Sorry I havent blogged in a couple of days, its been a bit hectic here :(

Jamie started playgroup on Tuesday, and it went as how I expected it to be. Jamie is, in essence, a mama's boy, it took him to the age of 16 months before he would stay with either sets of grandparents without screaming the roof off the house. It took him until 20 months before he allowed me to go to the bathroom on my own. Basically he was a child who thought the world would end if he couldnt see me.

Its taken him until 2yrs before I could go to church and leave him in the creche, most often than not I would have one of the church officers give me a nod and I would have to leave the pew and tiptoe across a church to get to my screaming child.

So, do I really need to paint a picture on how he reacted when I dropped him off for his first day at playgroup/nursery?

Yep, you got it, he screamed blue murder, and his teacher basically told me to make a run for it and she would deal with him, he has too, after all, get used to it.

Needless to say, I did what I was told (reluctantly) with a lurch in my stomach, I was sad that *I was* the one doing this, and I was sad that I would be at home with no children, only last week I waved goodbye to my daughter on her first day of 'big school'

Thankfully he was only in for an hour to break the kids in gently, but, when I returned an hour later, he was STILL Screaming. Then, to top it off, he refused to speak to me in the car on the way home, in fact, he refused to speak to me for at least an hour.

Yesterday he was in for 2hrs, and I dreaded it, but he ran off to play with...herm...dolls..cough... and not a peep out of him. My mother thinks because it was all new to him on his first day, on the second day he knew I was coming back for him.

Also, my CPS (Carpal Tunnel Syndrome) Has been playing up, I think its been the scrapping and designing I have been doing but also its been quite cold here and this is the start of my wrists playing up. My CPS doesnt only affect my wrists, it affects all the joints in my body, particularly my knees, ankles and lower back.

As for my competition, I am LOVING all the layouts I am seeing, seriously its going to be HARD to pick a winner but someone has to win this $10 Oscraps GC, and there is still time to get your entries in :)

Ok, I am off to bed now, and get ready to face anothe day!!

(((freehugs)))) to you all!!

Blog Comp!!! *CLOSED*

Welcome to my first ever blog competition. I am busy writing up this while drinking a large cup of coffee, a slice of toast and yelling at my DD to get her butt into gear for school!!

Usual morning routine LOL

*COMPETITION IS CLOSED*

So do you want to win $10 to Oscraps?

Heres what I need you to do,

I made a new little kit, I acutally just made papers then, I added to it LOL.

So, I want you to make a layout using my new kit Forever Doodley, link me up to your layout by posting your link in the comment box. If you need to add anything else, use Oscraps products, if you dont have any, check out the Freebies at Oscraps BUT, I do want you to use the papers and the wordart out of my kit.

All enteries must be posted by Monday 9/1 and I will announce a winner on Wednesday :)

Now go Download the kit :)



5 textured papers
2 wordarts (one stickered one not)
heart doodle
flower doodle
leaf doodle
dragonfly sticker
doodle frame
doodle border
2 paint splashes
2 twirly whirly ropes!

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Blog Competition Starting Tomorrow!!

Who wants to win a $10 GC to Oscraps?? Where we have designers such as, Joe Designs, Kitty Designs, Paint The Moon, Holliewood Studios, Taylormade, PaisleePress, Fei-Fei's Stuff, Vicki Stegall and lots more fabulous designers!!

Starting tomorrow I am going to running a competiton with a freebie, and that freebie will be my first kit!

So come back tomorrow, download the kit and play along with a chance to win!!

WOOT!! Its Saturday, its sunny!!! Thank goodness, after the week of downpours sunshine is just what we need, guaranteed not to have bored kids as they will want to be outside playing!!

Did you notice my new feature to the right of my blog?? I have noticed through my site hits I get a lot of international readers coming to my blog, particularly French and German, so, I have added a translator to my blog. I dont know how accurate it is though :)

Today I need to decide what to get for Jamie for his birthday, he turns 3 next week :( I have asked him and all he tells me is Ambulance, but the child has a bazzilion Ambulances it actually looks like the local hospitals Ambulance station! He is also daft on Lightening MacQueen, what boy isnt LOL, but again, he has a ton of Lightening MacQueen things. Basically, he likes anything with wheels and a noise coming from it!

Anyway, I will just browse the local shops on the internet (I hate shopping LOL) and look for something, then next week when he is playgroup (He starts on Tuesday) I will go get it!

Sarah has enjoyed her first week in school. I asked her the other night if she is learning to read and write and she promptly replied no, they wont be learning to read and write until she is in the big school. I told her she is the big school now, but she then said, she doesnt think they will read and write until she is in Primary 6 (7th grade!) She thinks that next week she will be going into Primary 2 (3rd grade) and each week she goes into a new class, so its working out, by October she will be graduating and then going to collage.

I have a new alpha for you, and this one I love!!! It was hell to make LOL, but I love the outcome

I have to say, I have been trying to make a version for my European neighbours, you know the ones characters that have apostrophes over their e's and the ae stuck together! But I am having trouble finding handwriting fonts that have these characters. But I promise, as soon as I find them and I like them, then I will make that alpha for you ;)

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Have a great weekend :)

Girl Wordart

This is a quickie as I am literally running out the door!!

I was given a request to make a girl wordart after giving away a boy wordart

so without further ado, I present, dah, dah, dah, dah, dahhhhh.

Girl Wordart!!

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Gotta run, after school club, meet a friend, and then dancing class!! If I have any energy, I might come back with an update!!

I think I am well and truely done my blogging challenge!!

Thats it folks, I am done my 33 day Blogging challenge, getting to grips with CS2. And, I think my fear of the program is now finally conquered!!

I have learnt so much, (self learning I stay away from those big books!!) and actually, I dont know what I was fretting about!! I obviously have so much more to learn, and Donnie Hoyle from You Suck At Photshop will help LOL right now I am probably using about $20 worth of photoshop hopefully in a few years!! I will get to be using the full $600 worth!!

But from what I have learnt is good enough for me and my digiscrapping, and also I am learning to design more items now than just the templates, its been fun in that aspect, although I am no designer the learning side is another creative outlet for me :)

The rain here has been AWFUL today!! Sarah was telling me her new teacher made her laugh, at school she is learning S sound words and the days of the week *aww* But each morning after register the teacher asks the children what day it is, then she asks the weather (they put it up on a chart) the children had shouted out it was raining and the teacher stuck up a cloud with cats and dogs on it. Apparently the children were hysterical and were looking out the window looking for the cats and dogs LOL! I just love the innocence of this age.

I am on the commitee for the playgroup my son is going to be going to on Tuesday, and tommorow, Jamie and I will be going to the playgroup to help organise all the toys and crafts before the new children arrive. I am looking forward to it as it will give Jamie the opportunity to meet his teacher and playleaders properly before he starts, I am really not looking forward to leaving him there on Tuesday as I know its going to be hard for him. I am trying to explain to him that mummy wont be staying with him and he keeps telling me I will!! ACK

Anyway, here is a new paper pack, I have been working on it for a couple of days now and finally I am happy with the outcome. I am also working on a solid bright colors so keep your eye open for that. If you are not subscribed, check out the subscription toolbar on the right and that will notify you of any new posts I make :)

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Day August sometime!

I never blogged yesterday, I bad!!

Of course, yesterday was a legit excuse, and, a very exciting day, for one 5yr old little girl, well it was once she got over the initial shock of being up early, in her words 'Mummy, its still nighttime, its dark out!'

It wasnt night time, it was 7:15am and raining cats and dogs. But, in Scottish rain terms, it was raining on a horizontal angle. I kid you not, I straightened my hair 3 times!! But I gave up and just resigned myself to the fact that I am to be a curly mess!

This is one pissed off child!! a)Do not talk to me when I am just awake, and b) get the friggin camera out of my face woman!!

Take cover, those coco-pops could become a lethal weapon, especially to children that are pissed off with their moms with cameras in their faces!!

See, she can look cute!! Just hoping that all the summer brusies will vanish quickly!! My little tomboy looks like a girl!! *sigh*

The 'compulsary' first day of school pose!

The other 'compulsary' first day of school pose on the deck with the backpack included!

The other 'compulsary' first day of school pose, at the front of the house, notice Mad Dog Molly trying to sneak into the picture!!

Bye, bye my princess have a great day (dont worry, I didnt make her walk to school herself, she is only 5, this was just for effect!!, its the compulsary, walk and wave to school, my mum has one of me!)

Oh, I have to share this comment, from hsmema, she downloaded my teachers pet alpha which also had the post of me ranting about my DD coming home the night before her start of school with blue hair and red nails, the comment was left on my 4shared folder that made me choke laughing on a cracker!

---

P.S. love to tell you it gets better, but it doesn't, homework due yesterday, have to wear purple polka dots today for the environment (what???) , I neeeeed to take your phone to recycle (too bad I'm still using it!) ENJOY!

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This gave me such a giggle, and, if you are reading this now hsmema. did you ever find out what purple polka dots have to do with the enviroment ROFL!! (Still laughing reading it!!)

Here is a wordart for you, specially for those moms of little boys, maybe you have a big boy, or a husband who this could refer to too!!!

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Day, Oh I have no idea, Eleventy Billion!!

I am completely lost on what day it is!! I have been running around like a blue arsed fly on heat trying to get my child organised!

Tomorrow, she goes to school, her first day ever at school. Ahh, its like reminising on the good old days when mother dearest hiked you in the door at 7pm with mud on your face and rips in the jeans.

Except, fast forward 29 years and here I am hiking my daughter in the door at 7pm with blue mascara in her hair and red nail polish on her nails.

I mean for the love off the wee man, she had 7 frigging weeks to paint her nails red and throw blue stuff in her hair, WHY the night before she starts school!!

I swear, there are relatives up above, who passed onto another life just having a laugh at my expense! Well, someone is having a larf!!

So she had a bath, nail polish remover on the nails ('cept, there are still red bits embedded, its not like a 5yr old can do a perfect manicure!) hair soaped up to the max to get that crazy blue crap out of her head and finally, I have a little girl again. Although the freckles on her face scare me, its like, if you join the dots with them, it would most like spell HELLRAISER!

Alpha time, to celebrate back to school HORRAY!!

Download; Link Expired

Day 29, yay for photoshop!!

Its a nice sunny day in Scotland today, woot!! I went out riding this afternoon with Mad Dog Molly. I love, love my little dog, but, she has reminded me WHY you must NEVER allow dogs to lick your face etc.

Mad Dog Molly loves to roll around in horse s**t!! Sometimes, like for example today, she likes to carry little bits in her mouth, and, loves to play this game with me.

I run around shouting at Molly to drop the s**t and she runs off expecting me to throw said s**t to play a game of I suppose, Horse manure fetch!

I have a special wheelbarrow and horse pooper scooper to shovel the stuff up and as soon as I have managed to shovel some, she loves to roll in it.

I now know the reason that MG (Mr Gorgeous) does not allow me to take Molly in the X5!!

I also discovered something exciting.

Donnie Hoyle of the hilarious You Suck At Photoshop tutorials has released a new series, aptly named, You Suck At Photoshop series 2!

Even if you are not a photoshop user, still watch it, its HILARIOUS, but, a warning, do not watch it when you have young kids around ;) Or they will in no doubt start dropping F'bombs in the most embarrasing manner. I have even found myself say W.T.F as in a word out loud!

But, if you are a photoshop user, seriously, you will learn something when you stop laughing!! My friend Cynthia passed me the link to the first season so I would conquer my fear of CS2!! But as I said, I discovered the new season today.

Hey, dont watch it yet, come back and download this new template I got for ya!!

Download; Link Expired

P.S I need to quickly say something and put everyones curiosity at ease. I have had a few comments on various downloads asking where I sell my products. I am not a designer, I just like making these freebies to will away my day and count down until School starts ROFL!! Its also allowing me to play around with CS2 which I redownloaded for the 5th time onto my computer, this is the reason of my challenge, its a 21 day get to grips with CS2, (which I have extended to 33 days!).

As much as I love reading the comments regarding 'talent' *blush* I am not selling my products nor do I have any desire to do so, I just like learning about designing through CS2 and if I like what I do, I share it :)

Ok, end of long footnote, go download template, then watch You Suck At Photoshop and laugh your ass off!!

*muahs*

Day 28 A change to my TOU

I should have now changed my challenge into a freebie a day challenge LOL, yes, I have a new freebie, a paper pack, my first papers at that!!

I have decided to change my TOU ;)

For those of you that are regular readers to my blog, you will know that I am a professional layout artist, or, in digi terms, S4H.

Its becoming slightly easier to find products that are S4H friendly, with designers providing a reasonably charged S4H license. But, there are some designers, (IMO) who think that commercial use, and, S4H are one in the same, charging high rates for licenses and/or products, when, in fact, they are not same.

The difference is that a S4H artist will purchase a kit purely to scrap for someone else who is paying for the project. But, the S4H artisit spends a lot of money with buying the product(s), printing, gas, shipping etc, it all adds up. Yes, we recoup that cost in the charge for the completed project, but, the chances of using the same kit again and again is slim, dependant on your client(s).

Commercial use is generally for designers making kits and selling them on in large amounts, recouping the money quite quickly.

So, this is the reason I am changing my TOU.

I am not allowing commercial use on any of my freebies, and why should I. I am not making my freebies just so designers can use them on kits etc and sell them.

But, I am allowing my freebies to be used in S4O and S4H, a little way of giving back, particulary to all those other professional layout artists that I have learnt so much from over the past 18 months or so while I was researching my business.

My TOU (included in my downloads) have only been updated, but, if you are a S4H/S4O artist who has downloaded my freebies in the past, my new TOU will stand :)

Here is the new copy of my TOU;

Please read and follow this file in its entirety.

All digital designs by Catriona Thomson are copyright protected and may not be distributed without express written permission from Catriona Thomson.

(c) 2008 Catriona Thomson
Contact: Teanamac at hotmail dot com


_______________________________________________________________________

TERMS OF USE:

By downloading this product, you are agreeing to NOT redistribute, sell, or share this product.

The product is NOT Commercial use, You MAY NOT use any of these products for creating your own kits/elements etc and sell them on.

YOU MAY use any product for the purpose of albums, cards, stationery or any other type of art that will be used for selling or generating income from this product.



YOU MAY NOT:

1. Share, Lend or redistribute any items of this kit.

2. Do not use them and re-sell them as your own designs or Claim them as your Own.

4. Please do not alter any part of the kit in any way and claim it as your own to resell.

5. Do not add these graphics to any CD for sale.

_______________________________________________________________________

Please credit KittyCat Designs when submitting your layouts to online galleries and/or contests, magazines or any other form of publishing

And to celebrate my new found freedom as a professional layout artist ;)

Here is a new freebie, my first paper pack!! Inspiration came from my DD's hairband! :)

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Day 27 along with another alpha!!

What a horrid day, its not stop raining since we got up this morning. I have had to resort to cleaning! ugh!! Actually its been ok, thankfully, the movie channel has been a fantastic baby sitter today. Both kids were content with a large bag of popcorn watching, the Incredibles, Antz, Garfield and Carz!!

Heh, they dont get to do this often, but, if I am guaranteed to get cleaning and organising done without any fightening, I am all for it!!

And its been great, I managed to get all our closets cleared out, bedrooms polished and vaccumed and bathrooms bleached!

That way, my intention, when Sarah starts school on Tuesday *sniff* I will get to spend some time with Jamie before he starts playgroup the following week *sniff*

Then, in the afternoon I went and met my BFF and her two kids at a local eatery that has a kids playarea.

And it has rained non-stop, but it was nice to get out.

No layouts made today, I did start one, but I think my mojo has dissapeared again :(

But, I did make another alpha (dang, I am throwing them out this week LOL!!!)

Grab em; Link Expired

Have a great weekend (((hugs)))

Day 26, wordart freebie

Day 26 of my challenge, so far I have learnt the basics of my CS2, and I am happy with what I have learnt myself, not once picking up that big thick manual with eleventy billion pages!

Dont, you wish you could freeze time on your kids and stop them growing older? Today was one of those days for me, the things my kids come out with make me laugh so hard!!

First instance, Sarah has been going to Holiday Clubs the past two weeks, they are church run clubs. The first club she went to is the church she goes to for campaingers, a little club run on a Friday from 4-5pm where the do crafts, games and songs also learning about the bible. The other club was our own church, she loved it at that club as she loves her Sunday School teachers and the kids that go along with her.

Last week, they were learning about Moses and the burning bush. At night, rather than a fairytale at bedtime, she has been wanting stories out of her childrens bible. Her favourite two stories are Noahs Ark and Joseph and his coat.

Anyway, this morning she was flicking through her bible and says,

'Mummy, did Jesus make the world?' 'No' I say, remember what I have told you, Jesus died for our ....what?' 'Oh, yes, Jesus did for our BINS' she says, 'It was God that built the world wasnt it?' 'Yes' says I the proud mama, 'God made the world, and Jesus is God's son, who died for us' 'But, papa built Harris didnt he mummy?' 'um, how do you mean' 'You know, God built the world, but my papa built Harris'

Just in case you dont understand, my dad is a builder!! And Harris is where he is from, and he has been busy working there for about 5yrs now!! So in her little head, she thinks that my dad is building Harris, which in a way is correct LOL

The next funny story is with my son Jamie.

After the discussion with DD about who built what, we had to go out to Lily the horse as the farrier was on the way to fit new shoes. Normally I would not be getting them done when I have both kids with me, but her hoofs were getting unbearable long even another week would have caused problems, not to mention, I could tell she was ready to throw a shoe.

Jamie was mesmorised with the farrier, the hoofs get burned with the shoe to fit them in place prior to nailing them in, every so often Jamie would want a commentary of what was going on and I would tell him.

Then after an hour, the shoes were getting put on.

'Mummy, what that man doing now?' 'He is placing on the shoes now, when they are on Lily will go clip-clop again' 'Where are the shoes mummy' 'Look, Keith (farrier) is nailing them on now' *pause* 'Mummy, they are not shoes' 'Yes they are, they are special shoes, horseshoes' 'When is she getting her crocs?'

Now Keith is not a very chatty guy, he just crashes on with his work, he is a fantastic farrier, and for the first time in the 13yrs I have known him, he laughed, and he laughed hard, much to the confussion of my innocent, beautiful boy!! LOL

I just wish I could keep my kids like this!!

Here, for you is a new freebie, a wordart, havent made one in a while :)

Both sticker (with optional shadow) and a plain version, which you can grab here

Day 25 along with a paper strips freebie

So, I can honestly say that I am a CS2 convert!! I opened PSE today, the first time in 25 days and I couldnt scrap with it LOL. I have to say a huge thank you to Kat, Cynthia, Chris, Amanda and Sally for suggesting that I do this blog a day challenge using CS2, if it wasnt for them, the disc would still be sitting in its box, and I would still be quaking in my boots at the slightest mention of Photoshop.

Today I wanted to scrap something that wasnt CT related, I am no traitor, but I felt the need to shop! Not to mention that the Oscraps store was down for some maintainence. I am very lucky being a Cheery O as I have a free reign on a lot of designer products which I can help myself to and like my BFF Krista keeps telling me, I dont NEEEED to buy digiscrap products. But, sometimes I have to!

Last night I discovered Bluebelle Designs as soon as I went into the store I realised quite quickly that my paypal was in for a serious bashing!! Generally, I dont purchase anything unless its S4H friendly since I have my own S4H site at memorieslive.com But damn, the stuff there is to die for!! I also soon realised that since my laptop had to be restored, I lost my kaboodle toolbar, which I soon redownloaded and filled up my kaboodle and rather quickly.

I did buy a couple of items, actually, more than a couple of items and I scrapped a page tonight, which, I am going to get printed and framed. I have decided I am going to give MyPicTales a try, I have liked shutterfly but I am going around various printers to try out to see who will be the better option for my buisness, I have heard mixed reviews about them, but I want to try them for myself, not to mention, their shipping fees are very reasonable, which is a bonus.

This is the page I scrapped, non CT, apart from leaves which is from Joe Designs Along with you Collab with ON Designs

Click on image for full credits

Ok, so here is a new freebie for you, a Paper Strip Template, Shadows are included, but easily removed if you dont want them ;)

Here is the preview;

Grab them here

Day 24 and extending!! Color Replacement Part II

I have extended my 21 day challenge to 33 days so I can finish with my other girlies who started their second challenge. I am off course refering to Kat, Krista and Sally

I have had a few days off playing with CS2 as I havent being feeling great. I had to force myself out of bed yesterday to take Sarah to her Sunday School Ark Club, nothing too serious wrong with me, just the joys of being a woman!! But it kills me!!

Anyway, I have another little tutorial on color replacement. Tonight I was working on a layout, using Joe Designs Call Of Nature and All About Flowers (both available at Oscaps)

Whilst working on the layout I wanted the flowers to compliment the picture of my son Jamie. I went through the steps on the tutorial I gave recently on Color Replacement, and although I was getting the color to change (nicely) it wasnt the effect I was looking for, so here is what I did :)


So this is the flower I want to change, and the picture of Jamie


First step, is image > Adjustments > Match Color
The a little box will pop up, like so;

First step is to change the source, in this case I chose Jamie's picture, to take all the colors out of the picture and place them into the flower.

Next, play around with the sliders, in this case, I found clicking 'Neutralize' effective, but it is a case of trial and error, I found on other elements I played around with, I didnt require to click on neutalize

(ignore the little pen and paper icon, this pops up as I use my Bamboo fun tablet ;)

Then, when happy with the color, just drag the element onto your layout

And this is the completed page,

The altered flowers adds a splash of color, and, compliments the colors from the photo :)

Extraction and Color Replacement Tutorial

Apologies, Apologies!! I wrote out my tutorial late last night and saved the draft then posted it this morning. This afternoon when I came online I realised I missed out a section of my tutorial!


So, I decided to do a video tutorial instead, so I wont miss anything out!!


Hope it easy to follow ;)

Day 16, Tutorial on Color Replacement

As per request by Kat :) Here is a tutorial on how I got the color replacement on my Geranium.

Here is the original picture


Of course before doing anything I required to extract everything around the flowers. I already did a quick tut on how to do an extraction without the need for the Lasso tool. For me, as I suffer from CTS (Carpal Tunnel Syndrome) I NEED to use my bamboo fun tablet for extractions, in fact I use it a lot for scrapping, but I could not do extractions without my tablet because I will pay for it later on!

Remember I taught you about masking.

First duplicate your layer background, then, delete the background layer

Then add a new vector layer



Next take your paint brush and paint in black, remove all of the picture you dont need. If its detailed like this you will need to zoom in and alter the size of your brushes a lot!! keyshort cuts for making your brushes smaller=[ and bigger=]

Paint it all away!

If you make any mistakes during your extraction, paint in white and your mistake will come back. (Another reason why its easier than using the lasso!)

Once its complete you should have something like this

Next thing to do is run a stroke


For my stroking I choose 10 pixels and color blue, the brightest blue, as if there are any stray pixels the blue will glow at me! Also highlighting 'Outside' (so the blue will show around the edges of the image)

In this case I had none (As this is one I prepared earlier!!) But, if you do have any stray pixels use your eraser and take away the blue (Or whatever color you so choose)

Now onto the color replacement.

For me, it was a lot of trial and error!! I found the easiest way was using the Selective color in adjusts, rather than using the color replacement brush, this way, you keep the textures of the flower.

For me, I wanted to keep the red tones to this flower, so I kept the red color option, then, its just playing around with the sliders until you get the effect you want,

I also wanted the green tones, through the tips of the flowers (Even though Geraniums have the same color running through it!) So my next step is to alter the color balance,

I chose to slide the slider up towards green

And the final step is to play around with your hue and saturation, I choose Saturation +9 to give the overall look a sharper look :)





Then, when happy, just save the image as a png file :)

Day 14 (back to front)

Last night I did tinker around on CS2.

I took this photo of some Geraniums in my garden on Friday


So, I thought I would extract them, it literally took me hours, probably because I am SOOO anal when it comes to extractions, I need to run stroke fill at least 3 times! To make sure I have got rid of everything.

Then, this afternoon, when DD is out playing with her friends, and Jamie is napping on the couch beside me, I thought I would try color replacement and play around with the hue/saturation settings.

I actually love what I came out with, and if you want to use it on your (personal) layouts you are more than welcome.

Here is a preview, you can have the original geranium, and the altered one :)

You know, the funny thing is, I would far prefer the altered one growing in my garden LOL. Shawdows are not included with the flowers (I dont feel ready with that one yet LOL)

And if you want them, grab em here!!

These are for personal use only please :)

Day 15, The Secret is out..

Sorry I wasnt about yesterday, I had another trip to Edinburgh with the family. We went to see Truckfest, what its about, I really dont know, other than we were in a field with a million different trucks! Jamie had a great time, he is truck daft, particularly as he saw Ambulances! He is fascinated with them LOL, he wouldnt get in one, he just wanted to look at it from the outside! He also came home with a toy ambulance!

Then we went to Deep Sea World, what a waste of time that was! £37.50 and we werent even in for an hour, we had got round the entire place! Sarah got to hold a flat fish which she loved, and she also loved the dart frogs, most poisnous frogs on the planet! (wierd kid!) I think she actually loved the bright yellow against the black and the fact that they are teeny tiny!

So, which CT did I get on?

None other than Joe Designs!! And this is his new kit, released today at Oscraps ~ All About Flowers and its on 20% saving just for today only ;)

And this is the page I made with it


I have been asked by a few people how to get effective layering/clustering on a page so I am going to let you into a secret ;)

I never, ever start a page with pictures or paper. In order of page layout I start with

larger Elements,
picture(s),
paper,
small elements.

In this instance, the first item was the large branch in the top left. Then, I added the paper corner, those were my two points to how this page would turn out. Something with color and something neutral. Then the rest of the layering began.

When layering, you will find that you will need to use you eraser tool a lot, particularly if you want items of your page to have the effect as if you physically twisted some elements together, or, you lifted parts of one element over and under.

The next item I added on was the grasses (bottom right) another large element, this needed to be resized.

There is no right or wrong way to making a page, but, quite often some scrappers like to use their elements as is, and use it as complete, maybe just resizing. There is nothing wrong with pushing your elements of the edge of the paper, as I did with the grass and the leaf on top, which was next.

The page started to look like I was clustering to the left of the page and i was happy with the outcome of it, so then I added the pictures. And this is where the layering really began. Instead of placing one layer on top of another, my new layers were going under the previous. So the picture frames I wanted under the leaves. I then added the swirl under the picture and under the leaves.

Now I wanted something to fill the space under the pictures. The first was the round circle. Then I put a leaf on top of that. The leaf is complete with a stem, and I wanted it to be under the picture, yet over the circle, so I needed to zoom right in and remove the stem up until the point of the edge of the frame. Then I removed a tiny bit of the stem which was sitting on top of the circle, to give it the tucked under look.

Now, with the pictures (the green on the t-shirt, the neutral toned frames) the green and brown of the elements I was ready to pick the papers. And I went through nearly every paper until i got the right look.

Once I have the papers on its now time to add the smaller elements, and just imagine you were 'throwing' them onto your page. I dont believe there is anything wrong with using flowers on a boy page. Particularly these flowers, greens and reds adds a flash of color to the overall layout, some I tucked under the pictures, just move it around until you get a look you are pleased with.

Finishing touch was another paper into the right hand corner with the 'Love' Seal, then the alphas.

Only then when I complete my layout do I add shadows to give it that depth, particularly on those that have clustered elements, gives it a more realistic look as if you have carefully placed each element ontop of another.

To finish off, I added the ribbon underneath, and another swirl.

Overall, this page took me close to 2hrs, and a lot of walking away, coffee and coming back to it. Fresh eyes gives you another feel to the page :)

Day 13 with another action!!

Wow, all I can say is WOW, I just clicked on my 4shared folder and was blown away with all the downloads and the comments from everyone, I am sooo glad you are loving the actions.

Me, I am loving making them, I just found me a new addiction LOL. I used to make them for myself when I had PSP back in the day and ever since Amanda Taylor has been giving tuts on various blending modes in CS3 I thought I would give it a shot, I love, love blending! Gives a picture a whole new look.

So tonight, I played again :)

And this time I came up with color shot and softening. Its a lot softer than the one yesterday, here are some examples

Before I played




And after;

and to have the side by side comparison;

This is probably my favourite so far, yeah, I have only made two to give away, but I have played around with a lot of different blending modes and I am only giving out ones worthy of making your pics look good ;)

What the new action, then grab it here

Gaaah, Tripple Gaah, and *faints*

This, has nothing, to do with CS2 but, I am beyond ecstatic right now I need to scream it from the roof!!

A few weeks ago over at DST I saw a call for a designer, I cant tell you who it is right now ;)

Anyway, I generally would not have applied for this designer because a) this designer is very, very well know in digiscrapping land, if you have never used the products (why the hell not?!?) then you would have certainely have heard of this person. If you havent, then you are a) living under a rock or b) you are new to digiscrapping!

2nd reason I would not have applied for this designer (generally) because I know that this person would have received eleventy billion applications some from known scrappers.

But I thought hell, why not, I mean I am like a little stalker when this designer is concerned, I am constantly refreshing the store to see if there is anything new there and get into panic attacks if there isnt and when there is Dude, I am seriously screaming at my zip file to hurry the heck up and download, even though I have super fast DSL!

Then last weekend I was away from the computer, on Monday my laptop decided to automatically update and screwed up my vista, so I was offline trying to get my wireless reconnected and restore my entire hardrive. So I thought I missed the announcement.

I decided to be balsy and send this designer a message asking if the announcement had been made, only because I wanted to see who got it. In fact, my message went along the lines of,

'Dude, I am going to wet myself, any announcement made yet?'

I got a reply back saying that not at this moment as they were having a holiday.

So, back to being anxious and waiting, I have no idea why I was being anxious because I didnt expect to get on.

THEN, this morning I was checking my mail and I got a message saying 'hey sweet, sorry I havent got back to you, here is the link to the forum, see you there *giggles*

It took me a while to let this sink in, I sent a reply back saying, 'Wait...Did I get on the team, OH MY GAWD, I DID!! (after clicking the link) I am going to pee myself'

Yeah, seriously, how lady like am I ROFL!!

So, I got accepted onto the new team, I am beside myself, its like Christmas, I am going around with a stupid grin on my face. I called MMG at work to tell him and he was like, oh, um, yeah, great! (See, he hasnt heard of this designer, if he had, he would have been just screaming like a girl like I was!)

And I cant tell you who it is yet, and I soooo, want to, but I cant!

just GAAAAH (Kat, say it with me! GAAAH)

BBL with an update ;)

Day 12 with action Freebie

This is going to be the quickest post in history, I am ready to take DD out for her dancing class.

So I had way to much fun with my color punching on my photos, loving the effects on it.

This is one I played around with when I got a moment;



Love this picture, Sarah was loving feeding these little birds nectar at Edinburgh Zoo last week (Do notice that Jamie was not impressed with these little blighters flying around!)

Anyway, I wanted to blast up the color on those gorgeous colors on the birds, and, brighten up Sarah's skirt

Here is the after effect,

Blasted up the colors and the brightness giving it a vibrant look

here they are side by side;


And, you can have the action for free (This was made in CS2)

Grab Color Punch Action

Right, I need to run..........

have fun ((((hugs))))