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