Never will be caught-up...

Can you believe we are heading towards the end of July already?!  This summer has flown by.  Here are some photos from May that I am just getting around to scrapping.  I still have a ton more pictures!  Most of them will go into my Project Life book, that is the only way I can get most of
my photos into a book.  And I am wayyyyyy behind on Project Life too....Maybe I'll get
caught up one of these days~ but it's doubtful...

 

Credits:  Saffron Villa kit Anna Aspnes, frame and loops - available at O'Scraps.com
hinge & charm KPertiet at DD

July goes on...

I don't know about where you are, but it's hot around here.  Really hot.  I miss the rain.  Sometimes it helps to work with photos of water, ice cream  & cooler locations!  Here are a few more of my July layouts.  Stay cool!

Sketchy Photos

I have seen these types of photos around, and recently came across a tutorial at O'scraps that showed how to turn your photo into a water color/pencil sketch.  Some of their examples were stunning.   Although this isn't the perfect picture for this technique, some of you will recognize this special location.  This layout is for you! ♥

Credits:  LivE PP freshly washed paper & EZPZ5 Page outline frame. AASPN Art Play Metro
Grafetti kit.  TFL!

July JS Layouts!

Here are a few of my July layouts.  This month I was assigned to Nancie Rowe Janitz.  She is a very unique designer who creates alot of stuff for Art Journalling.  These pages tend to not have many (sometimes not any) photos on them, but do have a lot of very creative artwork and journalling.  I love her stuff because it reminds me of when I use to scrap traditionally  and make books by hand - it is messy looking- just like if you had played with paints and mists. There is a great class she teaches with Jessica at JS.com called the Art of Digital Journalling.  I have just taken a few of the lessons, and love what I created.  Check it out at www.jessicasprague.com   TFL!

Project Life

Have you heard of Project Life?  Becky Higgins started this a few years ago as a paper scrapbooking kit- her idea was to take scrapbooking back to basics.  Project Life allows you to  scrap a lot of pictures and document not only the special events, but also the everyday events that maybe get overlooked.  Her tag line is, "cultivate a good life and record it" - I love that!
This is the second year I have done Project Life.  Becky started selling her products at Jessica Sprague about a year ago and I immediately bought a kit.  I take so many pictures, it is a great way to quickly document our life, weekly,bi-weekly, or monthly - then at the end of the year I get them printed into a big 12x12 book and display it on a table during the year.  The kids, friends and family love to look through the pages.    You can learn more about Becky and about Project Life here http://www.beckyhiggins.com/blog/  These are a few pages from my 2012-2013 book.  I use the turquoise kit which of course can be purchased here http://www.jessicasprague.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.pbv.tabs.tpl&product_id=1777&category_id=119&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=479

Layouts from other sites I love...

There are so many amazing, talented designers and creative team members in the digi world.  I list just a few of the sites that I like- there are really so many more.  When I get a chance I like to go on these sites and support them in the gallery, buy a few supplies and participate in challenges when I can.  Here is some of what I created.

From Design House Digital - love their stuff almost as I love these two in the photo!

Another site I really like is O'Scraps.  They have amazing talent, especially Anna Aspnes.  Her stuff is grungy, original and really beauitful.  It is a little bit different to work with- but the more I do the more I like it.  I use a lot of different blending modes in Photoshop and her stuff lends well to that.   Hof3 chalk banner used here also.

I'm working on my JS July layouts and will post them soon- TFL!

Fireworks with my new lens

A couple of months ago I took a photo class here locally and some of the participants were talking about a few  Canon lenses that were on sale.  I had been wanting to buy a nice lens for about a year.  I still love my 50mm f1.4 prime lens- it will always be a favorite, but I really wanted to try one of Canon's "L" professional zoom lenses.  I settled on the 24-70mm f2.8 L macro zoom.  It is awesome.  It doesn' t have a huge reach (zoom) so it won't be great for sports, but it is a great, everyday walk-around lens.  It is heavy, but not like some of the zoom lenses.  If your in the market for new equipment, I highly reccomend www.bhphotovideo.com  They are a great resource, and have good prices.

I have tried to get fireworks shots in the past, and honestly I was mostly successful this year because
I used the (Manfrotto)  tripod I got for Christmas last year- also from B&H photo.  Getting these types of shots requires a super slow shutter speed, and you can't hold your camera with that slow of a shutter speed or you get blurry pictures because there is no way you can hold that still.  I learned how to shoot fireworks from Katrina Kennedy at www.captureyour365.com - I have taken several of her photo classes, and she is great!  Anyway, I hope you had a nice 4th of July.  Here are just a couple of the shots I got- I hope to get a layout done in the next couple of weeks.  Happy Birthday America!