Just A Quote For Friday

Okay, so not JUST a quote - I wanted to share a little recent play time:

This is my "before" photo - pretty much straight out of camera except for sharpening.  I've been buying cheap grocery store flowers just to have something pretty and "Spring" like to look at.

Here is the "after" photo:

I used Kim Klassen's Downton Abbey texture on soft light at 50% to give the whole thing a soft washed out look. Then I added Alexa's honey grunge texture on overlay at 50% to add some warmth and texture. Finally topped it off with Kim Klassen's Magic Edges texture on screen at 100% to blur out the edges of the photo.

I know I could have just added that quote directly to the original photo and it would have been just as pretty. But sometimes a girl just has to play, ya know?

Scrapbooking Lately

I've been working to finish up a very old project - a BPC class called "Journey to Perpetual Happiness" that I started back in 2008.  I'm working in a 6x12 album, which is a fun size to play with.  Here's a few of my layouts this month:

1) Music that makes me happy:

2) Do Something that makes you happy:
 
3) Just for fun and because I liked the kit:

4) A layout entitled "I Intend":

Anatomy of a Simple Layout

 +   =

The Mixed Media MashUp is an art-journal style background template. You simply clip papers from a kit to the template in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements to create your own unique background paper.  I could use the same papers but clip them in a different order and have a completely different look.  This background took less than five minutes to create!

Once the background was complete I added my photo and some elements from the kit to complete this layout:

This layout was made with Krystal Hartley's "A Happy Thought" and "Mixed Media MashUps4"

Longwood Gardens

Jay & I took a day off work and made our second visit to Longwood Gardens for the Orchid Extravaganza. These flowers are beautiful to photograph. I thought Krystal's newest kit Being Jane was a perfect choice for scrapping these photos. Of course, the theme of the kit is really all about female empowerment, so I may just go back and make a journal page with it!!

Complete

Today's layout uses a template from Rosey Posey's 52nd Avenue collection and Krystal Hartley's newest collab kit "Story of Us"

Just A Quote For Friday

Photo was taken at Longwood Gardens. Other than some slight sharpening, this is straight out of the camera!

LOAD213 - wrap up

I completed the LOAD challenge in February - with a total of 29 completed layouts - three of them included a companion 6x12 journaling page, 2 of them were 2 page layouts.

I was able to follow some of the prompts, but often chose to follow my heart instead.

I scrapped a lot of stories that had been waiting on my "to be scrapped" list for quite awhile - including my precious stories from Sian's Story Telling Sunday, Orange Crush, Leadfoot and Fraidycat, a great Becca personality page, Living with Fibromyalgia, and Michelle's Wedding.

There were also a number of pages that were "in the moment" scrapbooking - Rachel's visit to the E.R., my Simply a Moment page, What Blizzard?, the mac-n-cheese page.

There were a few done strictly to satisfy Creative Team requirements, a few to fulfill online class assignments, and then there were a few created on days when I just didn't want to scrap... for the sole purpose of getting a page done to post in the Flickr gallery... and I just gotta say... there isn't a single layout in the whole lot that I don't like or regret taking the time to complete! I'm so happy with all of the stories I've preserved this month.  Including these from Days 26 and 28:





If you've ever considered joining LOAD and seeing what it feels like to tell so many stories in such a tight time frame, I highly recommend it! The next LOAD session is in May. Hope to see you there!

Story Telling Sunday - My Precious 3

For more Precious Stories visit Sian's Story Telling Sunday.

One Little Word Blog Hop - March

Whether you arrived here from Lee's Blog as part of the One Little Word Blog Hop, or you are here because you love me and drop by regularly... Welcome! I love visitors! The One Little Word Blog Hop is a monthly hop run by Lee for members of Ali Edwards' One Little Word class over at Big Picture Classes. The hop goes live on Friday at 6:00 a.m.  You can always check back later if someone's post isn't live yet.

The February assignment for One Little Word was to create a dream board or vision board reflecting your word.  Most of the class did this with clipped images from magazines and paper and glue. I went digi with it - largely because I've gone pretty much paperless around here and don't get many magazines anymore. All of my favorite scrapbooking magazines went out of publication and the one left - Creating Keepsakes - I was so bored with that I allowed my subscription to lapse. So I just don't have a lot of magazine fodder to work with.

Here's my layout:
 
I created this with bits and pieces of over a dozen different digi-kits, so I hope you'll all forgive me for dispensing with crediting all the artists!

I resized it to 6x8, printed at home, and adhered to the reverse side of my February focus tracker, so it will be in my little Snap album. But I also plan to have the full 12x12 version printed and will hang it from my bulletin board as soon as I get it.  I've been holding off printing until the finish of LOAD because I know it means I'll have a lot of layouts to print at once!

Here's my February tracker:


A little worse for the wear, I spilled water on it one day. And also on my keyboard. And learned that a sheet of Bounty slipped between the keys really will soak up the liquid... but I digress.

I feel that as far as "dares" go, this month was a total success! I followed a primal diet the entire month, scrapped and uploaded at least one layout a day to the Flickr group for LOAD, tried a few new recipes, and learned how to use the remote trigger on my camera. Not bad for one month, eh? What did you DARE to do this month?

Thanks for stopping by!  If you are following the hop, your next stop is Lisa's blog.  If you get lost, here's the entire list:

Lee: http://thelinarstudio.typepad.com/embracelife

Cheri: cheriandrews.blogspot.com             

Lisa: http://backtoallen.com/category/challenges/one-little-word/  

Michelle: www.table-for-five.com

Julie: www.eggsandherbs.com

Kara: http://iwannabemewhenigrowup.blogspot.com

Margareta: http://www.paperpilekitten.com

Tricia: http://onecreativemom.wordpress.com

Karen: http://womenontractors.blogspot.com

Nikki: http://www.inkyart.com.au/ 

Melanie: http://mellybirddesigns.wordpress.com

Angela: http://angelanoel.com/

Kathryn: http://www.katlodesigns.com/

Jackie: http://blog.jacquelinewolven.com/

Dona: http://orangegearle.blogspot.com/

Paige: www.approachingjoy.com

Ruth: http://suburbansahm.blogspot.com

Kathleen: http://jkplusthree.blogspot.com

Missus Wookie: http://mrswookieswanderings.blogspot.com/

Naomi: www.poeticaperture.com
Kelly:  http://www.septemberblue.net/
Veronica: http://www.veronicanorris.typepad.com/