Rikkiscraps

If anyone wants to try their hand at paper scrapping Scrap Tutor has a couple of free online classes that sound quite interesting and cover lots of topics. Check them out if you ever feel like getting glue on your hands.

Savannah commented on my post below about the England album that she couldn’t see it on Safari either. I have no clue why that is. I thought it was Porta having problems after the Firefox update, but obviously MAC and Safari have problems, too. Anyway, I uploaded the pics on photobucket - God, I didn’t know it was so easy to create a slideshow there. I’ll use that from now on, I think.

So, for all of you sho couldn’t see the album properly but would have liked to, here is a link to the slideshow: England Album slideshow

Oh, miracle. An email I received yesterday caused me to totally update my homepage today.  The looks are still the same, but the links are all checked, deleted if necessary, new ones were added etc. I’m so proud of myself, LOL. I added a few interesting links that I talked about on this blog, like wordle etc. So in the future my website will be useful even to myself as a collection of links to pages I really go to often.

If you speak German and haven’t been there in a while, hop over there and check out some new links.

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Zeichen und Wunder geschehen noch. Eine mail, die ich gestern erhielt, hat mich doch tatsächlich dazu gebracht, meine Homepage upzudaten. Ich habe alle links gecheckt, tote Links entfernt, neue hinzugefügt, etc. und bin ziemlich stolz auf mich. Ich habe einige interessante links hinzugefügt, über die ich hier auch schon geschrieben habe, z.B. wordle etc. So werde ich in Zukunft wohl auch selbst meine Homepage nutzen, um zu guten Seiten zu finden, die ich immer wieder aufsuche.

Finally I got a new template up in the shop. I created it for the Feb ad challenge at PDP and it was sitting on my HD ever since. At the time I made a page with it as well, that you can see here.

So, I managed to take a few pics and get them into a web album today. These are some of the pages of our holiday album. The album doesn#t show well at all with my Firefox, I don’t know why. So, if it looks funny with a small frame, please try IE, it works fine with mine.

Credits:
I used Paislee Press‘ Happy as a lark album and her Happy as a lark papers as basics. The 2 pagers are almost all made with my 2-page templates, available at Polka Dot Potato. Most brushes I used are from Tracy Ann at TADA and Jason Gaylor at Designfruit. I used some frippery, also from Tracy Ann. The word clouds I used are all done with wordle. Word art is mostly by Paislee Press - Press lines.

Additional stuff:
Wordart about art: Michelle Coleman.
Other templates I used are from Ninascraps; Christy Sturm; Emily Farnworth
2 page distressed edges: mine
stain brushes: Jackie Eckles - Memoir kit

Fonts: For the titles etc.  - American Typewriter, for journaling - Love Mom

TFL

Nicole from "Der Scrapbook-Laden" gave me an award that I’m going to pass on. Have to think though about to whom. I’m always so lame when it comes to that.

Nicole, thanks so much for it. I totally agree with what you said. I think we would get along splendidly. Too bad you live quite a bit away from us.

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My holiday album arrived this morning and, boy, did it turn out lovely, even if I say so myself, LOL. I absolutely love it. I’ll take some pics later and post them here. I ended up with 72 pages plus front and back cover. Not bad for a 2 week trip, huh?

This mini kit was in a previous grab bag at Polka Dot Potato. Today I released it in the regular shop. Go and check it out!

Jason Gaylor has a new set of brushes available that look fantastic. If you don’t know his site Designfruit, you should go and check it out. His brush sets are always awesome. The new stitchy circles are  versatile and can be used for almost any page. He offers one of them as a freebie, the whole set is sold at 14$. I can think of so many occasions to use them, the 14$ will be well spent.

Anyone miss me? Didn’t think so. Well, we are back from our vacation and I’m ready and eager to start working on my vacation album. I already ogled the Happy as a lark quickpage album by Paislee Press before I left, so now I finally got it and a few nice tidbits on top. I got her Press lines number 2 and 4. And I needed the papers of the kit, because 26 pages won’t be enough for the album. Since the quickpages haven’t got that much room for photos, I’ll add in between them another double page with tons of photos, probably always the same multi photo template. I saw an example of something like this the other day in a magazine and I thought that was a brilliant idea. First tell your story with a couple of pics and your journaling and then add another page with loads of supporting photos that you don’t want to leave out. I’m really looking forward to this.

Just a tiny little note before we are heading out for our vacation. The Potato Bar is open once more. I had a quick look and there is some gorgeous stuff available for only .99$ each. Go and check it out!

Big Picture Scrapbooking offers a free class once more. It is called Getting Started: 10 Summer Photos To Take Right NOW!

It is not a big thing, but just some inspiration in form of an audio message and a handout. Quite good to get your summer photography up and running.

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Our garden is a paradise for weeds, but, nevertheless, we do get some stuff out of it. How we manage I have no idea, I don’t think we do anything the way a gardener should, but the result is what counts.

I was having a look at DST the other day and found this link posted by hummie. Wordle.net is the coolest thing ever - especially for scrapbooking. Just enter words,  a URL from which to draw the words or a delicious user name to draw the tags from (I suppose the tags, I haven’t tried it yet) and wordle will create a "word cloud" from the words. You can change the looks, color, shape etc afterwards. Totally awesome.

I tried it out with my new book blog URL and this came up:

Now, isn’t that brilliant? You can’t save it as a .png but you can save it as a .pdf file, which is good enough. All you need is software to generate the .pdf file. Love it!

Hey, the O’Escape really has me going again - amazing, I’m so happy that my mojo is back.

I created another three pages. For the monochromatic challenge I did this:

Credits: Template Moriginals; Pics all from Stock exchange, 11010010, picaland, wernerbrau, lumix2004, baralt, neopicture, ancelique, topfer; Background paper: Nina - summerbreak; Papers: Bikinis and board shorts, Boo, Change, Oboy, Moonrise; Tab: Nina - Just use it; Mat papers: Nina - Life is beautiful, my own; Library card: Jen Wilson; Alpha: Nina - stalpha; Brush: Jason Gaylor; Fonts: steak, laundromat, screamo

The, for the Mystery potluck challenge I did this:

Credits: Template: Yin, No 41; BG paper: Nina - Lena’s world; Photos all from stock exchange - assiewin, bilgola, mioawee, thuydochun, woonsa; Brush: Jason Gaylor; Paper over brush: Oscraps collab Oboy

And for Cat’s dictation challenge I did this:

Credits: Paper: Nina - Life is beautiful; Frame: Nina - Clarisse; Ribbon: Nina - pimp your page; Flower: Nina - grab it, button: Lena’s world; Stitch: Jessica Bolton; Wordart: MaryAnn Wise; Stickers: Nadinha Menezes - Adorable Leonardo; Messy alpha: Katie Pertiet; Font: 1942 report

It seems I’m back again.

Ha, it seems that the O’Escape challenges over at Oscraps have brought some of my mojo back. I not only created a pair of flip flops but also a page for the wordart challenge. I also finally started a two pager about our visit to the dino museum which was weeks ago. There are lots of great challenges going on at the moment, so hop over to Oscraps and join us.

Credits: Background paper: Nina - Whities; Paper for flip flops: Cinco di Mayo collab; Brads: O boy collab; Wordart on flip flops: Nina - Summer break;
Paradise Wordart: Sue Cummings - Moonrise collabl kit; Overlay: Nina - Overlays

Credits: Template: Taylormade - composure; Wordart: Taylormade; Paper: Oscraps collab kit Moonrise; Frame: Nina - Simple line 5; Label: Paislee Press - Park Avenue; Barcode: Scrapartist collab kit Splash; Font: Type Wrong

I decided to get a new blog where I can talk about books I’m reading and what I like and dislike about them. Sounds like fun? To me it is .  It is called The bookkeeper, and I love its clean and simple look.

Right, I went shopping today and got loads of Nina’s new stuff over at Oscraps. She has some gorgeous templates and kits again. I wanted to keep it quick and simple and that worked out fine. It took me about 10 minutes while I was chatting with Nina, so you see, with a template and the right stuff it will flow after all. I’m not that comfy with al the white space, but Nina says, white space is good, so I’ll take her word for it, LOL. Usually I’m not a white space girl.

This is a page with a couple of pics of my mom and a good friend of hers. I had to blur out her face, though.

Credits: Template - Ninascraps Unique, simple line No. 1; Papers, button: Nina, Whities, Shades of grey; Wordart: Nina, say it simple; Flower: my Universal stuff; Tab: Ninascraps, trendy coltabs; Font: Lainie Day

My scrapbooking mojo has gone (not for good I hope, I so want to scrap our photos and make another yearbook, but I just can’t), but my bag insert mojo is still up and running. Two inserts came in the mail today, the one I showed you the other day and this one:

I used this quote already for my poetry album and for my words to remember mini book, but I might have to reconsider the poetry album page now. I’m totally in love with that quote and that page. I probably should have had it printed 10 times and given it away to all my friends and kept a couple as spare ones once the first one is worn and torn. But then, my friends are not the kind who’d walk around with that anyway - so sad for them.

Credits for the page: Papers and flower sticker: M. Fenwick; Brushes: Jason Gaylor; Picture of cherry blossoms: mine; Picture of typewriter and boutique de poesie: Stock exchange, lucianotb, Ulrik; Fonts: c dans l’air, Thirsty for souls

Hm, I have no idea whether anybody besides me would ever use this alpha, but I loved the idea, so I turned it into an alpha set for the few geeky scrapbookers out there. I actually used it on one of my bag inserts, see below.

I didn’t use the same font on the insert as for the alpha, but same difference.

Credits for insert: Paper: M. Fenwick, pics: Stock exchange, sloppy snippet: Emily Farnworth, Fonts: Orator, Anarchy, Arsis, diploma, Avquest
The message in binary code (if anybody would like to know) is: Windows sucks. LOL. Oh, and the wonderful computer haiku is by Suzie Wagner, those haiku are so awesome, love them.

So, anyway, another font for the alpha and here it is…

A couple of things have hit the shelves at Polka Dot Potato.

First of all a mini kit called In the Pink that was previously available at The Shakerbox (and still is). Now it is also sold at PDP. If you like glitter, than this is for you.

And then there is a new 2-page-template. Kat made such a cute sample page for it.

The bouncy castle  was a roaring success today. Corin was totally excited when we blew it up and he and Sean had a blast with it.

It is rather small - that is probably why it was so inexpensive - but it is big enough for our two boys. They loved it.

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I can say I’m officially addicted to creating bag inserts, LOL. I don’t know when I will ever use them all, soon I’ll probably have to exchange them every day to give each one a chance, but it is fun.

This is one of the last batch. Actually I meant to get it printed on canvas, but somehow that didn’t turn out the way I wanted it, so I changed it to fit the bag. It is a blatant scraplift from a paper page by Ali Edwards, shown in her Life Artist book. I just liked the looks of it so much that I basically recreated it digitally. Not that anybody around here will ever notice. Probaly the people in my area who know who AE is can be counted with 2 fingers.

Credits Background paper: mine, floral brush: Jason Gaylor, sloppy snippet: Emily Farnworth, alpha: Gina Cabrera.

The next inserts are already under contruction. I now moved to poetry, but I’m swapping back and forth between that and quotes.

Just in case some of you are interested in the bags that you can create inserts for, I just found a link where they can be ordered online Bags and more. The bag I’m using is this one here Photobag large. They even give you the exact pixel size to use, I should have seen that earlier, LOL. But now I know….

Just to keep everybody updated on our activities. I’m not very active at the moment due to all sorts of reasons.

Sean and Corin are having lots of fun in the garden. We bought them a little slide - actually too small for Corin, but he’s enjoying it nevertheless. Sean is having a blast, too.

And as a surprise John ordered a small bouncy castle for them. It was extremely inexpensive, I hope it’s going to be an ok quality. They both love bouncy castles as you can see on this picture. I took it at the Maybock Fest some time ago. Sean was the youngest on it and everybody was dead sweet to him.

The garden is coming along nicely, especially if you are a weed lover. God, I never knew how overpowering weeds can be. It’s like being Sisyphus - a fate I never thought I’d have to suffer. There are some flowers to be seen though - if they can make their way through the weeds, that is.

Yesterday we saw a hare (or rabbit, no idea) in our backyard. It sat there for hours and Corin watched it nonstop. Then he had the awesome idea to throw some carrots down. First the hare/rabbit didn’t show any reaction at all. I assumed that the tale that rabbits like carrots wasn’t true after all, but eventually it finally jumped towards it and nibbled away. So cute!

And finally: I created a few more bag inserts. They are already on their way to me, can’t wait to see them. One of them is for a friend of mine who saw my first insert and wanted one, too. So I made her one for her official stuff bag for the oncoming Sand Spirit 2008.

Here is one I made for myself - totally different style from the first one:

Credits: Papers: Jen Wilson; Brush: Jason Gaylor; Dead end street sign photo: Stock Exchange, jnichols; Fonts: Totenkopf, Steak, Ambulance Shotgun

 Love that quote!

I read about a new book in the paper just now. It’s called "The architecture of happiness" by French philosopher Alain DeBotton. It’s not really new, but obviously they only published it in German now. Even though I’m not into the topic per se, it might be a good book to read. When I checked on amazon I found out that the guy has written quite a number of books already, a lot of which sound interesting. Anybody read anything by that guy? Sabine, maybe?

I put a lot of them on my wishlist, my amazon list is getting longer and longer. There is one called "Essays in love". It’s description which goes "The book charts the progress of a love affair from the first kiss to argument and reconciliation, from intimacy and tenderness to the onset of anxiety and heartbreak" reminds me a lot of this:

and it looks super cool. God knows what I did wrong but it was a bit too big, I probably measured wrong, but with a bit of clipping it went in alright and all the important bits are still there. Nicole is such a sweet girl. Since she knew I didn’t like my PS too much at the moment she added a sheet of gorgeous paper to play with. She suggested to create birthday invitations and considering the paper that is a very good idea. It’s the Dino paper from Basic Grey’s Archaic line. So cute and Corin will love it. Thanks so much, Nicole, you are so thoughtful.

I’m planning to do lots of bag inserts so I can use the bag at ANY occasion, LOL. Already got one in the works. I told John the quote I want to use and he was shocked and said I can’t put that on the bag, but, guess what, I will anyway. It’s my bag and I’ll put on it whatever I want :-))))). So, stay tuned.

I bought a black bag the other day for which you can create your own inserts for the flap. Much bigger than a princess bag, so it will be great for all the stuff I’m carrying around all the time.

So, yesterday I actually managed to sit down and create an insert for it - surprising really, since I didn’t feel like doing anything with PS for  quite a while now.

I’m really happy with the way this turned out. I love the quote which is from Jack Handey.

Credits: Background paper: Tracy Ann; various photos from stock exchange; Brushes: Annika von Holdt, Maya, Anna Aspnes; Font: Newcastle; Pic of three fates from the net; Flower stamp: Gina Cabrera

I uploaded some new stuff to my shop at PDP.

Easy as Pie template No. 33 is perfect for a two-pager with LOTS of photos.

The brushed metal basic papers were previously available at the potato bar and are now back in the shop. Check out Sabine’s awesome sample pages!

And make sure you check out the newest grab bag prmotion over at PDP!

I’ve been in a scrapping rut lately and didn’t do any scrapping whatsoever. But slowly I’m getting back into things. I created this around our stamp cards from our local coffee shop that we frequently visit - as you can see from the number of cards and stamps.

Credits:
Photos top left from Stock Exchange; Clix and DCWaldi; Template: Christy Haig; White overlay, papers, frames, ribbon: Ninascraps: Clarisse, Friends, Frame it; ribbon tab: Anita Stergiou; Fonts: Times New Roman; Quotes: Jean Cocteau and anon

Sue Cummings is the Designer Spotlight over at Oscraps and has an awesome freebie and a challenge for us. I only heard about it this morning, so I whipped up a page really quick. A few pics from our last vacation in the UK.

Credits: Template and wordart: sue Cummings
Font: Century Gothic
Number stamps: my own

My two online friends Manu from Digi by Design and fotosusu from Treasures to scrap and I have worked together to create a collab kit about friendship. It turned out to be an awesome kit with loads of papers and elements, alpha set, template and wordart. It is available at Polk Dot Potato at the moment and soon also at Treasures to scrap and Digi by Design.