I have just received my eblast from Becky Higgins to say that ProjectLife digital is now online. I had a quick look and it looks very easy to do. I think I might give this a go! I think I will also keep up with my original plan for my own ProjectLife for this year and make a decision at the end of the year on whether I will print out the BHProjectLife, or just stick with my own.
Happy Australia Day!
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Digital Elements Organisation - My Way!
I have been digital scrapbooking for about one year. In this time, I have gone through several different ways of organising my digital elements and how to view them. There are quite a few different ways to do it, and there are many discussions and forums on this specific topic. It has taken me many months to come up with a system that really works for me, so I thought I would share it with you, in the hopes it might help you if you are unsure of how to go about doing it.
First off, I use a MAC, so the products are a little more limited than for a Windows PC.
For photos, I use iPhoto. It came with my MAC, I tried it, I liked it, so I kept it. I love the fact that you can sort your photos into events and view them that way, or you can view all your photos one after the other. I also love the fact that the photos come up immediately, there is no waiting for things to load.
For all my digital elements, I use Picasa. I love Picasa, I can't tell you how much I love Picasa! I am so glad they brought out a MAC version. Although the Beta version had a few problems, I persisted because it is perfect for me and my way of organising my elements. I have tried other software including Bridge, ACDSee, and Shoebox. There are probably another one or two others but they don't rate a mention. All of the other software I have tried all have good and bad points, but the biggest fault in all of them was the fact that each time you clicked on a folder, you had to wait (and sometimes wait some more) for the images to come up. I don't like waiting, I like to see what I have straight away and this is way Picasa is the one for me.
Let me explain how I organise my elements, so you can see why Picasa works so well. I don't keep my kits all together when I buy them. I split all of my kits up into the individual element types. At first when I started doing this is was a nightmare, as most kits when you downloaded them came as kit.zip and the individual elements just said paper or brad.png with no other information. I had to find a batch renaming application so I could then rename all the files with the designers name and the kit name in each file, so I knew who designed it and what kit it came from. I use Name Mangler , and I really love it. Luckily most designers have since changed the way they name their kits and files and this isn’t so much of a problem now.
So, once all the individual elements are named to my satisfaction, I then move them in into the appropriate place in my structured file system, you can download a copy here. This is where Picasa is a head above the rest. Once Picasa is installed, it can be set up to view certain folders on the computer, and have it set to always scans those folders. This is great, so each time I add new elements to a folder, Picasa automatically updates.
Launching Picasa takes less than a minute, and all the elements in all of my folders are loaded. There is no waiting - they are all there. The other feature of Picasa that in my opinion makes it better than the rest is that you can scroll down your elements, starting from your first folder to your last folder without have to click on the individual elements folders. To open an element in PSE, I just right click and select Open With... and choose PSE. My only complaint is that only one element can be opened by PSE at a time. Maybe that will be fixed up in later versions. Fingers crossed.
First off, I use a MAC, so the products are a little more limited than for a Windows PC.
For photos, I use iPhoto. It came with my MAC, I tried it, I liked it, so I kept it. I love the fact that you can sort your photos into events and view them that way, or you can view all your photos one after the other. I also love the fact that the photos come up immediately, there is no waiting for things to load.
For all my digital elements, I use Picasa. I love Picasa, I can't tell you how much I love Picasa! I am so glad they brought out a MAC version. Although the Beta version had a few problems, I persisted because it is perfect for me and my way of organising my elements. I have tried other software including Bridge, ACDSee, and Shoebox. There are probably another one or two others but they don't rate a mention. All of the other software I have tried all have good and bad points, but the biggest fault in all of them was the fact that each time you clicked on a folder, you had to wait (and sometimes wait some more) for the images to come up. I don't like waiting, I like to see what I have straight away and this is way Picasa is the one for me.
Let me explain how I organise my elements, so you can see why Picasa works so well. I don't keep my kits all together when I buy them. I split all of my kits up into the individual element types. At first when I started doing this is was a nightmare, as most kits when you downloaded them came as kit.zip and the individual elements just said paper or brad.png with no other information. I had to find a batch renaming application so I could then rename all the files with the designers name and the kit name in each file, so I knew who designed it and what kit it came from. I use Name Mangler , and I really love it. Luckily most designers have since changed the way they name their kits and files and this isn’t so much of a problem now.
So, once all the individual elements are named to my satisfaction, I then move them in into the appropriate place in my structured file system, you can download a copy here. This is where Picasa is a head above the rest. Once Picasa is installed, it can be set up to view certain folders on the computer, and have it set to always scans those folders. This is great, so each time I add new elements to a folder, Picasa automatically updates.
Launching Picasa takes less than a minute, and all the elements in all of my folders are loaded. There is no waiting - they are all there. The other feature of Picasa that in my opinion makes it better than the rest is that you can scroll down your elements, starting from your first folder to your last folder without have to click on the individual elements folders. To open an element in PSE, I just right click and select Open With... and choose PSE. My only complaint is that only one element can be opened by PSE at a time. Maybe that will be fixed up in later versions. Fingers crossed.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Quilt Pounce Video
Okay, I talked my husband into being my camera man and I have a video of how I use the Quilt Pounce. As I said before, I haven't seen a video anywhere for this, and I have followed the instructions and this is my interpretation. I found the results very good, very clear and the marks don't come off even if you brush your hand over the chalk. To remove any extra chalk or making errors, you need to use a damp cloth or you can iron it. I hope this is helpful.
I bought some Homespun today in orange (I wanted to be able to clearly see the stencil markings), and I have made about 5 practice quilts, 25" x 25" a piece. On each one of them I have selected one of my stencils and I have and repeated the pattern all over the fabric. I will now have to practice, practice, practice. I am hoping these results are better than the last lot.
I bought some Homespun today in orange (I wanted to be able to clearly see the stencil markings), and I have made about 5 practice quilts, 25" x 25" a piece. On each one of them I have selected one of my stencils and I have and repeated the pattern all over the fabric. I will now have to practice, practice, practice. I am hoping these results are better than the last lot.
Friday, January 22, 2010
My First Attempt at free-motion quilting
And let me tell you, it was NOT good. I actually sat down at my sewing machine and thought how hard could it really be? I mean, all those videos on YouTube make it look so easy and it just flows so beautifully. Well, it was not easy. I didn’t have a good grip on the fabric, my lighting was poor and my chair was too high blah, blah....... Basically I stunk! I read somewhere in one of my many quilting books that it can take anywhere from 50 to 500 hours of practice to get good. Huh, only about 48-498 hours to go.
I mentioned Quilt Pounce before, but I didn’t actually show you what it looks like once it actually comes off onto the fabric.
The white comes out really well on the darker fabric. You will notice in the upper left corner of the picture is a smaller lighter blue box with a stencil marking in it, which is a little harder to see. I think I was being a little too light handed. I tried looking for a demo video of the Quilt Pounce but couldn’t find one. I might see if I can talk my husband into being a camera guy for me, and I will show just how easy it is to use, and how it would save hours of time hand tracing stencils.
This is my practice quilt, but I decided to try free motion quilting on a scrap quilt and like I said it was terrible. You can see for yourself:
I 'pounced' out the pattern and then tried my best - I really thought it would have been easier! I had a few more attempts and then came up with this next sample:
Okay, the lines are getting a little better and it is not so wobbly and I managed to travel over some of the previous line - some of the time. Still, not real good. I then thought I would try some waves:
Probably my best attempt, with no traveling needed and going in one direction, it did make it easier. You can see in the bottom left corner my finger grips. I found them really hard to use, in the sense I didn’t feel in control of them, they only come in two sizes 1 and 3. The size 1 was good for my index and middle fingers, but the size 3 was too big for my thumbs and they kept slipping off, but I found without them I couldn’t do anything with the fabric.
I have since found on the internet something call a Supreme Slider and I think I might have to invest in one of those. The worst thing was that my fabric seemed to catch and my motions were a little jerky. I also saw something called a Quilt Halo, I watched the video and thought that looked nifty too. I am not sure if I will get one of those yet. I still need to do at least 48 hours worth of practice. I am going to have to make a few sample quilts, stencil them up with my quilt pounce, put on my Supreme Slider and go for it and see what comes out. Fingers crossed, the next lot will be a little better. I might have to invest in some quilting gloves....
I mentioned Quilt Pounce before, but I didn’t actually show you what it looks like once it actually comes off onto the fabric.
This is my practice quilt, but I decided to try free motion quilting on a scrap quilt and like I said it was terrible. You can see for yourself:
I have since found on the internet something call a Supreme Slider and I think I might have to invest in one of those. The worst thing was that my fabric seemed to catch and my motions were a little jerky. I also saw something called a Quilt Halo, I watched the video and thought that looked nifty too. I am not sure if I will get one of those yet. I still need to do at least 48 hours worth of practice. I am going to have to make a few sample quilts, stencil them up with my quilt pounce, put on my Supreme Slider and go for it and see what comes out. Fingers crossed, the next lot will be a little better. I might have to invest in some quilting gloves....
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Quilt Pounce
I have decided that the current quilt top that I have finished will not be finished off by stitch-in-the-ditch or grid quilting. I really want to do some free motion quilting, but the idea of tracing out a stencil leaves me feeling less than enthusiastic about the whole prospect, and I am nowhere near good enough to do it without a pattern. Funnily enough, only the other day I happened to stumble across a very interesting quilting tool called a Quilt Pounce.
It is really a very 'cool' invention. You basically swipe chalk into your stencil with this little tool and it comes out on your quilt really clearly. So I went ahead and ordered mine, and it came today. I had a bit of a play around with it and it really does work. It took quite a while to get the pad 'loaded' with chalk, but once it loaded it was full steam ahead. The lines came out very clearly and any mistakes I made just wiped off with a damp cloth. It just makes marking quilts so much easier - even my husband was impressed. Now, the next test will be to see if I can actually free motion quilt on the lines. I am going to be practicing on a scrap quilt I put together and see how it goes.
It is really a very 'cool' invention. You basically swipe chalk into your stencil with this little tool and it comes out on your quilt really clearly. So I went ahead and ordered mine, and it came today. I had a bit of a play around with it and it really does work. It took quite a while to get the pad 'loaded' with chalk, but once it loaded it was full steam ahead. The lines came out very clearly and any mistakes I made just wiped off with a damp cloth. It just makes marking quilts so much easier - even my husband was impressed. Now, the next test will be to see if I can actually free motion quilt on the lines. I am going to be practicing on a scrap quilt I put together and see how it goes.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Scrapbook Layout Challenge Pages
I find doing layout challenges great for getting you to think out of the box. A challenge is set and you need to either find photos and elements that go perfectly, or make things fit as best you can. Usually it is the latter, and when this happens, that's when you experiment, try new things, and you can be often surprised at the results. You might even find a new technique or set of elements that you 'found' in your stash and you find that you really love them and use them them again often.
I try to do Laurie's Scraps challenges each month (she has three). I have posted one layout already, but I have just posted my other two.
Supplies: CVA_SSTools_Scripts_SupplyTracker, Font: Eccentric Std, Font: Marker Felt, LS_FlowerPatch_kit, LS_TemplateSet3_4, SBA_Actions_DeepShad_6501_BttmRght_LRG
I try to do Laurie's Scraps challenges each month (she has three). I have posted one layout already, but I have just posted my other two.
Supplies: CVA_SSTools_Scripts_SupplyTracker, LS_UnderConstruction_kit,
SBA_Actions_DeepShad_6501_TopLft, HHied Template.
This was the font challenge, and I must say that this layout is a little different from my usual stuff. I don't normally leave so much white space, but there it is.
The challenge for this layout was to focus on faces and little else in the background, so I played around with these photos to make them look similar, as they were taken at different times and locations and I wanted them to have the same feel about them, by using PSE actions. I love PSE actions, and I love that PSE8 for MAC has an Action Player - it makes it so easy and there are so many to choose from, and if you hunt around there are so many that are for free. One of my favourite places for free actions is CoffeeShop. A really good place to buy them from is Scrapgirls.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Project 365 or Project Life
Week 2 of Project 365 has been completed. Although it really is a Project 365, I am really liking the term Project Life. It seems so much more appropriate for what I am actually taking photos of. So, Project Life it is.
Supplies: CBR_NoGirlsAllowed_Paper1, CVA_SSTools_Scripts_SupplyTracker, LS_DaddysDay_Stitching%203, LS_FlowerPatch_Alpha_Number_2, PKnox_FoldedRibbonBits_SilverStaple, PKnox_RibbonBits3_BrownDot.png, PKnox_RibbonBits3_Green1.png, PKnox_RibbonBits3_Orange1.png, PKnox_RibbonBits3_RedCream.png, PKnox_RibbonBits3_XStitch_Cream1.png, SBA_Actions_DeepShad_6501_TopLft_SM, evakipler-annivcollab-pp1, lliella_AGigglesA5_e
Supplies: CBR_NoGirlsAllowed_Paper1, CVA_SSTools_Scripts_SupplyTracker, LS_DaddysDay_Stitching%203, LS_FlowerPatch_Alpha_Number_2, PKnox_FoldedRibbonBits_SilverStaple, PKnox_RibbonBits3_BrownDot.png, PKnox_RibbonBits3_Green1.png, PKnox_RibbonBits3_Orange1.png, PKnox_RibbonBits3_RedCream.png, PKnox_RibbonBits3_XStitch_Cream1.png, SBA_Actions_DeepShad_6501_TopLft_SM, evakipler-annivcollab-pp1, lliella_AGigglesA5_e
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Laurie's Scraps Template Challenge
Each month I try and do some Challenges on Laurie's Scraps Forum, because I really like her stuff, and it is nice to challenge myself. This is the layout that I did for January's challenge. The layout was done completely with Laurie's kits.
I have to say since doing a Photography course and buying my new Canon 450D DSLR, my pictures really have improved - okay so I am not going to be taking any professional wedding shots, but I have to say that the photos I am taking lately just look better. If you have better pictures I think your layouts look better because you can't always salvage a bad photo with great scrapping.
This morning I managed to finish a quilt top that I started over about 8 years ago (and actually is was meant for someone else), and had it sitting in the cupboard for a very long time. Well my daughter was helping me clean up - as only 3 year olds can - and she found this unfinished quilt top and decided that it was going to be hers. Well, only 2 major problems with that - the colour scheme was so completely wrong for a girl, but also for her room and the actual quilt top wouldn’t fit any know bed size. I am so not sure what I was thinking when I pieced it all together.
So, these are the colours - red, blue and yellow. I had already done one small navy border and one large yellow border. I decided to fix the sizing by putting in strips of fabric along the top where the pillow would go and then re-border the whole thing
I had to keep in with the colour scheme so it wouldn’t be too different, and decided to go for a backing fabric that would be more suited for my daughters age/colour scheme so the quilt can be flipped, and used on either side. Only just got the fabric today, so I have a lot of work ahead of me. Not to mention I have never free motion quilted before and that is what I want to do on this quilt so I will need to be putting in lots of practice. I am so grateful to have found Leah Day's website to help me in my quest to free motion quilt. I will update then the quilt is finished or close to it. Wish me luck.
This morning I managed to finish a quilt top that I started over about 8 years ago (and actually is was meant for someone else), and had it sitting in the cupboard for a very long time. Well my daughter was helping me clean up - as only 3 year olds can - and she found this unfinished quilt top and decided that it was going to be hers. Well, only 2 major problems with that - the colour scheme was so completely wrong for a girl, but also for her room and the actual quilt top wouldn’t fit any know bed size. I am so not sure what I was thinking when I pieced it all together.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Project 365 for 2010
Last year, I joined so many others in following Becky Higgins in her incredible Project 365, she released an incredible kit, that would help so many people simplify their scrapping process . Unfortunately I was unable to get a kit (long story), so I decided to turn my hand to digital scrapping as an alternative. Too say I fell in love with digi scrapping is probably an understatement - I was ready to throw paper scrapping out the window. Anyway... I found a template that looked almost identical to the page protectors in the kit, and then hit the new project with both feet running. It was a 2-page layout with 8 4x6 photo slots and 8 journaling slots. The 'taking a picture a day' thing was dead easy - love taking photos- but keeping up with the journaling was a bit too much. So this year I decided - still keeping in with the digital scrapping- that I would try to find the perfect template - a 1-page layout this time with photos in landscape format, and a one to two liner for the journaling. After much hunting around, and thinking I would have to design my own template I came across the perfect one: a template by Cathy Zielske.
The only change I made to the layout was changing the word Seven Days to Weeks and then putting in the week the page referred to.
This is my Week 1.
Supplies: AEdwards_31days, BGD-About_a_boy- Paper12,
The only change I made to the layout was changing the word Seven Days to Weeks and then putting in the week the page referred to.
This is my Week 1.
| CG_OceanDreams_Paper_ solid3, CK_Live CBalpha, CVA_SSTools_Scripts -SupplyTracker, EHI_BlueWallpaper_1, Flergs_DC Tie, KPertiet_MetalClipAssortment sage2, LS_FlowerPatch_PhotoHanger1, SBA_Actions DeepShad_6501_TopLft_SM, SBA_Actions DeepShad_TopLft_SM,WW_LIFE365 KeepingTabs indextab_10, elash_shabbyspice_ribbon wrap.png, template-Cathy Zielske no26, Fonts: Century Gothic, CK_Ali'sHand, and Skia. |
It was done so quickly and easily. Basically it is 2 background papers, 7 photos and a few lines of journaling. I really didn’t need to put any extra embellishments in there, but I wanted to jazz it up a bit. I am hoping with this template, finishing each week will be easy, leaving me more time for one of my 'other' hobbies.
Art Quilts
Just before Christmas, I discovered Donna Downey's website and found her art quilt tutorial which I felt like I really, really just had to do. It was a combination of quilting and scrapping, which of course is a perfect combination. I ended up making two - one for my 8 year old son, and my 3 year old daughter.
Well, of course as soon as they saw these, they decided they wanted red and green ones too. So I decided to make them a set of three each, and modify them a little. This is some home made art work for their walls.
I really love the idea of mixed media journaling and art work. I am looking forward to doing more of it.
Well, of course as soon as they saw these, they decided they wanted red and green ones too. So I decided to make them a set of three each, and modify them a little. This is some home made art work for their walls.
I ended up binding each one of them with a kiddy fabric and I will put a sleeve on the back of each and pass a small dowel through the back and hang them up in their bedrooms.
I really love the idea of mixed media journaling and art work. I am looking forward to doing more of it.
My New Blog
I have decided to start a blog so I could share with others the same passions I have for scrapbooking, quilting, photography and sewing.
I started quilting about 14 years ago, but had a huge break after the birth of my children and have recently rediscovered my passion for it. I have been scrapbooking since the birth of my children (makes sense I guess), and photography only in the last few months,.I don't know about you, but each time I scrap some of my photos, I would always be thinking they could/should look better - how can I do that?! Hence a photography course and a new DSLR! And sewing well - I would love to sew better.
I was feeling like I have no one-other than my long-suffering husband and best-friend to share my passions with, so I thought I might find others out there like myself who want to share and see what I am doing too.
I hope you enjoy.
I started quilting about 14 years ago, but had a huge break after the birth of my children and have recently rediscovered my passion for it. I have been scrapbooking since the birth of my children (makes sense I guess), and photography only in the last few months,.I don't know about you, but each time I scrap some of my photos, I would always be thinking they could/should look better - how can I do that?! Hence a photography course and a new DSLR! And sewing well - I would love to sew better.
I was feeling like I have no one-other than my long-suffering husband and best-friend to share my passions with, so I thought I might find others out there like myself who want to share and see what I am doing too.
I hope you enjoy.
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