Digital Scrapbooking

Ok I think I've found my next obsession. I love digital scrapbooking. I found it when I was looking for blog backgrounds and love playing with all the colors and patterns. I'm attaching my first layout for all to see. I used paper and elements form Digital Scrapbook Memories Collection 2. It is a very basic layout, because I'm still learning Photoshop Elements 7.0. Hopefully the book I ordered on it will arrive today, so I can learn more. There are tons of papers, elements, brushes, and kits out there to use. I bought one designers entire "shop" for $20 and got about $300 worth of product. I've been downloading for three days and still don't have all the files yet. So hopefully I'll be showing you more layouts soon.



I'm going to try and go back and do some layouts for the last year of so. I'll post them as I complete them.

Taking Photos

I can't explain how much I love taking pictures. There is something excitings about getting that great shot, or that photo that makes me smile. I love looking at others's photographs and thinking how I would do it different or how I would like to try and get a shot like that one. And once I start taking pictures I can take two hundred without blinking an eye. Earlier this week, Sharla and I were taking some pictures of roses and daisys and the next thing we knew it was 10:30. This is late for the girls that go to bed by 9:00 or 9:30. Sharla had been sitting on the floor and when she stood up, she was stiff. I really wanted to download al of my photos, but I knew that would take even more time. So I reluctantly went to bed. I found myself dreaming about other shots I should have taken. The next night I was afraid to start again, because I knew I would have have a hard time stopping. Here a couple of my favorites from that night.

Sew, Mama, Sew - Stash Questions

The Sew, Mama, Sew blog is wanting to know about my stash, so I thought it would be fun to answer their questions.

What do you usually sew? - quilts, harnesses for my dogs, coasters, bags.

When you shop for fabric, what size cuts do you usually buy? (i.e. If you see something beautiful, but you don’t have a use for it right away, how much do you buy?) - If I'm shopping for quilts, I try to buy at least 2-3 yards, for dog stuff normally 1 yard, but I also love fat quarters. If is something I really love, but don't have a project in mind for it, about 2 yards.

Do you buy on impulse or do you go out looking for something you need? - Both, I normally go looking for something specific, but always come home with extra.

Are you a pre-washer? If you are, do you wash your fabric before you need it, or only when you’re ready to use it? - For my quilts I always pre-wash, and normally as I am going to use it. I rarely pre-wash other stuff.

Do you iron it? - Iron and starch it. Makes working with it so much easier, especially when using my rotary cutter.

How do you sort it? (color, print size, collection, etc.) - Sort...hmmm what is that. Currently if I have purchased fabrics for a specific project I try to keep them together in a tub, and the rest are just mixed in other tubs.

Do you have any special folding techniques? - No, it might be nice if I did.

How do you store your fabric? - Tubs in a closet or tubs in the living room. I need a better system, but I'm really only a beginner, so right now I think I have 4 or 5 tubs. I'm sure at the rate I'm going I'll have a room full soon.

What tips do you have for building up a well-rounded stash? - Since I'm new, I currently just look for things I like, but I've found I often wish I had this or that so I look for those things the next time I'm out shopping. I don't think my stash is really well rounded yet, but it's getting there.

When do you say enough is enough? - When do I say it....all the time, when do I enforce it, so far never. I love fabric and I always seem to find one or two fat quarters I can't resist.

What are some of your favorite stash-busting projects? - I love Sew, Mama, Sew's fat quarter month, I've already found several projects there. I find small projects, that I can finish quickly work better to destash, because I don't get bored with them and I can make multiples and give away to family and friends.

Do you have a current favorite print in your stash? Let’s see it! - My taste is varied, but I two pieces I love. The first is a fat quarter I got in a swap that I just can't make myself use, because I love it. The other I bought for a quilt that I haven't started yet.




What’s your definition of the perfect stash? (Consider sharing a picture or two of your stash & storage, or direct us to a pic on Flickr!) - The perfect stash would be all the fabrics in my local quilt store called "Quilt Country", but that would be a little extreme. My goal is the have several cabinets in my spare bedroom that I can sort fabric by color, size and project, but still be able to close the doors on them so when guest do come they aren't freaked out by all the fabric.

Happy Valentine's Day

It's Saturday and I was hoping to sleep late, but a thundering Cooper jumped onto my bed at 6:30 this morning after going outside. He was cold and wanted his "Valentine" to warm him. Within seconds, Tucker and Zoey were on the bed as well. They each had to give me good morning kisses. They are still getting used to each other, but we're seeing signs of them beginning to like each other. Tucker gave Zoey kisses this week, not once but twice. Something he does all the time to Cooper. She didn't know how to accept them yet, but she did ok.

The day of candy and flowers for most people was full of puppy kisses and picture taking, what a wonderful day. Took lots of photos of some flowers Mom bought, as well as some of the clouds at sunset. I wish I could spend every day doing the same thing.

Here are a few pictures I took today, hopefully I'll have more loaded on flickr tomorrow or Monday

T.G.I.F.

It's Friday, it's Friday, yeah it's Friday. I love Fridays because it is our frappuccino day!!! We always stop on the way into work and today's was especially good. Of course we also had some fun with the cashiers there. At the drive-thru we were greeted with "Good morning, sunshine what can I get for you today?" We laughed and gave our order. When we got to the window it was one of our regular girls who knows us, and we laughing said her voice had changed a lot. The earlier voice was very deep and very male. She laughed and said he was greeting everyone as Sunshine today, we laughed and told her we were going to call him Sweet Cheeks. So she made sure he was the one to pass the drinks out to us. When he did, Sharla said "Good morning Sweet Cheeks", which got a laugh from him and his co-workers. I'm betting he was call Sweet Cheeks for a while today.

It is nice to get that giggle first thing in the morning, it sets the tone for the day.

When we got home tonight we had a mini fashion show with Zoey. Mom had wanted some "girl" clothes for her and I found some on-line and ordered them. I had gotten a couple of t-shirts for Cooper, but Tucker seemed to want to want to be in on the game, so they all had new clothes. I took a picture of Sharla holding all three and I think it turned out pretty good, they are all actually looking at me.


If you want to see more of my photos you can always check out my flickr site www.flickr.com/tomosia

Memories.....

Yesterday was the second anniversay of my Dad's death. It was one of the hardest days of my life. He had a heart attach while in a rehab facility and they were able to bring him back, but no one knew how long he had be down. We knew that he wouldn't want to be kept alive by machines, in fact he had a living will stating just that fact. So after lots of thought and prayer, we decided to have them remove the machines. Sharla and I sat beside him and his breathing slowed and finally stopped. I had never experienced anything like it, such sadness at the loss and yet I knew it was the right thing to do. Daddy was a tease, he loved life and he wouldn't want to be a vegetable with a machine breathing for him. But to have to actually sign the DNR papers, and then the remove the life support papers was so very hard.

As a family I realized how blessed I was during that time. I had friends and family that jumped in to support me in so many ways. Tons of food was brought to the house, family flew in from out of state (Aunt Hazel even packed a ham and a cake and brought with her....yes she is officially amazing), people came to the hospital to check on us, not to mention the flowers and plants that were sent. It was a hard time, but through it I learned that I have some wonderful people in my life and I will always be grateful for that.

And as daddy would have wanted we found ways to laugh, little memories or family jokes that surfaced. Or the now famous "Water Buffalo Song" at least famous amoungst our family. Several years ago Callie took to singing the Veggie Tale's Water Buffalo song almost anytime you were with her. So when I got a cell phone were I could load my own ring tones I made one for her from that song. Soon it was the family ring tone for Callie, Sharla had it on her phone, Tom had it on his phone, and I had it on my phone. As we were at the funeral home making the arrangements, all of a sudden, one phone went off playing "Everybody's got a water buffalo, your's is fast but mine is slow", then the second phone, then the third phone. It was Callie texting us all that she loved us, because she knew where we where and what we were doing. Somehow that silly song made us all smile at a very sad moment. But I will always remember that smile, because it eased things so much.

Here is a picture of Daddy at Wright Memorial the summer of 2000 with his most favorite people in the world.

Zoey is my friend

I had a new bed partner last night and her name was Zoey Girl. Mom said she was upset by the storm and Mom had held her for quite a while. Then Zoey jumped down and went to the door like she needed to go potty. So Mom opened the door, but instead of heading to the back door, Zoey make a beeline for my room, my bed and me. Tucker heard her and was barking like crazy, but she ignored him and shot straight to me and curled up in the crook of my arm.

This is the first time we've had a storm since we got Zoey, so we didn't know how she would react. I now know that she wants to curl up next to you until it is over, and I let her. I was a little surprised that she ran to me and not Sharla, because Sharla is her buddy. But I wasn't turning her away. So I went to sleep with Zoey curled up in front of me and Tucker butted up against the back of me. Yep I was in heaven.

In the night Cooper joined the mix, so when I got up this morning it was the four of us all together. After breakfast, Zoey has been going to Sharla's room to lay on Sharla's fuzzy red blanket, but today she stayed with me. She luuuvvvvvsssss me. Ok so maybe I'm just the comfort nana, but I'll take it.

We've had Zoey for two weeks now, and yesterday Sharla walked all three dogs at the same time and they didn't snap or growl at each other at all. I'm not sure they are going to be best friends anytime soon, but I do think they are beginning to accept each other.

It should be interesting to see where Zoey tries to go to sleep tonight. Don't tell Mom if she sneaks into my bed (hehehe).

I'm so happy again!!!!

About a month ago, Sharla and I took Mom to a memorial service for one of her cousins. As we were leaving the church, I noticed the steeple against the bright blue sky and thought, "I should take a picture of that". So I whipped out my handy dandy panasonic camera, which I carry everywhere with me and took a couple of pictures. Even showed them to Sharla on the viewfinder. Then we headed home. A couple of days later I thought I need to download those photos, so I went to take my camera out and it was not in my purse. Ohh well it must have fallen out in the van, but then I checked the van and it wasn't there. So I searched my bedroom, thinking it may have fallen out, the garage, the car again, but alas my camera was gone. And I love that camera, it was small enough to carry anywhere, but still had a great zoom and took good pictures. I moped around, pouted and just grumbled, and then decided to buy a new one. I looked and most places were out of stock on the lastest version of the camera. Then I found out why, a new model is due out in April. The new model is even cooler than mine, but is also about $130 more expensive. So I was debating do I try to find the current model on close out somewhere or wait.

Then last night as we were headed to the checkout line at Costco, I stopped to look at their cameras and they had the current model on sale for $70 off, that meant it would be about $200 less than the new model. So I bought it. Yeah I have a camera again.

Hopefully soon I'll be posting pictures here, but until then you can always check out my flickr site htttp://www.flickr.com/tomosia

That's it for today.

What's New in Shauna's World

Well the first new thing would be this blog, but then that is pretty easy to see since this is my first posting. So how about something a little more interesting.

Two weeks ago we added a new member to the family. Yes, it true we brought home a 3 year old girl....dog. Well mom did. Mom decided she wanted a lap dog and anyone that knows Cooper and Tucker are not the traditional lap dogs. Mom looked at a couple of different rescue sites looking for another yorkie (because they rock!!), but wasn't having much luck. We found a Shih Tzu on pet finders at the Denton Animal Control. So mom and Ruthie (mom's caregiver), went up to see "him". Mom thought he was great, so they started the process to bring him home. At the Denton Animal Control that means she paid the fee and then they take the dog to a local vet, where "he" is fixed (if not already), chipped (microchip in case "he" gets lost) and given all of "his" shots.

That evening we were discussing names, Parker, Walker and Elvis were some of the favorites, but "Rex Stedson" won. If that name sounds familiar it is from an old Doris Day/Rock Hudson movie called "Pillow Talk". We were all in agreement, which in itself is something. We were told we would be able to pick "him" up on Thursday if he had already been fixed, and on Friday if they had to do the "snip-snip" procedure.

On Thursday morning Mom got a call that we could come and get "her", because "she" had previously been fixed. Yeah you read that right, he was a she. So that through the name situation back into a whirl. Now we were talking Pixie, Dixie, Roxy, and Daisy, but the winner was Zoey, well actually Zoey Girl. Mom picked her up at the vet about 4:00 and we had a groomer's appointment for her at 6:00.

The poor baby was very skinny, you could feel her ribs and her hair was matted something fierce. The groomer had to shave her because the mattes were so bad. They were able to leave a little hair on her face, so she has the cutest face.

After two weeks, she is fitting in nicely. Tucker and Cooper are adapting, although they get a little feisty with her when she is playing with one of us, mainly because she growls when she plays and they don't care for that much. She does like sleeping on a pillow, so now she is Princess Zoey Girl. She is eating well and starting to fill out a little. It is going to take some time for her hair to grow back, but I'm sure it will.

That is all for today...hopefully more soon.