Friday, November 21, 2008
Read 'em all please!!
Or at least leave comments on all. I just tried to post on about everything we have been up to the last couple of weeks so keep on reading when you get to the end of this post. The order is random and due to my head feeling like it is underwater the writing might be a little sub-par, but read away---please.
Birthday Day Two
We kind of celebrated Dave's birthday on the official day and because we went out to dinner we didn't really want to leave Miles' celebration up to the babysitter--so here are some pics from Miles birthday one day later. 
We got him this fish aquarium that you just plug in and turn on (my idea of a great pet). Ian had one when he was about two and loved it. It was a hit--here are Paige and Miles enjoying the pretend fish. 
Here he is with his Tow Mater pillowcase. I saw this fabric at the store and showed it to him. He would not let go of it so we turned it into a pillowcase. He loves getting in his crib every night and has us name all the cars before he goes to sleep.
Miles is always so easy going and happy. What a great kid.
Blowing out the candles...yes he did blow out both of them by himself.HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE ONE!
Birthday Buddies
It was Dave and Miles birthday a few day's ago.We went to visit Dave at work and took him some presents and his favorite--pumpkin cheesecake.
Down vest from my parents--I might have to borrow it it looks so warm.
Wait who's birthday is it anyway! I guess Ian decided if it was Dave & Miles' day he had better get in on the fun. They had a fun day and I think every year I will wonder how Miles managed to show up as Dave's birthday present 2 years ago.LOTOJA long plan--first step 5K
Back in September I started training for a 5K as part of my long term LOTOJA plan. I don't know if anyone is interested, but here is a quick update of my progress. I started with a training plan called "From the couch to the Finish Line." This was perfect for me, because although I don't sit on the couch all day I have always hated running. I am more of a weight lifting, rock climbing, yoga kind of girl. Anything non-cardio was my thing. Well, the training has gone well and I am know running about 25 minutes at a pop 3 times a week. (Minus the episodes of sinusitis) I am still incredibly slow I think I might run a 12 minute mile, but that could be on the fast side of things. I could probably walk faster, but my heart wouldn't get going as much. Anyway, my knees seem to be holding up (they have issues) and I've only tweaked my back once and that was during the first week. When I get a little faster and can go a little longer I'll be needing some ideas for a great fun race to run in and any volunteers who want to run very slowly with me or cheer from the sidelines.
Just in case you were wondering what else you could do with your baby booger sucker---
Ever since I had Ian I have suffered from a few sinus infections every year. And now it seems to be getting worse...I have had two in the last month. Antibiotics are usually the answer, but when the second one came on just a week after I finished the first round of pills I decided to try to wait this one out. After some googling I've discovered that you can/should shoot saline water up your nose to help get rid of an infection. It sounds completely crazy and uncomfortable, but after doing this two times a day for the last week...we have drainage!!! Dave says I should just go over to the gym and jump off the diving board without plugging my nose--that is about what it feels like. Anyway it seems to help, but I'm still sick and extremely exhausted so if you have any miracle cures please send them my way.
Oh, I have decided that due to this reoccurring annoyance I should lay off of the sugar---cake is no longer one of the food groups in our house. (I did have a small sliver on Miles' Birthday)
My First Digital Scrapbook Pages
Here are a few of my first pages to go along with the last post.
This is my first page--I think I lifted the idea from the DSM gallery. I didn't know how to resize the photo's quickly and I did it all by typing in random sizes into the image size until I got the desired size! It took me forever!!!
I learned to cut out circles on this page.
This page was my first page with extraction work.
This was one of my first attempts with drop shadows and outer glow. Thursday, November 6, 2008
Digi-Scrapping How To's
I've had a few questions about this new obsession of mine---Digital Scrapbooking. So, I'm going to attempt to explain how it works and give some advice on how to get started. But just so you know there are others more qualified and much better at explaining. So you might want to spend some time googling or chatting on a forum with educated people to field your questions.
What is it...
Okay, here we go. Digital Scrapbooking is when you use digital products to create scrapbooking pages on your computer. These pages can be printed out on photo paper and they look amazing, and when you get good at the editing process they look pretty real (not so flat). They can also be e-mailed, blogged, stored in e-books, etc.
Getting Started...
To get started you will need digital pictures either from a digital camera or a scanner. You will also need a photo editing program on your computer. I recommend any version of Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. I believe you can get a free trial download to try out for about 30 days. You will also need some digital scrapbooking supplies. I recommend downloading some freebies to begin with just to make sure you like it before you start plunking down money. Ikeagoddess is my favorite site for free supplies. (These files are huge so make sure you have room on your hard drive before you go downloading like crazy). If you are in this for the long run you will eventually want to get an external hard drive.
You begin by opening your photo's and selected scrapbooking supplies into your editing program. Then you just layer your photo's onto the paper by clicking and dragging. At this point I would recommend going to DigitalScrapbookMemories.com click on their tutorials and go through each tutorial. This is how I learned. If you have problems hop onto their forum and ask questions. There is a bit of a learning curve and your first pages might not look exactly how you like them, but you have to mess around a lot before it gets really easy and fast. DSM does an amazing job of explaining things and their forum is loaded with people that can answer any questions you might have.
2. You can re-size a photo by clicking on the photo, checking the show bounding box, hold down the shift key and drag your mouse until you get the desired size (this is much faster then typing in sizes under image size)
3. When you open photos and scrapbook supplies make sure they are minimized so you can see everything at once--if you maximize you will only see one thing at a time.
4. Get online and look at some digital scrapbook galleries--the more pages you look at the more ideas you will get.
5. Watch your font size. 12 pt font is what we typically read so don't make your journaling 35 pt just so you can see it in Photoshop...when you print it out it will look ridiculously large...zoom in and use a smaller font. Keep titles big though--we want to see them.
6. Take it slow. Get comfortable with one or two things...create a few pages with them and then try reading through another tutorial the next time you scrap. I have multiple layouts where I worked on specific skills--circles, rounded edges, drop shadows, etc Eventually you will get it all on one page.
7. Learn how to use templates. This is a DSM tutorial labeled clipping masks. Templates are pages with the layout already "drawn out" all you do is add paper, photo's and embellishments.
8. Download some quickpages. Quickpages are predone pages were all you do is drag on your photo and add journaling. DSM sponsors a quickpage exchange every month. If you are up to it find this thread on their forum, learn to make a quickpage, submit it and you will get a whole bunch of great quickpages at the end of the month.
Saving...
Once you have completed a page you will obviously want to save it. If you want to print or put the image on the web you will need to convert your page to a jpeg file. It will give you the option of high or low quality for the web you want low for printing you want high.
Printing...
I haven't done much of this just a few pages here and there at Walmart. Costco is suppose to be great as far as pricing and quality. I believe they will print a 12X36 page for $4.99 that's 3 12x12 scrapbook pages...so $1.75 each! There are also online sites that will print photobooks Shutterfly, Snapfish, Mpix are all sites I have checked out, but I haven't used any of them yet.
Anyway--I hope this is helpful and if you have any questions drop me a comment.
What is it...
Okay, here we go. Digital Scrapbooking is when you use digital products to create scrapbooking pages on your computer. These pages can be printed out on photo paper and they look amazing, and when you get good at the editing process they look pretty real (not so flat). They can also be e-mailed, blogged, stored in e-books, etc.
Getting Started...
To get started you will need digital pictures either from a digital camera or a scanner. You will also need a photo editing program on your computer. I recommend any version of Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. I believe you can get a free trial download to try out for about 30 days. You will also need some digital scrapbooking supplies. I recommend downloading some freebies to begin with just to make sure you like it before you start plunking down money. Ikeagoddess is my favorite site for free supplies. (These files are huge so make sure you have room on your hard drive before you go downloading like crazy). If you are in this for the long run you will eventually want to get an external hard drive.
You begin by opening your photo's and selected scrapbooking supplies into your editing program. Then you just layer your photo's onto the paper by clicking and dragging. At this point I would recommend going to DigitalScrapbookMemories.com click on their tutorials and go through each tutorial. This is how I learned. If you have problems hop onto their forum and ask questions. There is a bit of a learning curve and your first pages might not look exactly how you like them, but you have to mess around a lot before it gets really easy and fast. DSM does an amazing job of explaining things and their forum is loaded with people that can answer any questions you might have.
Just a Few Tips...
Here are a few hints after you get going.
2. You can re-size a photo by clicking on the photo, checking the show bounding box, hold down the shift key and drag your mouse until you get the desired size (this is much faster then typing in sizes under image size)
3. When you open photos and scrapbook supplies make sure they are minimized so you can see everything at once--if you maximize you will only see one thing at a time.
4. Get online and look at some digital scrapbook galleries--the more pages you look at the more ideas you will get.
5. Watch your font size. 12 pt font is what we typically read so don't make your journaling 35 pt just so you can see it in Photoshop...when you print it out it will look ridiculously large...zoom in and use a smaller font. Keep titles big though--we want to see them.
6. Take it slow. Get comfortable with one or two things...create a few pages with them and then try reading through another tutorial the next time you scrap. I have multiple layouts where I worked on specific skills--circles, rounded edges, drop shadows, etc Eventually you will get it all on one page.
7. Learn how to use templates. This is a DSM tutorial labeled clipping masks. Templates are pages with the layout already "drawn out" all you do is add paper, photo's and embellishments.
8. Download some quickpages. Quickpages are predone pages were all you do is drag on your photo and add journaling. DSM sponsors a quickpage exchange every month. If you are up to it find this thread on their forum, learn to make a quickpage, submit it and you will get a whole bunch of great quickpages at the end of the month.
Saving...
Once you have completed a page you will obviously want to save it. If you want to print or put the image on the web you will need to convert your page to a jpeg file. It will give you the option of high or low quality for the web you want low for printing you want high.
Printing...
I haven't done much of this just a few pages here and there at Walmart. Costco is suppose to be great as far as pricing and quality. I believe they will print a 12X36 page for $4.99 that's 3 12x12 scrapbook pages...so $1.75 each! There are also online sites that will print photobooks Shutterfly, Snapfish, Mpix are all sites I have checked out, but I haven't used any of them yet.
Anyway--I hope this is helpful and if you have any questions drop me a comment.
More Halloween
Okay--so here is what we did on Halloween night.
We got the kids dressed up and went up to Dave's sister Carole's house. Her and her husband Jeff live in the Harvard/Yale area up by the U. It was the perfect setting for trick-or-treating. Lots of old Tudor style homes, big trees arching over the street, and lots of friendly neighbors sitting on their front porches handing out candy. I think the warm weather made this Halloween particularly fun--it seemed like everyone was out and people were happy to visit and hang out, because we weren't freezing our tushies off. We made our way up one side of the street with my nephew Max leading the way. At the top of the street there was a church and they were cooking up hot dogs and passing out donuts, hot chocolate and cider. We made our way back down the street to Carole and Jeff's--Ian's bucket was overflowing with treats. Jeff then treated us to this amazing dinner of roasted chicken and veggies. Ian, Max, and Miles ran crazy while we visited with Dave's family (Richard, Michelle, Elisa, and Amber were there too.) I hope Carole makes this a tradition and if I'm hoping I really hope the weather is this great next year.
My cute nephew Max--the jaquar.
Carole's friend Francie and Carole as a peace lovin' hippie--check out that hair!
Jeff's amazing roasted chicken.
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