april blog header

Friday, April 13, 2007

A New Day Has Begun....

I am so glad for today because that means that yesterday is over. From the moment I woke up yesterday almost until the minute I went to bed was just not good. The night before last the house across the street from us burned down. Thankfully there was no one living there at the time. I really tried hard to get some photos and boy did I get some gems. I had photos of the fire, the fire dept helping out each other with their tanks, on the roof, the trucks, the smoke, them spraying the fire. I was so proud of myself for getting those photos for the paper I work for now. We didnt get to bed until about 2:30am so I thought that I would leave the photos on the card until the morning. Also, earlier that day I had run into my cousins who I only see once every couple of years as they spend most of their time away. We took some really nice photos of them as well. Imagine how upset I was yesterday morning when I turned on my camera and saw the dreaded bold red words CARD ERROR! I hoped that it was just the camera reader and put the card in the computer.....card error! My card was fried and all those amazing photos (in my opinion) were gone forever! I had to get ahold of my boss and tell him that I lost the photos, that was bad. Sean was nice enough to take my card back for me as it was only 5 months old and under warrenty. That really put in me in a bad mood at the start of the day's events.
Connor, well he was just another chapter in the story yesterday. He is going to be starting school in the fall and I am really worried about him. He just has some habits that are going to be noticed by the other kids and I fear he will be ridiculed. I know that the kids around here can be very harsh with each other, I suppose thats everywhere though. I know that I am just about fed up with his little antics myself. I am ashamed at how I reacted to his actions yesterday but I am honestly at my wit's end with what has been happening with him lately. I understand that I am not a bad mother but I am fairly new at this and sometimes I just dont have the answers. I suppose most mothers are that way at some point in their life. Do we just go on doing the best we can and hope our children are given all that they need? I know that this is never going to get any easier and that is fine with me because everday in motherhood is a new adventure but if Connor's one little antic would stop, I would be so very happy.
In the last year when I get upset I scrap it out. So yesterday I completed another layout and that helped a bit. Then last night for selfportrait of the day I decided to really let my emotions poor into my work. I manipulated my photo to show on the outside what I had been feeling all day on the inside. Some people look at my photo and tell me its emotional and that makes it beautiful. I have had other people look at it and say it is dark, depressing and creepy. I find it is all of those things and that is why I like it so much. Thats what makes art beautiful, everyone brings their own interpretation to the table. Everyone thinks and everyone gets to have their opinion but at the end of the day its the artist who truly knows and feels what the piece was all about. My photo was my therapy and it really helped. It was a bad day, the photo is depressing but the tears washed away the pain and brought a smile to my face and that makes it beautiful to me....

Day 77-In Sadness

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Retro Vision

I remember when I was a child. I had all my names picked out for my children by the time I was 12. This is what it was like for me with my new kit Retro Vision. I had the name picked out before the kit. I was trying to name Trashed Regal and I kept thinking Retro Vision but I knew it didnt fit. SO since I had the name and I liked it so much I thought I would make a kit to match it. I wanted something bright and flowing. I wanted doodles, flowers, pearls, geometric shapes, in essence, I wanted it all! So I sat down and went to work on this one the other day. As I was making the kit, I was making a layout. Piecing it all together as I went along! I was using a tablet to make a lot of the elements which is new to me so that in itself was an adventure. I am sure once I get the hang of it I wont want to let it go though. So here is my new plan. I have been giving my kits away but it has been a bit of a hassle reuploading the different kits every couple of weeks. SOOOOOO I am uploading this one for a week. Anyone who wants it can just left me some love here and I will get them the link! :) The only thing I ask is that you send me a link to the layout if you choose to use the kit! Simple enough right?
Here is the kit preview!

Retro Vision

And here is a the layout I did with it last night!

A Good Hare Day!

So if anyone wants it, just let me know!

Saturday, April 7, 2007

My Very First Font!

Something that I have wanted to try for a very long time was to create my own font. SO I borrowed a tablet off of my friend (thanks Jay) and got to work. I downloaded a trial version of Font Creator to use as well. I know that its not the best font and its far from perfect but I am very pleased with my first attempt! So this is an example of my font!
My Very First FONT!

So today was a pretty good day for me! When I came online this morning I thought I would go and check out the Digi Dare Ya blog that I have recently discovered. Last Friday I decided to enter for the first time. Imagine my suprise and supreme happiness when I discovered that my layout had been chosen as a winner! I am still smiling thinking about it. There are so many wonderfully talented scrappers joining that challenge every week and I am so happy that I am now among them! This was the layout that I entered!
Shooting Greatness!

Hope you all had a wonderful day too! I am thinking about making a new kit for Easter! I have a new Easter kit in my bag from a wonderful designer but I cant share it yet! I cannot wait until Tuesday to post a layout with it!!

Monday, April 2, 2007

Curious Connor

Anyone who knows me know that I do not normally like to write. I have a friend, I work for his publication, and he has been trying to convince me to write for him for months but I refuse. Pictures I can take, stories I dont normally enjoy. Sure a bit if journalling here or there on a layout is fine. Even writing on this blog is okay but to write something that EVERYONE is going read is not my thing. Well, I took a mini class over at DSAGand it taught us how to create a storybook with our scrapbook layouts. I had so much fun learning the different elements! I will admit that at first I procrastinated. For quite some time actually but finally I yelled at myself to get over it and sit down and write. So I grabbed a pen and a paper pad, yes imagine that I used paper, and started to write. Well once I started it was hard to stop and had the whole story completed within 24 hours. Once I had the story line it was easy to go through my collection of photos to find ones to use. Also had a wee bit of help from Stock Exchange and Flickr. (Thanks Garrett and Martin!)I called my friend Courtney who was coming home for the weekend and she volunteered to find me some cows! So she stopped at a farm on the way down and snapped some photos for me. Thanks!! So here is my story. All of the credits can be found either at my gallery with DSAG or Flickr.
Curious-Connor-Cover
dedication-page
Page-1
page-2
page-3
page-4
page-5
page-6
page-7
page-8
page-9-
page-10-copy
page11
Page12-copy
The-End

Hope you all like it! And if you are inspired, be sure to stop by the shoppe and add the mini class from Debb Cozzi to your cart!!

Digi Daring!

Awhile back I discovered a wonderful blog where a few ladies host Digi Dares. They will give a particular challenge and ladies all over the place will create a layout and then link to it! Well I just thought that it was a fantastic idea and for the first time today I thought I would jump on the bandwagon. I was thinking on how to use the new It's A Girlie Thing kit for the creative team today and when I saw the DigiDare, I knew it was perfect. I really had a lot of fun creating this layout. LOTS AND LOTS of elements thrown about. I dont normally go for so many elements on a page but this looks cute. I am really trying to expand on the different types of layouts I create. When I first started digi scrapping a year ago I was very 'straight and forward' with my designs. Now I am trying to focus more on freestyle layouts, as well as some graphic thrown in with the paper styles. Really learning something new everyday and really having a blast doing it!
Shooting Greatness!