a new little somethin', somethin'

While doing my nightly blog roll I came upon something really cool on BooMama's blog. If you look in my sidebar on the right you'll see a new widget from Skribit. Now you can click over there & leave me suggestions on what to blog about. You know, since I seem to have hit a blog wall & can't think of anything exciting to write about. Now I'll let y'all do some of the work. ;o) So, give me some suggestions & I'll see what I can do.

one more...

The first one is straight out of the camera & I edited the other two. Man, this is addictive!!!

which do you like better?

Just messing around in PSE with some pics I took this evening while Jonathan played in the pool. Which one do you like better? Originally I thought the only difference in them was the amount of "burning" at the edges, but now it looks like the color might not be the same in them. Hmmm. Anywho... I'm still trying to get the hang of this photo editing thing, but I'm having fun doing it!

some crazy cakes

I came upon this site on Major Bedhead's blog: Cake Wrecks, check it out, hysterical!!!

I promise one of these days I'll do a real post!

wordle

I saw this on Kim's blog and thought it was too cute not to share! It's called Wordle. You put in your blog address, and it pulls together the words that you use most often. Here's mine:

Photoshop Friday: ShaZAM

A few months ago I learned of Jessica Sprague's Photoshop Friday from Rebecca. At the time I hadn't even purchased Photoshop Elements so I didn't really pay too much attention to it. Well, today I received the Photoshop Friday newsletter & decided to give it a whirl. This weeks tutorial is called ShaZAM! I found this adorable picture of Jonathan from the birthday party last weekend; don't you love his hair!

Here is the before/after using the tutorial. Pretty cool, huh!


In the tutorial Jessica mentioned "burning" the edges a bit. I had never done that before so I pulled out my copy of "The Photoshop Elements 6 Book for Digitial Photographers" and ta-da... burned edges. Can you tell in the picture? I'm loving this book. I've turned to it several times and it's very easy to understand and apply.

Well, I'm off to bed. Until next time!

a few pics

Just a few pics from the birthday party Saturday.

Probably the most creative birthday "cake" I've ever seen. Isn't it cute! I guarantee you it was tasty!

Me & my dad. Happy Birthday to us!

And of course, the boy. Doesn't he look grown up in this picture? Where is the time going?

my first bind-it-all project

As I mentioned yesterday, a few weeks ago I borrowed Laurel's Bind-it-All to make a coupon organizer. We've recently started using coupons on a regular basis so I needed a way to see what we had & keep track of them. I'd seen a couple of organizers online, but decided to just make my own. That way I could make it all pretty. So, as promised, here are the pictures of my coupon organizer; it's been really handy and really wasn't difficult to make. Since we always shop at Wal-Mart and make our list by aisle I made the pages by aisle too. It's really nice to be able to just flip the page as you get to the aisle & see what coupons you have available.

my first digital layout & thank yous

I was recently introduced to the world of digital scrapbooking. After playing around a little (like my new banner?), I did my first official layout tonight. It's pretty simple since I'm still learning, but I think it turned out cute. I downloaded the free kit from Shabby Princess, it's called Festival. I love the colors & the embellishments it came with. My new banner was made with the Promise kit. The font on the layout is Ali Edwards handwriting. I've always loved her handwriting, so I enjoyed using it on the page. I don't know if you can read the journaling, so here it is:

I love this picture of you. You
look like you're thinking about
something very important; I'd
love to know what it is.
At this stage in your life you're
always on the go. It's rare to
see you so thoughtful.
June 5, 2008



I received some great gifts for my birthday. In addition to some spending money (Thanks Grandma and Mom & Dad!), I also got this great digital photography book from Haley. I'm always saying that I want to learn to take better photos, and now I can. Thanks, sis!

This next gift is from Rebecca, Laurel, Sandy & Stephanie. I can't tell y'all how excited I am about this gift! It's a Bind-it-All personal binding system. I had seen this in the store & never thought I'd have a use for one. Well, then I decided to make my own coupon organizer. (Pictures to come in the next day or so.) Laurel was kind enough to let me borrow hers and once I used it I knew I had to have one! It's so easy to use and the mini-album possibilities are endless. I used hers again last weekend to make a mini book for Miss Elizabeth's 1st birthday.

My friends are quite sneaky as it turns out they bought it (and a bunch of goodies to go with it) while we were all together scrapping last weekend. I was completely in the dark about the whole thing, and thrilled to death! I can't wait to start on some more projects. I think when we get together on the 19th I'm going to make Jonathan an alphabet book. Everyone needs to be prepared for handmade Christmas gifts this year! ;o)

Thanks girls!!!


Well, I'm off to bed. I only have about 15 more minutes to be 31 years old, so I'd better enjoy it! "See" you soon.

The Best Birthday Cake Ever Part 2

Last year my friends, Rebecca & Lisa, made me the best birthday cake ever! Well, I think they may have out done themselves this year. I don't currently have a photo of the wonderful creation (Laurel, do you have a good picture of it on your camera?), but let me tell you it was amazing. Imagine a flower arrangement made of Rice Krispie Treats. Here's a photo of me holding one of the flowers. It was kind of warm in my house, so it was falling apart a bit, but it tasted fantastic! Thanks girls! I can't wait til next year to see what you come up with!

I have a bunch more pictures to go through, Rebecca was having a great time being the photographer & took 197 pictures with my camera! Not to mention however many she took with Laurel's. There are a lot of good ones so be on the lookout for them over the next couple of days.

Off to bed. When you go to the 8:30 service you have to get up early!

kind of like a cowbell, only squeakier

A few weeks ago I made what is probably my most obnoxious purchase ever...

Yes, those are shoes that squeak when he walks. I had kind of forgotten about them, but he found the bag earlier so I decided to test them out. At first he was quite freaked out by them & wouldn't walk at all, then he'd only walk if I held his hand. In no time he was running all over the place. Maybe these will become his "house shoes" so I can hear him no matter where he is in the house. I'm not sure if I'm brave enough to have him wear them in public, but they could come in handy someday. He seems to think they sound like a dog barking because he keeps calling them "puppies". What a goof.

Amazingly enough I think tomorrow is a day free of plans. Although, these days if we don't get out of the house at some point or another during the day Jonathan gets a little restless. He starts asking to put his shoes on & go. Any suggestions on a free/inexpensive activity we can do?