Flower page challenge over at ScrappersGuide. Take a photo of flowers and turn it into digital art using filters, opacity, blend modes, etc. Create a page using your flower art as all or part of the background.

 

My layout using my rock cactus photo for the flower page challenge.

Credits:

Gina Miller Cottage kit from the September Premier

Fonts are Papyrus and DJB Canay

The journaling is a bit fuzzy in the web version. It reads:

I've had what I call my "rock cactus" for years. I was so thrilled when it bloomed. I guess it just needed time to get a little root bound. It blooms in the day and closes up at night. It is such a delight to see.

~ May 2008 ~

The Great Escape!

This is contest entry for those crazy folks at TodaysMama and Cricut. Be sure to check out Cricut's cool new cartridges and the chance at $30,000 in travel for you and your friends at the Great Gypsy Escape site! http://bit.ly/FWcud

Great Escape Meme

1. If you could escape to anywhere in the world where would it be? I would love to go to Paris


2. What song do you play when you are by yourself in the car? Anything from The Jersey Boys CD


3. If you had a night to yourself, and money was no object, what would you do? Fly to Paris for dinner

4. What is your guilty pleasure? Glass of red wine and chocolate


5. What is the farthest place you have traveled away from your home? Tahiti

6. Last book that you couldn't put down? A Thousand Splendid Suns

7. When you want to escape into another time, what movie do you watch? 10 Things I Hate About You (I love the scene where Heath Ledger sings "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" on the bleachers)

8. What is your favorite local escape? The outlets


9. How do you escape on a budget? A picnic on the river


Best food you've ever had while on vacation. Pismo burgers when we are camping (everything tastes great when you are camping!)

DST birthday gifts...

"HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! The designers in the digital community wish to make your day extra special so they've got a TON of fabulous gifts for you! Have a wonderful day and happy shopping!!"

This was the beginning of my birthday email I received from DST (Digi Shop Talk). So I went shopping and bought myself a couple of birthday gifts...

A free template from Wendyzine Scraps at Scrapbook Graphics

Two kits at 70% off from Kari Hentzelt at Scrapbook-Bytes

So make sure you enter your birthday in your profile over at DST!

Have a happy day!

We all matter...

I love Penelope's post from yesterday. We all need to hear this...check her blog post out HERE

I matter, you matter, we all matter and we have wonderful stories to tell through our scrapbooking.



Have a happy day!

Some photos I love

I lost my blog header yesterday. As I was looking through my hard drive for the original file, I found a folder of these pictures I had taken a while ago. I just loved these photos but I don't remember why I have them in a folder all by themselves.  Unfortunately, I think my blog header is gone forever. One day I'll re-create another one. Meanwhile I hope you enjoy the photos that bring me enjoyment!

The view from my friends deck

Ocean view at Bodega Bay

 

Some flowers from my yard

 

 

 

Dymo Label Freebie

Dymo Label Alpha *Freebie*

Click HERE to download the file

Recipes for Scrapbook Success

I noticed that when my daughter was home this summer, she tended to like the paper scrapbook pages versus the digital scrapbook pages. I've never been much of a paper scrapper. The best pages I have were done at crops where I had input from more experienced scrappers. I decided I wanted to improve my paper scrapping so I am taking May Flaum's Recipes for Scrapbook Success class over at Big Picture Scrapbooking. I've done three "paper" layouts so far. I have to say that I think I am a better digital scrapper than paper scrapper.
                                                                                                                                                                                                               

This is a sample of journaling on journal cards. The layout was a make and take from the Sacramento Scrapbook Expo. 

 

This is a  sample of paper strips in the middle.

This is a sample of journaling on drawn lines. 

The first week of class was about photo arrangement. 

The second week of class was about paper arrangement.

The third week of class was about journaling.

And the fourth week of class will be about ??? maybe embellishment placement? 

I am sort of excited to get back into scrapping. I have many projects from Scrapbook Expos that I have never finished. I am now motivated to pull them out and get 'em done!

I haven't given up digi scrapping though. I am keeping current with my scrap last month layouts. I really like the format I am using this year. I will post some layouts in a few days.

I am also working on a special anniversary project. I am doing a page for every year we have been married. Which will be 32 years this December. I am working backwards because it was easier to start with my digital photos and I have calendars going back to 1991. I have complete 2008 - 1990 so far. The bad news is that my calendars are gone so I have to rely on photos to remind me of what happened that year. The good news is I keep getting younger with each layout:) I am posting my layouts at Scrapbook Graphics for their 2009 Photo Book Challenge. Here is my gallery if you want to take a peek.

Where's my header

I was playing around and adding a blog list and then rearranging some things and now my header is gone!!!!!

Yikes, I set the blog up so long ago, I don't even remember how the header got there in the first place!

Be back later...

I'm back....
So I totally changed the template but that doesn't help. I edited the header and added the quote. The quote shows up by the blog title "Canay's Corner" doesn't show up.

I posted a question in the forums.

tada...I went to customize and clicked on Revert widget templates to default. At least now my title appears. I don't know what happened to my custom header but that is ok. I sort of like the lefty template and I will just stay with the generic template for now. 

Goodbye Canay's Creations...

At the end of this month, I will be taking down my website Canays Creations.

My husband retired and I've been looking at the budget especially the
repetitive monthly charges. I find I post (sporadically) on my free blog and
never go to Canays Creations anymore. It doesn't make sense to keep paying
for something I'm not using. It is a good time to clear clutter out of my
life and simplify.

I will still be scrapping and posting to this blog so I don't think the closure will have a negative effect on anyone. A few freebies will be lost but they are so old that I doubt they are useful any longer.

This is the start of my spring cleaning and it feels really good. Next I want to tackle my closet. Now that might be a nightmare!

LOM templates...

I have created psd templates of my title page, dedication page and two section pages. Click HERE to download the zip file. Please be sure to read the pdf info file for information about the templates. I hope you find these useful. Happy scrapping:)

The Camera Evolution Continues...

Remember this layout all about my camera evolution? The saga continues...

Lacey's camera broke so I gave her my SD500 which was just like hers. I thought I would be happy with just the S3IS 12x optical zoom camera. Well, what I discovered is that I really missed a small little camera in my purse at all times. I was missing so many shots because I was out somewhere and didn't have a camera with me. So I did some research and decided on the brand new Canon Posershot SD990 IS.

Duh duh, duh da...

I've read Pros and Cons on the reviews. My reason for choosing this camera instead of one of the less expensive models are:

• the high pixels allow me to crop in on a shot and get a pretty decent closeup
  
• its larger sensor lends a hand to low light shooting and captures some beautiful images
• the red eye issue is much improved over the 550
• it has full manual control (not that I use that, but it is possible!)
  
• it has automatic face recognition
  
• it fits nicely in my purse or pocket

I really love this camera. It really does do a pretty good job in low light conditions which I seem to be in frequently. I have to say that I do feel guilty about the Rebel that sits on my shelf. I even purchased a DVD on how to use the Rebel. It is still in the wrapper sitting on the shelf. It's not going anywhere and one day...soon...maybe after LOM...I will give it a go. Until then, I am tickled pink with my little point and shoot that is in my purse ready to use in a moments notice.

Design Your Life...

I just checked and I have not posted since last November. Let's see that is five months ago.

Since November, I took Cathy Zielske's Design your life class over at Big Picture Scrapbooking. We learned all about balance, color, white space, typography, lots of Cathy's clean and simple design tips, etc. We also created a lot of layouts...


The class ended on Christmas Day so I got a little behind during the holidays. I used the month of January and the beginning of February to get caught up on the class. It was a great class and Cathy is an excellent instructor. Her knowledge and humor are so contagious. I would never hesitate to take another class with her. She really helped my enthusiasm and my confidence as a scrapbooker. Her weekly videos, pdf files and audio files have provided me with a great resource that I can use over and over.

Then no sooner did I finish up with that class, I started the Library of Memories Class (LOM) with Stacy Julian. I wrote a blog post back in August titled Photo Freedom aka Getting Photos Organized. This LOM class basically teaches everything from Photo Freedom step by step. I am having so much fun. I already embraced a lot of Stacy's non chronological attitudes but didn't really know it. She has helped me define what photos I want to scrap and how to have the photos organized in a system that I can retrieve them for scrapping whether digital or paper. And then her four album system for storing layouts is brilliant. This is a sixteen week class and I have totally committed to it. I have taken a break from blogs, digi scrapping sites, and other classes so I can embrace LOM and get the most out of it.

Here are some framework pages that I made for the All About Us album...


I actually have quite a few more frame work pages made for the other albums (Places We Go, Things That Matter, and People We Love) but haven't uploaded them to flickr yet. I'm realy pleased with the way they turned out and I will share them when they get uploaded.

So that's what I've been doing with scrapbooking lately. Having fun and learning lots of new things.

Using Photo Clusters in FotoFusion

Designer Digitals is having a twenty-five cent sale on Katie Pertiet's Photo Cluster No. 07. I will be using the first one to demonstrate how to use Photo Clusters in FotoFusion.

Editing to say that if you missed the sale at designer digitals Molly and Max has a freebie photo cluster that you can use to play around with this concept. Just an FYI...Designer Digitals has twenty-five cents off sales each week. You can sign up for their newsletter if you want to be reminded.

1. First set your page up in FotoFusion. I am creating a 12x12 collage. I like to add a .125 Safe Inset so that nothing important gets cut off in printing.

2. Bring the photo cluster into FotoFusion. There are various ways to bring items into FotoFusion. I just open the folder that has the cluster and drag it onto the canvas.


3. Next we want to protect the cluster so that it doesn't move around when you start adding in your photos. Click on "Tools" in the top menu bar, select "Layers" then check the "Protect" box.


4. The next step is to create the frames that we are going to add our photos to. Holding the "F" key and using one of the frames in the cluster, draw out a frame in the size you want. Turn off the border and the shadow on the frame. Repeat this step for all the frames in the cluster.

5. Next add your photos to each of the frames that you created. For this example I am using papers in the frames because I am not at a computer that has my photos. You should be able to just drop your photo directly into the frame.


6. Some of your photos may not be layered properly. Review each individual frame in the cluster and note what is not layered properly.


7. Right click on any layer that you want to move and select the appropriate command. (Send to back, send to front, bring forward, send backward). Sometimes this is just trial and error.


8. Add any other papers or embellishments and voilà your layout is complete.

Just Another Day in Paradise...

That's at least what October 1st was to me. But it was also the day that Stacy Julian challenged us to give ourselves a present. Woo-hoo count me in. I just LOVE presents. Well, it was a little different present than I expected. You can read all about it at her BLOG.

I don't have my pics in a little album yet. One is coming thanks to Amy Sorenson. I was one of the first twenty-five posters on her blog and she will be sending me a cute little album to put my cute little pictures in!

Here are the pictures. All taken on October 1, 2008. Sure if I was to choose ten photos to represent my life I would have chosen much different pictures. But I read Stacy's challenge, I had my camera in my purse and this was my day. Just another day in paradise!

For a brief description of each photo and why it was important to me on 10/1/08 see the set at my flickr

Life, organizing and the pursuit of designing...

Where have I been? What have I been doing?

Resizing 200 layouts to be printed so I could take advantage of the special offer from MyPicTales...yes it was a bit of work to resize my layouts to have the bleed required by the site. But I got 200 layouts printed for free...nada....zich...zilch! But if you missed the special don't despair. 8x8 layouts are fifty cents ($.50) and 12x12 layouts are seventy-five cents ($.75) So at that price you have no excuse not to get your layouts printed and into albums so your family and friends can actually see them.

Speaking of albums, after reading Stacy Julian's book Photo Freedom, I have been in the throes of reorganizing all my albums, in addition to printing hundreds of digital photos, and basically rethinking my whole scrapbooking/photo storage process. Oh yeah, I jumped right into the whole shebang...I got the Pioneer Storage Binders, the category drawers, the 12x12 albums, some 8x8 albums, the circle tags, papers to match the 12x12 albums, matching ribbons, etc. When I decide to do something I take off...I only hope that I continue and do not run out of motivation.

Oh my gosh I have spent days, hours, up until the wee hours of the morning working on some of the initial organization. It will probably take six months to get everything fully implemented and sunk into my brain. But what I have so far is now a system that I can work at in small increments. (you know the good ole 15 minute routine) And it is set up enough that I will be able to start my next project...

I am enrolled in Cathy Zielske's Design Your Life class over at Big Picture Scrapbooking. In fact the class starts today. Now you know I am a digital scrapbooker. But I have decided to TRY and do my layouts in paper. You may think this is like taking a step backwards. Maybe it is. But I am such a paper klutz I really want to force myself to work in this area. You say "oh no you are not a klutz". Well let me tell you it took me like an hour just to tie a little ribbon on the clasp of my album. Seriously....how can tying a little ribbon be so darned hard??? First you cut the ribbon too big...then you cut the ribbon too small...then when you tie the ribbon the pretty part is inside out...was I not standing in line when God passed out craft skills???

Oh and then there is the inking the edges thing. On the computer, I can grab a brush ink my edges and it is done. In real life????? Just rub the edge of your paper on the ink pad. You rub it the first time and no ink appears on the edge. Rub it a few more times...oh look the edge you don't see has ink. I want to be able to see the ink when the paper is adhered to the background. Ok so angle the paper...oh look I have a nice neat line of ink. I don't want a nice neat line. It is supposed to look grungy. Keep angling and be a little jerky. Now I have ink on my fingers, on the middle of the paper not just on the edges. Ok so throw that away and try again.

Well, I at least got my Pre Work assignment done. It is in paper and there are some inked edges. It took me forever. And Stacy Julian says to just create a title or section page in one of your 15 minute sessions. I don't think so!

Note the journaling in the bottom square. It looks a little too neat doesn't it? That is because Darcy Baldwin created a font from my handwriting. I think it is really cool even if it is much neater than my regular printing. I have pretty much been using it for the journaling on my digital layouts to give a bit of personal touch. So I typed it up and printed it out for the paper layout.

I am Adhesive Challenged...

I am going to the Sacramento Scrapbook Expo in October with Liz, a friend I met at the DSP Adobe Laptop Crop in July. I am signed up for a few classes and in looking at the supplies list what I notice most is adhesive, adhesive, adhesive!

I like the adhesive tape runners but for some reason they don't like me. I have tape in the darned thing but it doesn't come out...too much tape comes out but it is not on my papers it is just hanging out all over the table...the tape comes off but the left over piece doesn't feed back in and it is hanging all over the table..."easy to replace refills"...easy for who...engineers? I finally get on a roll and run out of tape and have no more refills. I tried the darned purple glue that dries clear...well explain to me why I have dried purple goop on my layout? I am apparently adhesive challenged.

I was thinking about what to bring to the Expo in October. I did a little research and I have come upon the decision to try something new. Ta-Da...it is the ATG tape gun...I know it looks big but the posts I have read indicate that it is light and easy to use. And it holds something like 36 yards of tape. Also for little ole challenged me, there is a loading instruction and video at Framing Supplies dot Com, the site I purchased it from. And just for a little insurance, I bought the refill tape also. Yes there is an upfront cost. But apparently if you do the math you will start recouping the costs in a short time. Of course that would depend on how often you scrap. Although I am an accountant by trade, I didn't bother doing any math here. I just looked at the shiny red gun and said....ooohhhh I like....and clicked on the add to cart button and the rest is history. I can't wait until it arrives. I will check it out and report back if adhesive challenged me could use it with ease.



You can Google this as it is sold at various sites. I bought mine from Framing Supplies dot com. $41.69 for the gun and $3.30 for the refill. I read in some posts that you can get the refills for $2.00. I don't know if that is an old price or if they are available somewhere for that price. I just decided to buy the refill with the gun since I was already paying for the shipping.

Pics to Scrap

Just thinking about all the layouts I need to do. I really need to develop a list of what I want to accomplish. When I actually sit down to scrap sometimes my mind goes blank and I can't think of what to do. Yet...I have so many photos that need to be scrapped. I want to go back and finish the Reality Scraps from 2007 at Scrapbook Graphics...I need to update my annual Casini Ranch album for our trip last November...I went on three vacations this year...

Hopefully the new organizational system I wrote about earlier will help me get some scrapping done!

Credits:
Shabby Princess Summer Cottage kit
SBB Tidbytes with compliments 2008 kit
Staples from Lumapix and SEI

Photo Freedom aka Getting Photos Organized

I have been reading Stacy Julian's books on her photo and layout organization. Stacy has given me a new way of looking at how to organize everything. What I like about her style is that she presents what she does and explains how and why she does it. Having this information enables you to adapt the system to meet your own needs.

Stacy is a paper scrapper so her system starts with a printed photo. Since I am a paper and a digital scrapper, I am going to adapt her system to bridge my paper/digital organization. At the present time my paper system is one mish-mash-mess and my digital system is actually fairly organized. My plan is to organize my printed photos and layouts "loosely" based on Stacy's method. I say "loosley" because Stacy is right brained and I am left brained. So, our systems will naturally be slightly different.

For my digital photos and layouts I only need to make a few modifications and my digital photos and layouts will be organized exactly how my paper ones are organized. What a concept! I will have an All About Us 3-ring album and I will have an All About Us digital album. The albums will not necessarily have the same layouts in them because I don't print all my digital layouts and I don't scan my paper layouts. But the systems will be similar so finding things should be a lot easier. I am so super-de-duper excited about this. Organization makes me HAPPY!

The Big Picture was Stacy's first book. It talks more about her layouts and how you can set up a system to NOT scrap chronologically so you never feel like you are behind.

Photo Freedom is Stacy's latest book. It goes in depth about her actual system for photos and layouts. She explains what tools she uses and exactly how she uses them. She provides the details of the tools that she uses but encourages you to start with what you have on hand and not to go out and necessarily purchase everything that she uses. That way you can understand the nuts and bolts of the system before you add in the bells and whistles.

She explains the process that a photo takes. From printing it off the computer, where it gets filed, how it will get scrapped etc. It is very obvious that Stacy practices what she preaches and her ideas have certainly opened the floodgates of ideas and possibilities for my own process.

Here are the brag book pages I made for the July Brag Book Exchange over at Digital Scrapbook Artisan Guild.




The idea of the challenge is to put together a set of 4x6 ready made pages to complete a 4x6 freestyle brag book album. We use the Monthly Guild kit to build our layouts. Post the finished layouts and then send a .png file to the monthly leader. She packages them all up and sends everyone who participates the completed album.

It is so much fun and I love all the creative brag book pages that everyone submits.

Next week, on July 26th, I am very excited to be going to....

DSP at a Laptop Crop at Adobe Headquarters in San Jose, CA!


I've never been to a laptop crop. I have inherited Lacey's Dell laptop and have spent all week getting it configured and set up so I can take it to a crop. I've installed...

1. Photoshop
2. Adobe preset folder (brushes, actions, etc.)
3. Plugin folder (I haven't used these in a while but ya never know!)
4. All my fonts!!!!!
5. Main Type (my font managment program)
6. IMatch (the program I use to manage my digi scrap supplies)
7. I made sure my EHD could plug into the laptop and there will be outlets at the crop
   
8. I also made sure that IMatch on the laptop could read my EHD. This entailed telling Microsoft that the EHD is actually a different drive than Microsoft thinks it is
9. The drivers for my Wacom Tablet (I hope I have time to finish my tablet class before next Friday!)

I think I am set to go. Oops...you know what I have forgotten?? My pictures! Silly me, what would a crop be without PICTURES!!!!! Need to take care of that tonight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm hoping to get some scrapping done. Although some have said that they are so busy running around, having fun, meeting fellow scrappers and eating chocolate...that they don't get much scrapping done!!!!!

One of the fun activities is to swap ATCs (Artist Trading Cards). These are cards you create that say something about yourself. This is the ATC card I made to take to the crop.