Heavenly Crafts

Bellascraps: Bellasima

2009-11-09T05:57:00.006Z

I am really excited as I have recently taken part in a charity collaboration kit and it has now been released! It's in aid of Chris Turnbull and full details can be found here.

Please do go along to Bellascraps and have a look at the kit. There are, 15 designers, 43 papers,. 75 elements and 1 alpha all for an amazing price of $4.99! there are actually no detailed previews, but my part of the kit is as follows:

Please excuse my spelling on the preview - I had the wrong name for the kit and didn't realise until after it was released!

Finally, I haven't yet had chance to write that tutorial on masks, but it is on my to do list (along with six million other things!) and I will get around to it, I promise :).

Happy scrapping.

Update and freebie masks

2009-10-28T19:55:00.006Z

Well, yet again time seems to have flown by and I don't know where it has gone too! I reckon if I were more organised, life wouldn't pass me by in such a blur because I honestly do not know where each day goes!

I have been busy with work, mainly because it is almost the end of the month and I was desperate to get work done so I could bill clients and get the money in to pay bills! I have found that a lack of money is a great incentive in making me get some work done! That is the problem with being self employed though - you are responsible for getting the clients in the first place, doing the work, sending the bills out, chasing up payment.... if you take a day off, you have to make up the time by working extra hours, and as for having a week off, well that is why I always take my laptop with me! Not that, unfortunately, I end up getting much work done!

I am currently waiting for clients to pay some not insubstantial bills and unfortunately, I cannot force them to pay me by the end of the week, much as I would like to. Some take as much time as possible to pay, coming up with numerous excuses.....mind you, I suppose that is somewhat like me coming up with excuses as to why I haven't done their accounts or tax return... ;(.

My daughter and I went to see Ludovico Einaudi play at Symphony Hall in Birmingham last night. This is part of his "Nightbook" tour and he was amazing. I love his music, it is so relaxing and soothing, but last night it was unbelievable! Never having been to something like that before, neither of us knew what to expect, but it was wonderful! I would definitely recommend that you go see him play if you can, or failing that, listen to his music:

And you would not believe how long it took me to work out how to embed that video!

I've not had much time to do any photoshopping, unfortunately, but I did manage to have a go at making my own masks:

There seems to be a trend at the moment for using masks but when I looked around and saw what was on offer, I thought "I could do that" so I went and did it! I'm thinking of doing a tutorial on making masks, so if any of you would be interested in this, let me know. Otherwise, feel free to download the mask set HERE.

Happy scrapping!

Settling in and freebie

2009-10-13T05:11:00.000+01:00

Well, Sam seems to be settling in at St Andrews now and we don't seem to be using the family alert system any more i.e. when one of us is concerned, we contact one of Sam's siblings and get them to text/messenger/phone him so's not to appear too worried! Maybe Sam has seen through this ruse though, as I am on messenger to him, he says something to me and I get big brother to ring him!

As for the rest of the family, we are getting used to the peace! Now that there is no one playing Call of Duty, Storm Force, and the like, the house is so much quieter! What's more, Sam can't bring his computer home at Christmas so no shoot 'em up games then, either!

I've not had time to do much designing - things are starting to get busy work wise and I have had a lot to do the past few weeks. This weekend is likely to be busy too as I am off to help out at The Presence, the national day of prayer at the NEC. If you should be going, come along to the Release International stand and say hello! I can then tell you all about persecuted Christians ion Eritrea - I think it is amazing how people never get to here of the persecution going on in other countries. It is almost as if there is a conspiracy in the press not to report it, but there are some real horror stories out there and I am in awe of the faith of persecuted Christians, how they carry on witnessing despite incredible hardship and danger.

Anyway, turning back to designing, I have managed to put together all the spare stuff I made for my Arbour Winds kit that I ended up not using. It has actually made a mini kit and here are the previews:

And yes, I've just noticed that there are no titles on the close up preview and since I have closed down Photoshop and now have to go and do breakfasts for the guys followed by the school run, I stand no chance of updating this.... Oh well.

To download the mini kit, click HERE.

Happy Scrapping!

SAS Designer challenge

2009-09-23T06:11:00.000+01:00

Well, I must obviously be getting used to the weekly deadline, as I have now started the SAS Designer Challenge for those eliminated from the contest. I must be a glutton for punishment, especially since I drove 800 miles in 60 hours to take our middle son up University in Scotland over the weekend....

I thought when he went to University, it would be easier (on the heart) than when our eldest went. but if anything, it seems worse! Of course, time dims the memory and you tend to gloss over the bad things, so perhaps I'm forgetting the worry and concern we have when our eldest went to Uni, although I do recall several weekends where either we went up to see him, or he came down her.... But he was less than 2 hours away, whereas Sam is 8 hours away.... So maybe it's the distance, because we probably won't see him again until Christmas; maybe it is because I went to the same University and went through exactly what he is going through right now; maybe it's just because I love him and miss him and know he is having a hard time settling in. I reckon he will be a lot better when lectures start next week, as he will meet the others on his courses.

Until then, it is a case of getting to know people in his hall and trying to find a friendly face to talk to. Of course, having a roommate who is totally inconsiderate, always has people round and has already had people sleeping on the floor overnight (totally against regulations) when they spent a considerable time talking about Sam when they thought he was asleep is not helping either....

But St Andrews is a beautiful place and a wonderful University as you can see from the photos below.

This is one of his room, or at least his half of the room:

This is the view form the top of St Rule's tower. The grey semi circular building in the centre is the Hall of Residence where my son is staying.

The cathedral ruins:

The view from near the West Sands overlooking the town:

The castle:

Looking back up at the castle from the beach!

The Quad:

Sorry the photos are a bit dark. It was cloudy and overcast for most of the time and whilst I have tried to lighten the pictures, they actually look better on my screen than they do here on this blog!

So, whilst Sam is settling in, I've been busy designing my kit for the Designer Club challenge. We were given the colour swatch to start off with, the theme was boys and I had an awful time trying to decide what to do! The challenge was to create everything from scratch (no CU!) and since I take loads of photos (much to the dismay of my children as I keep making them wait while I take photos when we are out !) that wasn't a problem. My problem was what to actually put in the kit to make it useable... Anyhow, this is what I ended up with:

And here's the close up:

Let me know what you think. You can either download it following the links at the SAS gallery HERE or direct from 4shared HERE.

Happy scrapping!

2009-09-17T13:28:00.000+01:00

Butterfly overlay

OK, well voting ends today in the SAS Designer contest round 2 and I reckon I haven't got through :(. Oh well, the first three rounds were all about getting people to vote for you anyway, rather than how good a designer you are. I know I'm not one of the best designers in the world, but I know I can come up with good stuff and I am by no means the worst. Looks like the way to get my own designs selling is to open up my own website and since this is being done even as I write this, I will just have to twist my son's arm even further up his back to hurry him along!

If you do feel like voting for me (and all votes are gratefully appreciated :), just follow the links in the post below to take you to the SAS forum where you will need to register first (if you aren't already registered), then wait for the email from the administrator to activate your account, then wait for the moderator to approve your account and then, finally, after all that, you can vote! What a palaver, eh?!!!

In the meantime, here is the overlay I used to make the butterfly paper in my Best Friends kit (my entry for round 2):

This is how it looked when I used it to make a paper:

You can download the overlay HERE and the download links for the papers in my kit can be found HERE.

Happy scrapping!

SAS-y Designer Contest - Voting no

2009-09-15T22:34:00.000+01:00

Just to let you all know that voting has now begun in Round 2 of the SAS Designer contest. Obviously, I would much prefer you to vote for me ;), but the polls are here:

Register Here: http://www.stoneaccentsstudioforum.com/forum/
View and Download Here: http://www.stoneaccentsstudioforum.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=978
Go Here to Vote: http://www.stoneaccentsstudioforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5902

There are some gorgeous kits there and they are all downloadable. Just go along and have a look and then take a couple of minutes to vote for your three favourite kits (even if mine isn't one of them ;)).

SAS-y Lady Designer Contest Round 2

2009-09-15T18:29:00.000+01:00

Well, I meant to get back here well before now to let you all know that I managed to scrape it through to round 2 of the SAS-y Lady Designer contest! Woohoo!!!! This is the first time ever I have got through to Round 2 of a designer contest so thank you to all those who voted for me :).

Life has been busy since the results were announced as one of my boys is off to University on Friday and so there has been all the preparation involved in that, making sure he has everything he needs. He's off to Scotland, so will be about 350 miles away and we won't see him after Sunday until Christmas, sob! I am hoping and praying he gets on all right as the first few weeks are always hard when you try to settle in, meet new friends and start lectures. He's doing a joint degree, maths and computer science, so of course I am expecting him to be able to solve all of my computer problems in no time at all. But he keeps telling me it's not that sort of a course....well, I am sure he will pick up all sorts of useful computer problem solving information on the way so will be able to fix my 'puter no matter what! He just has to prepare himself now for all those long distance phone calls when I can't get the internet to work or my computer crashes!

Anyhow, back to the SAS designer contest and round 2 is due in at 3 pm EST. I have just finished uploading my kit and here are the previews:

You can download it here so please go along and take a look. There are also lots of other wonderful kits in the gallery, all of them available to download.

Voting starts soon so I will be back to let you have the links for this shortly. If you like my kit, please consider voting for me as it really would be quite something if I got through to the next round. I don't think I will, but hey, a girl can always hope!

Happy scrapping!

SAS Designer contest 2009

2009-09-08T11:35:00.000+01:00

Just a reminder to check out this Week's kits in the SAS Designer Competition.

Register Here: http://www.stoneaccentsstudioforum.com/forum/
View and Download Here: http://www.stoneaccentsstudioforum.c...ry.php?cat=964
Go Here to Vote: http://www.stoneaccentsstudioforum.c...ead.php?t=5782

There are some wonderful designs there and all the kits are free downloads. Voting finishes tomorrow (Wednesday 9 September) at midnight EST, so go over and vote for your favourite designer (even if it isn't me, ;)).

Cluster frame freebie

2009-09-08T06:51:00.000+01:00

Well, it's finally come around, the day my youngest son goes back to school! Woohoo! Does it make me an unnatural mother to be glad?!!! I'm torn really, since whilst it is good for him to be at school, the hassle of the school run can be a real pain as I have to travel six miles in one direction, then reverse the journey, go past our home and travel six miles the opposite way to take our daughter to work. It's like an expedition every morning trying to get everyone out of the house on time and today, being the first day back after the holidays, the traffic will be so much worse. Oh well at least it should be quiet in the house today!

Anyhow, before I start preparing breakfasts, making packed lunches and getting everyone (including myself) organised, here is the cluster frame I made when doing the QP's at the weekend:

Feel free to download it HERE and let me know what you think :).

Happy scrapping!

Quick Pages freebie

2009-09-07T06:59:00.001+01:00

I'm off to make breakfast for my children in a few minutes before going to see a prospective client and just have time to post this before I get everything ready.

I managed to get some scrapping time in yesterday and made these two pages with my kit from the SAS-y Designer Contest:

I've made them into quick pages and, as promised earlier, you can download them HERE.

Happy scrapping!

SAS-y designer contest - voting open

2009-09-07T05:49:00.001+01:00

Just a quick post to let you know that voting in the SAS-y Lady Designer Contest has now opened. You can look at the entries HERE and vote HERE.

I'll be back shortly with two quick pages created with my kit for the contest ;).

SAS-y Lady Contest

2009-09-06T08:25:00.000+01:00

Well, I actually managed to finish my entry to the SAS-y designer competition last night (well, strictly, it was early this morning as it was just gone midnight when I uploaded it!). That must be a first for me, to finish something well before the deadline (3pm EST today)! I normally lurch from one deadline to another and spend my life fighting fires, metaphorically speaking.

Anyhow, do you want to take a look at what I came up with? Well, here it is, Arbour Winds:

The colour swatch we were given is not necessarily one I would have chosen myself, but I ended up really enjoying working with it as it was a challenge to come up with something that didn't look like many other kits you see these days. I used some CU stuff, but the flowers you see in the close up here are mine, all mine (insert evil chuckle here, lol!) as I took the photos and extracted them, so can't blame anyone else for any loose pixels and whatnot in those!

I ended up making far too much to go into the kit, so there will definitely be freebies coming soon! I just need to find the time to sort them out and upload them! A surprising amount of time is always taken up when designing anything in just making a preview, uploading and posting so it's not just a quick two minute job.

So why don't you all nip on over to the Stone Accents Studio and take a look at what all the contestants have come up with? The gallery can be found by CLICKING HERE. All the kits are being offered as freebies and the download links are in the gallery. There's an amazing range of kits and styles considering we all started off with the same five colours so I am sure you will find plenty there to help build your stash!

Voting doesn't begin until later today, so I will let you have that link as soon as I get it - obviously I am hoping you will vote for me ;). Roughly half of us (probably this includes me, lol!) will be eliminated in this first round. You have to be registered in the SAS forum to vote, so please don't let that put you off and just get out there and vote (even if it's not for me ;))!

OK, I'm off to finish printing our church notices now as I only have an hour now before church. And yes, it probably is leaving it a bit late but I always end up printing them off at this time on a Sunday. I just don't know where the time goes!

Happy scrapping!

September desktop

2009-09-02T06:10:00.000+01:00

Yesterday was busy - the first "real" day back at work after a holiday is always hectic and yesterday was no exception. I seemed to have millions of phone calls when normally the phone hardly rings at all. I even had one very nice gentleman from Google ring me up asking me if I wanted to take out a month's trial on google search engine (only £3.30 a day plus VAT!!!) and when after several minutes of me saying I didn't want to take out any more advertising at this time, he slammed the phone down. I don't know who he was, but slamming the phone down on me is definitely not the way to get my business, especially as I was perfectly polite to him. He must have either been having a lot of refusals that day or was totally stressed out after the Bank Holiday weekend!

Anyhow, despite being busy, trying to get my own accounts finished for once (!!!!), I managed to make a September desktop using my part of the ADSDesigners School Daze blog train:

I am afraid it is only in one size (1280 x 1080) but hey, one size can be made to fit all, eh? Just like those trousers in the Colour Purple?!!! If you really need it in a different size, just let me know and I will see what I can do ;). Oh, and in case you are wondering, the birds will be offered as a freebie hopefully sometime later this week (depending on work commitments as I do have a large set of accounts to get done for Friday so time is at a premium at the moment) - I just didn't have room for them in the original zipped file of the kit.

To download the desktop, CLICK HERE.

Happy scrapping!

ADSDesigners September blog train

2009-09-01T13:26:00.000+01:00

Well, it is that time of the month again - release day for the ADSDesigners September Collaboration, School Daze. I have been busy zipping files an uploading to 4shared this morning but am going to make you wait a bit to catch you up on what has been happening since my last post.

Well, where to start? Firstly, we (i.e. me and the guys - two of our boys and our daughter) have been in the Lake District for a much needed holiday. Of course, I took my laptop and some work with me but, as usual, didn't get anything done, or at least, hardly anything, so I guess it definitely was a holiday for me then! Much to the perpetual disgust of the children, I took millions of photos and I will probably bore you silly with the photos as well as I intend posting some here once I actually get them off my laptop and camera onto my desktop.

I actually managed to get some decent photoshopping time in whilst we were away, which is something almost unheard of! Mind you, it didn't please DD as she wanted to go on the internet (which I paid a small fortune for to get access for the week so we were all determined to get a much use out of it as possible) and could only do that once I'd finishing photoshopping for the night which was usually well past 11pm if not later!

The Lake District, as usual, was stunning. I just love it there and we spent a lot of time around Lake Windermere and Coniston Water, with the guys getting soaked as they had fun in the water. You wouldn't have thought the eldest two were 20 and 18 as they behaved more like their 12 year old brother than anything else! In fact the elder boy even braved the water completely to go swimming! Admittedly, he was frozen afterwards but he was determined not to leave the Lake District without having swum at least once.

The weather was mixed - after all, this is summer in the UK, and we were on holiday in the Lake District. Most of the rain was either overnight or early in the morning and oh boy, was it heavy! It was literally bouncing off the roads and you couldn't even stick your head out of doors for one second without getting soaked. But we managed to get in lots of walking, plus plenty of time strolling around just doing nothing in particular, as well as lots of paddling time for the guys, reading and photoshopping for me plus a memorable visit to the White Scar Caves :). Photos to follow once they have been transferred to my desktop and hopefully you won't find them too boring.

We finished off the week with a trip to Blackpool, thinking the illuminations were on. But no, despite having the internet and reminding each other to check, not one of us bothered to actually find out when the lights were switched on. As a result, when we got there on Sunday they were still putting some of them up! So no lights for us, apart from the lights I saw when I tripped up on the pavement and went flying, ending up with very badly bruised hands and wrists, one of them so bad that even now (Tuesday) I can't put any pressure on it. Of course, hubbie was all sympathy when we arrived home (not!). For some strange inexplicable reason, he seems to be convinced I am accident prone and always tripping or accidentally cutting myself when baking and so on....the children also seem to be of the same opinion!!!!!

So, back to the photoshopping and the reason for all this time spent designing. Well, apart from the ADSDesigners blog train, I have also entered the Stone Accents Studio (SAS) Designer Contest, mainly for the experience and to learn some more tips. I honestly don't expect to get past the first round but everyone seems so friendly, and I have already learnt one or two useful things. Round 1 of the contest has just been posted, and since the deadline is Sunday, I really need to get a move on!

But here (at last, I here you say) are the details for the blog train. I split my previews this time with one for the papers and another for the elements:

and you can download them here.

Included in the kit are:

6 papers;
School bus;
3 ribbons;
2 styles of buttons in 2 colours (4 buttons in total);
1 stitched line
1 messy stitched circle;
4 crayons (red, blue, green, orange);
2 red patterned photo frames, on with a ribbon;
1 blue patterned photo frame;
1 pin;
Bookworm;
Homework folder; and
An apple for the teacher

I have a desktop almost ready for you too as well as a few other bits and pieces that wouldn't fit in the zipped file, so keep coming back over the next few days and I will try and get everything posted.

The other designers taking part in the blog train are as follows:

http://nutnbutdezigns.blogspot.com/

http://deliscraps.blogspot.com/

http://foxyladycreation.blogspot.com/

http://digital-keepsakes.blogspot.com/

http://beckysscrap.blogspot.com/

http://fairydustprincess-magicmaker.blogspot.com/

http://heavenlycrafts.blogspot.com/

http://janalynsplace.blogspot.com/

http://magsgraphics.blogspot.com/

http://studio-mamaecha.blogspot.com/

http://mytreasuredscraps.blogspot.com/

http://ppbits.blogspot.com/

http://tatersplace-mjstitch.blogspot.com/

http://bonniecarter.blogspot.com/

Please do go and visit each one of them as there are some fantastic designs out there and they will available for all of September.

Happy scrapping!

Note: edited to correct error in one of the previews so revised download link added also

Senior moment!

2009-08-18T13:43:00.001+01:00

Well, I was sat here wondering how many people might have downloaded the second set of watercolours, when I realised that you can't download something if it hasn't been uploaded in the first place! Talk about forgetful! I actually got these ready to upload a couple of days ago but completely forgot to let you know.

There are ten papers in all, and they are darker than the first set but hopefully you will like them. Click here to go to 4shared to download them.

Happy scrapping!

Peak District

2009-08-11T07:36:00.001+01:00

Well, it promised to be a dry day on Saturday, not necessarily sunny because this is, after all, Britain in the summer, so we decided to go to the Peak District. this is a part of the country we have spent very little time in, shocking when you consider it is only an hour, hour and a half away (two hours if you get stuck in a traffic jam going through Ashbourne!).

DD found a walk in the internet from Milldale down to Dovedale and back. The first part of the walk is along the river, then you cross a bridge and go through Dovedale Wood and come out at Bunster Hill, then walk round to the Stepping Stones and then back along the river to where you started. Of course, if the map and guide is left in my very capable hands, you will end up not crossing the bridge, and effectively do the walk in reverse. Not necessarily a bad thing, apart from the fact that the walk along the river is a gentle meandering walk, whereas the walk through the woods and round Bunster hill is very steep, a real killer when you have to walk up the hill and then down through a steep, narrow,muddy path through the woods when you are already exhausted after walking some 3 miles! We are definitely going to go again, as it was so beautiful as you can see from some of the 101 photos I took!

This is the start of the walk at Milldale standing on the stone bridge across the river:

The path then takes you along the riverbank and winds and curls its way along:

Whilst it was flat along the riverbank, there were some terrific views and heights along the way:

This is Ilam bridge where we were supposed to cross to go up into the woods. DD is actually going back the wrong way here, presumably following directions from me :(!

As you can see, the path follows the river very closely:

And if you look closely, you can just about make out one brave soul rock climbing! He was actually being photographed by two women who had all the right gear - digital SLR cameras, tripods, lenses and so on, kind of put my little point and shoot camera to shame!

We spent ages trying to find somewhere quiet and secluded to eat our lunch, but it was actually really busy. there were loads of people around, mainly families with children, but also some serious looking walkers. This looked like being a good spot to eat, but everywhere this close to the river was damp and muddy! Not really surprising in view of all the rainfall last week.

We ended up not crossing over the Stepping Stones, mainly just because it was so busy. There were queues of people both sides waiting to Cross with at least one person on each stepping stone. We walked further round and crossed over at a foot bridge and then started to walk up Bunster Hill - a definite killer as it was just so steep! But the views were worth it!

All in all, we probably walked about seven miles, and I have the blisters to prove it! then on the way home, look at what we saw:

The perfect end to a wonderful day!

And then on Sunday, I managed to get some Photoshop time in (woohoo!!!). I finally managed to track down a paintbrush/watercolour effect tutorial and this is the result:

You can download them here, so let me know what you think. I have another set of 10 almost ready to go so I'll upload those later this week for you ;).

Happy scrapping!

The Wrekin in summer

2009-08-05T07:27:00.001+01:00

Well, two weeks ago we (myself and three of the guys) went up the Wrekin. I'd promised our youngest a run out so even though it was raining, we decided to brave the elements and go up the Wrekin. The weather was just a slight drizzle for most of the time, so we didn't even need our coats on until it got too wet without them!

After the usual exertion of the steep path up to the house/cafe where we always get an ice cream, the path eased out (well, if you can call it easing out - at least it wasn't as steep as the first part where I always feel as if I am about to have a heart attack and have trouble getting my breath!). The view was, as always, stunning, even with the looming grey clouds:

So last Sunday, when our youngest wanted to go again, the weather was completely different: no rain and, in fact, there was actually some sunshine! The first part of the walk was the usual killer. DS kept telling me to be quiet on the way up when people passed - this was so they wouldn't hear my heavy breathing as I panted my way up the hill! I don't know what he was complaining about, at least I was walking (crawling?) up and many people wouldn't even attempt it!

As you can see the weather was much better. In actual fact, it was really warm and sunny and you can see the difference in the following photos:

DS wants to go to the Stiperstones next, but that will be an all day event, as we usually walk several miles when we go there and end up absolutely exhausted. I'm always amazed just how long a four mile walk can take as I am sure the trail map we follow is deliberately misleading. There is no way I could be that tired after a four mile walk, and I am convinced the walk is really eight miles at least but is only described as four in the brochure to get more people walking!

Anyhow, I have been playing around in Photoshop and actually managed to make a desktop before the middle of the month (just!):

I've only made it in one size (1280x1024) so if you would like it, grab it here.

Have fun!

You would not believe....

2009-07-26T15:26:00.000+01:00

....the size of the naan bread at the Indian restaurant last night! It was hubbie's 50th birthday last weekend, so last night, our eldest son and his girlfriend took us out for a curry to celebrate. We went to this amazing restaurant in Birmingham, possibly the curry capital of the UK. The curry was scrumptious, and the naan bread to die for! We actually only went for the medium naan breads, which were probably 18 inches in diameter (we shared a couple between us), but the large ones...well, they had to be carried on two plates/baskets and they must have been 3 feet across! I mean, just what size of cooker do they have to be able to make those?!!! The large naan bread was as big as the table!

I must say, though, that they must have been the best naan bread ever, so if you fancy a try, nip over to the Punjab Paradise on Ladywood Road. I would definitely recommend it.

I've been trying to catch up on various things this week without much luck. Have you ever had those occasions when no matter what you do or how hard you try, you end up getting nowhere fast? I'm trying to get my son to finish off my new website so I can start designing in earnest but I also need to get more kits, etc made beforehand. Then I need to make some reward tags for a group I am in, plus I have been asked to write another tutorial for Bellascraps and am tracking my brains to come up with a useful one. Plus there is the never ending pile of work, always something to be thankful for when you are self employed though!

I did manage to upload some papers to 4shared though:

I tweaked the gingham overlay I have made and made the squares slightly smaller. Let me know what you think and you can download it by clicking here.

I'm off now to try and do some paint pages in photoshop. I am convinced a can get a realistic paint effect and am determined to find out how to do this!

I finally managed to....

2009-07-16T11:26:00.001+01:00

....get the desktop for July finished!!! It's only 16 July today, so obviously I am totally up to date and on time, as per usual, lol! I'll leave the preview and download link later in this post

Things here seem to be even more hectic than usual but at least it is almost the end of term. Only one more day to go and then my youngest son finished until September, which will make life a lot easier as there will be no school run over the summer. Of course, the other two still need taking to work, but that will mean only a 12 mile trip instead of the current 24 mile trip. Gotta love those school holidays!

My youngest is really looking forward to the holidays. I reckon he needs a break from school and some time to just "chill". He's been working hard these last few weeks and whilst his school report was both good and bad. How can someone be so good at maths, history and science, achieving better than the national curriculum level for year 7, and yet have grades just below that for English and geography? He is not a stupid boy, far from it, so is this the school or the teachers or what? You have to wonder.....

We start our summer holiday sessions at church this week. This means that the house groups, etc each take a Sunday Service and it is cafe church all through the summer. So, lots of tea and coffee, with different styles of service to look forward to:).

Well, I'd better get back to work. I need to get three sets of accounts finished by this weekend and only have today and tomorrow to do it in! If you know how to squeeze an extra hour out of each day plus an extra day in each week, please let me know, I could do with the extra time! In the meantime, here is the preview of the desktop.

It is made using my part in the Summer Garden blog train, and the photos are of the Red Arrows, the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team. We saw them in action at Cosford Air Show last month and I managed to get a couple of decent photos out of the umpteen I took. Most of the others were too blurry or far away to be any good, but I was really pleased with these two photos. Due to my camera not being the fastest around (or maybe it's the photographer!), there were many photos of the sky, the clouds, some smoke as the planes moved too fast for me to get them in shot an press the button before they flew away! One day (in my dreams) I will have a digital SLR camera with zoom lenses and all that stuff, and will be able to take millions of photos in seconds, but until then, I have only a limited ability to take photos of fast moving objects!

So far, the desktop is only in 1280 by 1024 size, so if anyone wants a different size, just let me know. Click on the preview to go to the download page.

Bye for now!

Summer Garden Basics

2009-07-10T19:44:00.001+01:00

Well, I have been out all day at a client's trying to get a VAT return finished, but because of the quantity of invoices, etc to input, I still have to finish reconciling the bank account. Plus I have another set of accounts to complete for another client, so I guess this weekend will be busy with work, again!

I was hoping I would be finished today by lunchtime, but that was not the case :(. I really wanted to spend some time just messing on the computer as I was up until 1 am this morning trying to get some accounts finished. I managed to do the accounts, but need a couple of hours more to get the covering letter finished. Due to working late, I ended up oversleeping this morning, so couldn't go for a run with the boys (as if they would have got out of bed extra early for that anyway!).

We actually haven't been running for two weeks now due to work, colds, and other factors. So, in a vain attempt to get some exercise and lose some weight, I have bought myself the "30 day shred". Have you got this/seen the video/tried it out? I read some good reviews of this so thought I'd give it a go yesterday.... Oh, boy, are certain muscles aching today! I thought my arms were going to collapse when doing the press ups, but the workout was really good. It was quick, very efficient (or at least Gillian Michaels and her helpers were efficient, not so sure whether the same could be said of me!) and I definitely felt better afterwards (once I'd got my breath back and had a good rest!). I don't think I'll be doing it everyday though, maybe every other day, so I'll have to let you know how I get on. I have only started at level 1, after all, I don't want to overdo things!!! So the 30 day shred is about to become the 60 day shred, so in two months time, I should be fitter and, hopefully, thinner!

Anyhow, exercise apart, I did do some designing at the end of last month for the Summer Garden kit and here is the first of the extras I promised:

It's a set of basic papers in the Summer Garden swatch colours, so feel free to download by clicking on the preview. I was hoping to finish a desktop (my current desktop is still showing June and here we are nearly half way through July!) for you but haven't had the time to complete it yet...maybe at the weekend?

I've also found some brilliant paint brushes for Photoshop online and really want to make some plain painted papers. Oh, the things I want to do this weekend! Plus, it is also my Dad's birthday on Sunday so I need to make him a card. Now that I have taken up card making I refuse to buy cards...of course, if you costed out all time it takes me to design and make a card by hand, it would be far cheaper just to go out and buy one, but then where's the fun in that?!!!

Ok, I'm going to leave you now with the basic papers download, and hope to be back with painted papers some time over the weekend! I need to go get some sleep now, plus youngest son has promised me a back massage in return for me ungrounding him! That means, of course, I have to grab him whilst the offer is still good, otherwise I will miss out and I will have ungrounded him for nothing!!

ADSDesigners blog train

2009-07-01T16:37:00.001+01:00

Well, the latest ADSDesigners blog train is released today, and here is a preview of my share of the kit:

I've seen most of the other previews and they all look awesome! My part contains:

5 papers
2 frames
1 bird
1 ricrac
2 knotted ribbons
3 flower buttons
1 tulip
1 butterfly and rose overlay

You're not going to believe this but...

2009-06-23T07:05:00.001+01:00

...I have taken up running with my boys. The only problem is, none of us likes running when there are people around to watch (and laugh!) which means we have to get up extra early to go run around the football field!

So far, this is the fourth week and I am now up to 8 laps around the field. It is not a full sized football pitch, more like the size you get at school, but even so, I feel suitably noble managing (crawling?) around the field eight times. Of course, there are not many people around at 5:30 am when we go, fortunately. Otherwise they would have the joy of seeing me do a bouncy walk around the field dressed in jogging bottoms and top, both of which I wore when my daughter and I painted my office on February. This means, of course that the black trousers and navy top are covered in platters of lilac paint - very fetching!

One of my boys is aiming to go to University in September. He is the one who started the running thing off, as he is hoping to get a place in a catered hall of residence. So what does that have to do with running? Well, his theory is, he will put weight on if he is having three meals a day five days in the week (the hall only provides two meals a day on Saturday and Sunday, poor boy!) then he is bound to put weight on. So, he aims to lose some excess weight now then he can afford to put it back on each term and then come home in the holidays and run it all off again. Of course, the logical thing would be to just eat sensibly and take exercise anyway, but then he is male, and logic plays no part in his life!

One of the local colleges has been running a free Photoshop course and of course, since it is free, I have taken advantage of this and have been going regularly. However, it was a bot of a blow on the first day to arrive there and find we weren't using Photoshop CS3, but Photoshop Elements 2.0! Nothing like using the latest software, eh? Since my project on this course is to complete my part of the ADSDesigners July kit, I have been making papers for this on the course. This has been a huge learning curve for m,e, because whilst the course is very basic, and it took about 4 weeks before I even learnt anything new, PSE 2.0 is different from PS CS3, and most of my brushes and other stuff just won't work on PSE 2.0! so, when creating papers, I have had to basically design everything from scratch! And yes, I know the aim is to do that anyway if you are a designer, but I am only a beginner, and still have so much to learn.

Actually, most of us on the course (there are only about 8 of us) are around the same age and there are three of us women there who have freely admitted that whilst we came on the course to learn more about Photoshop, it is really good to be able to go home and tell our husbands we have "been on a course." Obviously, the course is educational, and therefore good for us because we are learning, but in reality, we each go to play! We spend the evening messing around in PSE, playing with brushes, retouching photographs, designing, using filters and so on, and having fun, and then go home and pretend it was all hard work! Then, of course, we can carry on at home because we are "working on our project"!!! And tomorrow, we get a certificate to prove we have attended the course! Actual documentation to prove we haven't just been wasting our time, lol! How good is that?!!!

OK, I'd have to go do breakfasts for the children and do the school run now. Hope you all have a lovely day. I am hoping to get chance to upload some photos from an airshow we went to recently as well as make some crumpled papers I've just seen a great tutorial for this and want to have a go but need to do a VAT return first - oh what an exciting life I lead!

Surprisingly enough....

2009-06-06T15:46:00.000+01:00

....I'm not actually working today! That makes a very pleasant change so I am now catching up on various blogs, updating all my posts and, surprise, surprise, actually finding some time to spend messing around in photoshop!

I'm actually sitting here in my office, sipping my jasmine tea and just messing on the computer whilst son #2 sticks all my invoices and till receipts into a folder for me! He is currently moaning like crazy about how boring a job it is, how he hates doing it even more than he hates entering details onto the computer but that is the price you have to pay if you want to get a student loan and your mother needs her accounts doing!

It is currently tipping it down outside, typical British summer weather to be honest, although it has been really nice the past few days. The forecast for tomorrow is a bit iffy but am hoping that it will at least be dry. We have plans to walk (crawl?) up the Wrekin but only if it is not raining.

For those who may not know, the Wrekin is a hill not that far from here and it is 1,335 feet above the Shropshire Plains. You can get some glorious views of Shropshire from the top provided, of course, that the weather is fine. The above is a photo of the Wrekin taken from the grounds of Attingham Park, a stately home on the outskirts of Shrewsbury.

There are many local legends about the Wrekin, and here is one courtesy of Wikipedia:

A giant called Gwendol Wrekin ap Shenkin ap Mynyddmawr with a grudge against the town of Shrewsbury decided to flood the town and kill all its inhabitants. So he collected a giant-sized spadeful of earth and set off towards the town. When in the vicinity of Wellington he met a cobbler returning from Shrewsbury market with a large sackful of shoes for repair. The giant asked him for directions, adding that he was going to dump his spadeful of earth in the River Severn and flood the town. "It's a very long way to Shrewsbury," replied the quick-thinking shoemaker. "Look at all these shoes I've worn out walking back from there!" The giant immediately decided to abandon his enterprise and dumped the earth on the ground beside him, where it became the Wrekin. The giant also scraped the mud off his boots, which became the smaller hill Ercall Hill nearby. Ironically Shrewsbury is subjected to flooding from the River Severn on frequent occasions naturally.

Folklore from the wilds of Shropshire!

Anyhow, since the weather is too wet to do anything outside today, I decided to have a play with the Soft Denim swatch and came up with these gingham papers:

Feel free to download them - just click on the preview to take you to the download link!

I'm off to do some more photoshopping! Hope you all have a lovely weekend, no matter what the weather is like where you are ;).

June desktop

2009-06-04T09:44:00.000+01:00

I'm having a slightly less stressful week, this week and am catching up on various jobs, as well as trying to clear some of the paperwork in my office. I don't know about you, but I absolutely hate filing, it is the one thing I leave for ages and ages until I have mountains to do. I keep trying to persuade my children to help out, but they know me too well! If I'm trying to get them to do a job in my office, it will usually (in their opinion) be boring, and the pay is nowhere near enough! It's beginning to look like I might have to do this mountain of filing all by myself, sigh!

However, on a brighter note, I have used my part in this month's ADSD blog train to make a desktop for June and here it is:

I used the pupcats font and a ribbon template from Royanna Fritschmann plus the flowers, frame and papers from my kit.

If you would like to download it, then here it is:

Desktop 1280 x 1024

Desktop 1024 x 768

Desktop 800 x 600

I'm off to do some accounts for a card shop now (I lead such an exciting life!). Hope you have a lovely day!

ADSDesigners Blog train

2009-06-01T19:59:00.000+01:00

Well, after a hectic weekend when I had to work until 2 am on Sunday morning and then until just gone midnight on Sunday, then having to dash out to a client to sort out tax returns and accounts I have finally had chance to upload my part in this month's ADSD blog train. I am sorry this is late, but real life hits big time on occasion. The preview of my part of the kit is shown below.

and comprises:

5 papers;
6 flowers;
1 Butterfly;
2 ladybirds;
1 overlay
2 ribbons;
1 journalling paper; and
1 frame

Just click on the preview to take you to the download link.

Please take time to go visit all the stops on the blog train - there are some fantastic designs out there and they will be available for all of June.

http://adsdesigners.com/adsdblogtrain.htm

Have fun! I'm off to create a desktop using my part of the kit and am hoping to upload this tomorrow for those interested!