Thursday, May 21, 2015
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
An Animal You Have to See!
I know this is not a craft or art related post. But I tried to share this animal over at Facebook -- it did not get even one "like" ...
I had recently heard that Facebook does its best to not pass on posts that include links ... they figure you are doing advertising or marketing. I figure, if that is true, it is because they want to charge you for promoting your post. I really don't like the way Facebook even dares make decisions about what posts to pass on to followers of other Facebook users, but ... **sigh**
Anyhow, once you see this critter, you too will want to make sure other people find out about it. So please go here to see the Chinese Magic Rabbit, also known as the ila pika.
I had recently heard that Facebook does its best to not pass on posts that include links ... they figure you are doing advertising or marketing. I figure, if that is true, it is because they want to charge you for promoting your post. I really don't like the way Facebook even dares make decisions about what posts to pass on to followers of other Facebook users, but ... **sigh**
Anyhow, once you see this critter, you too will want to make sure other people find out about it. So please go here to see the Chinese Magic Rabbit, also known as the ila pika.
Digi-Scrap Freebies and Challenges
I have been doing art and crafts, just not getting them photographed or scanned or not getting them written up and then posted here.
However, over the weekend, I remembered that two of the digi-scrap stores that I like to deal with run "Daily Download" programs. So, off I went and then sneaked over to the Forum areas to see what Challenges they had for the month.
The first I'll share with you is www.godigitalscrapbooking.com where they have a daily download program that lets you collect a complete kit of "papers" and elements if you show up every day and get the freebie of the day.
As for the challenges, there are quite a few. Most of them give out a "posting bonus" -- and if you participate in all of the challenges, you end up with a fairly large kit of papers and elements. To collect the entire kit, you need to participate in the Progressive Challenge, (six steps to a completed page) and pick up the download for each of the downloads for the challenge.
The photo at the top of this post is the page I did for the "multi-photo" challenge. (a) one day I noticed my "bedhead" reminded me of Phyllis Diller; so I started taking Silly Selfies first thing when I get up; (b) most of the photos are absolutely dreadful and some are silly too; (c) my oldest sister, who is 15 years older than I am, HATES these things, especially when I use them somewhere that the "public" can see them, so I look for the strangest and ugliest and silliest when I decide to use them (maybe I am the brat she thinks I am -- even at over 50, such labels tend to still stick) ... This page actually made GSO status yesterday -- that is, "Gallery Standout" for the use of the postage-sized images. LOL!
The second store that offers Daily Downloads is www.plaindigitalwrapper.com and they don't have as many challenges this month. Once I finish all of the challenges for GDS (godigitalscrapbooking), I will get going on the ones from PDW.
The scrapping software I use is version 3 of Creative Memories' StoryBook Creator. Caspedia, and then Panstoria (same coders with a new company) were the ones who wrote the software and now offer Version 4 which they are calling Artisan. I did upgrade to 4 when Creative Memories offered it, but I had a problem with it and ended up needing to uninstall it. I did not think I "needed" the upgrades from 3 to 4 (mostly color matching stuff plus a few other things), so I did not bother to reinstall it. However, I probably will upgrade again soon -- but will need to get it again through Panstoria as they no longer validate Creative Memories' licenses. If you are looking for an easy to use digital scrapping software, check out Panstoria. I have used many different softwares for digital scrapping and like StoryBook Creator / Artisan the best.
I've used the one from Stampin' Up!, and quite a few others (five others that I can think of right now), as well as PhotoShop Elements (one of the programs quite a few scrappers use). And, in the end, I like StoryBook Creator / Artisan the best. And if you are interested in PhotoShop Elements but think it might be a bit too expensive, check out the FREE clone called Gimp. Also, there is PhotoExplosion that works like Photoshop Elements and is about half the price.
If you digi-scrap, please share a link (or even links) to some of your pages. And if you are new to digiscrapping, and would like to learn about how to do it, let me know in the comments and I'll do some tutorial posts.
Have a wonderful ___________ (you fill in the blank with whatever you want to be wonderful) **GRIN**
<>< ><> <>< ><> <>< ><> <><
OOPS!
I was just over at the PDW store and found out that I was wrong -- they don't have a daily download program. (oh, these "senior" moments! ARGH!) I will do a bit of searching to find the other store that does offer them ... I know there is another digi-store that does offer daily downloads ... **sigh** However, head on over, they have $2 Tuesday deals and some fun Monthly Challenges ...
Thursday, November 6, 2014
Monday, September 8, 2014
Supreme Team 18 - Round One
GoDigitalScrapbooking.com is holding a "scrap-off' (my
term for it) to find members for their Supreme Team 18. The Supreme Team is that group of digital
scrapbookers who act as their "design team." A design team is a group whose members create
pages, the sample pages, that get posted with new kits as they become available
in the shop.
During a Supreme Team contest, contestants (anyone who signs
up to try) post a digitally scrapped layout to that week's gallery. Contestants are provided with a kit to use. The kit for Round One is one from
Maria Designs called "Sew Beary Scrappy."
It is a wonderful kit!
For the variety of pages I've made already from the kit, I have not
recolored anything except a title using the alpha that is part of the kit --
and that was mostly to make it stand out from the background more than it did in
the original color. Actually, I did not
"recolor" the alpha. I used a
feature of my scrapbooking program* and "filled" the selected item
(the letters of the alpha) with a paper in the kit.
Each week a few contestants are dropped and the rest go on
to the next round until in the final week, the next Supreme Team is
announced. Members of the Supreme Team
then spend the next four months as the Design Team for
GoDigitalScrapbooking.com.
GoDigitalScrapbooking.com is a great digiscrapping
site. The forums, the challenges, the
galleries and the shop are all wonderful and delightful. GDS, through the forums, has a Daily Download
that is free. And there is a program
that gives discount codes to get a "Daily Download Rewind" item based
on the number of comments you leave for your fellow scrappers.
Pop on over and check out the other entries in the Round One Gallery
(ending time 9 AM ET, Monday, September 8, 2014). Round Two is to be announced on Tuesday, 9/9.
Here are a couple other layouts I made using the "Sew Beary Scrappy" kit from Maria Designs at GoDigitalScrapbooking.com:
* A note about the
scrapping software that I use --
It is StoryBook Creator 3 from Creative Memories. However, in 2013, when Creative Memories went
into its second bankruptcy and the company was redesigned to go ahead into the
future, they dropped the digital side of the business. StoryBook Creator software was first produced
by a company called Caspedia, but as the programmers came to producing version
4, they became Panstoria. Panstoria
released version 4, 8 or 9 months before Creative Memories introduced version 4
of StoryBook Creator. In my mind, this
was very bad business practice -- ethically -- though probably good in terms of
profitability. Nor was it very ethical
that their price for the full version was about half or less than CM's and only
slightly higher than an upgrade version from CM.
At that time, I downloaded the trial version of Panstoria's "Artisan"
scrapping software. I decided I really
did not like or need the "improvements." These are basically color coordination
features. I uninstalled it before the
trial time was up. I was and am more than
satisfied with version 3.
When Creative Memories finally released StoryBook Creator 4,
since I was a CM Consultant at the time, I did get a copy of the upgrade to
4. I eventually installed it figuring I
would just ignore the features I did not want to use. Then I could, at least, help customers if
they used version 4. However, while
using it one day, while it sat there thinking about what it was doing, I
accidentally hit the mouse button and the Windows message came up asking if I
wanted to end the process. Apparently, I
chose the wrong option there and the program eventually shut down. BUT it did not shut down. Every time I tried to open up SBC4, I got an
error message that said it was already running on my system.
Using "End Process" on the Task Manager did not end the
process nor did shutting down the computer and restarting. It stayed running, somehow, in Task Manager. In the end I had to, not uninstall it (it
would not uninstall since the computer thought it was running), but delete it.
I never got around to reinstalling it.
While Panstoria did handle key codes for CM
software and art packages for a while, it is too late to reinstall now (as far
as I know).
The only truly downside to this -- I had given my husband a
copy of his own of the software and a couple of page and art packages as a
birthday gift a few years before that.
He created wonderful pages and books of his own fabulous photography. Due to
the need to take his hard drive back to original condition, the software needed
to be reinstalled -- and that did not get accomplished in time. If he wants to go back to creating his own
pages again (he says he does not but I'm fairly certain he would love to, he
just does not want to admit it) -- we would have to get the Panstoria version. **sigh**
Creative Memories is now totally gone -- their reorganization did not work out in the end -- and there is no hope of them ever slowly going back into the digi-scrap side of scrapbooking. In the near future I will put up a post about some wonderful options still out there to take the place of Creative Memories and their strap-albums for the traditional scrapper. It is something I have an opinion about ...
Monday, August 25, 2014
Good Gracious! August is almost over and ...
Still having trouble with the printer -- rrrrggghh! -- so ...
Anyhow, NOW is a great time to get to work on your handmade Christmas cards if you have not already. And if you have not already become part of the monthly challenge over at DigiStamps4Joy, it is not too late! Just let Desire know that you want to join in the fun too!
I don't usually work with figures (unless they are fat-legged children) in my stamping and digi-stamping. However, this month's image was so much fun to work with, I may end up reconsidering and begin to add a few big-eyed gals to my collection. :-)
Skin-tone and hair can be a problem for me. But a few YouTube videos later, they don't daunt me quite as much as before. Sorry, I don't remember which videos they were or I would share the links (if I find them again,I will gladly share! :D). In one video, the artist was "painting" a portrait using Prismacolor pencils. She was laying in the blonde hair and made two very interesting comments as she worked. First, there was no yellow in the blonde hair! Second, she did not draw lines to put in strands of hair but used layers of color and uncolored space to create the hair. It was wonderful! [Hmmm ... I think I will go try to find that video and come back and edit the post to add in the link ... in the meantime, join in the 2014 Christmas Challenge!]
{Edited a bit later} FOUND IT! Here is the link to the YouTube video for drawing a face (or coloring in one) using colored pencils: http://youtu.be/1OL6sPi2-p0
Plus one more just for the sheer amazing-ness of it! Drawing Jack Sparrow using ballpoint pen: http://youtu.be/VC6kABusOJQ
(Sorry, tried to have the title of the videos as the text for the YouTube links but blogger here would not behave for me ...) Enjoy both videos,though :-D
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