Thursday, November 27, 2008

Software that I can't live without

Software is a necessity whether you do digital scrapbooking or not.

#1 on my list is Photoshop Elements, this is a fantastic photo editing tool. You can also do so much to add and enhance your photos. Things like changing the colors to sepia brown tones, making the photo black and white and then highlighting with subtle color, merging photos.

#2 This is a new software package that I just purchased. Actually bought it on Craigs List from a retiring Creative Memories consultant. It is Memory Manager. This helps you easily find a photo. Needless to say I love taking pictures. In fact, I've been organizing them since I got the software and so far I have over 3,000 photos of my first grandson. He just turned 3!!

#3 Creative Memories Story Book Creator Plus. This package is used to create photo books. So far I've done 4 of them and they are so much fun and so easy. This is a package that I just purchased and honestly I could do everything I am doing in this software in Photoshop. The only difference, Creative Memories has free templates and this package is so much easier, especially for a rookie.

Sesame Street Font

I found a great font online called Sesame Street.
http://www.fontspace.com/fontasyland/fl-sesame-street
Only problem that I saw was here's how the font turns out when just typing and I wanted the characters and letters filled in.



So, with a little time and playing with photoshop elements, here's what I came up with.



Then I did one that was a little more girlie. If you are interested I can send you a zipped file with all 26 letters, they are png files and should work easily with a variety of softwares.. Let me know if you want boy or girl or both. Just email me and let me know.





To see the finished products made with these fonts,  click here.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

My Crafty Corner Blog

I spend a ridiculous amount of time on the computer, my hubby says I'm a computer-a-holic, which I won't deny but I thought it might be fun to have one place to keep all of my stuff organized. No one may ever check out my site but I thought it would be easier for me to keep track of where all these fun links and web sites are. So if you are here reading and enjoying I hope you find these links helpful. Let me know if you have any fun ones that you like. I'd love to check it out.

Just a little about me

I like to consider myself a jack of all trades or (crafts) but the problem is I am a master of none. I think I have tried just about every craft known to man. At least I like to think that.....that way I won't be looking for anything else.

Let's see, I'm trying to think of when it all started. My mom after me driving her nuts pleading sat down to teach me sewing. That's all it took. I ran with it and I love to sew.

I remember sewing Barbie clothes for my 2 little sisters for Christmas gifts. I thought I was being so sneaky and years later I found out they were sneaking in my room, going through my closet and were so excited about all the clothes that I was making.

In High School I sewed all of my clothes. Even things like coats and under garments. That was part of clothing class but it also gave me the ability to have really nice clothes on a very economical budget. My Senior year in High School I even won "Seamstress of the Year".

In grade school I also took a summer class in knitting. Ok, that was not my speciality. Didn't really care for that. I did go to my Grandma's one weekend and she taught me how to crochet. I love to crochet and try to always crochet a blanket for a new baby. One year my mom decided that she wanted a Christmas tree decorated with crocheted ornaments. The only problem, she didn't crochet. I made her an angel tree top, and lots and lots of snow flake ornaments. I even got ambitious one year and crocheted her a doily table cloth for her round oak table. The only stipulation was that I wanted the tablecloth when she no longer wanted it. It is now in my possession.

I continued to sew while the kids were little. Especially for the twins. The problem was finding something cute for a girl and boy set of twins that was affordable, so needless to say, I got busy sewing.

I also started doing ceramics. That was a good way of making things for my home and gifts for everyone. Don't know whether or not everyone liked it but the usually got something home made from me. I still enjoy ceramics but don't do it as much as I would like. I do still own 2 kilns.

One year I ask my dad for a band saw. He was afraid that I was going to cut off my fingers so he bought me a small scroll saw. I had that burned up within 3 months. I then got the band saw that I wanted. I went through a phase where I did all types of wood working including making shelves. Most of the time I did tole painting on the wood that I cut out.

hmmmm.....what was next. Probably porcelain dolls. I must say, this is probably my favorite hobby and I still dabble in it. If I ever have a grand daughter I will definitely be getting back in to it. I just don't think my grandsons would appreciate it.

When we moved in to our home that we are in now we have 2 walls that have stained glass in them. So guess what? I took stained glass classes. Well, all I have to say is I love it but I totally understand why they charge so much for stained glass. It is well worth and they aren't getting paid for all of their time.

About 2 years ago several girlfriends and I were out shopping where we saw some beautiful quilts. We all started talking and didn't realize that we all had a genuine interest in learning to quilt. One of my girlfriends mother agreed to teach us. We still meet once in a while in our little quilting group to keep the fire burning. It is a wonderful art.

Now for my current addiction. Scrapbooking! Whether it be digital or paper, I am definitely hooked. I started digital scrapbooking about 8 years ago. It started with family geneology, I did a digital scrapbook of family heritage, all the way back to the 1700s. I didn't understand why anyone would want to do paper scrapbooking. Well this addiction to paper started 3 years ago when my first grandson was born. Little did I know how addictive a hobby could be. There's just something about the feel of paper......ok Rebecca, you were right.

Now my latest interest......bottle slumping. It is so cool. I'm thinking this might be something fun and different to try. I'll keep you posted.

Well, I guess you'll just have to wait and see what next little craft I will come up with.