what I learned last week....

I hit the jackpot with photography tips, and photoshop tips last week.  They are easy enough that I can follow them!  I thought I'd pass them on to you in case you wanted to expand your knowledge base. :)
1. Photoshop tips on creating a collage can be found HERE.
I played with this several times so that I wouldn't forget.....
2. Taking pictures of people with glasses can be found HERE.
I still need to work on this....but I'm getting there.
3. Understanding lighting can be found HERE.
This was VERY helpful for me.  I was SO excited to find this--still trying to figure out what I'm doing with my camera, and don't really want to use my flash.

I created last week but it was mostly taking pictures and editing them.  Sure was fun figuring out where to stand for pictures!  Hope that this little bit of info helped you out too!

OH, this is what is in the crock pot right now:

Janalynn's Black Beans (I don't know who Janalynn is, this is just what it's called....)
2lbs. Black beans, sorted and rinsed (not soaked)
1 large white onion, minced (can chop into chunks if you want)
1 bulb garlic, minced
1 jar green salsa
1 can El Pato sauce
1 tsp. Cumin seeds (NOT powder)
1 pinch cayenne pepper
1 Tbsp. Black Pepper
2 Tbsp. Sea Salt
1 Tbsp. Chili powder
1/4 cup fresh cilantro
2 cubes chicken boullion
8 cups water

stir well to combine. set slow cooker on high for 6-8 hours or until beans are tender.

should be YUMMY!
Thanks for popping in and visiting!!

cards--jillibean style

So I thought that I had shared these cards already, I used Jillibean Soup on all of them:

 This past weekend was FULL of fun, soccer, egg coloring and parties. My oldest two had their final games for the soccer season--yipee!  (did I say that out loud?!)  I feel this way at the end of every season, it's fun but tiring at the same time.  My youngest reminded me they have 5 more weeks of school--crazy! well, I best jet looks like everyone is ready to have some family time.  Thanks for popping in!

birthday boy with a little help from Core'dinations & crate paper

Wow did I have FUN making this card a few weeks ago:

This closeup gives a little more detail--LOVE those pop dots! 

we only have one game today, but it's sort of right in the middle of the day, ah..well!  I'm off to color eggs with my kiddos.  Hope that your Easter weekend is a wonderful one.

Thanks for popping in!

hike at grand canyon & blackberry pie

The family dynamix line from Bella Blvd. is awesome!  I found this other set of pictures in my collection, one I printed one was printed for me.  it was just a happy combination that happened to be on my desk at the same time.  I kept adding a little of this and a little of that and came up with:

 I have fallen in love again with pop dots, I really have, they give such texture and dimension and it's SO simple!

 this title came from my sticker stash companies: making memories, SEI, and my little shoebox

I'm doing sort of a happy dance, we are on our last week of soccer.  It's been a fun ride, but I'm tired, I really am.  Saying that I just signed up again for next season!  it doesn't start until September but by then we will be ready for the crazy schedule again.  Heck, we've been doing this for 6 years now...can't believe it's been that long....tonight is parents against the kids for my DD's team.  should be a fun time, it's seriously competitive....fun stuff!

That being said I have black berries just begging made into a pie THIS is the recipe I use, it's FABULOUS!

thanks for stopping in!

My Core'dinations Creative Frenzy

Core'dinations cardstock is awesome!  This is my entry for their design team call going on right now!  I've used it as cardstock, but there is SO much more to it than that!

  On this layout I did a couple of different things.  Yes, I DID scrap lift myself!! (this is from the Hershey track meet last year, that's coming up again in 2 weeks!)

 with the stars I placed the cardstock on top of my mask, with the top side "kissing" the mask, I then used my embossing tool and went around the edges of the star.  I was doing this "blind", but I went over the edges really well so that they stuck out or embossed on the top side.  I then took my nail file and sanded the paper.  To enhance the star I then stitched around it.

 I went a little crazy with trying to find things to sand the paper on.  I used my cookie cooling rack:

I placed the paper on top of the rack, top side up.  Because it was square it was easy to keep my paper straight.  I then sanded using my nail file again.  To get the grid I flipped the paper squared the edges and sanded again.  The grid looks pretty sweet!  The red paper in the paper was a little difficult to put in my sizzix, so what I did was took my embossing folder into the kitchen!  I placed it in the embossing folder, placed it on the counter and with my rolling pin rolled over it to emboss.  I lined up my circles every time until I was at the end of my piece of paper.  I then sanded the circles.  LOVE the effect!  Who knew you could use your kitchen tools on your layouts? :)

One last thing about this layout is I added mist, what is cool is that the mist on the sanded parts has a slightly different color, LOVE it!

 I just loved the green cardstock that I had to use it.  I was so happy to see that it matched perfectly with this crate paper.  Yummy!  I cut my paper down to A2 card size and placed it in my embossing folder.  Then with my trusty nail file I sanded.  Wondering why I used a nail file instead of sand paper?  I found that if I use sand paper it rips the paper more than I want.  With the nail file it sands just right without going over board.  After I embossed the card I cut the pattern paper to half of the card size which is 2 1/4".  I adhered it and then sewed it on to the paper.  I then adhered the border sticker and saying, adding pearls.  For the final touch I added my punched out flower with pop dots.

 I went real simple with this one, (I used a bit of Echo Park).  I wanted to show how BEAUTIFUL this pink core'dinations cardstock is.  This card is just smaller than A2 size.  I placed it in my embossing folder, then sanded with my nail file.  I adhered the darker pink piece of paper, then cut a piece of tulle about a 1/3 of the width that comes on the roll (I eye balled that) and about 12".  I tied it in a square knot, I then cut a 1/4" piece of paper adhered in the center to hold it in place then sewed with my zig zag stitch.  I used my corner round to round the edges of the card and one edge of the sentiment.  I adhered bling to the title and finally with pop dots I attached it to the card.

 these cards both came together quickly and I REALLY like the results!

If you have never heard of Core'dinations I highly recommend that you look at your local scrapbook store, Michaels or Hobby Lobby.  Their are several different colors with different cores that are absolutely FABULOUS!!  It's really addicting to see what different effects you can get with this paper.

Wish me luck! thank you Core'dinations for making such FABULOUS product! 

mario iz it you? sketchy thursdays 4.7

eek!  I had SO much fun with this layout from sketchy thursdays, I just took pictures of my boy on Saturday and knew I had to scrap them RIGHT away!  What's great is that I couldn't just choose one or two pictures from his "photo shoot" I could choose 4!  Funnier still is that Ella the dog DID NOT like the black thing on his face and kept trying to jump up and get it off! :)

here is my take:

 I tried to get a shot that featured the "popped" picture of my son.  This was SO funny when he walked in from his birthday party.....

products used:

cardstock: core'dinations

pattern paper & embellishments, stickers: Crate paper

mist: tattered angels

jewels: glitz

letter stickers: making memories

well, I'm off on my run with Ella, I get to try out my new fanny pack water bottle holder today.  (do they still call them fanny packs?)  

AND my house (outside) is getting painted today!  It only took our HOA 5 weeks to approve it and it's EXACTLY what's on the house....'nuff said.  I'm just glad it will look good.

thanks for popping in!  Have a great Wednesday!!

so I got a little messy...

This is the May GDT sketch challenge for Sketchy Thursdays

This is what I came up with:

 products used:

pattern paper: Bo Bunny

cardstock: core'dinations

mini staples: Tim Holtz

journal spots: Elle's studio

ribbon: reflections from Michaels

letter stickers: glitz

mist: tattered angels

doillie: wilton

 love how the embossing folder just fit on the edge and the cool distressed look it gives the edge,  the doillie was also sprayed with glimmer mist to make it the brown color that it is.

this core'dinations paper is awesome!  The sanding was so much fun to do! 

 I really had fun with this layout of my daughter and her lovely horned toad friend.  I actually had one as a pet for a while, he was SO cool.  We used to put him on a remote control tank, and drive it around--HILARIOUS because he looked so serious.  I've got to get a copy of those pictures from my mom and scrap them.  

I'm off and running today, so I really appreciate you stopping in for a visit!  Hope your Tuesday is AWESOME!

winner winner chicken dinner!

Congratulations to Theresa!  I e-mailed you!!  I wanted to thank you all for your wonderful support from my "old" followers and welcome to all my new followers!!  you know how to make a girl feel loved!

slow cooker spagetti Sauce, and some scrappy news

with all this talk about my slow cooker I wanted to share with you one of the recipes I used, it's SO yummy!

slow cooker spaghetti sauce
1 pound beef
1 medium onion, chopped
2 14 0z. can diced tomatoes with juice
6 oz. can tomato paste
8 oz. can tomato sauce
1 bay leaf
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons dried basil
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon dried thyme

1. brown meat and onion in saucepan. drain well. transfer to slow cooker.
2. add remaining ingredients.
3. cover. cook on low for 7 hours.

This serves 8.

I can tell you my kiddos ate this ALL up!  They ate it better than out of the jar.  I will definitely make this again!

I wanted to share one really cool creative thing that happened to me this past week.  one of my pages was featured on the WONDERFUL Aussie Scrap Source website.  it was a sweet surprise getting the e-mail, I felt very honored.  Thanks girls!

it's been raining here, love the wet and cloud cover--my garden loves it too!  my cantaloupe and tomatoes have flowers!!  That means fruit--EXCITING!!

thanks for popping in!  sure hope that you have a wonderful weekend!

so I had some hello sunshine leftovers......and a giveaway from me!

This past weekend I made all of these fabulous cards with the remains of Hello Sunshine the kit for this month at Scrapbook Circle.  I had SO much fun, I really like using scraps for cards--no plans, they just come together: 

 yes, most of these are birthday cards.  I send a lot of those out.....

 as for the giveaway:  I just recently got a thank you box from Scrapbook Trends for an item I had published.  In the mix is some maya road & jenni bowlin.  I would like to share some of these with you!
so what do you have to do?  leave a comment (and follow me--if you already do let me know)--in the comment if you have a favorite crock pot recipe I would LOVE to hear it!  If not no worries!!  I will throw your name in the hat again if you refer your friends and they FOLLOW me letting me know you referred them.  So that means you have the opportunity to have your name put in the hat twice.  I will announce the winner on Monday April 11--good luck! **this is for US and Canadian gals only**

And seriously thank you for stopping in!

Capture the moment

okay, this was the first layout I did with the hello sunshine kit, what's interesting is that I sort of dropped things on the page and they just came together.  These pictures were taken in a photobooth at a wedding reception and I really wanted them to stand out--so fun!

the misting spots are all one color, I believe it's melon--it doesn't really show up so well when you mist it but the drops really show how beautiful it is.

today was 4 mile wednesday.  ella the vizsla and I ran and ran, saw some funny things.  my favorite was the man who was waving his hands as he was running.  he stopped as soon as he got up to us, but about 5 feet behind us he started singing up a storm--so funny he had these huge head phones on.... we got home I was exhausted and ella just laid right down on the floor, NOT moving at all.  she wouldn't even wag her tail.  speaking of ms. ella I was taking pictures of pages outside--she's ALWAYS curious to what we are doing:

hey whatcha doing?

I'm so pretty you must be taking a picture of me! (I think she realizes that I take pictures, I really do.)

 ooh, what is that?  You DON'T want me in the picture?!

 oh, something OVER HERE smells really good..... :)

 see, she is like this ALL the time--center of attention--pretty much ALWAYS.  we do have another dog Dakota, she likes rides in the car...but that is about as much exposure to the outside world she gets.  she tends to bark at everyone and everything and it's embarrassing...we love her though!

My second dinner is in the crock pot a whole chicken with onion, celery, basil & poultry seasoning--should be yummy!

Thanks for checking in I'm off and running--the weather is overcast keeping it cooler--good thing too because we have a track meet today!

it's your day--True Scrap and a $15 GC

I just loved making this layout!  (yes, I used the Hello Sunshine kit) I used my cricut to cut the hearts out.  Then I just backed it with the some of the other FABULOUS paper.  Misting was also so much fun to play with.  The drops are made from spraying your mist into the lid and then pouring it on your layout.  If you want your drops to be less, add less.

  Also, I wanted to use the kraft file folder from jillibean soup. Then realized that I could do my journaling on the inside.  PRETTY sweet!  One more thing I wanted to point out was the title, I punched it out from the printable and adhered it to a piece of crate paper chipboard.

One more thing I wanted to share FROM the Scrapbook Circle blog:

Since we don’t want you to miss out on the fun of True Scrap, we are offering anyone who signs up throughTHIS LINK a $15 gift certificate good for anything on Scrapbook Circle's site. Just sign up through the link and then forward a copy of your receipt to info@scrapbookcircle.com and we will send you a code for your $15 gift certificate!

 

If you can’t join in the fun this weekend, no worries! There is a sign up option that will allow you to have full replays of all of the presentations that you can watch at anytime.

We hope you will join us for this inspirational online event!

Sounds pretty fun!  Thanks for stopping in for the visit!  Hope that you Tuesday is a GREAT one! :)

Sunshine Fun

The sun has been shining here, it's been warm but today it feels more like spring--THANK goodness--NOT ready for summer and neither is my garden.  Cantaloupes, watermelons, and peppers are doing well.   Excited to see how everything else will do!

Made this fun layout with the Hello Sunshine kit, I just love all the chipboard included in the kit!  (the title, birds, & clouds are chipboard)

I've been working on my December daily, got all of it together and the stitching today.  Almost done!  I know December isn't even close but I had plenty of time yesterday and I was in the mood.  Last year I finished the album December 5, I really didn't have the time but I'm glad I did it.  the kids really enjoying adding stuff and getting their pictures taken to help fill the album.  I made it at 5x7 and used the Merry Christmas paper from Echo Park.  When it's all done I'll be sure to share!

Well, I'm off to do laundry--oh joy! :)

Thanks for popping in for a visit!

sketchy thursdays 3.31

so I saw this sketch and knew I wanted to use it!

I found this funny photo in my stash.  I know I didn't take it, in fact I know that it came from one of the many disposable cameras we have had.  I had no idea when it was taken, but I did some super sleuthing.  I know that my middle boy took the picture, my youngest is wearing a white shirt--it must have been a Sunday.  The year?  notice the glasses my boy is wearing?  they are actually my daughter's, so that helped me figure out the year as she gets knew frames yearly.  oh, and I flipped the sketch!

 I squeezed in another layout with the scraps of the Hello Sunshine kit from Scrapbook Circle.  I'm telling you it is AWESOME!  I can't even tell you my favorite thing in the kit, there are just SO many fun embellishments and papers.

*I didn't mention that the sponsor for sketchy Thursdays is Scrapbook Circle!!  you have to try and win this kit!!  I promise you will love it!*

for those that have been wondering.  the test run of the crock pot was a success!  I didn't have anything really exciting, but I had some pork chops and italian salad dressing.  put it on low and cooked it for the prescribed time--yum!

life has been SO crazy busy with soccer, a few more weeks and it will be all over.  Weird.  the weather has been so hot we turned on our air already--last year the temperature was 68 degrees--yeah it's pushing 100. yuck--not quite ready for the hotter weather.  ah, well. it is what it is.

so enjoying the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints General Conference this weekend.  being spiritually fed is awesome!

thanks for popping in! hoping you are enjoying your weekend.