OH MY GOODNESS!!!

Oh my sweet goodness me I'm so excited!

I just sat down to my little crafting table, powered up my laptop and was checking out my Google Reader list and there was the Lawnscaping Challenge blog update, with the winner of the most recent challenge (to Stamp a Scene)...remember the card I made for it?

This little baby.

Well...

 I won!!! 

*SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAL!!!*

*this is me right now*

I'm so so so so so so honoured and excited! When I saw all the other entries I thought 'Oh my goodness what am I even doing putting my card in with these fantastic creations?!' But as those of you who have been reading my blog for a while, you know I decided to just put my everything into this blog and my crafting, to 'roll with it' and enter every challenge I could--how wonderfully uplifting to have won after such a low time in my crafty self-esteem!! Wow. 

So now I get to display this badge VERY proudly on my blog--->>

I'm so so excited. (can you tell?! lol)

And you know what?! This just made me smile SO big, after a really rough mummy day (sick baby, being spewed on at 4:30 in the morning *nice*, being awake from 4am *erg*, cranky baby, mummy, daddy and just an overall poop of a day.) so how how wonderful.

I'm going to sit and grin ear to ear for a bit, hugging my card :) lol and try to think of how I can pay my happiness forward :)

Lastly I just want to say a thank you to those of you who have welcomed me back after my (short-lived) hiatus from my blog and to Virginia Lu, who (despite the fact that I've been a terrible blogger-friend and not commented on her gorgeous cards in a while-- ironic isn't it?!) always inspires me so much. She enters just about every challenge/inspiration challenge etc there is in this card making community and always puts so much sunshine in her blog, I read it ravenously every time I see her update. Virginia--without you, I wouldn't have entered this competition, let alone won it! Thank you for all your inspiration :)

Talk to you soon sweet people!

"Queen" Linda (lol, couldn't help myself)

 xxx

Lawnscaping Challenge: Lawnscaping Patrol

Hi again!

Here is my card for the new Lawnscaping Challenge: Create a scene 

 Here are some close ups. I used a lot of pop-dots (dimensional adhesive) to create LOTS of layers and dimension.

I thought it would be cute to use a little Glossy Accents on the Ferris Wheel 'cars' so they looked all shiny and pretty.

I am so excited that the barber-shop stripes I did on the poles for the horses (on the Merry-go-round) worked out. they even look diagonal :)

I tried to choose really vibrant colours (and combos I'd never usually go for) to make it really child-like and exciting. Just how I remember our shows (or fairs) being.

The background for the card is simply the "Enjoy the ride" sentiment from the Lawn Fawn "Admit One" set, stamped repeatedly in three colours--Chewing Gum (pink), Lemon Drops (yellow) and Soap Powder (blue) --all Jenny Bowlin.

I hope you like it! I am really happy with my little scene :)

Take care and see you again soon I hope!

Linda xx

Post #1 for today! Lily Pads card #2

Hey there!!

I have 2 cards to share today but because they're for challenges, I'll post them seperately.

First one is a really simple one, but I kinda love it.  it's for the Lily Pad Lucys Lovely Lines Challenge. (same as the last one)

Here it is:

very simple to make. Fold a card in half lengthways (kraft cardstock). Round the bottom edges, place a strip of Washi Tape (love love love) through the centre (cut the end into a banner tail or similar).  Punch 5 hearts (I used the Martha Stewart punch) and adhere them along the tape.  Add whatever thickers you choose!

For a finishing touch I drew a line along the top and bottom of the card using my white Gel pen and I then scored 2 lines 1/8" apart about an inch away from either (horizontal) edge of the card.

that's it!

Hope you like it :)

See you soon with post 2 :)

Linda

I cant quit you :) lol

ok so I'm back.

Told you it probably wouldn't be long.

Thank you to those of you who commented :) it was lovely.

I'm just going to take it 'slow' for now (hopefully not slower than before lol!) and just enjoy the process of making cards/layouts etc and putting them up here on display.

I'm going to try to enter more competitions as they push me creatively into areas I'm not sure I'd go on my own (especially colour-wise).

SO! Here is a card for the Lily Pad Cards' Lucy's Lovely Line's CHallenge. I might make another card for the same challenge, I'm not sure. I love the sketch too much to stop at one.

Here is the sketch:

Cute huh?!

Here's the card I made:

It's a pretty basic little card, but I haven't really made anything in a while so I was feeling a bit basic at the time :) I love the bright colours of the buttons...think it's time to buy some more buttons actually :)

Anyhoo, hope you like it. More to come soon I hope.

Linda x

ramble

Hey there.

This is going to be a bit of a ramble/vent-session, so feel free to not read this post lol

This past few weeks have been blerg. You know when you feel like you need to make a change in your mindset and just forget all the baggage and just focus on how amazing life is (or can be), and you do your best to be positive and grateful and just generally excited to be alive (instead of worrying, thinking about all the 'stuff' that's happened in your life, how hard things can be, let the little things get you down etc).

That's what I did a few months ago (again). I generally try to be really positive and upbeat. I try so hard to be the best mum that I possibly can be. I want my children to remember having fun and learning so much from me, I want them to remember their childhood as us playing games together, baking together, snuggles, laughter and all the good things. I want to love  my life, not just be in it. I want to participate fully and actively in my family. I really decided to make a change, be positive, PROactive (not reactive), enjoy all the moments, whether they be positive or negative.

But these last couple of weeks? It's been hard to.

After SEVERAL weeks of to-ing and fro-ing and many MANY problems, we finally finally have a new home. We bought a house in Melbourne (which is on the Southern East side of Australia, the total opposite to Perth where I live now). I'm so excited to have our own home, but all the blech that happened just to get it? Kinda took the sheen off it. It will still be wonderful and exciting to have our own space (not that I'm not hugely grateful to my mum & dad for sharing theirs with us so amazingly), but couldn't we just have had a smoother ride than that? I'm not trying to be a big whinger, but seriously?! Why make it so so so so rotten a time that we just ended up wishing we could cancel the whole sale. blerg

Then there's this blog. I love my little blog, but I just never seem to really find the time to dedicate to it that I originally intended and to be honest? It's a little lack-luster. I had, in the beginning, hoped that by sharing my work, I could eventually work on a design team (which I did for a short time and truly loved.) but since the store closed and my DT 'job' ended, I've felt really lost creatively. I feel like I'm just kind of talking to no-one and that my crafting is leading nowhere.

I realise fully how ridiculous that sounds, given that crafting is supposed to be a way to express yourself and indulge in a wonderful hobby (with wonderful people in it) but lately, it hasn't felt that way. I always feel guilty when I don't blog and then when I do for a while (such as when I started the 'Inspired By' theme a few weeks back--which I had fully intended to continue with until all of us were struck down with the flu), I end up frustrated that I need  to blog (because it's been so long).

SO, with that in mind, I think I'm going to take a short break.

From blogging. 

An actual intended break.

It may only last a week, it could be a month, it could be more.

I need to sort my head out and figure out what I want from my blogging experience. I am a very conversational person. Don't get me wrong, I love silence (and being silent), but I hate talking to someone who doesn't respond (just ask my husband lol)

And I get it, a lot of people read blogs on google reader *points to self* and that makes reading blogs easy, but responding to/commenting on blogs less easy. People are busy, people don't have anything to say I GET IT. But right now, it's leaving me disappointed and feeling like I was talking to a group of people and when I looked up, they'd all walked out of the room.

Leaving me talking to open air.

Even as I'm typing this, my brain is racing ahead saying 'write something about what you'll do when you come back to blogging'. which is a sign I don't want to stop altogether, a sign I haven't lost hope that this blog could lead to something amazing. *i dream that it does*

But for now, I need a break from the disappointment.

I'd like to add in a very big (but short) disclaimer. I DO read the comments from those of you who leave them. I love you so much for taking the time from your busy lives to do so. It fills me with SO much joy when I do get comments. But when I don't, it's just like being in high-school again and feeling like everyone is rolling their eyes at you, when you thought you'd done something awesome. You know, that really excited fluttery feeling in your stomach (at the start) then a PLUMMETING weight thudding down, leaving you in a cold sweat.

Well maybe not quite that dramatic, but you get the point.

I want to get my head 'in the game' more. I want to be more organised with my blogging, I want to participate in more events/challenges etc. I want to get my name 'out there'. But right now, my head is just too full of other life stuff.

I don't think I'll ever be Ali Edwards *oh to dream* or Kelly Purkey *again, cue dreaming* etc. but I don't want to be disheartened if this blog doesn't lead to some big exciting high-faluting

SO, please don't take me off your Google reader (or whatever you use), because I WILL be back. I promise. I'm just taking a blog-cation and having a bit of a break.

I hope you understand :)

Love 

Me x

digital image how-to

Hi there!

Thank you so much to those of you who commented on my series last week. There will be another Inspired By week in a few days, I'm just tying up loose ends before planning a schedule.

There were a few requests for a tutorial on how to use digital images. When I started crafting, I had no idea whatsoever about digi and have had to learn 'on-the-job' so to speak.  It's super easy and very cost effective. 

Digi images range from 50c up to about $4.99 per image (It's rare they're on the upper end of the scale though).  The beauty of digi images, is that you can resize, rotate etc etc to your hearts content and the images last forever AND don't need cleaning :) *wink*

Ok, so I've done a step-by-step tutorial of how to use them from purchasing through to actual 'use'.

There are a LOT of photos in this post because I tried to be as thorough as possible, for those of you with absolutely no idea what to do in regards to downloading and using digi images (like I didn't when I started!)

The actual purchasing of digi images etc is  very simple. Exactly the same as any type of online shopping actually. You just go to the store, click "add to cart" (or whatever their version of that is), then pay.

Here is a shot of what my shopping cart looks like at Tiffany Doodles (where I purchase almost all of my digi)

 

 As you can see, it looks identical to any web-based shopping cart.

You just follow the prompts on how you want to pay and then a screen like this will come up (or you'll be redirected back to it after your payment is finalised):

                             

Some 'stores' or sites wont have this type of system in place, but will actually email you the files you need. Kerry Bradford (who makes amazing photo templates and other digi files that I'll be showing you in upcoming layouts I'll be sharing here in a few days), uses that system. You pay, you get a receipt number, the next day (or so) you get an email with the files attached.

To 'get' the files, you just click on the little file icon (or in Tiffany Doodles, there's a link--you can see it just under the yellow 'box' on the right hand side) and this screen (or similar) should pop up:

When your computer has finished downloading the files, you right-click the one you want, a small drop-down menu will appear and I click "open containing folder".  (this saves me clicking around finding my downloads folder which always seems to hide from me :))

I then right click, COPY and open a new file that I have tucked away under "Crafting" that I put all my digi files into and PASTE.

Something like this :)

Now, you'll notice that the icon is a little pile of books (this will change dependent on your computer and the software you're running). This is because the file is zipped.  Very long story non-tech-speak version of this means that the files are too big to email/send because they're very high quality, so they're "zipped" or compressed down to be more manageable (think of it like those space-saver vacuum bags that you can fit a zillion pieces of clothing into and then suck all the air out of--voila! it's the size of a postage stamp! lol) If the files weren't zipped, they wouldn't be able to be sent.

To get them "out" or expand them, I right-click on the file I want, a drop-down menu appears and I choose "Extract Here" this literally pulls the files you want out of that zipped file and puts it in the same place (or you can choose "Extract Files" and then click through to tell your computer where you want to put the extracted file.

This is what that looks like on my computer.

So just go along and click the appropriate files until you get to wherever you want to store your digital images. You can make your own system for this. I have several folders and sub-folders. Craft, then digital craft, then within that file, I separate the images into the name of the illustrator or site they're from. It's easier for me to find that way. You could however just dump them all into one file, or segregate them into type of image (flowers, celebrations, words etc etc)

This is my Tiffany Richards (owner of Tiffanydoodles.com) file. You can see that the images are just thumbnails (small pictures) of the images. You can make this look like a list, have bigger pictures, whatever you want.

All you do now is click on the image you want, and COPY and PASTE over to a word document (or Publisher doc).

If you don't copy and paste the image over to a word doc (or similar), and you just double click the small image icon (from the above screen, you'll get a screen that looks like this come up :

This is fine and you can click on the little 'print' button up the top of the screen and this will appear:

 The negative to doing it this way is you are limited to the pre-determined sizes that you can print to (it offers maybe 8 options) AND you can only print one image at a time (which is fine if you're only after one, but it tends to waste paper).

However, IF you do chose the copy and paste option, you'll have your image appear on a word document and you can re-size it to whatever you need, by clicking on the picture; a little box will pop up around it and you just drag the corner in and out dependent on how you want to resize it (bigger or smaller).

The advantage to using a word doc is that you can also print multiples; in the same size or in varying sizes like I have here:

 

As you can see, I've just copied and pasted the same image 5 times to show you how you can get several images on the one piece of paper.

Usually I wouldn't print off several of the one image, I'd copy and paste several different images, play around with the sizing and print it all out on the one sheet of paper at once.

That's it!

There is a lot of debate on the kind of printer you need (especially if you're water colouring or using Copic markers on the image, but long story short, try to print it out as early as possible so the ink has time to dry.

You CAN use digital images on watercolour paper too (I've done this several times, you can see one such example here in a card I shared with you several weeks ago:

you can see in the closeup, you can barely tell it was printed out at all. It looks just like a painted image. :)

(The shy bunny image is also froM Tiffany Doodles.)

OK!!

That's about it!

I hope that this has given you a good idea on how to use digital images. It's not all Photoshop Elements and fiddling around with technical programs etc, it's in fact, REALLY simple :) Hoepfully this "in-depth" tutorial has given you the confidence to do it!


Hope you'll give it a try--if you do, please let me know! I'd love to see the results.



As always, any questions or comments are welcome!

Take care and see you again soon

Linda xx