Goodbye Canay's Creations...

At the end of this month, I will be taking down my website Canays Creations.

My husband retired and I've been looking at the budget especially the
repetitive monthly charges. I find I post (sporadically) on my free blog and
never go to Canays Creations anymore. It doesn't make sense to keep paying
for something I'm not using. It is a good time to clear clutter out of my
life and simplify.

I will still be scrapping and posting to this blog so I don't think the closure will have a negative effect on anyone. A few freebies will be lost but they are so old that I doubt they are useful any longer.

This is the start of my spring cleaning and it feels really good. Next I want to tackle my closet. Now that might be a nightmare!

LOM templates...

I have created psd templates of my title page, dedication page and two section pages. Click HERE to download the zip file. Please be sure to read the pdf info file for information about the templates. I hope you find these useful. Happy scrapping:)

The Camera Evolution Continues...

Remember this layout all about my camera evolution? The saga continues...

Lacey's camera broke so I gave her my SD500 which was just like hers. I thought I would be happy with just the S3IS 12x optical zoom camera. Well, what I discovered is that I really missed a small little camera in my purse at all times. I was missing so many shots because I was out somewhere and didn't have a camera with me. So I did some research and decided on the brand new Canon Posershot SD990 IS.

Duh duh, duh da...

I've read Pros and Cons on the reviews. My reason for choosing this camera instead of one of the less expensive models are:

• the high pixels allow me to crop in on a shot and get a pretty decent closeup
  
• its larger sensor lends a hand to low light shooting and captures some beautiful images
• the red eye issue is much improved over the 550
• it has full manual control (not that I use that, but it is possible!)
  
• it has automatic face recognition
  
• it fits nicely in my purse or pocket

I really love this camera. It really does do a pretty good job in low light conditions which I seem to be in frequently. I have to say that I do feel guilty about the Rebel that sits on my shelf. I even purchased a DVD on how to use the Rebel. It is still in the wrapper sitting on the shelf. It's not going anywhere and one day...soon...maybe after LOM...I will give it a go. Until then, I am tickled pink with my little point and shoot that is in my purse ready to use in a moments notice.

Design Your Life...

I just checked and I have not posted since last November. Let's see that is five months ago.

Since November, I took Cathy Zielske's Design your life class over at Big Picture Scrapbooking. We learned all about balance, color, white space, typography, lots of Cathy's clean and simple design tips, etc. We also created a lot of layouts...


The class ended on Christmas Day so I got a little behind during the holidays. I used the month of January and the beginning of February to get caught up on the class. It was a great class and Cathy is an excellent instructor. Her knowledge and humor are so contagious. I would never hesitate to take another class with her. She really helped my enthusiasm and my confidence as a scrapbooker. Her weekly videos, pdf files and audio files have provided me with a great resource that I can use over and over.

Then no sooner did I finish up with that class, I started the Library of Memories Class (LOM) with Stacy Julian. I wrote a blog post back in August titled Photo Freedom aka Getting Photos Organized. This LOM class basically teaches everything from Photo Freedom step by step. I am having so much fun. I already embraced a lot of Stacy's non chronological attitudes but didn't really know it. She has helped me define what photos I want to scrap and how to have the photos organized in a system that I can retrieve them for scrapping whether digital or paper. And then her four album system for storing layouts is brilliant. This is a sixteen week class and I have totally committed to it. I have taken a break from blogs, digi scrapping sites, and other classes so I can embrace LOM and get the most out of it.

Here are some framework pages that I made for the All About Us album...


I actually have quite a few more frame work pages made for the other albums (Places We Go, Things That Matter, and People We Love) but haven't uploaded them to flickr yet. I'm realy pleased with the way they turned out and I will share them when they get uploaded.

So that's what I've been doing with scrapbooking lately. Having fun and learning lots of new things.

Using Photo Clusters in FotoFusion

Designer Digitals is having a twenty-five cent sale on Katie Pertiet's Photo Cluster No. 07. I will be using the first one to demonstrate how to use Photo Clusters in FotoFusion.

Editing to say that if you missed the sale at designer digitals Molly and Max has a freebie photo cluster that you can use to play around with this concept. Just an FYI...Designer Digitals has twenty-five cents off sales each week. You can sign up for their newsletter if you want to be reminded.

1. First set your page up in FotoFusion. I am creating a 12x12 collage. I like to add a .125 Safe Inset so that nothing important gets cut off in printing.

2. Bring the photo cluster into FotoFusion. There are various ways to bring items into FotoFusion. I just open the folder that has the cluster and drag it onto the canvas.


3. Next we want to protect the cluster so that it doesn't move around when you start adding in your photos. Click on "Tools" in the top menu bar, select "Layers" then check the "Protect" box.


4. The next step is to create the frames that we are going to add our photos to. Holding the "F" key and using one of the frames in the cluster, draw out a frame in the size you want. Turn off the border and the shadow on the frame. Repeat this step for all the frames in the cluster.

5. Next add your photos to each of the frames that you created. For this example I am using papers in the frames because I am not at a computer that has my photos. You should be able to just drop your photo directly into the frame.


6. Some of your photos may not be layered properly. Review each individual frame in the cluster and note what is not layered properly.


7. Right click on any layer that you want to move and select the appropriate command. (Send to back, send to front, bring forward, send backward). Sometimes this is just trial and error.


8. Add any other papers or embellishments and voilà your layout is complete.

Just Another Day in Paradise...

That's at least what October 1st was to me. But it was also the day that Stacy Julian challenged us to give ourselves a present. Woo-hoo count me in. I just LOVE presents. Well, it was a little different present than I expected. You can read all about it at her BLOG.

I don't have my pics in a little album yet. One is coming thanks to Amy Sorenson. I was one of the first twenty-five posters on her blog and she will be sending me a cute little album to put my cute little pictures in!

Here are the pictures. All taken on October 1, 2008. Sure if I was to choose ten photos to represent my life I would have chosen much different pictures. But I read Stacy's challenge, I had my camera in my purse and this was my day. Just another day in paradise!

For a brief description of each photo and why it was important to me on 10/1/08 see the set at my flickr

Life, organizing and the pursuit of designing...

Where have I been? What have I been doing?

Resizing 200 layouts to be printed so I could take advantage of the special offer from MyPicTales...yes it was a bit of work to resize my layouts to have the bleed required by the site. But I got 200 layouts printed for free...nada....zich...zilch! But if you missed the special don't despair. 8x8 layouts are fifty cents ($.50) and 12x12 layouts are seventy-five cents ($.75) So at that price you have no excuse not to get your layouts printed and into albums so your family and friends can actually see them.

Speaking of albums, after reading Stacy Julian's book Photo Freedom, I have been in the throes of reorganizing all my albums, in addition to printing hundreds of digital photos, and basically rethinking my whole scrapbooking/photo storage process. Oh yeah, I jumped right into the whole shebang...I got the Pioneer Storage Binders, the category drawers, the 12x12 albums, some 8x8 albums, the circle tags, papers to match the 12x12 albums, matching ribbons, etc. When I decide to do something I take off...I only hope that I continue and do not run out of motivation.

Oh my gosh I have spent days, hours, up until the wee hours of the morning working on some of the initial organization. It will probably take six months to get everything fully implemented and sunk into my brain. But what I have so far is now a system that I can work at in small increments. (you know the good ole 15 minute routine) And it is set up enough that I will be able to start my next project...

I am enrolled in Cathy Zielske's Design Your Life class over at Big Picture Scrapbooking. In fact the class starts today. Now you know I am a digital scrapbooker. But I have decided to TRY and do my layouts in paper. You may think this is like taking a step backwards. Maybe it is. But I am such a paper klutz I really want to force myself to work in this area. You say "oh no you are not a klutz". Well let me tell you it took me like an hour just to tie a little ribbon on the clasp of my album. Seriously....how can tying a little ribbon be so darned hard??? First you cut the ribbon too big...then you cut the ribbon too small...then when you tie the ribbon the pretty part is inside out...was I not standing in line when God passed out craft skills???

Oh and then there is the inking the edges thing. On the computer, I can grab a brush ink my edges and it is done. In real life????? Just rub the edge of your paper on the ink pad. You rub it the first time and no ink appears on the edge. Rub it a few more times...oh look the edge you don't see has ink. I want to be able to see the ink when the paper is adhered to the background. Ok so angle the paper...oh look I have a nice neat line of ink. I don't want a nice neat line. It is supposed to look grungy. Keep angling and be a little jerky. Now I have ink on my fingers, on the middle of the paper not just on the edges. Ok so throw that away and try again.

Well, I at least got my Pre Work assignment done. It is in paper and there are some inked edges. It took me forever. And Stacy Julian says to just create a title or section page in one of your 15 minute sessions. I don't think so!

Note the journaling in the bottom square. It looks a little too neat doesn't it? That is because Darcy Baldwin created a font from my handwriting. I think it is really cool even if it is much neater than my regular printing. I have pretty much been using it for the journaling on my digital layouts to give a bit of personal touch. So I typed it up and printed it out for the paper layout.