Some of My Personal Faves

Perhaps one of the most sublime moments of my parenting career. One day, I asked my daughter, "What is love?" She answered, "Love is when you hug something." Sometime during that same month, I snapped this photo. *sigh*

Credits: Amanda Sok 'Frippery': BG paper, lace, tab; Syndee Nuckles 'Collage Art': alpha, butterflies, fairy, garland; Katie Pertiet's Drop Shadow Styles; Vivaldi font; Adobe PSCS3.

I love this one of my daughter. This is just how she is -- fearless and full of laughter.

Credits:Julia Makotinsky 'Fantasia': tag; Julia Makotinsky 'One Fine Day': paper, frame, ribbon; Katie Pertiet's Drop Shadow Styles; Angelina font; Adobe PSCS3.

In addition to terrorizing my son at Hershey Character Breakfasts, I also like to torment him by taking him on a spin around the merry-go-round. Please don't call child protective services...

Credits: All papers, elements and alpha from Thao Cosgrove 'Life's Canvas'; Katie Pertiet's Drop Shadow Styles; Catherine's Lazy Days font; Adobe PSCS3.

This is a picture taken before all of his nightmares began...doesn't this just make you sigh? Sweet, sweet boy...

Credits: Cinnamon Designs 'Romantique': papers and elements; Taylor Made Bliss in Action Photo Actions 'Pale Comparison;' Katie Pertiet's Drop Shadow Styles; Hurricane and Freebooter fonts; Adobe PSCS3.

This is very minimalist, but still one of my favorites.

Credits: Lauraskathi 'Rosie': paper, ribbons (recolored); Vera Lim 'Love at First Sight': frame; Natali Designs Playing With Word Art for Digital Artist Magazine; Melissa Renfro 'Well Loved': tag and brad; Katie Pertiet's Drop Shadow Styles; AnkeHand font; Adobe PSCS3.

Penny for Your Thoughts

A page I finished today. This is a photograph I took of my son at the Hotel Hershey on the 16th of this month, when I took the kids there to have breakfast with the Hershey characters. I know what he was thinking, "Get me out of here -- Mom, are you psycho?!?!?" But, I thought I'd do a little revisionist scrapping and pretend he was deep in thought and not planning an escape from the hell his mother forced him to endure...

Credits: All papers, elements and alpha from 'Free Spirit' collaboration kit by Amanda Resende & Kristen Rice (After Five); Katie Pertiet's Drop Shadow Styles; 1942 report font; Adobe PSCS3.

Another Reason I LOVE Photoshop

So, in almost every picture one of the subjects is looking away, looking not-so-good, or purposely trying to sabotage the photograph (I won't name names, but this person's name starts with 'A' and ends with 'ddie'!).

It bugs me when I take a thousand pictures and find only one or two that are pretty good (i.e. This year's Christmas photos ! More about that in another post!). Since I have Photoshop and know how to use most of its features, I decided to take matters into my own hands with some pictures Chris took of me and the kids at the top of Currituck Lighthouse (Corolla, NC) in August 2008.

Addie looks cute here:

Kiefer and I look OK here, someone else does not...

So, using Photoshop's awesome layer mask, a steady hand and about an hour, I merged Addie'scute face onto her grumpy face (and fixed the overexposed sky while I was at it) and got this!

Is Photoshop awesome, or what?!

A Valentine for My Kiddos

Made this page with a photo I took yesterday at the park. I had to alter the photograph a little bit; actually had to digitally move the kids closer together -- Photoshop is awesome!

Anyway, to my kids:
I love you both more than I could ever say. You are such a part of my life, I cannot even remember not having you around! One of my favorite things in the world is listening to you laugh. I hope you'll forgive my faults and I hope you know that every day you are treasured and cherished and loved like crazy!

Thanks for being mine.
Love, Mom

Credits: Vera Lim 'Love at First Sight': everything except scalloped mat and scalloped paper strip, which are from 'Love Letters' (OScraps); Katie Pertiet's Drop Shadow Styles; Batik Regular font; Adobe PSCS3.

One More Post Before Bed

In our pre-kid days, Chris and I used to visit all kinds of creepy places. Neither of us is entirely sure if we 'believe' in ghosts, but we'd sure be interested in seeing one. Anyway, this photograph was taken inside Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadephia. ESP was a prison started by Quakers, who believed that solitary reflection would lead criminals to find their best selves.

The prison is now an historical site, and a way cool one at that! We spent hours there. All around the grounds are numbers placed in certain locations. You are given an MP3 player upon arrival and when you get to a spot with a number, you press it and get a recorded message about the significance of whatever you are viewing.

We didn't see any ghosts, but I got some stunning photographs, this being one of them.

Digital Scrapbooking, Then and Now

This is the first digital scrapbook page I ever created. I wish I had documented the materials I used, but they were all freebies I picked up somewhere in cyberspace. My apologies to the creators...

I really love this photo of my brother Jonathan and my niece Loralie, taken in December 2007. I scrapped it in February 2008.

This is the most recent digital scrapbook page I have done. It's a photo of Addie when she was only about three months old. I scrapped this page last week.

Thanks for looking!

Credits: Lauraskathi 'New Beginning': butterflies, antennae, trail, glass hearts; 'Primavera' collaboration kit (Catscrap): paper, tree, leaves, flowers, pearls; Syndee Nuckles 'Collage Art': butterfly princess, dove card; Lily Designs 'White Dove': dove; Windsong and Selfish fonts; Katie Pertiet's Drop Shadow Styles; Adobe PSCS3.