June Challenges at DSS

More to come as I do them! :D

Color Challenge hosted by Anita, ADB Designs we used her Grandmother's Garden Mini Kit. I went with Lacy background because of the flower edges are curled. I'm not really a pink fan but this flower is a knockout when it comes to colors blended so softly together! 

Wow, do you sense a theme here? lol June, flowers, pretty :) Any-who, on to the next...

 

Let's Scrap, special scrap fun for those of us with a creative block with The Urban Fairy. We were to use her stuff ( I used her Refresh Fan Add On Mini )and make 2 LOs. I decided to make two pages that are opposite each other. The First LO I used a Steampunk Bust I drew and placed it in a jar, lol. Kind of where my mind is lately, hence the title! 

 The Second One is of an experiment with some of my Day Lilies Pics and some Mums faded into the background.

 



  I just love pressing buttons! :) Vignette is nice and with layers you can change the Opacity and Blend modes. I think they came out quite nice maybe a little Eerie but isn't that what Steampunk is about sometimes?

 

 

   

 

 

 

 







They're Baaack!

I worked out in the yard, cut the grass, well most of it. I usually cut it every week. I have my wheels set on 7, but bad weather made that impossible. I mulch it in the summer. I have to finish it up in the morning early I guess or hope too anyway. It was very warm today and I had to wait till it cooled off a bit so I started a little after 5pm, did the front and sides and took first break at 630. I did a lot (had to cut front twice because the grass was tall from the rain we had) then came in for a few minutes to fix Hub something to eat for dinner, then went back out and did most of the back. After I put the lawn mower away, I had to empty the bird food into the container. If I didn't in the morning I would have had a mess on the back porch from some critter a Raccoon or Possum (saw a female a few weeks ago huge, she was PG I think) or the Squirrels. Tonight I saw in the dark my first deer, eating my apple tree, I chased it off. Now I know where my bushes went between the houses. They were coming back from where they ate them down to bare nothings last year, poor things will never get to grow I guess. Here are a few pics of my backyard visitors.

These were taken about the middle of June 2012 around the yard and tree line. And here are the apple tree bandits and leaf and branch strippers!

Instead of cutting the rest of the grass today (90') I made some noise makers out of tin cans and garden twine to hang in the tree limbs to make noise to scare them away. My poor peach trees I just planted last year were stripped bare, this year they have branches coming back again. I hope this works!

Bet you're wondering what the heck is wrong with that tree on the left, it is a Granny Smith dwarf tree.When it was planted we had a hurricane that made it slant some. We tried to correct it as much as we could. We had boring beetles and they played havoc with the trunk so it grows like (The base was like a giant root) that, but it's ok the rabbits and squirrels like the low branches to reach the apples. Which is why I planted it in the first place and the other one on the right is a Jonathan dwarf apple tree so they get plenty to eat around here in the backyard. the birds love them too! I have seen a squirrel take an apple in it's mouth and drag it up a tree backwards, it was so funny to watch! In the front I have a wild bird Crab Apple tree. It has little berries that get mushy in the fall and they come and eat them during their migration south for the winter. Got that as a free tree through the Arbor Day Society. All kinds of birds visit, the fall it's mostly hoards of Black birds and Robins in the tree tops. Stripping all the berries off in a few days they will be gone! I have pics somewhere of them I will try to find!!

 

Forgot to post this little story...on Thanksgiving last year while I was still asleep, Hub got up to get the paper just at the crack of dawn and had a surprise waiting for him. He waited to tell me as soon as I opened my eyes. He ask me how many deer do you think I saw in the front yard off the porch??? Then like a little kid he held up his fingers in my face. Nine, I saw Nine, 4 large Doe and 5 young fawns (none had any spots but were still small.) He looked at them and they looked at him and they both just stood there and poof they were gone in a thunder bolt! He said he didn't know if any were in the back at the time, (I bet that is where the Buck was because the way he described it to me it sounded like it was a harem and I know he had to be close somewhere with all those young females). I was thinking maybe I should make him take my camera with him at all times, then I thought nope, I'd have to teach him how to use it! lol :D

Revamped My Header

Made the pic behind my header last night out of the header at my site. I lost my original layered file when my other computer's HD failed so I was pretty upset back then. It doesn't look as pretty, but it will do for now until I figure out something else to replace it with.

Update: I have the blog the way I like it now! So I may post a freebie now and then! ;) A wallpaper or a scrapbook goody I made. So make sure you come back to check once in awhile. Also please leave a comment or two to let me know what you think about my blog and If you liked the surprise I left you! Thanks and have a lovely day!!! :D

Updated the update:  Please let me know what sizes you would prefer for your PC Wallpaper. I usually make them 1680 x 1050 x 300ppi and if you would like to have a PNG made from one I posted for your personal pictures to be placed in them.  I can also make FB walls if you prefer. Please leave a comment to let me know!

Ok will need a little feedback here if you want some goodies posted for download. Sizes and what you would like to see! Then I will start posting things for you to have! I will be using 4 shared mostly for my downloads. All goodies will be zipped up when needed and a small pic will be shown so you will know what it looks like! Hope to hear from you all soon! Have a blessed day! :D

A Tasty Day

Good Morning! This morning I decided to have a waffle, but I didn't want to put syrup on it, not in a sweet mood this morning! (I'm a diabetic so syrup would have been Log Cabin SF, which is the best as far as flavor and no after taste) Anyway, I split my waffle (Belgiam) after it was toasted and I had sausage patties in the freezer that were previously cooked and split into, so I threw them in the pan to reheat and then semi-scrambled an egg and topped that with a slice of sharp cheese covered to melt it and then placed between the waffle. Topped it off with a nice a glass of 1% milk and my metformin! That was a tasty way to start the day and something different from the norm. :)

Painted a flora corner this morning and decided to make it into a frame for my Sandy Pic. Turned out nice I think. Much better at it's normal size and at normal opacity levels and no shadows.



May Challenges at The Studio

I'm not a CT for anyone nor am I a designer anywhere, but I do like playing the games in the forums and getting pretty mini's and QPs and playing with my programs and Pics I have taken.

I am going to post my LO's that I did at DSS this month! I had a great time making them!
Here is my finished Progressive Scrap, I used a mini kit from the Beautiful Baby Mega Kit at The Studio

The next LO is from the Less is More Challenge.  Studio4 Design.works cute SpringView Mini Kit freebie. I just love the Mod Girl in this kit reminds me of the Big Eyed Kids Paintings from the 60's! Or the Candy web Dolls that were so popular a few years back. And Love Anima too so that was a plus for me!

The next LO I did was the Color Challenge. with ADB Designs Time In A Bottle Add-On kit. I love the elements and bkgs in this add-on. I do love Victorian Era, Gibson Girls and and the  Steam Punk things! Lace and Grace all over the place. I wish! lol! Ephemera, ephemera, ephemera!!!

My next LO was for the Variety Challenge and that one I used a Stacked Paper News Freebie also by Studio4 Design.works. And I played a bit myself in PSP and added the frame and strip on the right side of the LO! The frog was a tree frog I found and placed in a container, took his pic a few times and then released him back onto my porch where I found him. They make lovely sounds I think.

The next LO was Featured Designers Challenge 2nd half I missed playing the first half :(

The designers are Mad Genius and Julie C Designs, I used the It's All You mini kit.

In the fall of 2011 I started to learn how to play a guitar, I purchased the Gibson Learn and Master Guitar Course with Steve Krenz. This is the first guitar I purchased, not expensive but it does have good tone and stays tuned. I learned how to read music, but I wrote down all the notes above the songs so I could find then quicker. All my song books have marks in them lol. As my memory isn't that great now that I'm older. I also thought it would help with dexterity and memory skills so I was trying keep me on my toes. I can play the melody but I still have to master the chords. Too tell you the truth, I like the melody better than the chords. I know what the song is by that. Chords to me sound funny. My hands will not cooperate with me most of the time, so I'm content with playing songs I've loved so much in the past. And my speed is kind of slow but that will improve as I practice. This is something that comes as time progresses anyway with practice and keeping at it! I get into more of this later with Pics of my guitars (4) and maybe if I'm not chicken I'll post a song or two on here for comments! We'll see! :) 

 

The next LO was done for ATC Challenge (artist trading cards) using Julie C Designs Preview Kit for her Taurus Kit Gotta love that Bull! This mini is very cute and I have fun playing with it. Everything was from the mini except for the four corners I made those in SBP.

And last but not least (I didn't do all of them, bad Beav) was the Make It Big Challenge with LouCee. Photos I took in April and May, all elements made by me. I made the page as I went along in PSP X4 and since I didn't have a photo strip I found a single one in my PSE 9 and made one to use in PSP.

I copied and pasted a motion pic of a cardinal that wasn't a very good shot for the bkg and then adjusted the opacity, instead of overlaying into the back! Made the little locks as my Alpha and clipped them together. I thought they came out quite cute if I should say so myself!







I hope I gave everyone the right credits where credit was due and a lot of publicity too! Thank you All for sharing your designs with me and letting me play along! :) I hope to play again next month also!



 

 

What the huh?

Look what I found inside my frozen squash the other day.........

I didn't know we were suppose to eat the stems too! Automation isn't it a wonderful thing?! :/



Recolored Pic

Recolored my eyes in a pic today! used two Pics and erased the top layer until I liked the look. My pupils are too big I think!

I had already used the red eye remove tool in PSP over my black and white pic but it looked to cartoony so I erased it on the top layer and that made it look more natural...I have blue eyes but I almost went with purple or green! lol



Herbs Drying Rack

Today I made a herb drying rack out of two storm door screen inserts that my neighbor gave me. They looked brand new and if I had to I could replace the screen, So I washed them and dried them really good. Then I cut and washed the herbs and pat dried in a towel in batches and then placed on one screen and took a fresh screen piece I cut from a roll and placed on top of them so I could have at least two layers. Then I placed the screens flush sides together and clipped them with those black paper clips (8) on all sides. Now they can air dry without anything getting on them! Sometimes I can be so very clever when it comes to using things for something else.  I will post a PIC of them later and also keep you updated on how the process went (ie. if they molded or had any boo boos along the way!) bbl :D

Well, some of my Herbs are dried already! Happy to report no mold or yucky stuff growing on them, woot-woot!! Now as soon as the thicker ones get dried I will start a new batch of clippings. I will post some pics in a few of the dried goodies so you can see my results for the screen door insert drying system! lol (insert info music and spoke person here) :D

 

Updated*** Here is a shot of two batches I have done so far. No problems with the mesh rack!

 

This is a good way to dry them without bunching them up on a string and being exposed to the air directly. Worked out great!!! :D I am happy!!! Wow they really squished that pic down huh?

 



OMG I Blog!

Now I've done it! I have a blog!
I don't use a cell phone and I doubt if I will ever own one, lol. I don't even want to go there right now.
I know a lot of people use them, but I just have no need for one myself!

I hope to write about things of interest here, as well as post some things I am trying to work on.
Art and graphics and things like that! Digital Scrapbooking, wallpapers and craft projects. Poetry and little words of wisdom. If you want to read that's ok and if not that's ok too!
So I'll keep you posted when I can get to All those things!...Bye for now! :)

First of all I need to tweak my page this white bkg is the pits! Ouchy!

Ok that's better, I used my Butterfly Blog Bkg. I made this morning in PSP and I tell you, the first butterfly was hard to create with my hand select tool. I started in PSE and used the custom shape tool and used butterfly 2 as a white shape. Then in PSP I played and played till I got the look I liked with SBP for the body and the wing cells. The swirls on the wings were made with a SKS brush. I played so much that I had a crash dump, why you ask, because... I forgot to save often. My auto save in PSP doesn't work in version 14 for some reason. I was so mad I had to walk away for awhile and cool down. Then came back and started over trying to dup what I did. Made some pretty ones but not like the first set I made. :/ Inserting an old gif I made from a old wallpaper many moons ago (2002)

I was going to try and add it to my header but it didn't work...so this will be ok I guess! I was new at animations, very new lol. Wish PSP would do a new version of Animation Shop it was so easy to use!!