Diane Weber Artsy Craftsy

Week 4 - Things I Love

2012-02-14T21:10:00.000-08:00

I suppose I should have a Valentine's Day post, showing something crafty done specifically for this holiday featuring the color red and other things I love.

But I didn't do anything craftily new this year.

I did find my Tim Holtz Valentine's tags that I made last year, and I love them just as much this year.

I had intended to give these away last year but silly me, I couldn't part with them. But I did send one off to a special person this year.

And I was greeted this morning by a lovely bouquet of roses. I do love flowers!

And thus I arrive at the page for Week 4, full of things I love...Mr. AC celebrating his birthday, out shopping with Ms. AC, two very special visitors from New York, a book, my golf course, a souvenir from Hawaii, and, OK, I don't love Chinese soul food, I don't even know what Chinese soul food is, but I love the truck!

Credits: Anna Aspnes FotoInspired Layout No 4, plus Anna Aspnes ArtPlay Palette Safron Villa, other elements from Jan Maddocks Celebrate and Jen Maddocks The Orient.

Week 3 Color & Story

2012-02-13T12:32:00.000-08:00

While still mainly on the subject of Hawaii, here is a weekly page from Week 3, January 15-21, spent primarily on Kauai, except for the last day. Just look how bright and colorful everything is! The flowers, the sunsets, the blue skies, so unusually for the north shore of Kauai, the green, which is not at all unusual given the amount of rainfall this island receives.

And note all the smiles!

This page uses Anna Aspnes FotoInspired Layout No 3 (rotated 90 degrees) and Anna Aspnes ArtPlay Palette Ablaze.

I love that these FotoInspired Templates come pretty "complete"...truly just add photos and I used a couple of elements just for balance and accent. That doesn't mean I didn't fuss, just means I didn't have to. I'm still pretty torn between telling the story and making art.

Hanalei Kayaking

2012-02-12T08:59:00.000-08:00

I said there would be more of Hanalei kayaking, well, here it is.

As we turned and came back downstream from the bridge, the ever so slight current floated us along at the mildest pace, with nary a ripple on the water, perfect for reflection shots.

I scrapped this page at a speed scrap at Design House Digital. The instructions said I must use a 3" x 8" photo. I like the 8" part, but the 3", not so much. I created a clipping mask that exact size just to see what it did to my selected photo. Sure enough, it cut it too much for my liking. Somehow, it came to me instantly to repeat the photo, tuck it behind, and turn down the opacity so I could still see it. Adding a stroke around the clipping mask helps to emphasize the focal part of the photo. Someone commented that they liked the use of vellum on the photo...I meant to do that :-)

The title work is from a great alpha called Ephemeral Alpha by Shannon Hegarty at DHD. I loved how some of the letters have map images, and the bit of contrasting orange. Then I found a butterfly with a map, and that led me to butterflies. One doesn't see big butterflies on the Hanalei River, but I like the way they embellish the page.

One hour, one page, and I love it!

Additional credits: Dana Zarling Lakeside, Karla Dudley Crush and Essential Brushes, Agnes Biro Yellow Butterfly and Abandoned Office, and Shannon Hegarty's Ephemeral Alpha, plus Anna Aspnes ArtPlay Palettes Find My Way 2 and Something Springy

Here are a few more photos of reflections in the calm river waters. Those are hau flowers in the water, which bloom yellow, then turn to red as they fade and fall into the river, all in a day.

More to Celebrate

2012-02-11T08:53:00.000-08:00

We are not "activity" folks when we travel to Hawaii, preferring instead to just hang and hike, eat and drink, wallow in the warmness.

But we did partake in a little activity this trip, something I have wanted to do for a while, kayaking on the Hanalei River.

More to come about that. After a somewhat shortened adventure, as it is relatively hard work, and we were due to play golf later in the morning, we just hung around the kayak rental lot, with its series of outbuildings and the Wishing Well Shave Ice truck.

I came across this lovely bush, I think it is an ohia or mimosa, and got the most clear and beautiful pictures of the large blossoms against the bluest sky! Photo is untouched!
I've scrapped it here using the pretty pink stuff from Jen Maddocks Celebrate kit, the same one I used for Mr AC's birthday page.

Additional credits: Jen Maddocks Frame Templates, Jen Maddocks Everyday Garden and Enchanted kits, Anna Aspnes ArtPlay Palettes Retro Holiday, Ablaze and Something Springy

Lucky

2012-02-10T05:00:00.000-08:00

Yes I am, yes it is.

The adorable new Lucky template from Simply Kelly, perfect for scrapping your luckiness! This was certainly a lucky story...lucky to have found one another and gotten engaged on Kauai back on June 22, 1996, lucky to be returning to the same island 15 years later, celebrating our 15th anniversary. Lucky the weather was so wonderful and the island so beautiful.

We are lucky to be us!

Additional credits: Anna Aspnes ArtPlay Palette Autumnal, Snow Paperie, Script Tease Learn No 1, Artsy Layered Template No 6 (flares and plumes)
Maya de Groot Artsy Fartsy, All About, An Altered Treat
Melanie Britt Scrabble Freebie

Celebrate

2012-02-09T05:00:00.000-08:00

So many new kits already this year, but there are also so many trips and occasions to scrap about!

Tod's birthday, done here with the new Celebrate kit from Jen Maddocks. We had a nice quiet and nearly private dinner at the club, followed by a warm pecan tart with ice cream and berries, as delicious as it looks.

In addition to Celebrate, the page uses Jen Maddocks Frames template, and from Anna Aspnes - ArtPlay Palettes Strawberry Preserve and Festive, Numbered Overlays No 1, Everyday Word Transfers, Anna Sampler No 2

For a more manly page, I selected the golds and grays from the kit, accented with a little red. I am anxious to also use some of the lovely pinks!

Hanalei Sans Color

2012-02-08T20:14:00.000-08:00

When staying on the north shore of Kauai, and the question of "where should we go to the beach" comes up, my answer will always be, Hanalei Beach.

Yes we must hike down to Sealodge Beach, and we even hiked down to Anini that day that the bridge was closed because of flooding, and there was also the hike down to Hideaways beach below the Princeville Hotel (did we really do that in flip flops once before? yikes, that was treacherous!)

But if I want to just sit and stare, it must be Hanalei, at the Hanalei Pavilion.

Here's why...

Credits:Anna Aspnes: Anna Sampler no 2, Magic FotoBlenz Album, Project 2011, ArtPlay Palette Ablaze, ArtPlay Palette Everyday. Lace from Maya de Groot's Artsy Fartsy.

My Best Shot of Princeville

2012-02-07T20:46:00.000-08:00

I took a lot of pictures on Kauai, heck, I take a lot of pictures everywhere I go.

This shot, with the lovely orange hibiscus in he foreground of the beautifully manicured Makai Golf course, with the mountains in the background, and a very clear blue sky, bluer and clearer than one usually sees on the north shore of Kauai, is one of my favorites.

I used this for the copycat challenge at Oscraps, the point of which was to use the provided template to scrap a large picture. That's my kind of challenge, and my kind of scrapping, with large pictures!

I love the scattered grouping of postcards at the bottom and the diagonal placement of touches of orange. I love the line at the bottom and the stitching that frames the page and keeps the eye focused on the lovely scene. Heck, I love this page, as I do all the scrapbook pages I make, featuring photos that bring on lovely memories of people, places and things. Oh and I get to do art at the same time :-)

Credits: Anna Aspnes: ArtPlay Palette Encapsulate, Artsy Blenz Snow Paperie, ArtPlay Palette Sunshine Bouquet, ArtPlay Palette Ablaze, Floral Art No 3

Maya de Groot: Family is Forever, Art Journal Freebie

Color My O'World

2012-02-06T05:00:00.000-08:00

This is a post I wrote for the Oscraps blog today...Happy Birthday to me!

There must be a million and one ways to approach a scrapping color challenge. Today I'd like to share one of my approaches, in the hope that it will spark some creative ideas and fun!

First off, I should say I tend to be very literal in my challenge interpretations. If you give me a set of swatches, I am going to use them!The first thing I do is copy the image with the swatches, like this one from our February color challenge. Since this is a low-resolution web image, before I use any parts of it in my page, I increase the resolution (Ctrl-Alt-I, set Resolution to 300 dpi).

Next, I think about and choose the pictures to go with the swatches, and a kit that might get me going in the right color direction.

Here is my starting point for the February color challenge open in my CS5 workspace - the inspiration photo, my picture of a mosaic rooster seen in a shop front in Old Koloa Town on Kauai. Anyone who has been to Kauai knows about the roosters! Aren't the colors just perfect? And the paper, from the Oscraps collab Bold.

Then I extract the swatches to place them on my page. In some cases this is easier than in others, but I am not too worried about being precise, especially since I tend to scrap in a somewhat artsy messy style. Here I have used the lasso tool, with radius set to 0, and made a rough selection around the swatches.

Here I have placed the rooster photo on my background page, and placed the swatches on the page as well (you can of course continue to edit the swatches in the separate document).

I clean up the swatches using my magic wand tool to select and erase away the background...

Then clean it up further with a soft-edged eraser (about 100-125 pixels, hardness=0, and I alter the size of the eraser with the brackets ([ ]) as needed to get closer to the edges. It's not perfect, but good enough.

You may have your own ways and expertise regarding extractions. If you have a favorite method, please share it in the comments so we can all learn further!

Now I am ready to go through my O-Stash looking for papers and elements to support my colors and tell my story. If I want to fill any elements along the way, I have my swatches right in place to use with my color picker.

Here is my completed layout. Notice I kept the swatches in place, and used them as an "element", finding other circular elements, like the frame and the bubbles, to go with them. I added some "chicken scratch" to the background in keeping with the theme. I colored the tag using the light pink swatch with my color picker (use the magic wand to select the white part of the tag only, then add a solid color adjustment layer, using the color picker and the swatch).

Credits:Oscraps Collal BoldMaya de Groot - Midsummer Night's Dream, Home Sweet Home, Prego, All About

Anna Aspnes - ArtPlay Palette Strawberry Preserve, ArtPlay Palette Poppy, ArtPlay Palette Barren Sunrise, Original ArtPlay No 1

Vicki Stegal - Ransom Alpha

I hope this has given you some creative ideas and inspiration for working on color challenges. If you make a page for our February color challenge, be sure to add it to our Color Challenge Gallery so we can leave you some colorful love!

What Colorful Hibiscus

2012-02-05T05:00:00.000-08:00

One could almost take them for granted, the colorful hibiscus that grow in Hawaii, as common as the hedgerows.

But for me, it is still hard to pass one by, especially one freshly opened, moist from the morning dew, and untouched by the sun and the insects.

I was particularly struck by the lemon yellow and orange orange varieties.

Scrapped here using the Oscraps February collab kit, Hello Sunshine.

The oranges in the kit were perfect for the pale orange hibiscus, accented with a touch of pink.

Additional credits: Anna Aspnes 12x12 Script Tease Learn No 1

App-Dicted by Maya de Groot

2012-02-04T05:00:00.000-08:00

APP-dicted is so fun and clever, a very whimsical kit about iPads and apps from Maya de Groot.

I took two very different approaches with this kit, but I love them both.

First, an art journal page about "The Apps of Life". I picked those app images that very much represent my day...waking up, turning on the computer, looking at Facebook and twitter over a morning cup of joe, working for $$, making sure to take a picture for my Project 365/366, perhaps ending the day with having a cocktail as I run out of energy .

Additional credits: Maya de Groot Art Journaling Freebie, Hoity Toity, Oscraps collab Life, Vicki Stegal Ransom Alpha, Anna Aspnes Magic FotoBlenz Album

Then I remembered this story from Christmas. Mr AC told me that Molly was perhaps feeling left out of not having gotten an electronic pad-like gadget for Christmas, so she made her own. Her clever, dimensional and detailed approach to arts and crafts is impressive, and I loved the story. So I asked Molly's Mom if she could take a few pictures of Molly with her "iPad", and used them to tell this story.

Additional credits: Maya de Groot Backpackers 2, the perfect purple to match Molly's shirt, plus Family is Forever, Stuck on You, Hoity Toity, P366, Snap and It Must be Love

Such a clever kit enabling such clever ideas and story-telling! Molly's page also used Maya's new Stretched Alpha.

The 2011 Page Count

2012-02-03T07:37:00.000-08:00

It was tine to get my scrapping pages in a bit of order.

For one thing, there is a Super-Bowl Sunday free shipping sale at Persnickety Prints, so it was time to get some pages uploaded for printing.

For another thing, my folder of "Scrapbooks" was getting unwieldy and need a bit of reorganization.

And for a third thing, I wanted to know how many pages I had scrapped in 2011.

The answer is:

239 general scrap page
67 weekly pages
97 pages done for Europe books

__________________

403 total pages

No, there were not 15 extra weeks in 2011, but for the month of June, I took the approach of separating the photos of the day into the geographical areas of our European vacation, so there 2 pages, for Rome, 2 for Sorrenvto, 2 for Orvieto, 1 for Verona and 1 for Padova/Stresa, 2 for Lauterbrunnen, 1 for Montreux, 1 for Zermatt and 1 for St. Moritz.

Another common annual task, apparently, for scrappers is to pick one's favorite layout. Not possible. I have so many favorites for many different reasons.

But 2 layouts done just about a year ago, from pictures taken a year ago this weekend, continue to warm my heart each and every time I look at them, these pages from the pics of my birthday weekend in San Francisco, where the weather was so lovely and the company perfect (including Mr AC taking the photos).

Both of these were done as part of my digital training at Jessica Sprague, so I also love how they show the emergence of both skills and style.

The count prediction for 2012? Who knows. So far, 20 and counting!

Project 365 Ala Simply Kelly

2012-02-02T05:00:00.000-08:00

There are unlimited choices for documenting a Project 365, a photo a day. And as I am now preparing to print my 2011 book by reviewing every page, I have no regrets for using so many formats, nor for creating weekly pages in addition to printing all the 4x6 photos AND using many of them in individual scrap pages. I love them all!

But I also love Simply Kellly's approach in her new Project 365 Template Set 3...get 7 photos on the page, and tell their story. Done.

But then I also love how one can adapt this concept to one's style, as I did here, by taking one of the photos and blowing it up to form the background, and adding some grunge around the edges.

Additional credits:Anna AspnesProject 366 Word Art 1, ArtPlay Palettes Sophistica, Something Springy and Artsy Blenz Snow Paperie

Two more super cool, original and creative aspects of this Project 365 Template 3 kit:

there are multiple orientations for the sets of 7 photos, so if you have a mix of landscape and portrait orientations, you can choose the set that works best for your photos

the aspect ratio of the photo masks is correct! This may sound like a simple point, but I have so many templates which have interesting photo masks of various sizes, but I often feel like I am cutting off parts of my photos, else expanding the masks to fit my photos. Not so with these templates. Digital photos plop right in with no cut off!

Here is the preview for this kit, which I highly recommend if you will be doing weekly layouts for Project 365, although any 7 photos will do!

Creative with Words

2012-02-01T21:10:00.001-08:00

A bit too much creative energy is going into pages like this these days, but I strongly believe it is good for my brain!

Insta-Food

2012-01-31T21:55:00.000-08:00

No matter how much I know that fruits and veges are better for me, gawd I love carbs! I think perhaps I need to stay away for a couple of days, to make up for...

a cupcake snack (brought to me by Ms AC + L&Y) (I wonder if there was protein in this cupcake...I was not hungry for the next 3 hours!)

a French toast lunch, because I did not want to see the homemade French bread

go to staleness and waste

and a home made (by Mr AC, not me) pizza for dinner

OK, how yummy does that all look??

New York Ornamentation

2012-01-30T05:00:00.000-08:00

As we walked along the street in New York (wish I could remember what street we were on, perhaps I could google it or ask - found it! it was Sixth Ave, also known as the Avenue of the Americas, right across from Radio City Music Hall, and here are some gorgeous photos of it), right next to the giant faux-lights were these giant ornaments in a fountain, apparently in front of the Exxon building (1251 Sixth Ave).

Thus ensued another circus of "let's take pictures" with varying degrees of cooperation.It was easier to snap the ornaments by themselves, but we did manage a couple of decent pictures of the Nasti kiddies in front of the ornaments. Notice how little Natty is always smiling and always cooperative, such a great kid! Not that Crissy and Danny aren't great kids, but they are teenagers, and therefore must maintain some degree of, well, teenager-ness :-)

I created this page as a scraplift of a page by Anna Aspnes with 4 vertical small square photos. I prefer larger photos, and square didn't work for me with these very-landscape oriented pics, so I recreated the template. The really fun part was recreating the rounded-corner lines in the background and the partial rounded-corner shapes framing the photos.

For the shapes, I created large rounded-corner rectangles (with a 100 pixel radius), then just cut them apart. For the outlines, create a rounded corner rectangle, then apply a stroke on a separate layer (via Edit > Stroke, not via layer properties) and hide (or delete) the shape. Then just duplicate it, change its size, etc.

The mask used for the large photo on the right is from Anna Aspnes ArtPlay Palette Sweet Christmas, and how perfect is it, the way the striated edges fade the lines from the building in the background! Something perhaps only a digi-geek could appreciate.

Additional Credits, all from Anna Aspnes - ArtPlay Palettes Sweet Christmas, Strawberry Preserve, Retro Holiday, Encapsulate and Everyday. Plus Descriptives Word Transfers and Winter Frame Transfers.

It Must Be Love

2012-01-29T06:00:00.000-08:00

There is a Disney song going through my head...from Cinderella...

So this is the miracle that I've been dreaming of
Mmmmmm
Mmmmmm
So this is love

Similar to the name of Maya de Groot's new kit, It Must Be Love, which I've used to scap the next Disney page (perhaps that's why I am humming a Cinderella song!).

Lots of soft woody pinks and browns, lovey elements, great word art!

This is one of the pictures taken by the Disney Photopass Photographer at Hollywood Studios, provided in digital format so I can scrap it over and over!

Additional credits - Maya De Groot Templates 4, KellyBell Designs (Disney elements)

Here is the preview for this pretty kit:

Camera Corner Self Portrait

2012-01-28T11:38:00.000-08:00

The January Camera Corner challenge at Oscraps was to do a self-portrait. I like taking self-portraits, since they almost always look goofy and are therefore good for a smile.

The first one was taken at the La Quinta hotel on the night we stayed up at the airport before flying to Kauai, and the second in my bedroom hallway to show off my new Athleta top.

Lots went into the scrapping, including some very cool brushes (the hand, hourglass definition compass and clock) which just seemed to appear in my brush palette. I guess I am still getting used to CS5.

These are the kind of pages I really enjoy and am really proud of. Well, that applies to all of the pages I create, but anyway, I particularly like it when I get to scrap in my messiest grungiest art-journal style, filling every available inch, throwing in little elements that describe the time, like that stamped red 54 in the lower left corner.

Yup, this is me in January 2012.

Credits:From Anna Aspes - 12x12 Magic FotoBlenz Album 1, Portal Art Paperie No 3, 12x12 Script Tease Overlay Learn, Project 366 Word Art No 1, ArtPlay Palette Retro Holiday, ArtPlay Palette Everyday, Numbered Overlays 1, and Vicki Stegal Ransom Alpha

All of My Love

2012-01-27T05:00:00.000-08:00

Valentine scrapping kits are emerging, and ones with red dots, like the new All of My Love kit from Jen Maddocks Designs, are perfect for continuing my Disney scrapping.

I did this one first, this picture of me & Ms AC in front of the Minnie & Mickey topiaries at Epcot,

Then just subbed a few pics, elements and made a companion page of me & Mr AC at the light show at the Studios.

Here is a preview of the kit full of red, pink and black papers, as well as lots of lovey elements.

Additional credits: Anna Aspnes Anna Sampler No 2 , No Reimer Reason Remember the Magic

Project 366 Scrapping Begins

2012-01-26T21:32:00.000-08:00

Yes of course I am doing Project 366, but the question is/was, how would I print/scrap it?

Last year I printed all the individual photos as 4x6's, I printed the scrapbook pages that featured some of these photos, and I intend to print a book of all the weekly layouts.

I just wasn't sure I wanted/needed to do weekly layouts this year.

But, two reasons to do so:

while a picture tells a story, a story tells a story, and perhaps even better, with more details, so as long as I write a little bit about each photo and/or each week, it is worth doing weeklies
Anna Aspnes has created some fabulous Project 366 templates and materials, which could make it really fast and easy if I didn't fuss over every little detail

And so, here we go, Week 1 of Project 366, the Year 2012, begun.

Credits:Anna Aspnes FotoInspired Layout 1, Anna Aspnes ArtPlay Palettes Ablaze, Barren Sunrise, Everyday

Oscraps Freebies

2012-01-25T07:30:00.000-08:00

This is a post I wrote for the Oscraps blog:

Hey, O-Fans, Diane here, bringing you the question of the day...

Did you know, there is a category in the Oscraps store for Freebies?

There are more than 10 pages of awesome Freebies available from our talented designers, waiting to be used in your scrapping! Templates, paper, alphas, wordart, elements...it's all here!

Before January gets away from us, I wanted to bring your attention to a very special Freebie, from Sue Cummings, a quick and easy template/quick grid for a year in review.

O-scrappers have done some wonderful reviewing with this template!

This colorful layout by Michael captures special moments throughout the year:

EHStudios created a Project Life page with the 8 1/2" x 11" version of the free template:

How sweet and romantic is this page by whetuu, thankful for a year with her husband:

Bush Girl focused on a very special even from 2011 in her page:

Ella_75 focused on a year in the life of a very special little man:

marijke chose the four seasons and presented images for each one:

And Elina2 gives us a year of beautiful flowers:

Don't let this one get away, and if you create a Year in Review page, please add it to Sue Cumming's Gallery so we can leave you some love!

Sue Cummings is the designer of the 52 Projects series which focuses on hybrid scrapbooking. (Check out our previous post on hybrid to find out more on that topic.) Sue's ultimate goal for the project is for us to walk away with 52 hybrid projects that can be showcased in a book about hybrid scrapbooking. Project No. 1 is the freebie listed above. Project No. 2 is also available for a low price. Four more projects will be added soon and the whole thing will hopefully wrap up Christmas of 2012. If you want to find out more or see the products, check out Sue's section of the Oscraps store.

"Freebie' banner ad created with Oscraps Collab kit Cozy, with Ransom [the Alphas] by Vicky Stegal.

Another New York Sketch

2012-01-24T20:53:00.000-08:00

Having done one New York sketch, I needed to do another. I had lots more pictures from the day traipsing around in the cold and wind of New York City on the day after Christmas, especially around Rockefeller Center.

I like this picture of us in front of the tree, and I love several of the other photos...there is something about the light and the lack of color, just a lot of silver and gold and gray. It's different from the light here in California and certainly different than in Hawaii, where the sun would wash out anything silver or gold.

Similar to yesterday, I started with a background photo, the photo of the tree in Rockefeller Center, and used a sketch filter, this time the Photocopy Filter, set on a blended mask, with the mask set to linear burn.

Then when I put the next picture on to the page, the picture of us in front of the tree, I accidentally clipped it into the masked sketch. But wow, how cool is that?? A little brush erasure around the edges and we're blended into the sketch!

The additional photos are actually placed underneath the sketch (one normal, one hard light) so you can see both real windows and sketch windows...subtle perhaps, but I love it!

A couple dabs of red to match the trumpeter and my gloves bring it all to tri-focal life.

Credits: Anna Aspnes Anna Sampler No 2, Anna Aspnes ArtPlay Palettes Strawberry Preserve and Retro Holiday.

Black & White & a Red Elephant

2012-01-23T19:42:00.000-08:00

As I looked through yesterday's photos, most from a trip to the Fillmore area of San Francisco, I was surprised by the unintentional yet dominant presence of black & white.

There was the vintage typewriter on the shelf in The Paper Source,

the Eiffel Tower umbrella in the window of a shop (and yes, it was raining, I wonder if there are always umbrellas in this window?),

and in Browser Books (love the faded rugs on the worn-wood floors, that slightly musty smell mixed with the aroma of ink, the strange lighting, sometimes dark, sometimes very bright where the spotlights were placed)...

not only good shelf space dedicated to Charles Dickens (mostly the black & white Penguin editions), but also a staff pick for David Copperfield, warming this store even further to my heart.

It was quite a cold, rainy, gray day, and even the windows of Marc Jacobs were rather dull, except for that glimpse of the RED ELEPHANT!

I tried to take a picture of the Red Elephant inside the store, but just like Wayne's attempt to play Stairway to Heaven in the Guitar Store, I was DENIED! (Really, do you really think I am going to steal your idea of using a red elephant in my business decor ?? Really?). Not be be denied, I thought, who can stop me from taking a picture of pretty Ms AC in front of the window, where one can, if one looks carefully, catch a glimpse on one red elephant. Take that, Mr. Marc Jacobs security guy (I actually do totally understand the sensitivity of designers to having their designs stolen, and therefore the need to restrict picture taking, but I really did want a picture of that red elephant).

And the last bit of black & white, the engraving on my new Marc Jacobs ring that Ms AC picked out for me:

DATUMAMORE AD DEFENDENDUM...

Given in love for Protection (sigh)

A New York Sketch

2012-01-22T21:22:00.000-08:00

I've missed scrapping, a lot. But scrapping needs materials, so no regrets about going off to Kauai for a week so I can gather more memorable materials.

Of course, I still have plenty of unscrapped memories from June in Europe, December at Disney World, and the holidays in New York.

So let's take a look at a New York sketch.

This page was inspired by an AnnaLift page done by Kathleen D of the Duomo, I think from Florence. Subsequent lifts continued to focus on landmarks. I thought about using some building photos from New York, but I loved this photo I captured of the trumpeting soldiers with the wind whipping the silvery and golden flags.

I used the Graphic Pen Sketch filter on top of a mask set to Soft Light blending, turning the opacity down to 80%. It gave me the perfect blend. I used the same mask on a full color version of the same photo, then added an extraction of the waving flags, this time with the blending mode of Luminosity.

Credits: Anna Aspnes Anna Sampler No 2, Anna Aspnes ArtPlay Palettes Strawberry Preserve and Retro Holiday.

Cold Weather Comforts

2012-01-21T21:42:00.001-08:00

When the warm weather vacation ends, there is the need for cold weather comforts, from Mr AC's creative kitchen.

Home-made soup...

And a 58-minute loaf.

Yum, but I do miss Kauai.

Cedric Came to Kauai

2012-01-20T13:31:00.000-08:00

Being a traveling gnome, it should be no surprise that Cedric came to Kauai with us.

Fortunately, I remembered to take his picture!

Here he is on the back balcony of the condo at Puhio at Ka' Eo Kai.

And here on the Princeville cliffs at Sealodge.

And finally, trying to decide on whether or not to do that hike down to the Sealodge beach again. Since the big rains, it is looking a bit more slippery than it was at the beginning of the week.

The Instaview

2012-01-19T21:00:00.000-08:00

It's hard to concentrate on ones shot when this is the view to the next hole.

This is the 7 th hole at the Makai Club in Princeville.

The other distraction on these cliff holes are the albatross. These fascinating birds nest on the cliffs of Princeville, not only on the golf course but also in the neighborhoods. Seeing them fly with their enormous wing spans is poetry in motion. They are also pretty cute just sitting around.

The Day Via Instagram

2012-01-18T22:00:00.001-08:00

I love that with a flick of my finger, I can turn a nicely composed picture into a beautiful shot, thanks to Instagram.

No wonder 14 million people like it !

Here is my day via Instagram:

A walk in the neighborhood in Princeville revealed a previously unknown beach access path, from which we were able to hike down to Anini Beach.

The calm weather and water made for a beautiful morning!

Next we headed over to the beach at Hanalei Pavilion. Being a week day, it was pretty quiet, and again, such a beautiful day!

I have hardly found any seaglass on this trip, but I did find a rather unusual shell. Yes, I know it is out of focus, but I like the picture anyway.

We ended the day celebrating our anniversary at The Dolphin restaurant in Hanalei, always a favorite.

More Colors of Kauai

2012-01-17T07:00:00.000-08:00

View of the mountains from the Princeville golf course, actually taken yesterday, January 16th. Today, we were awoken by a huge clap of thunder, and a poof as the power went out, just before the skies lit with lightning.

Fifteen inches of rain on Mt. Wai'ale'ale, the wettest spot on earth, brought back the waterfalls which we had not seen yet on this trip. As the falls came rushing down, the red-muddied waters flooded the Hanalei River and forced the closing of the one-lane bridge into Hanalei.

It all turned out OK, with the heavy rain breaking at mid-day, the river receding by late afternoon, the bridge finally opening in the early evening. All in all, the stuff of memories!

Zoom...Zoom

2012-01-16T05:00:00.000-08:00

There is no doubt about it, scrapping is fun!

I love the bright colors, the elements, the telling of a story with pictures and embellishments.Presumably it shows. Doesn't it look like I had fun making this page? Yup, I did!

This is a new kit from Simply Kelly Designs called Little Stackers. It's mostly about Lego's, but unfortunately, and rather annoyingly, I couldn't find any lego pictures.

I KNOW we took pictures in and around the lego store at Downtown Disney when we visited in 2010...where are they??

Well, even though I don't have lego pictures, the pictures of our ride on the Tomorrowland Raceway from the pre-Christmas trip were just the right colors for the vibrant papers and elements in this kit.

Zoom...zoom!!

Additional credits: Simply Kelly In a Circle Template, Sue Cummings Favorite Word Art, Anna Aspnes ArtPlay Palette Encapsulate and Sweet Christmas, Tharalis A Colorful Life, No Reimer Reason Remember the Magic

The Colors of Kauai

2012-01-15T22:26:00.001-08:00

There's something about an aqua velva man (I remember when we were here years ago, on a horseback ride down on the Poipu end of the island, the guide talked about how the waters looked like aqua velva...),

Makes one want to do the Tangerine Tango...

Another Day in Paradise

2012-01-14T20:57:00.001-08:00

A long walk in Princeville, with views of the Kiluea Lighthouse way in the distance...

plus the occasional albatross nesting or resting on someone's lawn...

The beach in Hanalei...

and coffee at the old Java Kai in downtown Hanalei.

The Day in Photos

2012-01-13T21:00:00.000-08:00

Not much necessary in the way of words...

View from lunch upstairs at the Olympic Cafe in Kapaa...

Just a couple blocks from downtown Kapaa, the wide open and beautiful Eastern shore of Kauai...

Finishing the day with a scoop of Lapperts...

Goodbye Joe-Joes

2012-01-12T20:37:00.001-08:00

Finally finished...they were amazing!

Disney Day 1

2012-01-11T20:15:00.000-08:00

We took a chance, a chance that our flight to Orlando would be on time, with no delays in getting to the resort.

We took a chance because the 18th of December was the last night for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party.

We took a chance, and it turned out good!

This was a special limited-admission event, held after normal park closing hours at the Magic Kingdom. The park was not very crowded, they gave out free snicker doodle cookies and hot chocolate, and it snowed on Main Street! It was magical!

There at the entrance was the train station. It was all lit up beautifully in pink and purple lights, so of course we had to stop to take a few pictures.

But when I went to scrap this picture, that purple threw me for a loop...I could not find anything to go with it.

That's when I remembered the January Color Challenge at Oscraps, in black, brown and gold tomes, and a simple flick of the colorizer filter, and the purple problem was solved!
I loved the theme they presented at the entry to each of the parks,
"Let the Memories Begin"

Credits - Anna Aspnes Artsy Layered Template No 6, Maya de Groot Santangles, Disney Elements by Kellybell Designs

In Love Simply Kelly Templates

2012-01-10T05:00:00.000-08:00

I am In Love with Simply Kelly's new In Love templates!

They were perfect for scrapping one of the highlights of our visit to Disney World, the Mickey's Once Upon a Christmastime Parade!

It was a beautiful blue-sky day in Orlando, warm and pleasant, and we managed a good viewing spot, in the shade! There was this very accommodating family with whom we shared our little space, and they shared an ice cream with Mr. AC.

The music was wonderful, the parade full and long, Mickey and Minnie showed up pretty early, with Duffy, and it was closed out by Santa. I also loved the soldiers with their blocky boots which made a wonderful clicking noise on the pavement. It was sublime!

There are two templates in the set, one with a single photo frame, and the other with frames for 10 photos (I merged the two in the center to get the whole parade title into it).

Additional credits - Kellybell Designs Disney Facebook freebies

Midway Mania Lift

2012-01-09T05:00:00.000-08:00

Although I didn't finish scrapping Europe, I think it best to try to scrap as close to events as possible, making it a lot easier to remember, and document, the details.

And so I am somewhat randomly doing the Disney scrapping before I forget things...

Like how long we had to wait in line for Midway Mania, the best ride at Disney's Hollywood Studios.

Since it was the day after our arrival,and the big Mickey Christmas party the night before, we decided to sleep in and get somefood in the condo before venturing over to Hollywood Studios.
But when we got to Midway Mania, all the Fastpasses were already gone for the day,
and there was a 65 minute wait. Well, we waited...for a bit more than 65 minutes.
But it was worth it!

One of the things I love about Disney is how they work the details. There were so many fun things to see along the way, like life-sized playing cards, giant dice, enormous scrabble boards and tiles.

I like capturing these details in my scrapping, reinforcing little memories.

I designed this layout as a lift of a lift, for the weekly AnnaLift at Oscraps. It looked like a template was used for the original, but I decided to create it myself, good practice at creating rounded-edge rectangles, key lines and repetitive brushes.

Brush coloring is a bit different in CS5, so more good practice.

Credits:All from Anna Aspnes - Magic FotoBlenz Template No 1A, Numbered Overlays No 1, Artplay Palette Special One, ArtPlay Palette Sweet Christmas. Adventure brush from Katie Pertiet

Week 1 of 2011

2012-01-08T05:00:00.000-08:00

Oops! As I started to think about compiling my weekly layouts for 2011, I realized I had never done the very first week of the year!

Although I started my P365 photo-taking on January 1, I didn't start my weeklies until the end of March in week 12, then I went both forwards and backwards until I was almost done.

Now I am "done".

The next step is to review every page, proof it, make sure there is nothing too close to the edge, as I think I will print these in a Shutterfly book, and get the book ready, including a front and back covesr. Ought to keep me busy for a while!

Credits:all from Anna Aspnes - Always Template, Project 366 Word Art No 1, ArtPlay Palettes Retro Holiday, Find My Way 2, Everyday and Every day Word Transfers

Speed Scrapping Epcot

2012-01-07T20:40:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time since I have been able to attend a speed scrap. But even though dinner was late and I got started late, and I am working at a slight disadvantage, having upgraded to CS5 yesterday and so a little slow with the new interface, I plowed on and did a speed scrap at DHD tonight.

I needed to quickly choose a picture, so grabbed this shot of Ms and Mr AC in front of Spaceship Earth at Epcot.

Then I grabbed the latest kit I had from DHD...Agnes Biro's Berry Merry...love the colors and dots.

Additional credits - Agnes Biro Abandoned Office and Balance, Anna Aspnes ArtPlay Palettes Retro Holiday and Sweet Christmas, Disney elements from Kellybell Designs.

Pantone Color of the Year - Tangerine Tango

2012-01-06T05:00:00.000-08:00

This is a blog post I wrote for the Oscraps blog in my capacity as an Oscraps Cheeri-O.

Happy New Year from Oscraps, and welcome to 2012, the year of Tangerine Tango!This vibrant color, chosen by Pantone as the 2012 color of the year, is defined by Pantone as

"a spirited reddish orange, to provide the energy boost we need to recharge and move forward"

There are plenty of kits from the Oscraps store to provide this colorful energy boost to your scrapbooking.Here are just a few:

Resolutions by Kitty Designs & Valorie Wibbens

Sunset Luau by Leora Sanford

Authentic by Jennifer Labre

Backpackers 3 by Maya de Groot Designs

ArtPlay Palette No 1 by Anna Aspnes

Doodley Alpha Orange by Kitty Designs

Want to use this color palette to fill your own pages and elements?You can download a swatch exchange file (ASE) from the Pantone website. To use it:

extract the zipped ASE file
go to your Swatches palette in Photoshop
click the little expansion arrow in the upper right corner
select Load Swatches
navigate to where you extracted the ASE file
click on the ASE file and the swatches will pop into your palette for use with your Eye Dropper tool.

Want to see more inspiration use of this color? Search on Pinterest or Google Images; new items are appearing every day, especially as the newest fashion collection are announced.

I've created my own Tangerine Tango board on Pinterest to collect my inspiration.

It was easy to find layouts in the Oscraps Gallery that feature great use of tangerine colors!This one by Ella_75 uses elements by Sue Cummings at Oscraps. What better to use for scrapping Tangerine Tango than...tangerines!

This layout from Kimpson uses the Resolutions kit by Kitty Designs & Valorie Wibbens shown above.

How this vibrant color has inspired my scrapping?Here is a calendar I made for January using Maya de Groot's P365 + 1 Calendar, plus the Oscraps collabs Bold and Warm & Cozy.

Yup, I scrapped a photo of tangerines I was placing on the Christmas Eve dinner table using Tangerine Tango.

I had a great time creating this artsy journal page called Tangerine Dreams using the Oscraps collab Warm & Cozy, Original ArtPlay No 1 and ArtPlay Palette Barren Sunrise from Anna Aspnes, Backpackers 3, An Altered Affair and Fright Night by Maya de Groot, and from Kitty Designs, the Doodley Alpha shown above.

I hope you are inspired to brighten up you scrapping in 2012 with some Tangerine Tango!If you create something with these colors, be sure to upload it to our Gallery so we can leave you some colorful love!

The March Calendar

2012-01-05T21:08:00.000-08:00

For the March page of Ms AC's calendar, I chose a vibrantly colored picture of a village on a hillside. This very much reminds me of Vernazza and other Italian villages clinging to the hillsides of the Amalfi coast.

Once again the very simple treatment of placing the photo on a background paper with a mask, then repeating the photo with a filter.

Simple, easy peasy, crafty!

Stay tuned for tomorrow to see what else I did with this calendar page!

Creidts -Oscraps Collab Warm & Cozy, Anna Aspnes Original ArPlay No 1.

More Calendar Craftiness

2012-01-04T05:00:00.000-08:00

Several more pages from Ms. AC's 2012 calendar, jazzed up a bit with elements from the Oscraps Warm & Cozy Collab. By having a common approach and using similar backgrounds from page to page, the 12 pages went together very quickly.

For February, a simple image, a mask, a few papers, some brushes, word art, dots, and a clock, yet so much to look at.

In addition to Warm & Cozy, this uses Anna Asnpes ArtPlay Palett Find My Way 2. Clock image from Katie Pertiet.

For April, I chose a cute print of the ever-popular owl, and note I used a similar background and the same mask, adding a twig element, a different clock, a brush and some butterflies with owl wings.

Additional credits - Anna Aspnes ArtPlay Palette Ablaze and Encapsulate.

For May, again a similar neutral background and mask, with an additional overlay from Anna Aspnes ArtPlay Palette Barren Sunrise and a few more elements from Warm & Cozy.

NY Love

2012-01-03T05:00:00.000-08:00

For a challenge at Oscraps, to use a Christmas kit for a non-Christmas layout. Methinks this could be an appropriate Valentine!

This was a giant sculpture spotted on the streets of NY. I would have liked to have photos with us in the picture, but everyone was pretty tired of posed pictures at this point, and it was so COLD!

Credits:Maya de Groot Christmoose,Anna Aspnes ArtPlay Palettes Retro Holiday and Sweet Christmas,Anna Aspnes Winter Frames Transfers

Back to Simply Kelly Scrapping

2012-01-02T08:09:00.000-08:00

I am so thrilled to once again be on the Creative Team for Simply Kelly!

Simply Kelly's latest release is a set of templates called Simple Starters. There is no excuse for not digital scrapping when one has good solid templates to jumpstart the effort.

Now, for me, that doesn't mean I don't spend hours coming up with just the right combination of elements to make sure there is not an ounce of whitespace in sight!

The first template I used has space for 12 landscape photos. This made me think of our walk in New York, where we came upon these giant faux Christmas lights, and decided to use them as the backdrop for pictures, perhaps to be used for a Christmas card.

Well, with so many people, not all of them cooperative, a crowded sidewalk, a noisy street, cold temperatures, too many cameras, it was the typical Nasti circus!

But it made for some fun photos and fun to capture them all, good and bad, in a memorable layout.

Additional credits: Maya de Groot Christmoose, Anna Aspnes Mini Palette Mint Winter, Jen Allyson Vintage Findings Christmas.

I look forward to creating a few more New York pages using these Simple Starter templates, now available at 30% off!

January, A Calendar and a Collab

2012-01-01T07:44:00.000-08:00

A new month, a new year, a new calendar, and a new collaboration from the Oscraps designers!

Each year there is the challenge of what to put on the family calendars. I don't know where I got this brilliant idea, it just popped into my head. What I did was stalk Ms AC's Pinterest board, then picked some simple images to use on her calendar, in simple settings using the papers, masks and elements from the newest Oscraps collab kit, Warm & Cozy.

In the interest of time, I kept the compostion simple, created the 12 images, uploaded to Shutterfly on a Sunday morning and the gift was in my hands within a few days, in plenty of time for our first Christmas celebration on Dec 17th.

Here is a preview to this beautiful kit, full of so much pretty warm and cozy goodness!

And That's a Wrap

2011-12-31T20:31:00.000-08:00

The last of the weekly layouts, weeks 51 and 52.

365 photos

52 weekly layouts

priceless memories

Credits:
Anna Aspnes Holiday Template No 1, Artsy Layered Template No 40, ArtPlay Palette Mint Winter
Jen Allyson Newsprint Alpha
Agnes Biro Abandoned Office
Jenn Labre Holly Jolly Add On and Candy Cane Alpha

(oh, and, more than 365 blog posts this year!)

The 12 Photos of Christmas

2011-12-30T09:37:00.000-08:00

One of the 12 Days of Christmas challenges at Oscraps was to take 12 themed photos, then scrap them. The themes and my interpretations...

family - used the picture of many of us at thanksgiving (Mr AC is missing since he is taking the picture)
food - has to be lasagna, always lasagna!
sweets - I did a pretty good job of minimizing sweets this year (except for the massive amounts of snickerdoodles consumed at Mickey's Magical Christmas Party), but loved these faux sweets from the Silver Creek gingerbread house
Christmas colors - one of my favorite trees was the Union Square tree...I think I even prefer it to the Rockefeller Center tree
stockings - yup, they were hung by the chimney with care
Santa - one of Dad's creations
decorations - I love giant faux decorations, like these Christmas balls on the Embarcadero
tree - this is our little tree with its pretty lights
snow - I did not see any real snow this year, but thoroughly enjoyed the faux snow at Mickey's party
holiday lights - I learned to take bokeh pictures!
wreaths - MJU suggested hanging our little wreath on the front gate
candles - lit for our first Christmas dinner on the 17th

And here it all is, crammed onto one page!

Credits: Maya de Groot Design's Santangles and Christmoose

Granny Square Christmas Stockings

2011-12-29T06:31:00.001-08:00

Yes, Allen, I did make some of the granny square Christmas tree stockings. Thanks for the pattern, it was perfect (only I made 2 stitches at the heel to round the corner).

This was a great project for the plane ride.

I just grabbed some scraps of red, cream and green yarn, my g hook and even found my plane-approved cutter, which I believe got left with Ms. AC's sweater project, and stuffed this all in a cosmetic bag in my carry-on.

And they were perfect for embellishing gift bags.

Just wish I had had a little more time to teach the littlest crafter how to make them. Maybe next time.

The Return to Scrappiness

2011-12-28T21:57:00.000-08:00

It was a little hard to get restarted, with so many other things to catch up on, including sorting through hundreds of photos to find the photo of the day from each day of our 8-day trip. But restart I did, picking up my scrapping with Week 50.

Credits: Anna Aspnes FotoBlenz Template No 11, ArtPlay Palette Special One

The Rewards of Craftiness

2011-12-27T20:14:00.001-08:00

I loved every crafty minute of making these gnome and owl arigurumi for Molly and Lily, but the rewards of seeing them loved by the recipients... well, priceless!

A New York Moment

2011-12-26T21:20:00.000-08:00

With every visit, there is always the question, do we want to go into New York? Of course the answer is "yes", but then we don't always make it. We almost didn't make it this year...we were too tired and it was too cold on Christmas Eve.

But, since we had to drive to JFK to fly out yesterday anyway, it was not too much effort to get out early and stop on the way.

And I am so glad we did. I got so many wonderful photos!

The screen at Times Square...

How many pictures we took or tried to take, in front of the giant faux lights!

Then there were the giant ornaments...I love it when objects are blown up to giant size!

It was super windy, but very clear, making for beautiful flapping flags in the wind!

Then there were the somewhat cheesy characters dressed up for photos and a handout (note the bag...yes, I did contribute, what the heck, it's Christmas, and you have to admire the fact that a crass commercialism service was being offered. Note there was also a Minnie and Mickey Mouse, but they were not the real deal, so I passed).

I love this photo of the shoe wreath at 9 West...I didn't even realize the Radio City marquee was in the reflection!

Ah, the tree at Rockefeller Center! Wish we could have seen it at night, but it always feels much colder at night, and harder for me to venture out.

And the flags and soldiers at Rocky Center...(I love this picture for its coldness, the angle, the motion).

And the statue above the rink at Rocky Center...

The gothic spires of St Patrick's Cathedral...

The store windows...

The ostentatious Trump Tower!

Love this Louis Vuitton window featuring the Pantone color of the year!

And love this Love, hmmm, also in the Pantone color of the year...

Am I nuts, to be out in this cold windy day in my San Francisco clothes?? (Feeling did return to my feet after about a half-hour in the car).

Getting ready for New Years...

a New York moment!

The Artsy Craftsy Basement

2011-12-25T19:27:00.001-08:00

Before leaving the AC P's house in NJ, I made a trip down to the basement, Only in NJ, they call it the "cellar". In the cellar is one of the Artsy Craftsy workshops, where the figures are painted, purely for the enjoyment of making them.

I know that feeling, and know where I get it from.

And when one is no longer able to do it, it is quite sad.

Tangerine Tango

2011-12-24T21:21:00.001-08:00

Get ready for the year of the tangerine tango, for it will be everywhere, being the Pantone color of the year for 2012.

I look forward to taking many tangerine photos next year, exploring this color to the fullest!

By the way, I love my new Olympus Stylus 7040, a present from the Webers, and an upgrade from my last Olympus Stylus, which I also loved, until I broke the door to the battery and memory card compartment on the first day of our European vacation. No more risk of lost pictures, and 14 mpx of creative memories in every shot!

This picture was taken on Christmas Eve morning as the table was being set for dinner.

Cake Pops

2011-12-23T19:37:00.001-08:00

I love to witness the creativity of others, be it the imagineers of Disney creating new lands, or two sisters creating cake pops.

From the largest ideas designed to entertain millions, to a simple act bonding two sisters, creativity and craftiness is the stuff of memories.

The Castle

2011-12-22T05:25:00.000-08:00

I would love to know whose job it is to think of things to do with the castle... what color to make it, how to light it, how to entertain with it.

Here are just a few examples of the wonder that is the imagineering of Cinderella's Castle at Disney World.

During the day, it is just plain beautiful, looming large from both near and far, and captured here as the backdrop to the wonderful Christmas parade.

At night, during the Wishes nighttime entertainment, a stupendous assortment of colors and images are projected onto the castle, bringing out squeals of delight!

And when the nighttime shows are over, there is the just-plain-beauty of lights, probably thousands of lights, creating a pink, purple and silvery fantasy!

Spaceship Earth

2011-12-21T20:28:00.001-08:00

Always so exciting, the first glimpse of Spaceship Earth, always a must-do photo opportunity, here augmented a bit with an Instagram filter.

Butterbeer

2011-12-20T17:24:00.001-08:00

What is it, you might ask?

Seems like a root beer or birch beer, with a sweet creamy foam on top.It's yummy, and can only be found in the village of Hogsmead at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

It was a highlight of the visit to Hogsmead to taste butterbeer, and I liked it so much I had a 2nd in the afternoon at the Three Broomsticks.

Fantasmic

2011-12-19T18:26:00.001-08:00

Long a favorite, worth sitting for hours to see this fabulous show in which Mickey triumphs over evil!

A Magical Night

2011-12-18T19:38:00.001-08:00

Disney World never fails to surprise and delight!

The castle at night was breathtakingly beautiful, in changing hues of pinks and purples. There must have been thousands of lights making it sparkle!

Bokeh Scraps

2011-12-17T15:26:00.000-08:00

The bokeh pictures from a week ago were perfect for this week's AnnaLift challenge at Oscraps.

I love creating art like this, no muss, no fuss. Well, I have to admit I also loved getting out the heat gun, stamps, ink pad and embossing powder to decorate Natalie's Christmas card, but back to bokeh scraps...

Credits:Uses Anna Aspnes Artsy Layered Template No 40, Anna Aspnes ArtPLay Palettes Retro Holiday and Sweet Christmas, Anna Aspnes Magik Sprinklez No 2

Week 49

2011-12-16T07:42:00.000-08:00

Only 3 more weeks left in this year, as always, so hard to believe. It will be by far the best documented year in history, at least my history.

Without further ado, week 49 scrapped. Since this will sit alongside week 48, I used the same template, which I quite like for these weeklies, Anna Aspnes Holiday Template No 1. Although there are 8 slots for photos, I did the same thing as I did in week 48, stretching a landscape picture across two frames.

Highlights of the week...getting some crafted projects not only done but shipped. I decided to send the gnome arigurumi to Natalie for her birthday instead of waiting for Christmas...poor kid often gets neglected with a birthday in December (not true :-)). The one will go to Lily, since Molly will also get a gnome. I hope it doesn't scare her.

Two trips to San Francisco in the week, both so much fun! On Saturday the 4th Ms AC & I went shopping and got to see the tree in Union Square against a gorgeous clear and sunny day, and on Saturday the 10th we all went up to deliver Ms AC's iPhone and went out for a super delicious dinner at Shanghai Dumplings, a recommendation from That-Sam-I-Am.

Additional Credits: Anna Aspnes ArtPlay Palettes Retro Holiday and Sweet Christmas, Anna Aspnes Number Overlay and Magic Sprinklez No 2, Biograffiti's Itty Bitty Dates

So excited to see these weeklies printed in a book! Do hope Santa brings me some Shutterfly-bucks!! I've been a good little scrapper, Santa!

Are My Ears on Straight??

2011-12-15T08:07:00.000-08:00

We leave in 3 days for our holiday trip. 3 days!! I don't even want to think about what still needs to get done. But checked off the list is my Mickey Mouse Christmas stocking cap.

I sketched this in my notebook a couple weeks ago, then sifting through some patterns, found a pattern for a baby stocking cap. I had to adjust it, several times (rip it, rip it), but ended up with a functional and fitting cap.

For the ears, I traced the shapes onto cardboard from the cap Ms AC brought me from Disneyland several years ago, then crocheted "sleeves" around them.

When I first attached the ears, via slip stitches, they flopped! But a few more anchor stitches higher up on the back of the ears and voila!

Now there is this childhood memory song stuck in my head. It was a 45 record and I remember playing it on my record player...I wonder if it was the same record player that later used to give me a shock when I touched the metal arm, which probably was not properly grounded. Amazing we made it out of the 60s!

I'm a little doll who was dropped and broken
Falling off my mommy's knee
I'm a little doll who has just been mended
Now won't you tell me please.

Are My Ears On Straight, Is my nose in place
Have I got a cute expression on my face?
Are my blue eyes bright, Do I look all right?
To be taken home Christmas Day?

When I first came here, Just a month ago.
Brought in by a little girl who loved me so.
She began to cry, 'Til they told her I
Could be taken home Christmas Day.

Christmas time is drawing nearer, And I'm getting scared
Wish I could see in a mirror, How I've been repaired.
I'll be called for soon, But I'm worried so
Will she love me like she did a month ago.

Are My Ears On Straight? I can hardly wait.
To be taken home Christmas Day

The Lovely Red Twigs

2011-12-14T05:58:00.000-08:00

When we go for walks in the neighborhood, it's hard for me to make progress sometimes, since I must stop and observe pretty and interesting things, and I must take pictures of them.

I just heard yesterday that the most popular iPhone app of the year, by far, is Instagram. No surprise! I had Instagram envy for a long time, longing to make the wonderfully cropped and colorized photos I was seeing everywhere. Now I can make my own.

Although I did use a filter to somewhat enhance the colors of these lovely branches, they really are quite bright coral red, especially in the light of the cloudy day. According to the label hanging from the realtively newly planted young tree, it is a coral bark maple...a fitting name!

I look forward to seeing it branch out in the spring!

Meanwhile, I used it as the subject for an "AnnaLift".
The challenge of artsy pages like this is to stop sticking stuff on it and declare it done. With limited time and so many projects still to complete before Christmas, it was time that finally made me say, "ok, good enough"!

Credits: All from Anna Aspnes: ArtPlay Palettes Sweet Christmas, Ablaze, Encapsulate, Retro Holiday, Find My Way 2, Sophistica, Twiggy No 1 (recolored to match the lovely branches of the coral bark tree), Winter Frames Transfers

Merry Christmoose

2011-12-13T05:00:00.000-08:00

A combo of the old and the new, old santas and the still-new view. I don't know where these tacky melted plastic Santas came from, but they appear among the Christmas goods every year. This year, I almost stuffed them back into the closet, then decided to embrace them instead, hanging them on the back fence along with the cascading lights and the view of the valley.

Unfortunately this one Santa looks right into the window where I sit and work all day and I keep getting the vaguely creepy feeling that I am being watched.

Guess I had better be nice!

This layout uses the completely adorable new Christmoose kit from Maya de Groot designs. I LOVE that moose! and the very clever alpha all stitched together.

This would have made a great Christmas card, that is if I were sending Christmas cards this year, which I am not. No time, no regrets.

Hmmm, OK, this might make the perfect Christmas card for Mom & Dad...may need to print and send, today, else it will not get done...sigh.

Christmas Memories

2011-12-12T06:30:00.000-08:00

I wanted to title this story, "the red balls of Christmas", or the "giant red Christmas balls", but somehow neither of those sounded quite politically correct. I considered "the red ornaments of Christmas", but ornaments is too long of a word to pronounce, especially in a title, and the significant part of the memory is not that they are ornaments, it is that they are round red ornaments, aka balls. Anyway, perhaps not sufficiently creative, but it is still in the 6 am hour, and so I settled for Christmas Memories.

This picture was taken by Ms. AC somewhere along the Embarcadero, as I understand it, but it reminds me of a Christmas memory.

"I remember something about a silver Christmas tree, with only red ornaments on it. It may have had red tinsel too. I don’t remember there being lights on it, but it is all a pretty vague memory.
What I do remember was the red ornaments. Nothing but round red ornaments, just like those in the picture.And I still have some of those ornaments, a legacy from the 1960’s.
It seems that perfectly round, perfectly red ornaments are quite timeless."

Created for the December web inspiration challenge at Oscraps.

Uses Anna Aspnes Artsy Layered Template No 40, Anna Aspnes ArtPLay Palettes Retro Holiday and Encapsulate, Anna Aspnes Magik Sprinklez No 2 and Jenn Labre's Holly Jolly Add On

How to Quilt a Penguin

2011-12-11T14:12:00.001-08:00

So, there is this quilt, made by a long-time client, and it has penguins on it. "Of course I would be happy to quilt it for you," I said, honestly.

But, how does one quilt a penguin??

Thinking, thinking, thinking, and meanwhile time is running short.

"How can I help", asked Mr. AC.

"How do I quilt a penguin?", I asked, not really expecting an answer, just some sympathy.

"Let me take a look."

Really?? Well, OK.

The answer...snowflakes and feathers!

The lesson...answers may come from unexpected places!

Bokeh Time

2011-12-10T22:20:00.001-08:00

There was a time when I did not know what bokeh was, and that time was not long ago!

Now, it is an integral part of the holidays! No, not food...anyone that knows me knows that food is just not that interesting to me, but lights, and color...now we're talking!

From our friend Wikipedia:

In photography, bokeh is the blur, or the aesthetic quality of the blur, in out-of-focus areas of an image, or "the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light." Differences in lens aberrations and aperture shape cause some lens designs to blur the image in a way that is pleasing to the eye, while others produce blurring that is unpleasant or distracting—"good" and "bad" bokeh, respectively.Bokeh occurs for parts of the scene that lie outside the depth of field. Photographers sometimes deliberately use a shallow focus technique to create images with prominent out-of-focus regions.

Mr. AC helped me take these photos, as I do not often (ever?) take the digital SLR off automatic mode.

This first shot of our Christmas tree was taken with a higher f stop (3.6), and so we got the hexagonal shape of the aperture in the bokeh, which I happen to think looks uber-cool.

Then I lowered the f stop )3.2) for this next shot, and got bokeh circles!

I'm excited to scrap with my bokeh, but it will have to wait for another day, for after this day of cleaning, crafts, golf and a trip to San Francisco to deliver a Christmas present to Ms AC, this artsy-craftsy gal is bokehed-out.

Whoooo

2011-12-09T20:14:00.000-08:00

Whooo am I for?We'll have to wait until Santa delivers me to find out.

Free crochet pattern instructions can be found here on the Red Heart website.

Winter Wonderland

2011-12-08T06:03:00.001-08:00

Last weekend Mr. AC & I went to the Global Winter Wonderland in Santa Clara, in the parking lot of Great America. It was an interesting mix of a carnival and a light parade, pretty well done, but with a definite carny slant :-)

The light structures were steel skeletal frames covered in colored silk lighted from the inside. The silk is very saturated, making for some great color.

Although there was a Christmas theme, it featured world landmarks, including many asian and mexican landmarks, which was an interesting twist. All my favorite landmarks were well represented, including the Eiffel Tower, the Status of Liberty, the Golden Gate Bridge and the Grand Canal in Venice!

One of my favorite things were the trees that changed color!

The non-Christmas colors worked well for the December color challenge at Oscraps, featuring this palette of wine, pink, mauve brown (very like my current nail polish) and deep green,

which I turned into this, using the Oscraps December collab kit, Family.

Christmas in Union Square

2011-12-07T05:00:00.000-08:00

One of the things on my "todo" list for last weekend was to see the Christmas decorations in Union Square. They did not disappoint! The tree was just magnificent. And while I am sure I would be thrilled with it at night, it was also perfect on a warm sunny Sunday, backlit by a perfectly blue San Francisco winter sky.

I scrapped this up super quickly for a special 12 Days O' Christmas Color Challenge at Oscraps using

Maya de Groot's Santangles Quick Pages, Maya de Groot's Santangles and Anna Aspnes ArtPlay Palette Ablaze.

Here's a little secret...Quick Pages are quick! This particular page only had two circular slots for pictures, the rest of the page was completed flattened and uneditable. But I placed my large photo of the tree in the white space area (cause we know I do not like white space) and blended it with a mask and a color transfer, making it look like it blends in with the layers.

There are three more quick pages in this Maya Santangles set, which are currently on special, free with purchase...I should try them all!

Week 48

2011-12-06T06:15:00.001-08:00

I am really proud of the stamina I have for my Project 365, taking a photo every day, printing those photos and putting them in an album, scrapping some of the best photos, and also scrapping each week into a weekly layout.

Here is Week 48, done within days of it's life. I just love all the rich colors of the week, the beautiful day lily that bloomed in the front yard, the sunsets, the leaves!! I got to go to Santana Row for a luncheon and was thrilled with the decorations, they always make it look so beautiful there, especially on a warm sunny day, and our visit to the Santa Clara Winter Wonderland, complete with a lighted Eiffel Tower!

Credits: Anna Aspnes Holiday Template No 1 Anna Aspnes ArtPlay Palette Sweet Christmas Anna Aspnes Twiggy Biograffiti's Month Stamps and Itty Bitty Dates No 5

Weekend at Ms Artsy Craftsy's

2011-12-05T21:19:00.001-08:00

Little bits of creativity in progress, making for a comfortable spot for work and inspiration...

work in progress on The Sweater...

leftovers from Pottery Barn Kids, given a good home.

A quiet weekend at the Artsy Craftsy's, but never void or art or craft.

Hanging the Twelve Tags of Christmas

2011-12-04T08:29:00.001-08:00

Last year I participated in a class at Memories Live On, creating the Tim Holtz 12 tags of Christmas. I actually had to go back in January to finish the class, as it is quite a log of wonderful craftiness to create these tags.

After Christmas I carefully put them away in a Omaha Steaks box, and yesterday it was time to get out the box and hang the twelve tags.

I wasn't sure how to hang them. Mr. AC suggested making a braid from which I could hang using ornament hooks. Ooh, make a braid!! I used 5 strands of yarn, 2 each of normal 4-ply white and red, with a thick green chenille, and chain stitched using my giant crochet hook that I use for making fabric-braided rugs.

Voila, the 12 tags are hung on the mantle in the great room.

Love these tags, and love the chunky braid!

The Gingerbread House

2011-12-03T19:19:00.001-08:00

Last night was our annual Sip 'n Shop at the Country Club, where they freely pour wine and invite us to shop for golf gear at greatly reduced prices. It's a very popular event, and justifiably; I mean the wine is free and the merchandise is up to 80% off. We came out of there with 4 golf shirts and 2 pairs of shorts for not very much money. And it was all gift wrapped for free. Gotta love the Sip 'n Shop.

The bonus of the evening was the decorations at the foot of the stairs. Last year it was a train scene, complete with golf clubs inside the cars, which was very cute. This year it was a giant gingerbread house, as in big enough that I could fit inside (I didn't, it was roped off, but I could have fit).

This was perfect for my photo of the day, since the photo theme for Day 3 of Oscraps' 12 Days O' Christmas was sweets! It also worked perfectly for the weekly scraplift, since this was my inspiration page (by Sandrine), full of red and circles.

So I scrapped the pictures toute suite with Anna Aspnes ArtPlay Palette Sweet Christmas. It was like the scrapping moon and stars all lined up, for how perfect was the photo of the day topic, the Club's decorations, the scraplift inspiration, and this kit??!!

The very cool "gingerbread" word art is from the kit, filled with a striped paper turned diagonally. The pinwheel candies are photos from the gingerbread house, blended using a hard light blending mode, with edges erased with a soft brush.

One of the things I am most proud of is the "house" word art, which is mouse-drawn with the pencil tool. And probably the most fun element was including another picture of me and the gingerbread house, peeking out of a little circle. Note also the journaling, done in a thin column to use the lighter stripe of the background paper.

Additional credits: Anna Aspnes ArtPlay Palette Poppy, Anna Aspnes Magic Sprinklez.

Here is a bit more of this wonderful kit, so perfect for scrapping holiday sweets. The Oscraps gallery is just full of pages using this kit today, all so fun to look at.

Putting the Roof On

2011-12-02T21:12:00.001-08:00

I like it when a crafty project is all set up, and it only takes a few minutes, some glue, and some awesome seashell parts to accomplish this...

The roof of my mosaic birdhouse

December, Still Fall, 12 Days

2011-12-01T06:28:00.001-08:00

Here it is December 1! The weather has been strange this week with the cold cold tule fog until late in the day, then yesterday afternoon the winds came in and blew all the fog away, but man is it windy! By the time we reached the 9th hole on the golf course yesterday, the wind was blowing so hard it actually blew my ball back towards me!

So it's a good thing I got out earlier in the week for more leaf peeping, as I suspect all the leaves have blown off the trees overnight.

I got some beautiful and amazingly colorful shots earlier this week, the colors so brilliant they almost do not look real, but these are not touched up photos, this is nature in all her glory!

Credits: Vicky Stegall's fabulous Fall Frames, plus Anna Aspnes ArtPlay Palette Autumnal 2 and Anna Aspnes Twiggy No 1 , Jennifer Labre's Serendipity

December 1 also marks the start of 12 Days O Christmas at Oscraps! Gonna be lots of scrappin' going' on!

Geranium Love

2011-11-30T07:09:00.001-08:00

The geraniums in the front yard have been such a treat, continuously blooming, relatively maintenance free, and large enough that the rabbits are leaving them alone, to bloom in neon brightness in the winter air.

I used this picture for a Camera Challenge at Oscraps to demonstrate "scale". Zooming so close I could capture the dew drops on the petals, lit by the sun.

Credits: All from Anna Aspnes: FotoBlenz Template 5, ArtPlay Palattes Strawberry Preserve, Sophistica, Seafoam, Winter Frame Transfers, Magic FotoBlenz Album

Upping My O'Game

2011-11-29T20:13:00.001-08:00

This week marks the start of a big event at Oscraps, the 12 Days O' Christmas!

Not only am I excited (and a bit confused still) about all the things going on, but I am one of the people responsible for blogging about it!

Cause...I don't have enough to do :-)

(I should be gluing tiles to a birdhouse roof right now!)

It doesn't start until December 1, but the first order of business was to get my Cheeri-O Christmas cheer on.Here is the pic of Megan and I from Thanksgiving, all dolled up with the help of Maya de Groot's Santangles kit. I especially love that button tree!

I've been looking forward to using this adorable Santangles kit from Maya, available at Oscraps:

Weekend at the Artsy Craftsy's

2011-11-28T20:19:00.001-08:00

One would think that with a 4-day weekend, there would be lots of artsy craftiness going on. Well, there was some, but somehow too many other things got in the way of being totally immersed in being artsy craftsy.

I did however get a couple more potholders made...I just love crocheting with cotton, even if I or no one else ever uses these. There is something about the feel of the thread, the saturation of the colors, the regularity of the variegation (how is that for an oxymoron?), that is somehow wonderful to have in one's hands.

I also finally got started on mosaicing that little birdhouse. How cute is this?? I used some of the Murano glass millifiori tiles from, well, Murano, around the opening, some glass and ceramic around the edges and to create some stylized flowers on the sides, and cut some iridescent china to give a more random look to the center area.

And I did take lots of pictures, including an wonderfully dewy and sunlit spider web on one of the pine trees in front of the house,

and an unexpected and gorgeous day lily in the front yard.

Thanksgiving Week

2011-11-27T15:57:00.001-08:00

Keeping up with my weeklies, I did something different this week.

For the past two weeks, I had created one layout with one photo of the day, so when it came time to do the weekly, I used that layout as one side, and put the remaining 6 pictures on another page.

But this week, with various challenges, I scrapped two pages, each with single photos of the day, the AnnaLift featuring the view of the sunset on the 9th hole on Tuesday November 22, and the member spotlight challenge from Oscraps featuring the fall leaves pictures from Monday, November 21.

I didn't really want to repeat these photos in different layouts, but didn't want 3 different layouts for the week. So I decided to combine them! Yup, just laid one right over the other, and with other a few minor adjustments, got this wonderful combo! I added a couple things...a background photo of a poppy from the facing page, a twig (from Anna Aspnes Twiggy 1) and the week title.

This left me just 5 pictures to place on the facing page, which is almost always easier to manage than all 7 on one. Besides the wonderful views, highlights of the week were Thanksgiving dinner and homemade pecan rolls.

Additional credits: Anna Aspnes Artsy Layered Templates 19 and 38, ArtPlay Palette Ablaze, and Maya de Groot Home Sweet Home.

Quiet Moments

2011-11-26T05:00:00.001-08:00

Another weekly AnnaLift, this one for the week starting November 25, gave me the perfect opportunity to use my photo of the day from November 22, of the sun setting on the 9th hole. I didn't think it was the best photo at the time I took it, and I tried taking another, but with similar results...it was definitely getting too dark to take pictures.

But it reflects what was going on the 22nd of November, a Tuesday, finishing up a round of golf just as the sun is setting behind the houses on the left side of the 9th hole.

When I saw the inspiration layout from Zalaine I knew I had the perfect photo. I also happened to have the perfect kit, the same Anna Aspnes Art Play Pallette Saffron, providing the lovely yellow background.

Here is my interpretation:

Additional credits: Anna Aspnes ArtPlay Palette Sophistica, ArtPlay Palette Festive, ArtPlay Palette Encapsulate and Artsy Layered template No 19

Serendipitous Leaves

2011-11-26T05:00:00.000-08:00

These leaves were so beautiful, they deserve more than a single showing. Here is another capture of the beautiful fall leaves using Jenn Labre's Serendipity Kit at Oscraps.

Additional credits: Anna Aspnes Artsy Layered Template No 37, Anna Aspnes Twiggy No 1

So many beautiful papers, color and elements!

Oscraps Family Collab & Jen's Christmas Kits

2011-11-25T05:00:00.000-08:00

The latest collab kit from Oscraps and available today for Black Friday is called Family, and so I of course thought of Natalie, especially with all those pinky purple colors. This is Natalie dressed as "Natalie Zoe" for Halloween.

The huge collab kit is free at Oscraps with a $10 purchase through the end of the weekend.

More Black Friday digi-goodness, several new kits from Jen Maddocks Designs, which I combined into this fun page featuring that wonderful neon geranium in the front yard (doctored a bit with Instagram).

This page combines Quilt Templates 3, I'm Festive Alpha, Holiday Words, Holiday Cheer, Christmas Grunge and Ode to Joy, all new by Jen Maddocks and available at Zig Zag Scraps.

Thankful

2011-11-24T08:51:00.001-08:00

I have been trying to get out for a quick walk/run in the morning, to get the blood flowing and get some fresh air. It helps so much to keep me from getting stiff, bored and cranky.

On Monday of this week I was rewarded with the most beautiful morning, crisp and fresh after a washing rain, sky clear and blue, colors brilliant, and not too cool to boot.The colors of fall leaves blazing against a blue sky is just not something I can resist. I've used the photo for the last of the November challenges at Oscraps, and to express my Happy Thanksgiving wishes.

Credits: Anna Aspnes: Artsy Layered Template 37, Floral Art Brushes, ArtPlay Palette Encapsulate, ArtPlay Palette Sophistica, ArtPlay Palette Ablaze, 12x12 Script Tease Overlay Learn, Winter Frames Transfers. Maya de Groot The Art of Journaling, Jennifer Labre Gratitude, Katie Pertiet Thankful Word Art

Week 46 in Review

2011-11-23T05:31:00.000-08:00

I'm keeping up, I'm keeping up! Week 46, Nov 13 to 19, brought beautiful fall weather, a new back door and window, better to see the view, some craftiness (some little ones are getting gnome arugurumi for Christmas, and beautiful fall color!

Credits: Anna Aspnes FotoBlenz Template No 11, with ArtPlay Palette Festive Moments and Snow Paperie

Whoops, once again there are only 6 pictures here...the 7th is featured on my Twilight "Crush" page. I used the same overlay on both pages to tie them together.

Starting Up Verona, Coming to the O!

2011-11-22T08:15:00.000-08:00

Now that the scrapping of Orvieto is complete, and oh by the way I did order the book of Orvieto and Padova, at 40% off!, next up is Verona.

I've already done one page for Verona, of the love graffiti in the courtyard of Romeo & Juliet,

and used the picture of the locks on the bridge over the River Adige for a 2nd page,

but Verona must start with this photo of having spritzes on Piazza Bra.

I bought this Anna Aspnes template expressly for the purpose of scrapping this photo of sipping spritzes in Verona Italy :-)

Credits:Anna Aspnes:Artsy Layered Template #28, ArtPlay Palette Barren Sunrise, Magic FotoBlenz Album #1 P 17, ArtPlay Palette Sunshine Bouquet,ArtPlay Palette Seafoam

And while on the subject of scrapping, I have to mention an upcoming event at Oscraps about which all us Cheery-Os are very excited!

Coming soon!

You won't want to miss this!

Weekend at the Artsy Craftsy's

2011-11-21T05:58:00.001-08:00

I'm really liking these weekend posts, as I get to exhibit much more artsy craftiness than during the week.

This weekend was full of holiday prep, but that doesn't mean there wasn't craftiness going on in the house, oh no, quite the opposite!

First up was a trip to see Twilight Breaking Dawn (for Ms AC et moi, Mr AC ran errands), taking pictures in front of the big cardboard cutouts, and scrapping the pics as an "AnnaLift" scraplift about "Crushes".

(Credits - Anna Aspnes Artsy Layered Template No 38, Winter Frames Transfers, ArtPlay Palette Ablaze from The Daily Digi, ArtPlay Palette Sophistica, ArtPlay Palette English Rose, ArtPlay Palette Poppy, ArtPlay Palette Special One, ArtPlay Palette Barren Sunrise)

Next up was making the 4th and final toilet seat cover, in time for National Toilet Day on Saturday! I am thrilled with how cute it looks, bringing more great color to the Mickey bath!

The big accomplishment was completing the chicken placemats for the kitchen. This is the fabric that Ms AC so sweetly bought for me from StoneMountain & Daughter. I measured and drafted and thunk till I figured out the Table Graces pattern, made a sample, then successfully executed it 4 more times. I LOVE how they look! And all the fabric came out of the stash (and coordinates with the Mickey toilet seat cover).

And there in the center of the table is my new little succulent garden, purchased at the Craft Market at the country club on Sunday. There are 5 adorable little plants in it, in a lovely yellow and black bowl.

Then there was some quilt hanging. At first I had vowed to hang my quilts better in this house, with nicer rods instead of sticks, etc. But here it is nearly 2 years later and only a couple quilts are nicely hung. So rather than continue to have bare walls and quilts all over the floor, a few got hung, with their old sticks.This one, good old Big Blossom Trio, is in the upstairs alcove (I need to fix up this alcove...some pretty new curtains, a comfy reading chair and a lamp, would be so cozy!)

And along the hallway, Moon Spots and Moon Spots II, and you can just see the sides of the 4 Diane Phalen quilt prints, finally hung, and of course quilts on the railing and landing, but those have been there for a while. It makes for a nice gallery effect along the hallway!

In the sewing room, I decided to hang Vintage Frocks. I gave the skirts a good pressing and it looks so sweet hanging there on the Provence Cream walls, above the ironing dresser, which has a new cover on the ironing surface (Mr AC did that for me last weekend).

Mr. Artsy Craftsy set up his train this weekend! I have to admit I didn't think he would get to it, nor did I realize it could be done so quickly! I helped by glueing felt pads to the bottom of the saw horses to protect the carpet (yeah, glue gun used!).

DigiMorph #4 Reveal

2011-11-20T06:00:00.000-08:00

It's been so long since I did this layout, I almost forgot about it, but this weekend all 21 participants finished up the digi-morph and were all revealed.

I took this picture while stopped at a light on the Embarcadero after spending the night at Megan's and dropping her off to work at Pottery Barn,. This was after attending the Design Spinge book signing at Anthropologie the night before. It had been a warm and beautiful evening, and it dawned a warm and beautiful day. It wasn't until I looked at the photo carefully that I noticed the San Francisco tour bus coming into view.

Credits:Celeste Knight Weathered Frames, Agnes Biro Last Warm Day and Abandoned Office, Jen Allyson Notions Blue and Halloween Papers, Deana Rutter Necessary Office Paper, Karen Funk Shabby Valentine and In Bloom, Sara Schmutz Bicycle Ride, Jopke Designs and Jen Allyson Blog Hop and Anna Aspnes ArtPlay Palette Find My Way.

Ode to Joy, Ode to Love, Ode to Verona

2011-11-19T05:00:00.000-08:00

Allow me to wax poetic as I show my latest scrapbook page of a pile of locks in Verona Italy and an awesome and vibrant new kit from Jan Maddocks Designs.

Ok, end of poetic waxing, for the images do all the work here...

The fine print...

This is a bridge in Verona over the river ...People profess their love by writing or carving their initials on a padlock and securing it to a romantic location.

Seen in many places in Europe...Paris (this photo from Paris Daily Photo...I know I have one, but couldn't find it, so perhaps it's just in my head),

Along the Cinque Terre in Luguria, Italy...

And the kit... Ode to Joy by Jen Maddocks Designs debuting at Zig Zag Scraps today.

Grateful for the View

2011-11-18T05:00:00.000-08:00

Still not tired of it, still want to take so many pictures of it, still scrapping it, my view of the valley! This was taken from Morningside Drive while on a walk in the late afternoon last week. I love how the whole valley turns golden with the setting sun. It is indeed the good life we live up on this hill!

This picture was perfect to scrap with Jennifer Labre's new kit Gratitude at Oscraps. The gold, purples and burgundy were all the colors in the photo, and the elements perfect to convey how I feel about it.

I only wish I could have used a little more of the turquoise, but maybe next time.

The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt

2011-11-17T20:56:00.001-08:00

A couple of weeks ago, I saw something, somewhere on the web, about The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt. I wasn't sure what it was all about, but I was intrigued.

The site Get It Scrapped sponsored a webinar with the author of The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt, Caroline Preston. Caroline has one of those voices that you want to read you a bedtime story. I was rapt, listening to her adventure and process in putting together this book.

As soon as the webinar was over (I listened patiently, while doing nothing else, for over an hour!) I purchased the book. Caroline showed many pages during the webinar, and I thought she was giving away the whole deal. When a very thick package arrived in my mail box this week, I wondered what it was...a book, but what book did I order that would be this thick?

Then I opened it and began to marvel anew at this book. I have no affiliation, I just happened upon something that I think is so incredibly cool and creative and innovative and unique. It is probably best categorized in the genre of graphic novel, but done in the style of a vintage scrapbook.

But this was not done digitally, it was done by pasting real snippets of vintage ephemera onto pages that were then photographed and made into the book. I can hardly imagine the amount of work, and applaud this creative effort.

I am not done reading it yet, but it is hard to put down. I invite anyone similar intrigued to go to Caroline's site and check out her info on how she created the book. Oh and according to the author, much of the ephemera was purchased on eBay.

eBooking Orvieto & Padova

2011-11-16T06:32:00.001-08:00

Now that I am done with scrapping Orvieto and Padova, I thought I would put together a quick book and see if I could add up some discount codes to make it a good deal.

As it turns out, I wasn't able to add up the codes, but I can still share the book and save it for another discount day.

Only had to put together a few additional pages, a title page, of me sitting on the wall overlooking the countryside...

... and front and back covers, which were just modifications of existing pages. I do hope I can a good discount, as this looks so yummy and colorful!

Click here to view this photo book larger

Shutterfly offers exclusive layouts and designs so you can make your book just the way you want.

Week 45 Scrapped & Recapped

2011-11-15T18:49:00.001-08:00

I am so busy being artsy-craftsy and a Cheery-O, I have hardly had time to scrap!

Torn between working on more photo books, as they totally suck me in with the '2 days only save 50%' stuff, and keeping up, I chose to do my next weekly, Week 45.

A week ablaze with color and little excitements. While this may not be New England, we certainly have our fair share of beautiful fall color in the trees, warmed by the glow of the all-too-early setting sun. It's nearly dark when we finish our round of golf at 5 pm.

Tod’s new car is working out well, with all it’s cool features like pretty lights.

A Cooper hawk spending a little time on the back fence, an interesting use of elevator door space for advertising, and the Harry Potter movies on the Family Channel.

There is one more picture that is in a companion page to be revealed next week along with a new kit from Jennifer Labre at Oscraps (hint...rich colors coming!).

Credits: All from Anna Aspnes

FotoBlenz Layered Template No 11
ArtPlay Palette Ablaze (from The Daily Digi files for November)
ArtPlay Palette Autumnal 2
ArtPlay Palette Special One
ArtPlay Palette Encapsulate
Numbered Overlays

Weekend at the Artsy Craftsy's

2011-11-14T19:41:00.000-08:00

Super nice weather on Sunday meant the artsy craftsy accomplishments were somewhat light this weekend, but helped by the continuation of the Harry Potter movies on the Family Channel. Yes, I own the first 7 movies and have #8 on my Christmas list, but somehow I cannot resist when they are on TV, plus, Chamber of Secrets is out on loan, and, TV versions tend to have scenes not included in the DVD releases, and, they show behind-the-scenes stuff, and I don't have them all on blue ray, etc, etc, Anyway, my little artsy craftsy accomplishments included:

completing and ordering 3 photo books of our European adventure from Snapfish. Two are for gifts and the other a keepsake for myself. I took advantage of the buy 1 get two free offer!

finally deciding to rip out the outermost border on this cotton cloth; still not sure if I will use it, but oh how I love crocheting with cotton! and I love this yellow color!

starting a new crocheted potholder with triple thickness of cotton...so chunky!

making this cute little gnome arugurumi, another present

a couple of blocks on the double wedding ring

a hem on this simple fabric runner that I bought at PIQF two years ago...I think maybe it needs a crocheted cotton trim? And another pressing! But I love the soft warm yellow that looks beautiful with the golden yellow color of the kitchen.

tore the house apart looking for the Table Graces placemat pattern which I think will be the best option for using this chicken fabric Megan bought for me at Stone Mountain & Daughter. Did not find it, but did find the pattern for the chunky cotton crochet pot holder and the toilet seat covers!

found some fabric for the last toilet seat cover in the house, for the Micket Mouse bathroom. I hope to have it done in time for World Toilet Day which is this coming Saturday (I am not making this up).

Oh and yes, I did do some scrapping, but mostly in preparation for future releases at Oscraps, so those will not be revealed until it's time.

Scrapping Up Padova

2011-11-13T05:00:00.000-08:00

I finished up the last of the scrapping of Padova today, capturing a couple of views of the Scrovegni Chapel. When I read about the Scrovegni Chapel, with it's restored Giotto frescoes, I wondered if it was worth the effort. We needed to make a very specific advanced reservation, show up at least 30 minutes early, etc, etc.

Well, it was worth it. Not a huge fresco fan, but the walls of this chapel read like a colorful graphic novel. It was amazing. The realism was impressing and the colors beautiful.

There were no pictures allowed inside the chapel, so I only have photos of the outside, but I found an online image to use to try to convey the very graphical storytelling nature of these frescoes, each episode in its own panel, circling the entire chapel, floor to ceiling, all around..

Credits:

Anna Aspnes ArtPlay Palette Sophistica

Anna Aspnes ArtPlay Palette Strawberry Preserve

Maya de Groot Terra Toni

So here is what Padova will look like all together, side-by-side, if I ever create that massive book of Europe 2011.

Cheery-O at Oscraps

2011-11-12T09:04:00.001-08:00

It has always been important to me to be involved with a community of like-minded individuals...feel like I have said that before, perhaps right here, but still true.

There are so many digital scrapbooking sites and communities out there it is overwhelming. I started out and learned so much at Jessica Sprague, I love all the people and challenges at Design House Digital, although I haven't visited in a while, I loved the speed scraps at Scrap Matters, and find so many beautiful things at Designer Digitals. Then there are some new sites I've been enjoying, Plain Digital Wrapper and Zig Zag Scraps.

But I have find my home, and it is at the "O", as in Oscraps.

I've talked about Oscraps lots, since that is where the sweet and talented Maya de Groot sells her designs. Maya is kind and generous enough to have me on her Creative Team.

And now I have become a part of the Oscraps big creative team, the Cheery-O's.

I love that name, and I love the "O"!

Here is my new Cheery-O avatar. This, my favorite picture, is the one Yvonne took of me at Claire's when we all went for new piercings for Laura and Laura, and I busied myself with trying on hats and glasses.

The background is from Maya de Groot's Terra Toni kit, and the frame provided by Oscraps.

I have to once again admit I am not a big fan of blinkies...I am convinced these kinds of things give one headaches, but it is the thing to do in the scrapbiz, and it is awfully cute, my Oscraps Cheery-O blinkie.

Critters at the Creek

2011-11-11T07:01:00.001-08:00

There is often entertainment, aka distractions, right outside my big picture window. Yesterday it was provided by the birds, the big birds. I love to watch the big birds of prey, they are so majestic and confident looking, like this big Cooper's Hawk that landed on the back fence for a look around the hillside.

He stayed for quite a while, moving from place to place along the back fence.

But then the crows got wind of him. The crows seem to hate the hawks. Well, the crows seem to hate everyone. Whenever I hear a crow ruckus, there is bound to be another creature in the area, so they are a good alarm for wildlife sightings. They circled and charged and squawked until the hawk got tired of it all and flew away.Here is one feeling quite satisfied with himself, having secured the area as a crow-zone.

Determined to stay out of the fray, this little guy is practicing the credo, "if I don't move, no one will see me".

iDSD & the Flower Market

2011-11-10T05:00:00.000-08:00

Last weekend was international Digital Scrapbooking Day. Yes, such a thing exists. There were so many sales and events going on it was a bit overwhelming. I did take advantage of a 30% off sale to pick up a few templates and goodies from Anna Aspnes' store at Oscraps.

Today there was a challenge at Oscraps to make a layout with the goodies purchased on iDSD weekend, and here it is.These are pictures from the flower vendor at the farmer's market from last Sunday. I love going to the flower vendor booth, even if I don't buy anything. I love how they dye some of their flowers with food coloring, making them even more vivid than nature intended. I love that they sell bunches of flowers for $3, making it cheaper than a cup of coffee to have fresh flowers in the house. And I love that I can get vibrantly colored pictures at the flower market.

Credits:

Anna Aspnes Artsy Layered Template No 36

Anna Aspnes Artsy Layered Template No 37

Anna Aspnes ArtsyBlenz Snow Paperie 2

CopyCat Grasses

2011-11-09T05:00:00.000-08:00

Created for the November copycat challenge at Oscraps, this simple picture of the grassy hill at the back side of the 3rd hole has me smitten. I just love the form of the fading and flattened grasses, and the upright purple spikes of something that I think is lavender, although I am not sure. The combination of browns and purples is just lovely and so soothing.

Credits:

The template provided by Oscraps already had many of the little squares merged so all I needed to do was clip an enlarged and repeated photo in, with some papers in the additional squares.

The background is a merge of papers from Maya de Groot's Backpackers 2, which lended the lovely purples and blues, and Terra Toni, which is mostly about brown, but has the wonderful herringbone texture that I was able to blend on top.

The bird, branch, paint splotches and 100% Natural word art are also from Maya's Terra Toni.

Added to the background are some art strokes, brushing and bokah from Anna Aspnes Magic FotoBlenz Album, a few flower accents from Anna Aspnes ArtPlay Palette Find My Way 2, Anna's free Fall Word Art, and Anna Aspnes Script Tease Learn 1 overlay.

Week 44 Warm to Cool

2011-11-08T05:00:00.000-08:00

Probably destined to be the last really warm week of the year, Week 44, October 30 through November 5, started out super warm. In fact, I was quite hot in my gnome costume on Halloween.

But then a little rain came and it cooled off considerably.

And so I divided my weekly layout into a "warm" side and a "cool' side.

On the warm side is that shot of the hill alongside the 3rd hole again that I featured in the Oscraps copycat challenge, and yet another picture of my view out the back, processed via Instagram. In fact this is my very first Instagram photo from my new iPhone 4S.

And on the cool side, the first rain dripping on the back window, and lots of other "cool" stuff, like my Halloween costume, my new Tom Clark gnome, the fun chain-stitch Christmas trees I made one evening, and Mr. AC's new Ford Focus Hybrid.

Credits:

Anna Aspnes MultiFoto Template No 9

Anna Aspnes ArtPlay Palettes Encapsulate, Barren Sunrise, Autumnal 2

Anna Aspnes Artsy Blenz Snow Paperie

Maya de Groot Backpackers 5 and Terra Toni

Ashalee Wall Rhiain and Vintage Alpha

Karla Dudley Digi-Essentials brushes

Diane Weber Artsy Craftsy

Week 4 - Things I Love

Week 3 Color & Story

Hanalei Kayaking

More to Celebrate

Lucky

Celebrate

Hanalei Sans Color

My Best Shot of Princeville

Color My O'World

What Colorful Hibiscus

App-Dicted by Maya de Groot

The 2011 Page Count

Project 365 Ala Simply Kelly

Creative with Words

Insta-Food

New York Ornamentation

It Must Be Love

Camera Corner Self Portrait

All of My Love

Project 366 Scrapping Begins

Oscraps Freebies

Hey, O-Fans, Diane here, bringing you the question of the day...

Did you know, there is a category in the Oscraps store for Freebies?

There are more than 10 pages of awesome Freebies available from our talented designers, waiting to be used in your scrapping! Templates, paper, alphas, wordart, elements...it's all here!

Before January gets away from us, I wanted to bring your attention to a very special Freebie, from Sue Cummings, a quick and easy template/quick grid for a year in review.

O-scrappers have done some wonderful reviewing with this template!

This colorful layout by Michael captures special moments throughout the year:

EHStudios created a Project Life page with the 8 1/2" x 11" version of the free template:

How sweet and romantic is this page by whetuu, thankful for a year with her husband:

Bush Girl focused on a very special even from 2011 in her page:

Ella_75 focused on a year in the life of a very special little man:

marijke chose the four seasons and presented images for each one:

And Elina2 gives us a year of beautiful flowers:

Don't let this one get away, and if you create a Year in Review page, please add it to Sue Cumming's Gallery so we can leave you some love!

Another New York Sketch

Black & White & a Red Elephant

A New York Sketch

Cold Weather Comforts

Cedric Came to Kauai

The Instaview

The Day Via Instagram

More Colors of Kauai

Zoom...Zoom

The Colors of Kauai

Another Day in Paradise

The Day in Photos

Goodbye Joe-Joes

Disney Day 1

In Love Simply Kelly Templates

Midway Mania Lift

Week 1 of 2011

Speed Scrapping Epcot

Pantone Color of the Year - Tangerine Tango

The March Calendar

More Calendar Craftiness

NY Love

Back to Simply Kelly Scrapping

January, A Calendar and a Collab

And That's a Wrap

The 12 Photos of Christmas

Granny Square Christmas Stockings

The Return to Scrappiness

The Rewards of Craftiness

A New York Moment

The Artsy Craftsy Basement

Tangerine Tango

Cake Pops

The Castle

Spaceship Earth

Butterbeer

Fantasmic

A Magical Night

Bokeh Scraps

Week 49

Are My Ears on Straight??

The Lovely Red Twigs

Merry Christmoose

Christmas Memories

How to Quilt a Penguin