week in the life: pages in progress

 

 Intro Page.

Day 1 Page.

Each day of the week will have one layout like this one with the 4 narrow photos (courtesy of a template from CatScrap). Depending on how much more of a story I have to tell or if there is a special picture to highlight, there will be additional daily pages. I'd like to also include one page for food/dining out and ideally one page about each of us that showcases additional photos from the week.With that as my goal, the album will just barely have 20 pages.

I am really trying not to over think this so that I can get it done. Today, I worked for about 1.5 hours in the car on my laptop as Dave drove us home from Norris Lake. I got the pictures for the pages like Day 1, shown above, dropped into the templates and have those complete through Wednesday.

As a reminder, A Week in the Life, is a project created by Ali Edwards. You can learn more on Ali's blog. In addition, nearly every digital product I am using is from CatScrap Designs. 

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fonts--i love 'em

I will see a magazine ad, or be reading a blog, or viewing a scrapbook layout and stop dead in my tracks because I love a font so much. It is not uncommon for me to begin a mission to find out the font's name and then download it for my personal use. Thankfully, so many great fonts are available for free!

Most recently, while visiting Kelly Noel's blog, Living the Dream, I saw a font I needed. That cute handwritten one across her toolbar.

Yep, it was love at first sight. So I sent her a message via Twitter and she responded that it was called Arsenale White. A quick Google search found it at Da Font, a great resource for FREE fonts.

If one free font is good, than many free fonts are better. Right? Right! So here is my list of new and great fonts. You can find them all at Da Font and download them for free.

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My May Desktop

Isn't this pretty? You can download your own by visiting Blue Finch Studios blog! I love changing out my desktops each month.

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the modern sick day

True to form, instead of finishing my 2009 photo book, I moved ahead to a 2010 memory. I am so loving these simple, striking templates from Leora Sanford at Little Dreamer. And the rest is from a new collab kit, sweet + tart. I am thinking a lot about shaking it up a bit and returning to doing some layouts for each girl's book. There is just too much new stuff, it is a shame not to use it.

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the second piece of technical greatness

The wireless printer. If you hear a chorus of angels right about....now...that is becuase this is good stuff. Second only to the laptop which has singlehandedly changed my life. This beauty here, with a simple ethernet connection to the router (ha ha ha, like there is ANYTHING simple about that statement) will print when directed by my laptop to do so. A laptop that could be downstairs on the dining room table, on my lap in bed, or maybe even on the deck poolside. Maybe on that last one b/c its going back down to below zero so I am going to wait to test that out.

Anyway, thank you Epson.

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Where did she go?

When I pause from running in circles, I ask myself the same thing. This might explain a bit of what has been keeping me busy:

And this, Little Dreamer.

And this, Cincinnati Rewards.

My love for blogs, social media, writing, computing, photoshopping & picture taking has evolved into a business of sorts that I am loving.

Dave has been pitching in like crazy which is making this all possible. When I arrived home on Saturday, he had taken down all the Christmas decor and put it away in the basement. That is a task I DREAD and it was all done. And last night, we returned home from basketball practice to find hamburgers and baked beans ready to eat. It's good living I tell you. I have always wanted a wife :)

The girls are back in school, adjusting slowly to the schedule. The sisters had been living like rockstars for two weeks: staying up all night and sleeping late into the morning!

Tomorrow comes the S N O W.

(graphic from WLWT.com)

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project 365 and life with a new laptop

9 days ago I got my first laptop. It is an HP and I am totally, thoroughly pleased with my purchase. Right now, let's bow our heads and say thank you and we love you Windows 7. Amazing. Each day I find something new to impress me. Yesterday: snipping tool. Today: ease of installing new Fonts.

I have planted myself more firmly on the first floor of the house, instead of my usual perch in my second floor office. I am enjoying being more present in my family's life while also getting work related, computer related, tasks completed. The perfect example? Last night I digi scrapbooked my first page on the laptop, while watching Elf, with the rest of the fam. I have a lot to learn on PSE 7 since I am used to PS CS2 but I am pleased with how things are going. I completed this page to add to my Project 365 2009 photobook. I need to bring more photos down on a flash drive so I can crank out some more.

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december desktop

So 15 days went by in December before I finally got this one up onto my computer screen. At least now I have a new laptop to display it on as well. Hooray :)

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evolution of a smile

Lately I have been so aware of how Olivia's changing smile is such an indicator of how much more grown up she looks to me. I have had this idea in my head for awhile and although for some reason PhotoShop beat me up on this one and for the life of me, I could not get the drop shadows to work, I decided to call it perfectly imperfect and move on. It tells the story and down the road, even I will probably forget what what it was that entangled me. For products used, go HERE.

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creating the Christmas card

I have always loved making my cards. Once I had kids, it stepped up a notch, that is for sure. Then came the better camera, a little PhotoShop knowledge and I have been unstoppable!

This one is from 2005. Look at those little sweeties!

I think this was 2006. This one was very well received b/c there were so many pictures.

I had all intentions of coming up with something new and fantastic for this year. And then this week, I happened on these gems from Becky Higgins and I just kept coming back to them.

So instead of planning a card around a picture or idea, this year I am planning pictures to fit one of these cards! Tonight I made all of us girls some pink and green striped scarves to sport tomorrow for a little photo shoot. And because Skipper does not know any better, he might be wearing a version of it as well. Not sure who will appear in the final copy--just the girls, girls + dog, the whole family...we'll just have to see what we get tomorrow. I am excited. And I have already sufficiently threatened my children to comply. Yea, like that EVER works.

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free november desktop + iphone wallpaper

You can get this free desktop HERE. I actually designed them this month :) Much harder than I anticipated. Also, if you need directions for installing your iphone wallpaper go HERE. You can google to find additional instructions if these do not work for you.

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the mad snapper--project 365 layout

I just completed another "filler" page for my 2009 photobook. After closer inspection of these soccer photos, when I noticed Shelby snapping her fingers, I knew it would be perfect for documenting her current snapping passion :)

The template was a freebie and is identified only by Amy M.

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custom iphone wallpaper-installation tutorial

Instead of starting from scratch to make a new iphone wallpaper, I gave this method a try and it worked:

I cropped a section of the new wallpaper I installed on my computer (but you could take these dimensions and crop anything you'd like). Here is an excerpt I found online describing the iphones screen size and resolution:

The iPhone’s screen will be measured at 3.5 inches diagonally, with a resolution of 320 pixels x 480 pixels at 180 pixels per inch (ppi). It is significant to note that computer monitor LCDs have a standard of 72 pixels per inch. The iPhone’s screen will be extremely crisp and clear in comparison, which is a good thing for a small screen which will have lots of text on it.

After I cropped my new image, I changed the resolution and saved this into a folder designated iphone wallpaper. I put this under MY PICTURES, making it easy to find and sync on i tunes. After syncing, on your iphone go to settings, then wallpaper. Your new folder named iphone wallpaper should appear. Click on your new wallpaper if you have more than one, and then click apply.

Good luck. Again, my design can be found below and downloaded for free.

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a new gig!

You will notice a new and pretty fabulous blog banner. Well, all those items came from Little Dreamer Designs. I imagine you will be seeing lots of their stuff and hearing more about them as I am the new blog editor for their site! Stay tuned, I cannot wait to dream up some great ideas. I am so grateful for this opportunity to expand my blogging experience and also to get to take a role in the digital scrapbooking industry. Two things I love all rolled into one. Pin It

halloween party invitation

Here is a verison of our annual Halloween party invite. All of the art came from Little Dreamer Designs and the card itself was created using PhotoShop CS2. The card was inspired by one I saw at Tiny Prints. Love their cards. I am having these printed as 5x7 photos and we will then take the hike through the neighborhood and put them in mailboxes. I am happy for a Saturday night Halloween!

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back to regularly scheduled programming...

How about I show some people pictures from last week's farm trip just like I promised?

My week has been so hectic. Computer woes just plain get you down. And you do not realize all the treasures you had stowed on the old one, until you are trying to effectively use, and add back, to the new one. I am grateful just to have a computer up and running. I want to say again: BACK UP your files. TODAY. My saving grace was that my photos were elsewhere but I need to attack the big task of safeguarding those too.

As always, instead of doing what truly needs to be done, last night I took a mini mental vacation and began sewing some gifts for friends for an upcoming gift exchange. If time (and children) allow today, I may make something Halloween-ish for myself.

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yea, so this is my life...

Mine crashed and burned earlier today. I am posting this (clumsily) from my husband's much older laptop.
The good news: all my photos and digital scrapbooking goods and pages are on an external HD.
The bad news: all my data, documents, both personal and professional are on the computer's HD

The IT guy where I work (big shout out to Rob!) is replacing the HD tomorrow and fingers crossed, maybe recovering data. And don't go asking about backup b/c nope, I got none.

Please, bring on a miracle tomorrow! Pin It

my quilting progress

Here are the 20 blocks I have completed. My goal is to make this quilt 5 by 7 blocks, so 35 total. I am short a bit of fabric so I wondered if adding in 3-5 solid white/cream blocks would work? What do you think?

This is mostly Amy Butler fabric with a few of my fat quarters from elsewhere thrown in.

I saw this quilt idea in the store where my Mom bought the fabric. I was too cheap to buy the $14.95 book, so I am sort of creating as I go along, based on these 21" strips pieced together. The fabric widths are 1.5", 3.5" and 5.5". Since I am easy to please, it should work out OK and make a decent lap quilt in the end.

And this is my iphone case. Once I cut each of my 21" strips of pieced fabrics, I am left with little end pieces of patchwork after my 2- 8.5" blocks (which where intended to be 9" but I am making it work). I sewed 2 together and lined it with beige linen.

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i phone wall paper and more praise

for the Scrapping and Snapping Kit! Holy Moly, I just downloaded and unzipped all 10 files and am just blown away. I feel like I should pay them $5 more dollars, that's how good it all is. Like most people, I am pretty savvy about downloading lots of digital freebies but I have NO REGRETS about this purchase. How's that for an endorsement? I am definitely using it either for my 2010 photo book or a fall "week in the life" project. I probably can't wait that long though, so get ready to see some of it in use soon.

Next, i phone wallpaper. Ashamed to admit I did not even know this was a feature on my iphone until I saw this download:
Not only is this provided for free, but if you go to their forums, you can find detailed instructions for how to get this on your iphone. I added my photos to the template, followed the directions and got it all running last night. I so love this idea. Thank you Katie, at Designer Digitals.

So cute that I had to do two versions. Above, is on my iphone.
Below, is on my home computer desktop.
I really intended to take some pictures of things I have been sewing but it rained all day here. And not just a little, torrential downpours. Not one ray of sunshine. I promise to get to that tomorrow. Pin It

scrapping & snapping

This HUGE digital kit totally knocked my socks off. I LOVE the cameras. All of this for only $5 too! Now if only Paypal would work so I could get to the business of downloading all this goodness. You can find it here.

I think this would work great for a project like my Project 365, yearly photobook OR I am really liking this for a second take at an "a week in the life" book. Pin It