Cathy Zielske's Blog, page 229

And I shall call him Donnie Darko

Is it just me? Is the resemblance uncanny?

On Easter, we went to the family farm and I spent some time with the llamas.

Llamas scare me. They stare at you. They don't blink. They seem to be saying, "Bring it, bipedal creature!"

Sure, you try to toss in a cute kid, but that llama is still clearly saying, "One step closer, I eat your young."

Until we meet again, Donnie. Until we meet again.

 

Getting clearer all the time

Last week I was in the pool at the YMCA swimming laps. I do the same workout every Tuesday and Thursday. I get in, swim 8 lengths of freestyle and two of breast stroke. Then, repeat. The goal is to not stop. The next goal is to hit 45 minutes. The final goal is to push it and get more laps in the same amount of time, but honestly, that is the least of the goals.

Last Thursday I managed to squeeze in one more set in the same amount of time that I swam the previous workout. 2,000 yards versus 1,800, in 45 minutes. I was pretty stoked.

However, during my workout, a woman got into the pool and started in on some laps and I was floored at how powerful and fast she was. As she lapped me more than once in the next lane over, I remembered a familiar feeling from my years in youth sports, both in swimming and later, in figure skating. "I'm never going to be that fast." [cue heavy nostalgic sigh of teen sports angst here]

Of course, as an adult, my goals in fitness have changed, but that old familiar feeling of someone's always going to be better washed over me. 

That's when it hit me like a big old duh, winning: Someone will always be faster.

Someone will always be faster, stronger, thinner, prettier, smarter, more evolved, better dressed, less grey, and less nuerotic.

Big flippin' deal.

Take it or leave it, there's only one of me.

I'll take it.

Here's to working with what you have every day.

 

And the giveaway winners are…

The winner of a seat in Katrina Kennedy's online workshop "Your Kids, Captured through the Lens," is:

The winner of an annual membership to The Digi Game at The Daily Digi is:

Ladies, email me at czdesign@comcast.net to claim your prizes!

Sponsor Giveaway: The Daily Digi

One blog reader will win an annual membership to The Digi Game at The Daily Digi.

ABOUT THE DAILY DIGI: Where in digital scrapbooking can you get over $50 worth of digital scrapbook supplies, a 30-50 page interactive ebook, additional exclusive collaborations and surprise gifts automatically each month for ONLY $7.50 a month? At The Daily Digi! I can hear you saying, "Too good to be true!" and on most sites it is, but not at The Daily Digi and not with The Digi Game.

When you become a member to the Digi Game, you get all of this:

• The Digi Files: over $50 worth of digital scrapbooking supplies by seven of the top digital designers in the community.
• The Playbook: an interactive ebook (at least 30 pages) showing layouts created by our team and the techniques used to achieve the looks.
• Exclusive collaborations: a huge exclusive kit created by past contributors to The Digi Files every four months you are a member.
• Extra Bonus Gifts every month.

TO ENTER: Leave me a comment today telling me what program you use (or would like to use) for digital memory keeping!

Sponsor Giveaway: a photography workshop from Katrina Kennedy

One blog reader will win a seat in Katrina Kennedy's online workshop "Your Kids, Captured through the Lens," offeredat GetItScrapped.com.

ABOUT THE WORKSHOP: Join Katrina Kennedy to look through the lens together and explore techniques that let you take kids' photos with less frustration and better results. What's more, you'll get the advice of several guest photographers who happen to be moms with infants, toddlers, adolescents, and teens.

Katrina says, "In six lessons we'll explore methods to capture your children's photos in creative ways while minimizing headaches you may have experienced before. You'll receive step-by-step instructions for virtual assignments and supportive, safe feedback in our private online gallery. Three videos and one interactive chat provide additional support."

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TO ENTER: Leave me a comment today telling me what kind of camera you take your pictures with. I'll choose a winner on Sunday night.

Hybrid layout project: the Me, Right Now Template

Today I'm going to show you how to make a hybrid scrapbook layout using a layered digital template as your base.

Many of you know I've been using my computer to create pages since my very first page back in 2002.

See that little journaling block and the understated title? Aw yeah. That's called Old School Hybrid. I was old school before hybrid was new school, dawg. Er, right.

Anyhoo, my goal with these hybrid posts is to help those of you who want to get a bit more tech savvy with your scrapbooking, while still preserving that thing you loved about it in the first place, the creative, hands-on process involving paper and glue.

I've recorded a 10-minute video tutorial explaining how I used my newest StoryGuide template as the base for creating my hybrid page.

Here's the page:

Here's the video:

Hybrid Scrapbooking Tutorial: the Me, Right Now layout from Cathy Zielske on Vimeo.

HYBRID STEP-BY-STEP

Use these instructions as a companion to the video tutorial.

1. Open the template in Photoshop Elements or Photoshop and choose a font you'd like to use for the journaling questions. The template comes with Arial, but I chose Avenir Light and Heavy for my page. You can choose a color for the questions if you like, and apply them to each one. I used orange for mine.

2. Next, choose a color for your title bar to match your chosen background paper. I picked a hot pink color using the Color Picker. (Click on the Set Foreground Color icon in the tool bar to bring up the Color Picker.)

3. Once you have a color chosen, be sure you're on the target layer (Title Bar Background) and go to Edit > Fill Layer and under Contents and Use, make sure it's set to Foreground Color. Also, make sure the Preserve Transparency box is checked as well. When you click OK the color will apply to the bar.

4. Next, choose a color for the "me" in the title. I changed mine to white using the same process in Step 3. However, under Contents and Use, I changed it to "white" as my color. Then I changed the color of "me" to a light pink by using the Opacity Slider in the Layers Palette. I set my Opacity to 60%, and it created the look of a lighter shade of pink.

THE NEXT STEP is to group together the Title Bar Background, the "me" layer and the "right now" layer, and rotate them in order to print out the title bar on the same sheet of cardstock as you're printing your journaling onto. You will need to turn off all three "photo" layers by clicking on the little Eyeball icon next to each layer.

1. Make sure the Title Bar Background layer is directly under the "me" and "right now" layers. You can move it by clicking on it, holding down the mouse, and dragging it up. Hold down your Shift key and select all three layers so they are all highlighted.

2. Go to Image > Rotate > Layer 90 Left, and the three layers will rotate. Using the Move Tool, drag the rotated layers into the open white area of the document.

3. Click on only the Title Bar Background and enlarge its size by clicking and dragging on each of the four center handles. You need to make this a little larger to accommodate for trimming it on all sides.

4. Next, turn off the Date Tab Outline layer, and then on the Date Tab text, enter the date for your page.

5. Send this file to print onto white or other cardstock.

Next, you will trim out the pieces.

Using a paper trimmer or Xacto knife and metal ruler, trim the journaling just inside the dotted lines on each side.

Then trim out the title strip, trimming just inside the edge of the strip.

Next, cut out the date, leaving room to use for an underlapping tab, and round the lower corners if desired.

Trim a piece of background paper to size. For my page, that's 8-1/2 x 11.

Position the tab beneath the title strip before adhering.

Now, simply add your pictures.

I strongly recommend doing three shots of yourself at the time you answer the questions. Now, if this means you need to get dolled up prior to answering the questions, then by all means, do! I conveniently forgot to wear makeup for mine. So be it. It's real life, baby.

To use the template for your photos, simply open the template back up, turn ON all of the photo layers and turn off all the other layers. (You turn layers off by clicking on the Eyeball icon next to each layer.)

Then, you can clip photos into the three photo placeholders and print them onto a sheet of 8-1/2 x 11 photo paper.

TO PLACE PHOTOS into the template, with the three photo layers back on:

1. Open the photo you'd like to use, Select > All (Command or Control+A), Edit > Copy (Command or Control+C) and close the photo.

2. Click on your target layer on the template ("photo") and then Paste the photo into the template via Edit > Paste (Command or Control+V). You will probably have to size your photo down, and you do this by grabbing any one of the four corner handles, clicking, holding down the mouse, and dragging.

3. To pop the photo into the layer mask, go to Layer > Create Clipping Mask (Command or Control+G). Repeat for other photos.

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And that, dear blog readers and story tellers, are the basic steps to putting this bad boy together.

Now, some of you might be thinking, "Yes, that's all well and good, but I'm not going to do a page about myself when I have so many other photos and stories to be scrapbooked," and that's when I reply, and rather loudly: "HELLO? Your story is part of your overall picture!"

(Yes, that's my soapbox rant for the day.)

In short, tell your story. All you have to do is answer a handful of questions. Each template comes with 20 extra questions to get you thinking. In this way, StoryGuides make it fun and painless. Let's hear it for painless journaling solutions about ourselves!

And for Clairol Hair Dye No. 4 Chocolate! (Sorry, I just didn't realize my hair was as grey as it is. For now, I'm keeping it. But never say never.)

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SUPPLIES: Story Guide No. 5a (Cathy Zielske) • patterned paper (BasicGrey) • corner punch (Creative Memories) • font (Avenir)

This template is also available in 12 x 12.

 

Project Life check in

Last week marked my third week participating in Project Life, and I've gotta tell you: it's pretty dang cool.

I think my favorite part? No adhesive needed. Seriously. There is something so liberating about saving memories without adhesive. Of course, digital scrapbookers have known that for years. And now, the Project Lifers do too!

I'll show you my pages from the last two weeks.

(I designed myself a custom layered journaling card because I like to have one place I can type up a summary of the week. This might change going forward, but for now, I really like being able to type it up, print it out, and put it into the page protector.) I also designed a little "Spring is finally here" card to add to my page.

Here is last week (a.k.a. the week the iPad 2 arrived).

For this week's recap, I used one of my Journal Card PNG files and just added a text block to it for my journaling.

Notice that last week, I tweaked my "Spring" card to say something a bit different on account of a dusting of snow. I also blurred out one story, mostly because occasionally there is a story that is just for our family's eyes. Sorry to have to be so cryptic, but you have to respect the wishes of a teenager.

I wasn't sure if I would lose steam on this after a few weeks. Last week, I didn't take a lot of pictures, and I didn't keep much ephemera, but when I sat down yesterday to do it, it was so quick and easy. I printed out pictures in a snap on some 4 x 6 photo paper, and then I typed up a few journaling cards and it took all of an hour to pull it all together.

Here are closer shots of my weekly summary cards, complete with typos I decided not to change.

The thing that's so great about Project Life is that it really can adapt to the way you like to do things. Me? I like typed journaling. Not because my handwriting sucks, but so that I can get more of the story down in less space. Creating my own journal cards (both PNG and layered PSD files) is helping me to tell my story in the framework of Project Life.

Thanks, Becky H. You're too cool for school!

 

 

 

We may not need this, but that's hardly the point.

It is accomplished. I am the proud owner of iPad 2. No need for pronouns. It's just iPad 2.

Last Thursday morning, I received an email informing me that after waiting 5 long weeks of waiting, iPad 2 was on the FedEx truck and out for delivery. I immediately sprang into action. Shower? Check! Note on door telling the FedEx man that I was indeed home and to please knock loudly and that if I didn't answer, please see the package release form taped to the porch door? Check!

Then I was flummoxed. Did I risk going to the basement to fold laundry only to miss the FexEx man's delicate rapping upon my door? Or did I simply confine my tasks for the day to within 8 feet of my front door so I would be ready to stop, drop and sign for iPad 2? It was a lot to think about at 9 a.m.

And at 10 a.m. And 11 a.m. And Noon. And 1 p.m.

Finally I had to face reality: waiting by the front door wasn't going to make it show up any sooner. So I decided to tackle errands in other parts of the house.

And wouldn't you know it, the minute I walk away was the minute he showed up. And did he, in fact, knock loudly as requested on my Post It note? I will never know because I never heard a thing. Only at around 2:30 did I peek out onto my front porch and see a smallish box, quietly waiting to be scooped up and loved.

Hello, you sexy beast.

I placed it next to the other iPad acoutrements and took this photo.

{cue choir of angels singing here}

Realizing I had but an hour before younger Zielskes with greasy hands would be clamoring to show their own special brand of love to iPad 2, I raced up to my office, plugged that sucker in, and got down to business.

{more angels, please. thank you.}

I spent the weekend loading up on apps and trying in earnest to justify in as many ways possible my purchase of this uber cool gadget.

I can save recipes on it!

I can read magazine on it and save countless numbers of trees!

I can play Scrabble with people I don't know!

I can watch television!

I can take pictures of myself and do nutty things with them!

I can record videos as a talking cat!

I can check my email!

I…I… well I'm still working on this list.

Long story short, and in the words of that SNL cast member who does the killer Miley Cyrus impersonation: it's pretty cool.

Make no mistake, I plan to make a scrapbook page about this experience very soon. In the meantime, you can find me playing "Words with Friends" and coming to the explosive and shocking realization that I zero mastery of the English language when placed into digital tile form.

Now if you'll excuse me, it's my turn and I'm going to play my next word, "Geek."

 

And the giveaway winners are…

The winner of Scrapbook Circle's April Kit: Hello Sunshine is:

The winner of  a free weekend retreat for them and a friend at the Phoenix Scrapbook Cottage (not including transportation) is:

Ladies, email me at czdesign@comcast.net to get hooked up with your prizes.

Sponsor Giveaways: a kit from Scrapbook Circle and a weekend retreat from Scrapbook Cottage

One blog reader will win Scrapbook Circle's April Kit: Hello Sunshine.

ABOUT SCRAPBOOK CIRCLE: Scrapbook Circle is a monthly kit club that will be celebrating their 5th anniversary next months with lots of giveaways, challenges and fun.  They offer a 2+ month subscription which means that you only commit to receiving two kits and then you can go month to month and quit at any time.

Be sure to visit the Scrapbook Circle Idea Page and Blog for daily inspiration. You can also join us on Facebook where we do kit giveaways and you can follow us on Twitter too.

This month we'd like to offer a discount to Cathy's Blog readers. Just enter czSPRING15 and you will receive 15% off of our order. Valid through April 30.

Page by Diana Waite.

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Need a scrapbook weekend getaway? One blog reader will get a free weekend retreat for them and a friend at the Phoenix Scrapbook Cottage. (does not include transportation).

ABOUT THE COTTAGE: A relaxing retreat is just around the corner! Each Phoenix Scrapbook Cottage guest receives:

• 24-hour access to their own scrapbooking space

• Six-foot wide personal work area with a comfortable chair, full-spectrumlight, and drink holde

• Comfortable beds with plush linens

• A quiet, relaxing, home environment for you and your friends to crop theweekend awa

• Scrapbooking tool room with a computer, tons of fonts, a wide-formatprinter, die-cut machine, idea books, and much more

• Wireless internet

• Fully-equipped kitchen

• Snacks and drinks

• Open nearly every weekend of the year

So, grab your friends, gather your photos, and get ready for a relaxingand fun time! Visit us at www.phxscrapcottage.com.

Reservations must be made by October 31, 2011, and the weekend stay mustbe completed by December 18, 2011.

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TO ENTER: Leave me a comment and answer two questions: 1.) Have you ever been a member of a scrapbook kit club, and 2.) Have you ever gone on a scrapbooking retreat?

I will choose the winners on Sunday evening. If the winner of the retreat is unable to travel to Arizona, I will keep randomly choosing a winner until we find one who can. Good luck!