Album covers

This week, I've been backing up my photos and organizing my albums.  I love albums with a spot for a photo on the front cover.  For our Thanksgiving album, I didn't use a regular photo.  Instead, I grabbed a Norman Rockwell painting, lowered the opacity, and topped with some wordart.

The result:

Digital Page

The kids' birthday albums are officially up to date!  Today I worked on my Mother's Day album.   

Here's the page for 2008:

It's an 8x8 book, so I just printed it off and slipped it in a page protector! 

Back to Scrappin'

My daughter's second birthday had a little bird theme.  I couldn't resist this paper.  I put the photos together using a template, just as I had for her first birthday page.  This time, I didn't like the white border, so I cut out all the pics and glued them back in position.  The template ensured that the photos were sized and cut perfectly, so it was a breeze! 

Halloween 2009

Here we are:

Hybrid Scrapbooking with Templates

So by now we all know what scrapbooking is.  And many are familiar with digital scrapbooking- making "pages" on the computer and printing them as a photo book.  I've been dabbling in "hybrid" scrapbooking.  I'll print out my journaling, for example, and then glue it onto a regular page. 

I'm now trying out templates.  I downloaded a few online and they look like this:

Apparently, more recent versions of Photoshop can drag and drop into the squares.  I've found a system that works in PSE4.  I select the square with the Magic Wand.  Then open the picture you want and Select>All; Edit>Copy.  Back in the template, Edit>Paste Into Selection.  Then Image>Free Transform to size it, spin in, and place it in the square. 

My daughter's birthday scrapbook is an awkward size (9.25x12.25).  I can't print that size, so I printed on 8.5x11 and glued it to a pretty patterned paper.  Here is the result:

One thing I love about this technique is the ability to print words directly onto the photos. 

Well, I'm off to make a page for her second birthday.   How time flies....

Halloweens Past

I've been back at scrapbooking, and just got the Halloween album up to date.

My Son's Baby Book

Here is a photo collage of my son's baby book. 

I'll go back and make it better if I'm ever caught up.  : )  

Bittersweet Baby Book

I've finally completed my daughter's baby book.  She's my youngest, so it is bittersweet to be done with baby books.  Someday, if I'm ever completely caught up, I can go back and make things better.  For now, it's going into storage. 

I've made my first Photoshop collage with pictures of the pages:

There is a castle on a cloud....

I made a helmet cake for my son's fireman themed birthday in April.

My friend Angela saw it and said, "My birthday's in October and I like castles!"  Her party was Saturday, and I did my best to provide her a castle. 

She enjoyed the white cake I made for my daughter's birthday, so I used the same recipe for her cake (with the addition of blue food coloring- she loves blue food.)  The icing on the inside was white icing with Jell-O mix added for color and a fruity flavor.  (My friend also likes those fruity blue mixed drinks- I would've added rum extract to complete the effect but we were in mixed company.)

I first baked 2 9x9 inch cakes and stacked them.  I made niches in the corners with a cookie cutter (to better support the towers.)

I baked a 9x13 inch cake and, using the cookie cutter, cut twelve rounds out of the cake.  I stacked them 3 per tower. 

At this point, I iced the cake with Swiss meringue, piping turrets on the towers.

I piped the sidewalls and door onto parchment paper.

The idea was for the meringue to harden and then be attached; however, it never did.  I ended up having to bake it like regular meringue.  (Swiss meringue is heated as you make it, and does not need to be baked- that way it keeps its pure white color.)  I'll try a different recipe next time. 

The meringue and towers were determined to discintigrate.  I did my best, and it's the thought that counts, right?  I'd rather not show a picture of the final result, but in the spirit of honesty:

It sits on the bottom tier of my silver server.  I cut cobalt blue cardstock to fit (with scalloped edges) and wrote "Happy Birthday!" on the front.  She did indeed have a happy birthday and, as far as I know, lived happily ever after...

Sparkles

I've finally found a way to add twinkles to the picture from the September post, "Photoshop Magic?"

To recap, here's the original pic:

 I'd changed the background color, but couldn't master adding my own sparkles.

Today, I downloaded some pictures of the night sky and used them like I would a texture. 

Here are the results:

As you can imagine, the dark photos totally overwhelmed the picture of my daughter when I was scanning through the blend modes.  Today's tip to help get around that issue:  Have multiple, identical layers of the lighter pic.  Then when you blend them together, it's 2 to 1!

Date Night Inequity

My husband's preparations: 
1) Put on the shirt he knows I like.
2) Spritz of cologne

My preparations:
1) Pedicure in the gazebo so he won't smell the fumes.
2) Manicure
3) Plan my "look"
4) Glaze hair
5) Shave
6) Moisturize with self-tanner to attempt human skin tone on my legs
7) Research cute, retro hairstyles
8) Attack my hair with scalding hot curling iron in attempt to replicate cute hairstyle, while the sun scorches my retinas if I dare move a millimeter.
9) Fail miserably to replicate cute hairstyle- decide to just go with it.
10) Spray with hairspray
11) Spray with silicone shine gloss, to make recently fried hair look non-fried
12) Curl eyelashes
13) Apply foundation, bronzer, blush, eyeliner, eyeshadow, mascara, and lipstick
14) Throw together new outfit when crucial items for planned "look" cannot be located.
15) Run out the door, forgetting perfume.

Husband's step 3:  Say, "you look great, honey", making it all worthwhile.