Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Well done Colin


After school Colin produced a school certificate and proudly announced that the award was given out to about 25% of top academic students in his year. Well done Colin we are very proud of you, keep up the good work. He sees it as an incentive to achieve an even higher honor by the end of the year. School has centainly been good for him and is taking up each and every challenge.

Well another dog layout I'm afraid. Isn't it cute, we took Corey to our good friends Kim & Geordie a few weeks back, who have Tess and she is about 5 months older than our boy. Well, we can't even mention Tess's name infront of Corey as he just gets too excited and starts to cry and howl. Very cute I know.

LO credits: papers Pawprints - LorieM Design, paper cluster - DaniellaYoung Designs, frame - Tout_simplement by ImagineByFran, altered dog WordArt - Elegant WA by Bethany


Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Our boy, GIMPed


Finished this layout of Corey over the weekend, quite liked how this layout turned out. I must be in a dog layout frame of mind as I already have another one on the go.

The weekend was reasonably quiet too, though we saw it in with sharing my new batch of mulled wine with the JamieGees on Friday night. I have a new favourite recipe which is a favourite with everyone, so will be making sure I'll bring up the crockpot on our ski trip. Must have mulled wine for apres-ski of course!!!
The latest is that the Wins are joining us on the ski trip so it will be a full house, hopefully we won't be experiencing blizard conditions like poor Matt & Joanna who had to spend the night up on the mountain as they closed the road earlier on Saturday and having returned their rental gear where stranded with only the clothes on their back! As you can imagine they'd spend it very cold.

LO Credits: LoriM Designs PawPrints Addon, twoboyz00 papers, ScrapGirls frame

Friday, July 25, 2008

What a GIMP Geek!

I've been playing around trying my hand at writing a GIMP script, well not quite a brand new one from scratch. I decided I wanted a script that does both a blur border and copyright text in one script. So found a separate script for each so created/merged the two into one. That was still a bit of a mission as I'd never looked at a script before, let alone actually make it work. But I did it, 2 days later. And it still works with allowing user input for border colour and copyright text/colour/placement etc. I thought it was pretty cool that it worked in the end.

Oh, and what do you think of those gorgeous blooms, a surprise gift of hubby on my birthday of course!

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Happy Birthday to ME!

I'm officially one year of the big 40 - ahhhh! Have the day off work as I think everyone should and have a totally me day, so that I have time to blog, scrap and shop. The day so far has started of well, with the opening of numerous birthday cards from family including one from Brian, who included a Bid Wednesday Lotto ticket and some Kiwi scratchies, so keep your fingers crossed for me! Then had breakfast out and am at home for the moment to post these lovely photos of my orchid that was a gift from my Mum - isn't it stunning??? Tristram came by first thing this morning with a birday card that included a voucher, so will be of later to have a go at spending it ;) Thanks Char, Barry & Tristram - you guys spoil me...

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Our next skiing holiday is now booked


Yeah, we are going skiing again. Accommodation all booked out for long weekend next month. This year we have got a place in Ohakune it self, so we will be visiting Turoa Ski Field. The plan is that Brian's sister and family will join us too, but we have had to change their preferred date from early September to late August. Hopefully this will still work out for them, if not we will have spare accommodation as the place sleeps 9. Just as well we are getting this for a good rate. As you can imagine we are all so looking forward to this.



LO Credits: MBblogfreebie kit by Mandy Mystiques Design, Fonts: 2Peas Blocks - Winter and Rockwell Condensed and my own GIMP tutorial to create the curved text.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

A Beautiful meal to finish the week with a glass of Black Chook

We went to our good friends Lynn & Barry for dinner last night. Having had a very busy week at work again, not having to cook was soooooo good! Lynn must have been busy all day preparing and had made us all individual Beef Wellingtons. My Brian being a typical bloke, ate his first all by its self as he just loves a good steak and pastry is his next weakness! Then potatoe bake and he nearly got away with not eating any vegies! We brought over our last bottle of Black Chook and saved it too have with our meal, just simply DEVINE. Make mental note, must order some more....

some layouts again



credits lo1: All Work in Progress alphas by Vicky at http://vicki20.blogspot.com/,
Love in Paris kit by by Mhulshoff for SYTYCD at http://scraporchard.com/
credits lo2: papers by digitreats, scrapalinquent, imaginebyfran, twoboyz00, NSD template by Kami at ScrapOrchard, bracket from Duval Street kit by scrapalinquent

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Sunday morning bagels




















Yum yum, remember these Connor? It was so cold here over the weekend that even with the oven on the temperature in the house still felt like a fridge for most of the morning. Never mind, the wait for these gorgeous bagels was worth it.

I have managed to get some time of next week, being the 2nd week of the school hols here, so no work for me this Monday and Friday, YEAH, two long weekends in a row!

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

GIMP Digiscrapping Tutorial - "Creating curved Elements"

I don't claim to be an expert on writing a tutorial of any sort, but hopefully you will find this useful. Let me know how you found it as I'm curious, especially how you applied it to your LOs.

I am not a designer, so have created this tut with other people's handy work. Thanks to Gratefull4U kit, yellow Duval Street paper by Elizabeth Quintana and photo frame by by Viviane at http://viviane07.blogspot.com/


Step 1

Open the background paper of your choice in it’s own layer. Create a new transparent layer, use the create new layer button on the Layer dialogue for short cut.








Step 2

From the GIMP main menu, select white as the foreground colour. Select the Rectangle Tool next and click/drag your mouse to draw a narrow rectangle. Fill it with white Foreground colour.







Step 3

From the Filter menu, select Distorts then Curve Bend










Step 4

Click points along the straight line and drag points to represent the desired curve. Select the copy button, this will ensure that the curve is copied to the lower edge of the rectangle, then select OK.








Step 5

Change to the Fuzzy Select Tool and select the white of the curved layer. From the GIMP menu select the 2nd red circled mode, and with your mouse select the space under the white curve and fill with white Foreground colour.






Step 6

Duplicate the solid white curve layer in the Layer dialogue. Add new paper to the layer stack above the duplicate curve layer. Cut new paper from the shape of the duplicate curve layer and Merge Down layer.




Step 7

To create the thin white border between the curve and background paper, select the white solid curve layer. From Layer Menu select Autocrop layer. From GIMP menu select the Alignment Tool, set Offset to -20, and select bottom right Distribute button.








This tutorial can be applied to curving text and other elements such as straight stitching too.




You want a GIMP Digiscrap tutorial?



I read a PS article on how to bend/curve and element and wondered if I could do the same in GIMP. The answer is "Yes we can!" So then tried to do a step-by-step tutorial so that my little Gimp friend Sam out there can follow. I am nearly there, just thought to post this to see if I would get any interest out there. Leave a comment if you think a tutorial describing this is useful to you or you want a specific GIMP question answered.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

The little digger that could!


I nearly forgot I had done this LO last month. Brian was very keen to get working on shaping the free fill that got delivered over a week's time. I can't remember how many loads we got, but 10 small trucks for sure! So Brian decided to do the job himself by hiring a digger from our local Hire Pool. On the first day of driving the digger, Brian found it took the whole morning to get the hang of it again. So of he went driving and digging and I carried on with other jobs as Brian looked comfortable handling the digger. Unfortunately the digger had the last word, trying to even out the fill, the digger launched forward as Brian was driving over the uneven surface, and he fell forward out of his seat. Then the digger right itself, but Brian was still falling forward. His head got cut in the process, colliding with the digger arm. As you can guess, nasty gash and lots of blood. Just as well I was handy near the house, we stopped the bleeding with rags and medical kit supplies as Brian didn't want to end up at A & E for the afternoon while having forked out for digger hire. Men!
After a clean up and patch up by me, he went back on the digger to get on with the job he started. Only damage done his split forehead, and I a stress headache watching him for the rest of the afternoon...

Monday, July 7, 2008

Bye bye PowerShot A85, hello Canon D40 DSLR

OMG I have a new toy, it's my early birthday present and I totally love it! Brian and I went shopping 2 weeks ago to look and see what was around and came home with this awesome baby. As you can guess I have been playing lots and my early manual SLR days are coming back, but I still need a lot of practice. Just as well I have a 1 and 4 Gig memory card!
My work has been totally stressful so not as much scrapping done as I would have liked, but having the new camera sure makes me want to scrap again.
Life has been hectic, Brian has been busy cementing retaining wall posts and installing the kitchen splashback. Unfortunately after only 4 hours on the wall, one small piece decided to crack by itself while Brian was admiring his handy work, bugger! We ensured that the same piece this time was toughened, so the 2 cut outs weren't going to give us the same trouble.
Now for some new camera photo shots...














Sunday, May 25, 2008

Have I got my cousin hooked on GIMP yet?




















I wonder if I have Conny hooked yet. Got an email from her during the week wanting some help, so I pointed her to this site http://www.scrapbooksgonedigital.com/TUTORIALS/. This hopefully will have everything to get her started. Remember Conny, start with the basics and make small baby steps. I remember using this site in the past when I first started out with my GIMP, and it sure helps having those step by step instructions & videos.
It has been cold weather this weekend, so a good excuse to get more pages finished. These being from Colin's 9th birthday in 2005. I don't participate in Halloween as not a New Zealand tradition, but since Colin celebrates his birthday in October it sure was a good excuse to have a theme party and Colin's mates still remember the fun times had.

Credits LO1: Crazy Garden Alpha by babs, Template by Simply Yin, paper from Macabre kit by Jan Crowley at www.oscraps.com

Credits LO2: Scrap Orchard So You Think You Can Design week 3 template by Janel Scraps,
paper from Macabre kit by Jan Crowley at www.oscraps.com

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Bad blogger...





















Can't believe it's the 20th of the month and this is only my 2nd entry for the month. Turns out I have slowed down in both blogging and digiscrapping, just slowed down not stopped thank goodness.
I happen to look at my squash grading list and I was briefly a D1, my highest grade. Unfortunately had a few losses so am back down in D2, hopefully this will give me the kick up the bum to try harder and get back to D1. Am standing down tomorrow, so will have to wait till next week to get my chance to another win hopefully!
Laura left for Melbourne last weekend and I visited Mum on Sunday and gave her a piano lesson.. She was very excited with me bringing my old piano music around and she pick a new piece to learn for herself. Looks like her piano practice is helping keeping her fingers supple and the Arthritis at bay.

credits LO1:
Brown background paper from Grateful4U kit at DST, Papers, flowers, buttons, tag from Tout Simplement kit by Fran at imaginebyfran.blogspot.com, Frame by Katie Pertiet at DesignerDigitals.com, WordStrips by Nicole Seitler at SugarplumPaperie.com

credits LO2:
Template - by moriginals.blogspot.com, Journal paper & flowers by imaginebyfran.blogspot.com, Papers & WordArt from Circle Combination kit by CentaniDesigns, Jessica Sprague July title/doodle

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Hallo Nederland, ik ben Colin

How nice it was talking to my Aunt and Uncle on the phone at my Mum's place yesterday. They too were catching up with her after her eye operation on Friday. All is well, just a slight blood shot eye, but other than that she is seeing better than ever. Have emailed 2 of my cousins now with my contact and blog details so hopefully you guys will visit this blog lots in future to keep up with our happenings.
About time an up to date layout of Colin is posted as I have been very busy focusing on older photos going as far back to when he was still a baby. Yes he is growing up fast, getting more and more independent, even challenging Brian and I from time to time in a cheeky sort of a way. All good though. School is going great for him, he started a private boys school at the start of the year and is thriving. As with all secondary schools here in Wellington, we forked out a bit of money for a new uniform, hopefully we bought it a bit roomy and he isn't going to grow out of it too soon. His first parent teacher interviews went great. Both Gordon and I attended and all teachers were full of praise of him. He is doing very well in French, helps if his Mum can test him on his French vocabulary. I think I will struggle when he picks up Japanese in the middle of the year as I can't pronounce or read Japanese, hehe ;)

Credits: papers from Grateful4U kit from DST, based on a template from pagemaps.com

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

On a Roll




















Been having a ball with Fryske's Friendly Creepy Crawlies kit as you can see. These bugs so 'cute up' these photos of young Colin age 1 in the back garden of his 1st family home. I have no idea how I got him to pose then or what he was pointing at, just such a cutie!
Took Colin to an orthodontist in town yesterday to have a consultation done to see if he is a candidate yet for braces. The answer yes he is, but not until the remaining 7 milk teeth have dropped out and changed for adult teeth. Looks like a bit more of a wait, as long as 12-18 months. Guess that means that Nanny has a bit more time to save for them.

Credits:
Green Background paper created by twoboyz00, Scallop Borders template Freebie by Line Prado Creations at at lineprado.blogspot.com, Papers, bugs, grass & sun from Fryske's Friendly Creepy Crawlies kit all by Fryske's Digiscrap Design available at http://digiscrapwarehouse.com/xcart/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=6 and http://fryske.scrapdigistyle.com/shoppe/

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Something Old, something New




















Photos used that is! The first LO is for Fryske's April Template challenge where you have to use flowers from at least 3 different kits. I found this a bit of a challenge as I now feel that the layout has turned out a bit more pink than was my intention. Never mind... The 2nd is my favourite at the moment, finally a page with me in it for a change. Photo taken at Mum's 65th birthday dinner at one of Wellington's top restaurants Logan Brown. Invitation said to dress formal, so was a good opportunity to wear my wedding dress, now shortened, for dinner. Photos turned out beautiful, thanks Colin. I tried to copy Mum's flowers on her dress, digi scrapping style, using a number of papers from the DSB Avril kit at http://digiscrapbook.blogspot.com/

Credits LO1: Created using Fryske's April Template available at
http://fryskesdigiscraps.blogspot.com
Green dotted background paper from 2peas "It's in the air"
Circle papers created using Grateful4U kit at DST, Oct 06 Newsletter Freebie: Spring/Autumn Circles Created by ©2006 Tina Chambers at http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/, Spring Tulip by Olivia Dorazio, Flowers, Love Actually Kit by Flergs, paper from Avril kit at
at http://digiscrapbook.blogspot.com/, Love Actually flower by Franziska Altmann, Kim's Flowers, Created by Kim Liddiard, Jennifer Layden flower of Jennilyn Designs, Amy Teet's Sunporch flower, Avril DSB flowers at http://digiscrapbook.blogspot.com/

Credits LO2: Background paper & Rose leaves : Gratefull4U kit at DST, FrameBrush : Lori Barnhurst at LittleDreamerDesigns.com, Roses created by me using papers from DSB Avril kit at http://digiscrapbook.blogspot.com/ and stitches from Natali available at scrapwithnatali.blogspot.com/, Birthday Word Tags : by FabellaDesigns at http://fabella71.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Old photos finally GIMPed (scrapped)


Well it's school holiday time and Colin is enjoying his first week of so far, having just stayed with Morgan both Monday and Tuesday. I suspect tomorrow will be boring for him as he's staying home with Brian or me at work if Brian needs to go out for part of the day, we'll see.
Thought it would be nice to scrap these old photos of both Colin and Morgan (while we are on the school theme) and send the result on to Diane. I don't think our boys have changed much other than sprouting a bit more height, hehe.
Will have to show Colin this one tomorrow as he hasn't seen it as yet either. Must remember to print this one of and stick it in Mum's album along side Colin's First day of school page as the background papers are the same and match a theme ;)

Credits:
Round tag - DSB-Avril-kit, 2peas It's-in-the-Air-Alpha, Fryske Friendly-Creepy-Crawlies-Alpha, Friendly Creepy Crawlies kit available at
http://digiscrapwarehouse.com/xcart/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=6,
Background paper - LittleDreamerDesign-ScrapAMoment kit, Katie Pertiet_DirtyFrame, Grateful4U star tags, 2peas Squish font


Friday, April 18, 2008

Like mother, like son?


I have had fun looking through old family photo albums I borrowed from my Mum's and came across this photo of me age 11, the same age my Colin is now. I have been itching to scrap it so had some time tonight when Brian is at Northern Squash club. I'm pleased the way it turned out now, just couldn't quite get the same pose out of Colin, but heh , you know what kids are like when they get a camera pushed in their faces.... Anyway, you think we look a like???

credits: Template 18 by Fanette @ http://ledigiscrapdefanette.blogspot.com, "It's in the Air" kit by Kate Teague @ twopeasinabucket.com, Carton Alpha by Nani @ http://cheznaninette.blogspot.com and Marydale font

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Colin Christmas album pages




















Have also included these two Christmas pages for Mum's album.
Colin posing with Corey under our real Christmas tree and Colin on Christmas morning trying out his Astroflyers. A sort of cross between strap-on springy stilts. Didn't take him long to get the hang of these at all...
Try out this template by Fryske, I think this is my favourite so far that I have tried of hers. Certainly very versatile.

Credits: QP-wildflowerholiday-kenna2 from http://weedsandwildflowersdesign.typepad.com/the_meadow/

Template, Fryske's TC3 available at http://fryskesdigiscraps.blogspot.com

After Midnight kit by Miss Mint at peppermintcreative.com
Recoloured Journal label from ThatsAmore kit by Cinzia Loosemore at DigiChick
2007 Date lable by Misty Cato Designs
Handstamped Alpha by Michelle Coleman at LittleDreamerDesigns.com

Monday, April 14, 2008

For you Nanny, with love Colin




















These two pages happened to sit side by side in Mum's album and use the same background paper.

Credits: background paper & leaf flourish Love Actually kit by Franziska Altmann - Tabrizia,
Carton Alpha by Nanine http://cheznaninette.blogspot.com/,
Grateful4U kit available at DST

More album pages




These are the last of the older baby pages I have included in Mum's album. The photos are before I had a digital camera so they are scanned from original photos I still have. I'm quite pleased how these pages have turned out, even printed of in 8x8 inch size the quality was amazing.

Credits: Quick Page by LLIELLA Designs,
Mrs Wresh template and Commotion on the ocean add on kit by Danielle Engebretson,
“Reverie kit by Gina Huff at www.weedsandwildflowersdesign.com,
VRA_SS_Paper_EyeletEdges_Special template from www.scrapgirls.com, SistersJoy paper from Kimb's designs, nwhiteley_photoborder photoborder”,

Happy Birthday Mum




















It's been a while since I last blogged to post my layouts, only because I have been busy off line creating pages for Mum's big birthday last week for an album I wanted to give her. We all went out to Logan Brown for a wonderful meal and all put our glad rags on, and I got to wear my wedding dress again since our big day. There were plenty of cameras about so plenty of photo opportunities I hope to scrap soon. Anyway here are the first 2 pages of Mum's album.


Credits: Background paper,flowers from Grateful4U kit available at DST, Paper tearing from ScrapBits 'n Pieces by Fryske's Digiscrap Design available at http://fryske.scrapdigistyle.com/shoppe/, Flower stitching stems from Love Actually by Flergs, Straight stitching from Natali available at scrapwithnatali.blogspot.com/