wanted ... your favorite faces for a chance to win a 100 dollar gift certificate to florabella!

Greetings y'all!

I am still working on my blogoversary scrapkit for you, so don't give up on me yet! *smile*

Yesterday was a be still my grandma's heart day culminating into a lingering session of reminiscing with my sweet man, Robert and his baby sister, Corinne. We YouTubed 60's and 70's music for several hours! What a sight ... and sound we were! *wink*

My office space is small and my oldest son was on the computer (Robert's) directly behind me, headphones on and doing his own thing. Matthew did lift an earpiece every once-in-a-while to check out a tune we were singing to! Anyhoo, Robert was standing behind me and Corinne was sitting to my left upon my exercise ball that I am normally sitting on while at the computer! I won't tell you what happened to my beloved exercise ball or my sista on it! *big grin* I bet you can guess though! He, he ... let's just say, I still have my beloved sista, but NO ball! ROFL!  Where was the camera on that sweet little trick? LOL!

We had a fab time as I played DJ, took requests and hooked 'em up! Technology never ceases to amaze me!

As my sweet friend Sarah commented on my Facebook post, sometimes we just need some downtime and that is exactly what took place yesterday!

Have you ever experienced this kind of a day? You know, where you have a long list of things to accomplish or a particular project goal in mind, only to be completely caught off guard by a pleasant distraction that kidnaps your original intentions for the entire day?

A little spontaneity is good for the soul, don't you think?  I would love to hear about yours!

So ... I just have to share with you what hijacked my heart early on yesterday and kept me mesmerized for hours as I played them over-and-over again, digesting every precious moment, babble and expression ...

There are two very short clips, both under 60 seconds. My precious granddaughter, Katelyn Rose, who is now two months old, can you believe it?

Check out the expression on Kate's face after her daddy, who is driving, coughs. I melted ...

Joan cracks me up!  I adore the way she interacts with her little "buddy" as she referred to her during our phone conversation yesterday!  I think they make a pretty awesome duo, don't you? 

Okies, now that you've seen a couple of my favorite faces, I shall now share an amazing opportunity for y'all to share yours with a chance to win a $100 gift certificate!

The girls over at Love that Shot have an exciting surprise planned for the Love Your Shot Link-Up this Thursday, September 30th. There's going to be a theme, a couple of guest photographer judges (you may know them pretty well), and a fabulous prize for the winner! You're definitely not going to want to miss this one ...

So y'all, tell all of your friends to join us this Thursday for the Love Your Shot Link-Up because hey, what's a party without the guests, right! Oh, and if you're not quite sure how the link-ups work, click here for our FAQ page, or click here for the Link-Up archives.

We can't wait to see your favorite faces, so get out there and start shooting!

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friday at the farmer's market, i scrapped and a freebie for y'all!

WOOT, WOOT! It's Friday y'all and time for another Friday at the Farmer's Market!

How are y'all doing? Hoping to find everyone winding down from their week and, perhaps, preparing to get your scrap on this weekend, eh? *wink*

I've got some good stuff to share with y'all from my travels out-and-about in Scrapland and beyond!

No particular order. I am not a partial person. No favorites. I seem to be that way with everything. I suppose it is a blessing in disguise to be the indecisive individual that I am. I mean, after all, being mother to six beautiful babes and now a grandmother to multiple grandchildren, I cannot be playing favorites, can I? He, he ...

I'm for real here. I cannot really tell you my favorite of anything. I might tell you that my favorite color is blue and that it has been since I can remember, but ... I don't swoon over blue and have to have everything in that color if you know what I mean! I like a variety of different colors and they can change at any given moment!

Do y'all have favorites? And, that is surely not a bad thing, it just tells me that you are able to make a decision and stick with it! *big grin* I say, KUDOS to you. At least you don't leave a craft store with a headache because you are overwhelmed with all of the AMAZING choices! ROFL! Is there something wrong with me???

Let's see hands!!! How many of you can go shopping knowing what you will go home with? Okay, now how many of you go shopping, leave with a headache (or close to it!), arrive home with the goods and still debate whether or not you made the right choice or choices? One more. How many of you can do it both ways? My hand is WAY up there on the last question!

I guess it all depends on my thought process for the day.  You know.  What do I really need and what is my budget this trip, or do I even have one! ROFL!  Does anyone else relate with me on this?  Anyone? *blush*

Oh, OH my!  Let me add in here that being decisive is a GOOD quality, however, I still would not have favorites amongst my children or grandchildren! *wink, wink*

On to the good stuff ...

Misti Tracy over at Love that Shot has a GORGEOUS new package of Olde World Photo Textures that will help to beautifully enhance your photos!  Have y'all ever tried adding texture to one of your photos?  I'm hooked! Take a closer look at these beauties HERE!

I just adore the work that Misti and her sister, Michelle, are doing over at Love that Shot!  Stay-tuned the beginning of next week when I will be sharing with you from one of the new monthly tutorials added for Love that Shot members!

If you've not already been over to visit, you can read all about becoming a Love that Shot member HERE!  While you are there, check out their weekly Giveaway (OMG, this week is SO cool!) AND this week's Link Up!  These girls are shutter happy and are a wealth of photog knowledge and SO friendly and helpful too!

Oooohhhh Santa ... you do remember that new camera I am needing this Christmas, don't you??? I'm being a very good girl ... patient and everything! *cheshire cat grin*

My dear, sweet Scrapland friend, Sarah Cabana aka Simply Sarah, over at Digiridoo Scraps is hosting the coolest challenge I've seen in quite some time and it is VERY near-and-dear to my heart!  As a matter of fact, Sarah informed me that she came up with this challenge after I had commented on a post on Facebook about how she had inspired me to document my memories of 9/11 before I forget them entirely.

Thus cometh, I Challenge You!  LOL!  Sarah, if you happen to read this sweetie, I am SO reminded of Uncle Sam of my younger years and I Want You! *smile*

Have you documented your and/or your family's memories of this MOST tragic day in US history? If not, come with me to the Digiridoo Scraps forum (you'll need to register if you are not already) and let's get our scrap on!  There will be a random drawing for coupons and certificates to the shops of designers who have donated them.  You will find a list of those designers posted in the forum thread.  That sounds like some good incentive right there, right?  We CAN do this!  We should do this if we've not already.  I have not.  ARGH!

Thanks for sharing with me Sarah and please holler at me if you don't see mine in the gallery by the last week of this month, okay? MWAH!

Wondering why I am posting the above images?  Aren't they pretty?  Guess who designed them?

Nicole Seitler aka Sugarplum Paperie aka Girl Friday, and owner of The Digichick has got a five-part series going on over on her blog, "How to Get Started in Digital Design"!  If you've had a passion to create digital scrapbooking designs and wish to know the how, what, when, where and whys of it all, check it out ... Part One (passion), Part Two (ability) and tomorrow Nicole will talk about, originality! I guarantee she will help you to make a wise decision one way or the other and is giving us a plethora of knowledge from her years in the industry.

Nicole and her long-time friend and designer colleague, Megan Farrow aka Flergs, were both interviewed by Noelle Hyman of Paperclipping fame this past Tuesday.  If you've not heard it or have never been to the "roundtable" Paperclipping-style, check it out HERE!  It is not only informative, but a hoot-to-boot!  Noelle and her husband, Izzy, who is the videographer as well as announcer, are quite the team each week as they bring us a variety of scrapbook related topics! 

If you are a Flerg's fan, you've just got to take a listen to her sweet Aussie accent!  I swear, it really makes people that much more real when you hear a voice to go with the face!

Before I forget, my Friday at the Farmer's Market will most likely not be a weekly feature as, well, it does take time to prep images and post and check links before hitting the publish button.  I'm hoping to bring you my fab finds at least twice each month.  Yes, I will still continue with Monday in the Marketplace as well, which will focus mostly on new scrapbooking products and sales that I find while out-and-about on Monday morning looking for some inspiration!  These posts will most likely occur at least twice a month as well.

So, I've mentioned that I will cover finds in Scrapland and beyond and my next find is definitely in the "beyond" category.  Etsy to be precise!  Are not these the SWEETEST bits of crochet you've ever seen?  OMGosh!  I bet you don't have to guess who I shall be buying these for!  Only, I shall have to wait until the talent behind these delightful goodies creates a set in a bigger size for Baby Kate!

The name of this Etsy shop is A Life Crocheted!  Is that not genius? I hope you enjoy browsing as much as I have and I WILL be back to buy! *smile*

My BFF, Dawn aka Snowsmoon's Designs has actually crocheted a set for Baby Kate already, along with making her a quilt and is just about ready to ship it off to my daughter.  Oh, I can tell you that she will have tears of joy in her eyes when she opens the package and sees all of the love that has gone into making these precious keepsakes!  If you'd like to take a peek at the quilt, which will match Baby Kate's nursery, you can see just how lovely it is right HERE!

Guess what???  I scrapped last night!  WOOT, WOOT!

Grandma's precious baby boy, Kaleb Jace!  The journaling reads, "Just when I thought I'd found my one true love, along comes another little pumpkin to capture my heart and Grandma finds herself falling in love all over again ...

I used a piece of the pumpkin background paper from the free Falling Again scrapkit,  posted HERE for those who might not have seen it, and lessened the opacity enough for the journaling to be legible and not overpowered by the paper.  I thought the addition of the pumpkin paper a nice visual to my reference, "another little pumpkin"!  At the rate we have grandchildren coming along, we surely will have an entire patch full of little pumpkins before long! 

Yes, of course, I just had to make it into a scrapatit for y'all!  I've included one with the word art and one without and have left lots of room for you to add extra ellies if you wish and some journaling!

Have a TOTALLY scraptacular weekend everyone!  I hope you find my finds interesting and useful and you will give them all a visit!

Please remember to leave me a comment here on my blog so I can I leave one for you too! MWAH!

EXTRA, EXTRA!!!  I just read, after posting this, that Scrapbook Graphics is having their VERY first ever open designer call!  WOW!  If you or any other designer you may know would be interest in being exclusive and want to apply, check it out HERE! 

EXTRA, EXTRA, EXTRA!!!  ROFL!  I nearly forgot.  Our newest grandson, Mylles, should be making his debut sometime tonight (or maybe tomorrow) as last we heard, Sofie was going to be induced today if she had not gone into labor beforehand.  I will keep y'all posted!  We are SO excited!!!

Bon Scrapatit! :D

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD FALLING AGAIN SCRAPATIT

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love that shot and a leather giveaway!

Luke’s First Day of College

Tutorial Used: “How to Apply a Texture to a Photo” by Misti Tracy

Happy last day of August everyone!

Many of you have already sent children off for a new school year, are still preparing to or, perhaps, you are homeschooling!
 
As most of you know, my babes are all grown up now and my youngest, twins, turned 21 last month.  One of the twins, Luke, has just started his first year at our local junior college and he is SO excited! I am equally as excited for him!

Luke stopped by after work yesterday, late afternoon, to share the good news with us.  I knew that he was enrolling (I filed FASFA apps for both Luke and John last Spring), but did not know that he would be attending his first class quite so soon! (climbing out from beneath the proverbial rock!)

My oldest son, Matt and Luke share a house together. Luke is in the beginning stages of trying to manage college classes, a full-time job as well as keeping house! Luke has been known to be the “mom” around his home! This not only entails his looking out after anyone who enters through the front door, but also keeping the household running as smoothly as humanly possible when occupied with ALL boys. Uhm, I mean ... MEN! LOL!

Until recently, there had been four or five young men living under the same roof. Needless to say, things were a bit chaotic most of the time and Luke was giving serious thought to relocating himself for he knew he could not go to school and deal with traffic in-and-out of the house at any given moment, 24/7. Well, as it turns out, two of the roomies decided to move on the end of July. I could hear the sign of relief in Luke’s voice as he was thinking that things would now be “all good” with just he and his brother sharing space! He, he ... okay, I’ll be nice, but y’all know how brothers can be at times too, eh? ROFL!

Anyhoo, Luke’s visit yesterday naturally led this Mama to snap a few shots to preserve this special and most wondrous occasion, as well as marking my first project as a new CT for an incredibly wonderful site I joined several months ago, Love that Shot! 

As a digital designer, I love working with textures, so the first tutorial that caught my eye was, “How to Apply a Texture to a Photo” by the lovely and talented Misti Tracy, co-owner of Love that Shot. I have tried playing around with this on my own a few times in the past, however, I struggled with the fine art of using the lasso tool to achieve the result that I was looking for.  Misti’s tutorial was the key to unlocking the magic of the lasso tool for me in loosely outlining my subject and using a bit more feathering than I had been working with prior!  Thanks again Misti! *wink*

Now, as with any tutorial, you learn the basics of how to accomplish the meat of it and then, of course, you experiment! That is what I did with the photo of Luke above. The background was very busy and distracting and Luke got lost amongst the bookcase full of books here in my little office space, so I worked on cropping, angling and blurring out the distracting background as well as applying textures to my photo!  And, I even decided to keep some texture on Luke’s face!

I am not thrilled about only having my cell phone camera to snap with at the present time (5 MP), but have risen above the disappointment with my use of post-production tools to give me an end result that I can live with!  Although, I am still looking to replace my camera, which started having some issues while I was in Washington in, hopefully, the very near future!

I am thankful to have found Misti and her sister, Michelle at Love that Shot and am looking forward to improving my skills in photography as well as some post-production in Photoshop!

If you are looking for some fun and unique ways to improve upon your photos, whether from behind the camera or via some manipulation in your photo editing program, come and check out what the girls have been up to at Love that Shot!  Misti and Michelle not only offer up some cool free stuff, but they also offer a monthly membership which gives members access to all of their tutorials, including supplies to work on each one with, along with exclusive discounts on digital products and FREE registration to their workshops! There is an active forum too! Comment, share, ask questions and connect with others who share your passion!

Oh, and while you are checking out the Love that Shot site, Misti and Michelle are having a new giveaway this week! Do y’all like leather? You’ll love what their talented brother has to offer us! Details can be found HERE!

Now, y’all know what tomorrow is, right? Well, besides being the first day of September! The September Blog Train, departs! WOOT, WOOT ... TOOT, TOOT ... stay-tuned! It is going to be a Fall Carnival for sure!

Until we meet again ...

Love and hugs,

Linda XOXO

P.S. Live Writer has not been working properly for me since my return from Washington and my working on my blog makeover.  Please excuse the lack of paragraphs when my feed is burned before I can get into Blogger and make corrections!  If someone can shed some light on this problem, I shall be most grateful. When I tick “edit using theme”, I have absolutely no control over the placement of anything!  However, when I type up my post without using the theme, everything appears normal before my eyes, but this is not the case when I hit the publish button!

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