Chere is my HERO!

OK... I have this super cool, able to do it all camera... and I am camera illiterate. Enter Chere, my Nikon guru, who has helped me attain the unthinkable... a super cool, ultra trendy awesomely awesome photo!!!!

I've wanted to capture the feel of a professional portrait as seen on Amber Ulmer's photography blog, but had NO inkling of an idea on how to get started. Chere walked me through it and armed me with a free trial of Adobe Lightroom (which ROX my sox!!!) and a after a few hours of playing and trial and error... I made this!!!

Behold the original:



And my super cool trendy version:




Thanks Chere!!! You've created a monster now!!! :)

Having Fun with The Paper Element!

Well... it took awhile, but I jumped back into my scrappy room with some help from my buddy Vel (thanks sweetie!!) and of couse the boatload of goodies from The Paper Element. I worked on them in the freezing cold basement for limited amounts of time.... I lent out my portable heater to a friend who's furnace was on the fritz. Once it gets warmed up down there, I'll create some more! Loving that wonderfully yummy paper!!! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

What a wonderful day! We finally had a day as a family to sit back and relax and enjoy being together! Life has been hectic lately, so we decided we needed a day for just us as a family. We hunkered down in the house feasting on turkey and homemade pumpkin pie and then strolled outside on the cold to play with the camera where Jack was nice enough to pose for a couple of photos.

We hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Playing around....

Sunday our camera FINALLY arrived... told ya I was all about the bad luck! Anyhow, I did some playing around and didn't have too much luck getting the style photo I wanted, but after some help from my friend Chere, I should be on the right path shortly. Thanks Chere!!! I would love to give the tutorial she sent me a try, but Tom stole the camera to show it off at work!!! :)

Anyhow, I took this one of Jack while he was trying to sleep on the couch... he wasn't a very happy subject. I'll post more after I get my camera back, LOL!

Lightly Falling Snow and other Stuff

This snow is falling! It's only lightly laying on the trees and shrubs right now, but boy does it ever put me in the mood for Christmas already! How wonderful! I'm not a big fan of snow, but it's beautiful to watch fall gently to the ground!

Thanks to all of the well wishers who helped cheer me up at a difficult time. Things are looking up now and some of the fog has lifted. And for those of you who also frequent my Facebook... thanks as well! My SIL is doing better... she's not out of the hospital yet, but she's out of the ICU. That in itself is great news!

And in other news, we decided to make the leap and buy a new camera. Of course we've had nothing but problems in the whole purchase process.... nothing ever goes smoothly for us, so we've learned to just deal with it. But we are hoping for the arrival of the camera by Friday!! Not like I will even know how to use it, LOL! I did figure out how to turn it on in the store, so that's a huge plus!

Last but not least.... a yummy package of Paper Element goodies arrived on my snow dusted doorstep today stuffed to the gills with Christmas paper loveliness! It's just the thing to fix my scrappy mojo and I hope to be able to share some creations with you all soon!

Ever Feel Invisible?

Ever have one of those weeks? Everything you do, almost everyone you talk to.... you feel invisible? Left answering machine messages go unanswered, emailed go unreplied to? I so feel there right now.

I am up to my ears in grant work for preschool. So many steps, so many papers to file, so many questions. And every time I leave a message with a fine government office, no one returns my calls. I don't understand why these people cannot return my calls or answer my emails.

Guess I'm just grumpy. It seems life hasn't been very cooperative for the last few months and I am in a funk. And for once, I just want a day to progress effortlessly... like a Walgreen's "Perfect" ad. Wouldn't life just be grand if everything went smoothly for once?

Where'd My Mojo Go?

Whew.

Life has been once again coming at me with lightning speed. Stress and stress and more stress has been piling up all around me from all sorts of sources. In the past, my stress reliever has been to hole up in my scrappy space and create away... it's my therapy.

Lately though, scrapbooking reminds me of some of the stress I just want to forget and I just can't seem to pick up my supplies and jump in. Is it lost mojo? Is is scrappy phobia? How do I get past this and reclaim my love of all things scrap related?

I need your help. Please help me find my mojo. I've looked everywhere and it seems to be lost.