Back to digital

With the help of a great tutorial by Cheltzey, I was able to finally use a PSD template to create a page. I typically use Microsoft Digital Image Suite for digital scrapbooking, but it can't read Photoshop layered files, so I've been trying to learn the free GIMP instead. Most digital scrappers use either Photoshop Elements or one of the big Photoshop products and I have considered joining the crowd, but even when I carefully follow a tutorial, I get very frustrated with Adobe's non-intuitive menus. In no time, I begin to swear and throw things. This is not the best way to ensure your computer's longevity, so I'm gonna keep tackling GIMP.

There's no hope that Microsoft will bother improving functionality because they discontinued the product last year. Too bad, because I realize I've been using Microsoft everything for just under 20 years. Anyway, GIMP did a great job and once I'd gotten the hang of pasting papers to shapes, it was pretty darned easy. Their drop shadows are way more customizable than what I used in DIS and I am thrilled about that! I couldn't figure the text insertion out easily, so I bailed and went back to DIS for a quick touchup.

This first page uses kraft paper by Ronnie McCray. That kit is worth it just for the great variety of interesting kraft backgrounds. The blue paper is from Stephanie Burt, but I bought it at her closing her store sale, so I can't provide a link. The font is CK Journaling.


I found the journaling for this page saved to my external hard drive. It was sweet, so I went diving for the accompanying photos. The template is #58 from Heather Ann Designs. The gingham paper is from Jenn Ulasiewicz and I used a pink background behind that from Beth Kern. The fonts are Bodoni MT and Pea Jenny Script and Pea Shirley (the J - I didn't like the other.) The Pea Font site has tons of free handwritten fonts, along with some cute doodles. Good to know, eh?

One thing that makes me chuckle is how the photos of my daughter eating a single sandwich quarter included both a fish face and cheesy grins. What a nut!


It's time for my semi-annual asthma-a-thon, so I hope to get more digital pages done. I'm too wiped to manually cut and paste, but clicking a mouse is just my speed. Besides, I've had a lot of good ideas lately and this lets me get them out of my head quicker.

Made From Scratch

My friend Becky hosted a very cool craft day at her clubhouse. Our weekend was hectic, so I only got to visit for 2 hours. Here's what I made while hanging out with Becky:



I started from scratch with both pages and was happy to get them together so quickly. I cheated a bit by using the same patterned paper on both pages, but it worked with both sets of pictures, so who cares? The title letters were cut on the no longer supported Xyron Personal Cutter (sniff) and I used some old Making Memories Heidi rubons for the lower page. The notebook paper is not really notebook paper, it's actually from Scenic Route, so it's nice and hefty.

I've begun taking my scrapbook bag with me while I wait for my son in Cub Scouts. I bought a magnetic dry erase board and some magnets so I can work on what I want in the car. It's sort of a poor man's Arccivo. The point is that I should continue to have some new pages to post, at least for the next few months.