped and sharpened.
This LO has much more white space than I'm accustomed to allowing, but in doing so I've allowed the eye to draw to the ares that were most important, or important as I saw it.
The photo of Martin and I used on the page is one of my all-time favourites!! There's a little bit of silliness, and a whole lot of adoration caught at the most perfect moment. I knew this would be the first photograph of the both of us to scrap when the right combination of time, inspiration and motivation hit. And it did.
It probably gets old, but I'm proud of the display. I take pride in all the LO's done, but some don't have the same ooomph that rare others do. This is one that gets framed and posted in our bedroom, along with the birthday "card" page completed last November. Finally! Some "art" for the room. (Term used loosely.)
Even though decorating the coloured pencil bucket was a little over the top, I am proud of it. Tonight while perusing YouTube, I found several videos featuring decked-out ATG guns. Some looked professional, some looked as if they graduated 1st grade colouring class and never advanced from there. It's theirs, and as long as they take pride in it, that's all that matters. So now I'm thinking... given some down time, it might just be worth the effort to follow suit. No doubt whatever I do will end up looking like the 1st grade child that failed that colouring class. LOL.
Next week I hope to knock out three or four "everyday" scrapbook pages. There's currently two semi-assembled pages featuring Johnna and her quirky ideas of scrap worthy events. One involves all the not-so-major scraps, bruises, and rashes she proudly displayed for the camera, and the other concerns her foot and hand prints at age ten. (Actually I thought of it, and she jumped at the notion.) Also thought upon, but as yet began, are the 2012 snow photos and a few more pages from this past Christmas.
This LO has much more white space than I'm accustomed to allowing, but in doing so I've allowed the eye to draw to the ares that were most important, or important as I saw it.
The photo of Martin and I used on the page is one of my all-time favourites!! There's a little bit of silliness, and a whole lot of adoration caught at the most perfect moment. I knew this would be the first photograph of the both of us to scrap when the right combination of time, inspiration and motivation hit. And it did.
It probably gets old, but I'm proud of the display. I take pride in all the LO's done, but some don't have the same ooomph that rare others do. This is one that gets framed and posted in our bedroom, along with the birthday "card" page completed last November. Finally! Some "art" for the room. (Term used loosely.)
Even though decorating the coloured pencil bucket was a little over the top, I am proud of it. Tonight while perusing YouTube, I found several videos featuring decked-out ATG guns. Some looked professional, some looked as if they graduated 1st grade colouring class and never advanced from there. It's theirs, and as long as they take pride in it, that's all that matters. So now I'm thinking... given some down time, it might just be worth the effort to follow suit. No doubt whatever I do will end up looking like the 1st grade child that failed that colouring class. LOL.
Next week I hope to knock out three or four "everyday" scrapbook pages. There's currently two semi-assembled pages featuring Johnna and her quirky ideas of scrap worthy events. One involves all the not-so-major scraps, bruises, and rashes she proudly displayed for the camera, and the other concerns her foot and hand prints at age ten. (Actually I thought of it, and she jumped at the notion.) Also thought upon, but as yet began, are the 2012 snow photos and a few more pages from this past Christmas.
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