Surgery Update and Scrapbook Pages

The hubster's surgery on his Achilles tendon went very well and I got a very good report from the doc when the surgery was completed. He is not allowed to put any weight on it until the follow up visit in about 2 weeks. He is finding that crutches are a big drag and his sciatic nerve is not at all happy with the stress placed on his backside while using them. Thanks for all your well wishes.


I intended to do some sketching while waiting for him, but found myself working crossword puzzles and listening to my iPod instead. We got to the hospital around 6 am and were home about 1 pm. The hubster slept for a bit in the afternoon and I probably should have as well. We watched a great Tiger game later in the evening and then made a night of it.


I had a lovely surprise in my email this morning from the people at My Memories - they have some freebies on their site and I couldn't resist trying one of them out. They come as png files and can be used with the My Memories Suite software or independently. Here is what I put together this morning:

I used the quick pages to make this two page spread, but the freebie comes not only with the two quick pages, but all the elements used to make them. That means you can custom them to your own needs. You can find the freebies here. And if you are interested in the software you can use the code in the sidebar to get $10 off.

A big thank you to all of you who took the time to comment on my two watercolors. I am planning to use the trees with reflections as my exhibit piece and am hoping to add a bit to the "blob" on the left to make it look more convincing. I'll share the finished piece when I think it is done.

I am way behind in my assignments for the Artful Journaling class and hope to get to them some time today. I have to run some errands and should get back into the workout routine. I have another Tiger game today and am hoping we can win again to make the series 2 - 2 before we head back to Texas.

I am hoping to have some art to share with you tomorrow and am wishing for you a wonderful, artful day.

xoxo

Surrogate Parent, AJE, and More Digital Scrapbooking

Beginning today after school, the hubster and I are "parenting" Miss 8 1/2 and Miss 4 until Sunday. I think I'd better start getting more sleep in preparation. I didn't go to bed until 4:30 this morning. I was downloading free stuff from the My Memories website, uploading old patterns and embellishments that I made in Photoshop many moons ago, and watching watercolor videos in YouTube. There are some wonderful tutorials for this software, too. I can only use this much bandwidth between the hours of 2 AM and 7 AM, so sometimes I am up most of the night.


I was able to verify that all my old files work just wonderfully in the My Memories digital scrapbooking software and I have another couple to share with you. The pictures are from when the girls were little.

This photo is one of my all-time favorites. This little one is now 8 years old.

What great memories I have of those all too fleeting days.

I've begun to make some new memories as well. Yesterday after school my daughter brought out her two girls so we could have a little celebration for Miss Morgan whose birthday we missed this past weekend. I bought cupcakes and ice cream and picked up some "school" books and a pair of slippers for her presents. She was thrilled with the whole celebration.

As you can see, I made the cupcakes myself .

Big sis - posing.

I have begun to have so many interests again that I think I am going to need a schedule - maybe something like:

Monday - bookbinding

Tuesday - watercolor

Wednesday - digital scrapbooking

Thursday - journaling

Friday - sketching

Saturday - watercolor pencil

Sunday - oil pastels

Oh no, I've already run out of days!!! What about photography, digital art, mail art, acrylics, collage, crochet..... and just where does housework fit into this schedule.  So much art, so little time.

Meanwhile, while waiting for my downloads to arrive, I began adding to my new journal as part of the Artful Journaling - Explorations class. Here is the cover page (in progress). It needs color and doodling before I can think of it as complete.

I'm thinking the letters need some layers in other colors and perhaps the word "Explorations" needs to be added into the background maybe on a diagonal.

And here is the beginning of the "Lemons" assignment:

It needs the addition of color and decoration. The bowl is white with dark blue stripes and the lemons have a bit of yellow, gold and green. It is a bit light, but if you click on it I think you will be able to see it better.

I've had a couple of cups of coffee and now need some cereal and fruit to get this day started. I think I am going to get back to the watercolor landscape I've put aside. I hope to have some progress to share with you tomorrow.

Meanwhile, if you like what you've seen so far in the digital scrapbooking part of my posts, you can use the coupon code in the side bar to get this amazing software at an incredible price. I will be putting together the rules for the software giveaway real soon. I would like to have ways you can enter more than once and would love to hear if you have ideas besides either a post on your blog linking back to me or a visit to the website to choose a favorite designer pack. 

It is almost 11 am already and I think I'd better get this day started.....

xoxo

Watercolor WIP and More Digital Scrapbooking

I didn't get a thing done yesterday - wait a minute - I did get the oil changed, the tires rotated and a software update recall issue fixed on my car and went grocery shopping with my daughter. I think I did a lot yesterday, but not much art.

I really wasn't feeling well in the afternoon. I actually spent some time lying on the bathroom floor and then on the couch with a cup of hot tea and a cold cloth on my forehead. I am not so sick today, but am not quite up to par, either.

This morning I spent a bit of time adding some mountains and some trees along one of the closer hills to the watercolor work in progress and I like that addition.

As a reminder: here is what it looked like yesterday:

And here it is today:

I know it has some issues, but so far I like where it is headed. I sprayed a fine mist over the background mountains to achieve some texture and maybe that wasn't the best idea, but I am experimenting and learning as I go.

I am also spending more time with My Memories Suite, digital scrapbooking software, and I must say so far I am really enjoying it. I downloaded the User Guide and am finding it very helpful. I have also found their blog and tutorials. I will continue to share with you and when I've played enough I will give you a full blown review of this product. Meanwhile, if you are a scrapbooker and would like to learn more about this product, you can follow the link above. There is also a link on the sidebar with a code that will save you $10 when you purchase. As a person who purchased Photoshop for digital scrapbooking at a whopping $650, I can only shake my head in wonder at this product that is less than $40, and with the savings code, it is less than $30. What's more, it is a download so there is no postage to pay.

Stay tuned for more on this product including a giveaway of one software package which will be announced here in the near future. This giveaway will be available to anyone in the world as there is no postage associated.

Meanwhile, let me share with a lovely wedding card I made using this software this morning. I used a photo from my own yard, added a mat and text in My Memories and printed in onto a prescored card that I had purchased some time ago from Red River Paper, my favorite source for paper.

I think I'd better go eat breakfast and get this day started.

xoxo

Zentangle Class and Digital Scrapbooking

I had such fun with Nancy and Kip in our Zentangle class yesterday and I have a couple of them to share with you.

I actually made this one in a 90º to the right orientation, but like it better turned this way.

I think this one needs more. I haven't decided whether to add more curves or do some kind of open work behind it.

The hubster had jury duty yesterday and was actually chosen to sit on a case. He didn't get home until almost 6 pm yesterday and had to be back at 10 this morning. Hopefully the case will wrap up today.

I had a very large download to accomplish last evening, so stayed up until 2 am to get it started and then made the mistake of starting a novel while waiting for it to finish. And then when it finished, I had to play with the new software and then finish the novel. It was getting light out by the time I made it to bed (6:50 am). Wouldn't you know this is the day the county would choose to begin digging out the driveway ditch. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep.

Here is a hint about the software I was playing with in the wee hours. Just think what I could do when I am wide awake! I will be reviewing this new software and will be hosting a giveaway. Watch for more info here.

I am planning to do some more work on the Lake District watercolor that I shared yesterday - thank you so much for your comments and suggestions - I will share my progress tomorrow.

For now, I think I need lots of coffee before I try to get this day started.

xoxo

Artless

I had a really busy day yesterday and finally settled down to work on some art, but I didn't prepare well and all was lost. I printed out four faces on the same watercolor paper to try different media, but didn't realize the grayish background that printed on each would interfere with the color I was using and the gray ran when I applied water. I will try again today. But today I will transfer the pix to the paper instead of relying on the printer.

Meanwhile, I thought I would share some of my "art" from years ago. My first venture into being arty was with scrapbooking. I only did the "hands-on" kind for a very short time, then I found Photoshop and my life changed forever. Here are a few of my favorites from that period.

I had such fun making this one almost 7 years ago.

It all began with the grandgirls. They were so photogenic!

This one seemed appropriate for this time of year.

One of my all time favorites.

Oh, the memories!

I'm thinking that maybe I should still be finding time to do digital scrapbooking. Little ones become big ones so quickly. These are great to look back on and I think the girls enjoy them more than any of  the rest of us.

I hope I haven't bored you with these nostalgic pix. Looking at old scrapbook pages was a very pleasant experience for me. 

If you haven't yet left a comment on yesterday's post to get in on the drawing for a box full of stamps, don't forget to do it before Thursday at midnight.

Gotta run. I hope to have a bit of new art to share tomorrow.

xoxo

Using Patterns in A Digital Scrapbooking Layout

I have promised myself that today I am going to get paint (real, not digital) on my fingers. I am planning to make more postcards and ATCs - maybe it is time to print out some of the digital papers I've made and use them in a hybrid project.

But for now, I would like to share with you a totally digital scrapbook layout that I did last evening while playing with Photoshop. I think I will load the picture first and then describe some of the elements that make up the whole.

 

I made the pattern in the background papers by typing the Swash version of the Bickham Script Pro letter N, making a duplicate and then flipping the duplicate vertically. I then merged the two letter layers, made a duplicate and then flipped it horizontally, and then merged those two layers. That was the starting point for my creation of a custom pattern ala the tutorial of yesterday.

I chose the colors by clicking on the focal picture. I made the custom ribbon by using the rectangular marquee tool and putting each of them on a separate layer. I then used the Edit < Stroke command to put the green on the edge of each. The stroke command actually stroked the ends too, so I made a mask and painted with black to clean it up.

The background on the quote was made with the rectangular marquee and then using the Liquify tool in the Filter menu to "rip" the edges. The overlapped hearts on the bottom corner of the picture were made with the custom shape tool without holding down the shift key. I wanted to skew them a little. I then made my background and foreground the green and pink from the background papers (originally taken from the photo) and used the gradient tool to fill the hearts.

I cut the heart out of the intersection of the ribbons by using the custom shape tool and holding down the shift key to keep the proportions. I then moved it into place, made a selection (Command-click on the thumbnail) and then activated both of the ribbon layers in the layers palette, and hit delete. At first it doesn't look like anything happened, but once you throw away the shape layer, you will see that you have actually cut out the heart. Before I deleted the heart, I Command-clicked on the thumbnail in the Layers palette and then made a new layer to put a stroke on it in the green color (Edit > Stroke).

I made the frame for the picture by Command-clicking on the photo, making a new layer and filling it with the pink color already on the page. Command-T to bring up the bounding box with handles and holding both the shift and the Option/Alt keys I pulled on a corner handle until I had the frame size I desired. I wanted to use the bevel and emboss option so I Command-clicked on the thumbnail of the photo and making sure I was on the frame layer I hit delete. Now on that layer I only had the frame and the bevel and emboss option made a nice frame. I also chose the texture option in the bevel and emboss area to give the frame some depth.

I hope this is undertandable and that you will feel free to ask questions or make comments so that if necessary I can make it easier to follow.

For now, I've got to go get another mug of coffee and start my day.

Bye!