Crop on the Cape was fabulous as always. It's so great seeing friends and others I only get to see once a year since our store is gone. This year was sooooo darn cold that I didn't go to the ocean even though it's only a few blocks away. I had to leave a few days early to go and my travel was completely messed up because of a crazy March blizzard we got hit with in Western New York. Yup, an ACTUAL blizzard! Then I had to get out ahead of an ice storm. UGH! Then I woke up to an inch snow outside my hotel. At least I made it to Ikea! And to the Crop on the Cape.
I worked on my first nephew's first year of life. I now have three nephews! And the first one is going to be seven years old shortly. It would be nice to get all of his photos printed and into an album before he's 40. Pocket scrapbooking to the rescue!
I lived on the edge while at the Crop. I didn't bring many printed journaling or filler cards with me. I did bring mountains with me though. I spent a few weeks cutting up all of the baby boy paper I bought for him. Yes, I really cut up an entire Ikea Expedit cube full of paper into 4x6 cards. I didn't cut any into 3x4 because I figured I would cut them when I need them and I was really sick of cutting paper! I spent about three weeks doing it. And to think, there's only 27 cubes of paper and 10 cubes of cardstock left! I know you're totally jealous. :)
I brought several stamps, stickers, rub-ons, and embellishments with me. I knew I would make some of my own journaling cards. Some of the embellishments were washi tape (can't get enough of that stuff!!), buttons, brads, and twine (another fave). Instead of full size ink pads, I brought ink cubes. They take up far less space and weigh less. Two things to think about when going to a crop. It always feels like you're moving which is not fun.
I made several journaling cards over the four days and will be sharing them all with you in a series of posts. There's far too many to put them all in one post.
Journaling Card #1
Stamps from Close To My Heart
Stickers from Close To My Heart
Button
Journaling Card #2
Enamel Dots from My Mind's Eye
Stamp from Close To My Heart
Baker's twine
Journaling Card #3
Rub-ons
Large brad from Oriental Trading Company
Washi tape
Journaling Card #4
Rub-ons
Stamp from
Sticker from
Journaling Card #5
Enamel Dots
Washi tape
Rub-ons
Journaling Card #6
Stamp from
Journaling Card #7
Double cards!
Stickers
Buttons
Journaling Card #8
Stamp from
Stickers
Enamel Dots
More cards revealed tomorrow!!!
Showing posts with label Echo Park. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Echo Park. Show all posts
Friday, April 25, 2014
Friday, November 8, 2013
Digital Scrapbooking...So It Begins
Yup, I took the plunge. I know what you're thinking. Holy cow! She's leaving us. I'm not. Really, I'm not. I've been dabbling in digital scrapbooking for awhile, but was never really impressed with anything I tried.
I tried Studio J from Close To My Heart when it first came out. I didn't like how everything was pre-formatted for you and you couldn't change papers. I've heard that it has changed since then, but I also didn't like that I had to be online to scrapbook and that I have to purchase the printed layouts or jpeg's from them. I travel a lot and internet access can be tricky at best in many locations.
I also have tried MDS from Stampin' Up. It's nice. Better than Studio J. It has much more than scrapbook layouts in it. You can make cards and other projects. I am under the impression that you can only use SU products with it. I could be totally wrong. The consultant I asked about it when I purchased it knew absolutely nothing about it. I have purchased additional items from SU for MDS, but I never loaded them into MDS. I keep all the papers, embellishments, and stamps all in folders based on their collection name. I did this so I would have access to them to use them in Photoshop.
I've heard that Photoshop or Photoshop Elements was really the way to go with digital scrapbooking. Problem with that. How the heck do you use Photoshop? Seriously! I own the Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 and don't even know what 98% of the programs included are! I took a Photoshop and Illustrator class at a local college when I lived in South Carolina and felt like I didn't learn squat so I was not at all comfortable using either piece of software. In fact, I HATED Photoshop. I thought Adobe was full of morons. Nope. It wasn't Adobe who was full of morons. Turns out it was my instructor.
Well, last year I purchased a digital scrapbooking class from Jessica Sprague. I talked to a few people who I knew dabbled in digital. I did some research online and pretty much everyone said yes take Jessica's classes. You will learn lots and you will love digital. The class ended up on sale for whatever reason. I purchased it and thought why did I waste that money? Who am I kidding? I HATE Photoshop.
Fast forward a year. I've got thousands more photos that need scrapbooking. I have been organizing my digital photos. I've got 2 years done! That took almost a month. Yes, I literally have over 100,000 digital photos. No exaggeration. One day at a zoo, I took 495 photos. That was one day! I was only there for about four to five hours.
So now that I'm in the digital organization mode, I've been wondering how I'm ever going to get all of my photos into completed layouts before I'm 653 years old and still keep taking pictures and travel. Oh and I have other things to make besides layouts.
I was staring at my MacBook in complete disbelief. Really thinking I'm going to give up sleep and tv and relaxing and working on my house (Who cares if the roof collapses on me. I've got pages to get done!) and bathing and eating....maybe then I'd get it all done. Yeah, most of that was never going to happen. The girl who can't go more than a day without showering or washing her hair at least once a day is never going to give up bathing!
I started poking around in Finder to see what other junk...I mean good stuff was collecting dust aka taking up space on my harddrive. What do I find? A whole mess of papers, embellishments, and stamps - all digital - from Jessica Sprague's website. I'm an Echo Park junkie and there's tons of their products. Hmmmm......
I go to her website to see what other cool things she has now since I hadn't been there in like a year. OMG! Color me happy! Bo Bunny. Basic Grey. Fancy Pants Designs. Carta Bella. Echo Park. Cosmo Cricket. Big names in the industry have collections for sale on her website! I log into my account and guess what's there....yup, that class I bought a year ago. Guess what I started working on this week.
Ooh ooh ooh. Upon further examination. Many of the big industry companies sell lots of their collections digitally on their websites. I've contacted a few who I couldn't find anything from and some responded that they are working on it, a few told me where I could find the digitals, and a couple were like pffft we don't do that. So if you're interested in digital products at all, contact your favorite companies via Facebook or their website and ask them! The more people who ask, the more likely they will sell us what we want.
You're going to get a kick out of this. When I originally bought my digital papers from Jessica, it was to print the 12" x 12" papers at home so I wouldn't have to buy the same kits multiple times or when I ran out of those papers and it was no longer available. As of today, I've never printed any of them out and I have a 13" x 17" printer I purchased especially for that purpose! Good thing it was only clearance at Staples!
I'm almost done with lesson two. My assignment for that lesson is to share what I created in class. While people who've been at this for ages may have better layouts or suggestions on improvements, I'm very happy with my layouts. Could they be better? I don't know. I like them. I probably could sit here and spend 20 hours adding layers and crap to them, but less is more! I have that some problem in traditional scrapbooking. I want to keep adding stuff. Every cat sticker I own doesn't need to be on one layout.
Today I'm sharing with you my completed layouts from class. Hope you like them. I do especially the one of Tigger.
Oh and one more important thing. This is kinda huge. I don't hate Photoshop anymore. Shhhh....I'm actually kind of enjoying it.
I tried Studio J from Close To My Heart when it first came out. I didn't like how everything was pre-formatted for you and you couldn't change papers. I've heard that it has changed since then, but I also didn't like that I had to be online to scrapbook and that I have to purchase the printed layouts or jpeg's from them. I travel a lot and internet access can be tricky at best in many locations.
I also have tried MDS from Stampin' Up. It's nice. Better than Studio J. It has much more than scrapbook layouts in it. You can make cards and other projects. I am under the impression that you can only use SU products with it. I could be totally wrong. The consultant I asked about it when I purchased it knew absolutely nothing about it. I have purchased additional items from SU for MDS, but I never loaded them into MDS. I keep all the papers, embellishments, and stamps all in folders based on their collection name. I did this so I would have access to them to use them in Photoshop.
 |
| Some of my trees in autumn |
Well, last year I purchased a digital scrapbooking class from Jessica Sprague. I talked to a few people who I knew dabbled in digital. I did some research online and pretty much everyone said yes take Jessica's classes. You will learn lots and you will love digital. The class ended up on sale for whatever reason. I purchased it and thought why did I waste that money? Who am I kidding? I HATE Photoshop.
Fast forward a year. I've got thousands more photos that need scrapbooking. I have been organizing my digital photos. I've got 2 years done! That took almost a month. Yes, I literally have over 100,000 digital photos. No exaggeration. One day at a zoo, I took 495 photos. That was one day! I was only there for about four to five hours.
So now that I'm in the digital organization mode, I've been wondering how I'm ever going to get all of my photos into completed layouts before I'm 653 years old and still keep taking pictures and travel. Oh and I have other things to make besides layouts.
I was staring at my MacBook in complete disbelief. Really thinking I'm going to give up sleep and tv and relaxing and working on my house (Who cares if the roof collapses on me. I've got pages to get done!) and bathing and eating....maybe then I'd get it all done. Yeah, most of that was never going to happen. The girl who can't go more than a day without showering or washing her hair at least once a day is never going to give up bathing!
 |
| Tigger the Lounge Kitty |
I go to her website to see what other cool things she has now since I hadn't been there in like a year. OMG! Color me happy! Bo Bunny. Basic Grey. Fancy Pants Designs. Carta Bella. Echo Park. Cosmo Cricket. Big names in the industry have collections for sale on her website! I log into my account and guess what's there....yup, that class I bought a year ago. Guess what I started working on this week.
Ooh ooh ooh. Upon further examination. Many of the big industry companies sell lots of their collections digitally on their websites. I've contacted a few who I couldn't find anything from and some responded that they are working on it, a few told me where I could find the digitals, and a couple were like pffft we don't do that. So if you're interested in digital products at all, contact your favorite companies via Facebook or their website and ask them! The more people who ask, the more likely they will sell us what we want.
You're going to get a kick out of this. When I originally bought my digital papers from Jessica, it was to print the 12" x 12" papers at home so I wouldn't have to buy the same kits multiple times or when I ran out of those papers and it was no longer available. As of today, I've never printed any of them out and I have a 13" x 17" printer I purchased especially for that purpose! Good thing it was only clearance at Staples!
I'm almost done with lesson two. My assignment for that lesson is to share what I created in class. While people who've been at this for ages may have better layouts or suggestions on improvements, I'm very happy with my layouts. Could they be better? I don't know. I like them. I probably could sit here and spend 20 hours adding layers and crap to them, but less is more! I have that some problem in traditional scrapbooking. I want to keep adding stuff. Every cat sticker I own doesn't need to be on one layout.
 |
| Maxx being crazy after bathtime |
Oh and one more important thing. This is kinda huge. I don't hate Photoshop anymore. Shhhh....I'm actually kind of enjoying it.
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Accomplishments Part 2
Remember yesterday's post? Here it is if you missed it. This post is a Part 2 because it was getting very long. Well, it seemed very long to me and maybe not others. Back to the packing for cropping chat!
Ok back to cropping! I had to get out my two cents about saving digital photos. So maybe it was more like 45 cents. Before you pack, think about what you want to accomplish at the crop. Are you social butterfly and like to chit chat more than crop? Then don't take everything you own with you. Plan a few small projects and pack for those.
If you are someone who spends half the crop shopping, think about that. Is the store close enough where you could spend some time the day or week before shopping? Are you shopping for the project you brought with you? Think about what you really need. Start a list and do all of your shopping at once. This will save you precious time. You won't spend 30 minutes wandering around the store hoping something jumps out and says, "Stick me on your page!" and then another 30 minutes two hours later and so on. I've done this and been incredibly frustrated by how much time I wasted.
Are you the serious cropper? That's me! I go in with a plan and what I MUST accomplish. If I fall short of that, then I get really annoyed with myself. Yup, I have scrappers OCD. Here's an example of my nerdy, OCD self:
I went shopping before a crop which was held at a large store, but I knew that they didn't have what I was looking from since I have been there numerous times. I went through the photos I had with me to scrap, the ones I had just gotten from my sister-in-law of my sweet nephews, and the ones I took on my trip. I knew I was not going to scrap all of the photos I had printed at CVS, but I don't have a scrapbook store anywhere near me. The closest store is about two and a half hours away and it's not a large store.
Unfortunately, I have to do the majority of my shopping online which does have some downfalls. You can't see or touch what your buying. Sometimes I'll order stickers online and when receive them, they are glittered which may be fine sometimes, but I am really not into pink glitter on boys layouts. That's just my thing. I do know a lot of scrappers will use pink, flowers, or glitter on masculine pages. I'm just picky and I know it.
This is the list of what I was looking for:
playground
sandbox
swings
hamsters - zhu zhu pets
legos - with the uncle
ice cream
This piece of paper is well traveled and pretty ratty looking at this point. I did get some papers and embellishments at that store I was shopping at and at the one I was cropping at. One night when I went back to my hotel, I went to my favorite online store - A Cherry On Top (don't worry the link opens in another page so you won't lose your place here - and did a little shopping. The order arrived a day or two after I got home. I had forgotten all about it. It was like Christmas!
I still am hoping for a few more items so I have to search my other favorite places. But here are a few things I found that I am totally in love with!
Ok back to cropping! I had to get out my two cents about saving digital photos. So maybe it was more like 45 cents. Before you pack, think about what you want to accomplish at the crop. Are you social butterfly and like to chit chat more than crop? Then don't take everything you own with you. Plan a few small projects and pack for those.
If you are someone who spends half the crop shopping, think about that. Is the store close enough where you could spend some time the day or week before shopping? Are you shopping for the project you brought with you? Think about what you really need. Start a list and do all of your shopping at once. This will save you precious time. You won't spend 30 minutes wandering around the store hoping something jumps out and says, "Stick me on your page!" and then another 30 minutes two hours later and so on. I've done this and been incredibly frustrated by how much time I wasted.
Are you the serious cropper? That's me! I go in with a plan and what I MUST accomplish. If I fall short of that, then I get really annoyed with myself. Yup, I have scrappers OCD. Here's an example of my nerdy, OCD self:
I went shopping before a crop which was held at a large store, but I knew that they didn't have what I was looking from since I have been there numerous times. I went through the photos I had with me to scrap, the ones I had just gotten from my sister-in-law of my sweet nephews, and the ones I took on my trip. I knew I was not going to scrap all of the photos I had printed at CVS, but I don't have a scrapbook store anywhere near me. The closest store is about two and a half hours away and it's not a large store.
Unfortunately, I have to do the majority of my shopping online which does have some downfalls. You can't see or touch what your buying. Sometimes I'll order stickers online and when receive them, they are glittered which may be fine sometimes, but I am really not into pink glitter on boys layouts. That's just my thing. I do know a lot of scrappers will use pink, flowers, or glitter on masculine pages. I'm just picky and I know it.
This is the list of what I was looking for:
sandbox
swings
hamsters - zhu zhu pets
legos - with the uncle
ice cream
This piece of paper is well traveled and pretty ratty looking at this point. I did get some papers and embellishments at that store I was shopping at and at the one I was cropping at. One night when I went back to my hotel, I went to my favorite online store - A Cherry On Top (don't worry the link opens in another page so you won't lose your place here - and did a little shopping. The order arrived a day or two after I got home. I had forgotten all about it. It was like Christmas!
I still am hoping for a few more items so I have to search my other favorite places. But here are a few things I found that I am totally in love with!
- Playground Kit from Echo Park - it's a 12x12 paper pack with 2 sheets of stickers and 12 sheets of double sided paper. Super cute and works for both boys and girls.
- Lego Brick Stickers from Creative Imaginations - who does love Legos?
- At the Park Stickers from Reminisce - these are super cute a must have for photos from the park!
- Dinosaur Brads from Eyelet Outlet - I have yet to meet a little boy who doesn't love dinosaurs. I will get a lot of use out of these critters.
- Playground Stickers from Sticko which is EK Success - totally perfect for playing in the backyard.
- A Boy's Life Kit from Echo Park - totally perfect for the big boy - not a baby or toddler paper - in your life. Your big boy will be sure to tell you that he's not a little boy. This is made for him!
- Ice Cream Brads from Eyelet Outlet - perfect after stopping for ice cream and snapping a few photos.
I didn't think to take a photo until I put everything away. Yup, I'm a slacker. Ok I promise to do better next time, but you can see the goodies on A Cherry On Top's website plus the other pieces that coordinate and what the prices are if you're interested in a little shopping.
Anyone know where I can find me some paper or nice stickers with a hamster or two? This Zhu Zhu Pet mania has struck my nephews and I must scrap their pets with them!
Until next time *
Make a plan even if your not a planner. You'll feel like your accomplishing something!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)