Family Challenges

Families are such a challenge - sometimes I truly appreciate the saying that you can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family. Well, I can honestly say that family can either be the biggest blessing or the biggest......I'm struggling with challenges right now which are causing a lot of stress for me. No, lets be honest, I'm not struggling at all - I'm just plain angry. I grew up without family nearby. I was adopted by a wonderful mother and father, but we lived overseas and not near other family. I had no brothers and sisters. When I got married, I thought I was inheriting the brothers and sisters I never had. Not so. I still don't have brothers and sisters. Ah, I guess I might be a little bitter. I still have fabulous parents. I have added a husband and daughter. Lets leave it at that.

Blog Blinkie

SO, I made this blinkie to use for my blog, and I can't get it posted on the side bar. I have tried for an hour now and I an FED UP. So, I am trying it here, but I won't know for sure if it is animated or not, or if I can link to it or not. But, it will go into the archive eventually, which is not where I want it, but at least I will have it here for now. I'm too tired to work on it anymore for not. I used Birgit Kerr's Easy Living Kit to make it. Let's face it, this Blog ain't interesting enough to have spent this much time on this stupid blinkie.

Another Day

So, I had today off for Columbus Day, and frankly, I would not mind never working again. I really think I could just be very very rich (not so much because I want to be rich, but because if you don't work, your gonna have to be rich to support your self), and never work again - work as in going to a job and do something I sort of like, but have to do or else I get fired, not do because I love it so much that someone actually has to force me to not do it. You know what I mean???

I took Sophia to her tap class, jazz is on Thursday. What, no ballet? No, this year, she decided to forgo the ballet and try jazz - whatever that means - we'll see. I started a Pilates class - I must have lost my marbles somewhere along the line. So far so good, I haven't put myself in traction yet. The instructor is certified and from what I've been reading, you have to be doing things correctly, or else you will be doing damage - worse yet, you'll have a flat stomach and a wide waist from exercising the wrong muscels. Okay, I don't need a wider waist, even with a flat stomach. LOL. Okay, I'll let you know how that all goes!!

Gosh, September was a busy month, GONE already. I was AMAZINGLY chosen for the Creative Team at the Digital Scrapbook Artisan Guild. I cannot believe it. I am so GEEEEEKED, as Stacey Jewell Stahl would say. What an unbelievable honor for me. My job will be daunting and so much fun to be creating things for the unbelievable designers on this fantastic site. I have already learned so much and will be learning so much more as the time goes on.

Speaking of which, I have not finished homework for class at DSAG yet from Debb Cozzi's Layout and Design class, and I'm about to start another class, HMMMM, better get cracking.


We took Sophia and Rachel to see Annie yesterday, they had a blast, and then the St. Thomas hayride was today. Considering what a germphobic neatfreak (and I mean that in the nicest way) Sophia is, she was right out there in the hay with all the boys (not too many girls at St. Thomas). It was a fun time, hotter than the blazes though for an October day.

Creative Team Call at DSAG

Well, I just finished posting all of my layouts for the Creative Team call at Digitial Scrapbook Artisans Guild. It was an amazing experience, and a lot of work. I loved the challenge though, and I think I really learned a lot about what I can do.







So, I have a ton of work to do before tomorrow, I have to finish a brochure and get it to the printer by tomorrow evening. Better get cracking I guess.

Sophia's Dance school participated in the Akron Art Expo this summer, which is a fabulous opportunity for them. The school was bought this year by Jennifer, from Terri Martell after 25 years. I know we'll all miss Terri after so many years, but her life has taken her to New York, where her heart has been for some time. Sophia will be taking Jazz and Tap this year and I know she loves ballet, but has decided to take a break from it, much to Jennifer's dismay. But, she wants to do pointe one day, and I know she'll return soon.

I did this Layout of Abbie, her dance instructor, from photos I took at the Art Expo. I love the way it came out, and I think I'll try a few more using these blending techniques. You do have to have the right photo for it though, since I've tried it on a few photos and it didn't really work.

Photoshop directions:
open photo
duplicate the photo later 2 times
on the layer right above the original
to linear light at anywhere from 40 to 50 % opacity
on the 2nd layer up do hard light at about 50% or so
its kinda edge but not grungy or extreme

I duplicated the photo 5 times
on the layer immediately above the original Linear Light 60% (name it Linear Light)
on the layer above that Hard Light 40% (name it Hard Light)
on the layer above that Screen 40% (name it Screen)
on the final layer Multiply 66.7% Gaussain Blur, then lower opacity to 52% (name it Multiply)

then I grabbed the corner of the last two layers at the top right and enlarged it to pull the layers away from the rest to give the background echo of the image.

Merging the layers is tricky. You have to merge the next to bottom layer first with the original layer, then the next bottom with that and so on, but DO NOT merge the screen layer. When you get to the scrren layer, you MUST use the clipping mask to clip it the layer below it. Then merge it. The last layer can then be merged down. If you don't do this, the whole effect disappears.

I used the lasso tool with about a 8 feather around her face and raised the curve to lighten and illuminate her face more, then applied an RGB channel layer to heighten the contrast a little on the second to top layer.

Then I tweak whatever else I want.

Seem like a lot of work?? Yeah, so I created an action and now I just push one button!!

Flourish a Graphical Overlay Pack - Christine Haskell
Far East - Lisa Dozier
Digital Tears - Kim Liddiard
Pinot Noir - Lauren Bavin

Fonts: Lucinda Grande; GF Ordner Normal

Some Reflections on me

Credits:On the Veranda PK - Linda Rechtin Bluebells and Butterflies PK - Lauren Bavin Tearrific Day PK - Irene Alexeeva Tearrific Evening PK - Irene Alexeeva Garden Friendships PK - Kim Liddiard Rub a Dub Dub Classic PK - Meryl Bartho Quadrants SS- Mandy Steward

Some times I wish I could just sit forever in a beautiful room at stare out the window and enjoy quiet and harmony. I created this room to reflect the simplicity of inside, looking out into the complexity of the world.



Credits: Seasons of the Heart DSAG June kit Essential Sparkles - Birgit Kerr Font Lucinda Handwriting

Seasons of My Mind, the Journaling around the edge of the photo reads:
Depression means I struggle with all I am to get to the bridge.
Mania means I run to get to the bridge over and over and over.
Normal means it matters not whether I ever reach the bridge,
God keeps me from jumping off the bridge when I get there.

I suffer from rapid cycling bipolar II disorder. It is an almost daily struggle, even "normal" is a struggle. Frankly, mania means creativity, introspection, and incredible freedom from the constraints of daily life, but it is also scary, out of control at times, followed by depression, sometimes suicidal thoughts and it all happen within hours, days or months. But, with medication, counseling, a very strong husband, and fabulous daughter, the love of God and a very busy guardian angel working overtime, I have stayed out of the hospital for over two years.

I work with children with serious substance abuse and mental health problems, and I love every minute. I am not ashamed of my mental illness, I am only ashamed of our society who continues to put such a stigma on mental illness and continue to relegate those with mental illness to second class citizen status.

People treat me differently when they find out about my mental illness, just as they treat my daughter differently when they find out that she has Asperger's Syndrome. I say shame on them for their small mindedness and ignorance. My daughter and I have more to offer them than they have to offer us.

Here is my kitty Chloe, she is pretty funny, and very loving, although she and Sophia DO NOT always see eye to eye.




Sophia got hermit crabs, Annie, Clarabell, and Norm, which she took to Sharing Time at school. Chloe loves to sit and stare at them in their aquarium (a 10 gallon). Norm has managed to escape twice. Once he was across the room, the second time he was across the house 4 rooms away. Good grief.

Where did the time go?

Gosh, I can hardly believe that 6 months have gone by since I last posted anything. Sophia is done with school, and the summer is upon us. I don't think I can catch up with everything, but I can at least post a fe wthings that I have been working on over the last few months.

Sophia went to a few more of her classmates' birthday parties, all of which were fun. She missed a few more due to colds and general wintertime illnesses, hers or mine. Her classmate Ravi had a paint and fire your own pottery party which was really a good time, and was creative for everyone. Then Jacob had a swim party at the natatorium. That was great because everyone loved getting to swim in the middle of winter.



The class went on a nature hike before the end of the school year.




Finally, the time has come for the end of the year. Maybe I'll keep up over the summer.

This is a series of five illustrations I did called ARTIFACTS. I will only post 4 of the 5, the fifth will never be public. They are 5x7 and actually are from photographs I took which I merged with some stock photos. These are all posted on digitalscrapbookplace.com.


HOPE
From left to right, darkness and loss of hope, winter, cold, looking to the right is the beginning of green, hope, spring, light. the crystals and snowflakes reflect light and sparkle, do we always see what we think we do, a unicorn, or is life always mundane and orderly, boring and dreary. The bird in the left bottom corner is larger than life and almost not recognizable because we don't always see the beauty in life, we frequently focus only the things that are bothersome, and we don't see the forest for the trees.

Credits: Nordic Page Kit (backgrounds and postage stamp)- Kim Liddiard; Crystal Snowflakes Set 2 - Kim Liddiard; Crystal Frost - Lauren Bavin; Woodland Fairy Page Kit Freebie- Becky Soto; Birds of Fancy Brushes - Erica Hite; Fairy Princess Brushes - Lori Cook; Landscape Brushes - Stephanie Shimerdla; Fairy Sprinkles - Terry Maruca


THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW
The photo is one I have scrapped before, it is of me at about age 4. The eye is mine from Rene's All About Me Challenge. The hand represents the hand the sometimes takes over and does things that are beyond our control and we can't see what it does, but we feel the effects. The background are two photos I took and merged together. The red at the top is a stock photo of a dried lilly which I extracted and then duplicated several times representing fire and confusion which sometimes surrounds us. The unicorn again represents magic and dreams we have as a child, they are within our reach, the horizon is always bright in this series, showing that even in our darkest hours, it is only time that will tell if we can overcome our fears and adversity and go towards the light. Depression causes many of us to want to close our eyes to the possibility of hope and the light of the future.

Credits: Nordic Page Kit - Kim Liddiard; Timeless Overlay - Stacey Jewell Stahl; Princess Brush Set - Lori Cook; Pencil Scketchbook Brushes - Thao Cosgrove


LOVE
This one includes 1 stock photo of an eye which started out black and white and I hand colored the iris, another stock photo of the rose which was also black and white which I hand colored (on the computer). I tried to get more pink into it, but couldn't figure out how to do it properly, it kept going too pink and so I finally just stopped after about an hour of work. The picture is of my daughter. It was extremely blurred and out of focus, so I duplicated it and applied a sepia filter, and a gaussain blur, then used a mask and a soft brush opacity about 10 percent to brush out her eyes and lips. lowered opacity of the second layer until I liked it well enough. I used a sepia filter on both layers. I used Nordic Page kit for the frame and the postage stamp, and went from there.

My daughter represents the love and reason I have for living. She is the gift from God that I prayed for. God has entrusted me with this precious gift and He watches over us always. God is love and my daughter is love. The postmark represents that the word of God is to be passed along to all.

Credits: Nordic Page Kit (backgrounds and postage stamp)- Kim Liddiard; 23d Psalm Overlay - Tina Chambers; 23d Psalm Grungy WA - Tina Chambers


FORGIVENESS
The last in the ARTIFACTS series. This photo was taken from the window of a restaurant in our area where we went for a family birthday dinner. I chose this for this particular theme because it was for some family members who I am having some difficulty with right now and need to have forgiveness from them, and need myself to forgive them. So, there you go. There is a message in a bottle on the left shoreway, I guess it is a message about why I'm going through what I am and why I'm asking for forgiveness. The clock under the water means the time has come for forgiveness. Again, the horizon is bright, meaning we are hopefully going toward the expanse of the ocean, a greater and bigger, brighter place where anything is possible, even dolphins in a "creek"??????? The postmark under the word Forgiveness again implies that the message of the Lord of forgiveness should go out to all.

Credits; Nordic Page Kit - Kim Liddiard; Time in a Bottle - Lauren Bavin; Peace on Earth - Lauren Bavin; A Magic Spell - Lauren Bavin; Anchors Away AOP- Kim Liddiard; Over the Rainbow and Over the Rainbow AOP - Lauren Bavin; Edges Pack - Lauren Bavin; Instant Sparkles - Jodie Patterson

Ravi's Birthday Party

This is from a birthday party that Sophia went to earlier this month. The kids got to paint their own pottery pieces. What a creative idea. Of course Sophia chose a kitty to paint. The pieces were fired and Ravi's mom brought them to school the next week. Tom and I decided we needed to try this out. I certainly can't draw anything to save my life, but painting might work! I didn't blur out faces this time because so many people have asked me about it and said they were okay with this. If you see your child and want their face blurred out, let me know I will repost. Again, this is site is not passworded, but neither is it published anywhere, so only those of you who know about it will get to this blog.

The Holidays

Christmas Promise by Berna Datema

Gosh, it sure has been a long time since I posted. The holidays got away from me, and here it is New Year's Eve day! Sophia and Rachel spent an entire, and I mean entire, day together AFTER Christmas doing just about everything you could imagine, from baking cakes for a tea party in Sophia's new easy-bake oven, to dancing on the dance mat to playing with dolls, knitting and board games. WOW. I should have had them take down the Christmas Tree. After the Christmas Tree festival they played dress-up and decorated the tree beautifully, as you can see. I guess another playdate is in order to take it all down - is that some violation of the child labor laws or something?????

Holiday Tree Festival

Sophia and Rachel got to spend the day together. I love when they get to be together because they are such fabulous friends. They have such affinity for each other, and have such great times. They no longer attend the same school, but they had been together for kindergarten, first and second grade. I heard Rachel tell Sophia, "I love you Sophia, you're my best friend".

We took them to the Holiday Tree Festival which is a yearly fund-raising event here for Children's Hospital. They spent time looking at the trees, talking to Santa, and putting their raffle tickets into the box for the American Girls dolls "Sleigh Bells Ring".


Christmas Remembered QC - Lauren Bavin/Elegant Christmas - Elizabeth Weaver/Font Gingerbread House

King Zak's Birthday Party

Credits: At the Playground - Jamie Rousselle/Distressed Designs - Valerie Brumfield/Blooming Beauty and AOP - Valerie Brumfield/Rusty Nail - Lauren Bavin

This is from Zak's party in October, I actually did post a couple pages from it, but then I did this one for my Layout and Design class. I haven't gotten critiqued on it yet, so you may be seeing a different version of it at some point.

Note: I did repost this after making corrections.

I also note that I haven't been posting credits on this blog because I had posted the sites for all my layout where I have posted the credits. I have changed that now and will be posting credits with each layout. I will be going back and adding the credits as I go to my previous posts.

Birthday Parties

Well, Sophia and I were both struggling with our allergies this weekend, but she did manage to get to her bowling birthday party for her friend Emily. It was the first time she's ever bowled, so it was an interesting experience for Sophia. She had a lot of fun. I figured I better catch up from Rachel's Tae Kwon Do birthday party while I was at it. Sophia is playing with her cousin Matthew today. She made a puppet theatre from an old box and they were making puppets out of old socks.

Queen for a Day

I did this as part of a challenge about what I would do if I were Queen for a day. I wrote that "If I were Queen for a day I would go back to where I was born and be able to see this outside my window every day. I’d go back to a simpler way of life and a slower pace in time. I’d go back...but only for a day. (Greece circa 1988)" This photo was taken by my late second cousin (actually, it would be a cousin three times removed) Tom Praskis, who taught me a lot about photography and computers. Granted, I am NOT a very good photographer, but he did spark my interest in photgraphs and heritage, and definately computers.

The Pumpkin Walk

The kids had their Pumpkin Walk at school last week which was a lot of fun. Sophia carved a pumpkin for the first time, and got to wear a costume and do a little bit of the, uh, well, let's say the PUMPKIN thing. She was excited and had a good time. We don't celebrate or observe Halloween, so we'll just call it an Autumn or Pumpkin Harvest celebration, she understands that Halloween is not acceptable for us, but that she can still have fun with her friends at school and enjoy the time in a different way.

The layout of Emily and Sophia is actually part of a new class I started this month on layout and design. This was my first homework assignment. It's actually been redone after being critiqued. I think in the next few layouts, I will scan some of Sophia's artwork and use it in some of the layouts from school.

The Princess Who Went to the Center of the Earth

Kits used by Christine Borgfeld


So, I'm working on a few pages from this show I attended at Sophia's school. It was quite beautiful and I went because she's taking eurythmy classes at school and I had no idea what that was, other than it was something to do with dancing or movement or something of that nature. So, when this group was to come perform, I thought I would go and see what it was all about. It was quite beautiful, a fairy tale narrated by the "king" and done in dancing and music. The children were mesmerized and hardly moved during the hour-long production.

Michaelmas and Knights and Faeries

These were taken at the Michaelmas play which was put on by grades, I think it was 1-3, or 4. The second grade class were Meteors. All the children made different things for their particular parts. In Sophia's class they made Michaelmas lanterns out of coffee cans. They used a nail and hammer to punch holes in a design on their cans, then a tea light was put inside and a handle attached. When the children came in, they all carried these lanterns. The dragon costume was made by the parents and children of the 3rd grade class. It is stunning. This was a new costume this year, I understand, retiring the old one from years past.







These are a few pages from a birthday party one of her classmates had which had a knights and fairies theme. I've made great use of these photos, and actually have several other layouts that went with these. Technically, the dragon would be tamed and not slain, but nevetheless, in Greek mythology, the dragon is acutally slain so lets go with that! Totally fun!! Again, part of my class, so I really had fun trying out all these great new techniques.

My favorite pages.

Here are a few of my most favorite pages that I created recently.

My Snowglobe Tubby Baby

Okay, this is a little bizzare maybe, but this is what is called Photoillustration. It means using photos to make illustration type pictures. I had this picture of Sophia from when she was about 8 months old maybe. I used a couple dozen different elements from various digital scrabooking kits to make it look like she was in the tub, in a snowglobe, and behind a curtain in space. This actually was an early layout I did when I was starting to get away from simple scrapbook style layouts and trying to branch out into more artistic layouts.


Then I did the mermaid picture. I actually didn't do that great of a job with this one, but I played with it for so long that now I'm done tired of it, so I can't do any more. I'd like to actually take a picture of Sophia sitting in the right position so I won't have do so much editing the next time! Now that I'm actually doing this photo editing and photoillustration, I understand the need to start with a picture that will work with your art, rather than trying to edit the heck out of your photo to force it inot your art, which actually only works part of the time anyway.

The Unknown

I did this for a challenge at DigitalScrapbookPlace.com regarding where I wanted to be, or, where I saw my self in the future. I actually did quite a bit of work on this layout because I 'm still in the class for Advanced Photoshop, so I still was using a lot of techiniqes I was working on for class. I liked this pretty well. I had several photos which I merged here, and blended and used a lot of brushes and filters. Also I used some lighting filters too. The journaling on the notebook paper says:

I am here. I was there. Now,
where will I be? Now or later?
I see myself in a state of
grace. I see love through the
trials and tribulations. I have
patience, I have wisdom.
I can make better decisions, I
can see the future to prevent
the past. I am old in years, but
young at heart. I’m not there,
I’m still here, but on the path,
I am headed there now.

Well, it was an interesting challenge to say the least, and the response to my submission was quite overwhelming.

Papou Manoli

This is a layout I did about my grandfather. I actually did it for a class I'm taking for Advanced Photoshop CS2. I love the class. My mother took the photo some 20 some years ago and I scanned it. I applied several filters to it and used some brushes and blending options. I also used the clone tool to make the duplicate of the photo in the background. All the background papers and elements I got from my favorite digital scrapping place, DigitalScrapbookPlace.com. I love how it came out.

The beginning of a new school year.

I can't believe I have waited this long to post anything. Things have been way to busy to even try to catch up. Sophia loves her new school. It is like a dream come true for all of us. She is meeting so many new friends, and Tom and I are too. I did manage to scrap a TON of pages though, which I will start to post from her school activities.

The Summer's End

Well, the summer has finally come to an end and Sophia had fun swimming nearly every weekend, as well as spending every chance she could with her best friend Rachel. Sophia had a Cinderella Birthday Party which she enjoyed very much, and even caught Toby the Toad Prince for the party. She let him go again after the party...sadly though, she took good care of him and go quite attached to him. Although she was sad to see the summer vacation come to an end, she was excited about going to a new school. Spring Garden Waldorf School. A whole new experience for her.