Our Wheel Parade

We had a Wheel Parade to celebrate the beginning of summer. Everyone came and decorated their bikes and scooters with ribbons and streamers and pipe cleaners and paper plates. When they were all ready, they lined up and paraded down the street to the end of the cul-de-sac and then back up to our house.

There was lots of decorating.

There was lots of posing.

There was lots of jumping out from behind the light pole and yelling "Surprise!"

There were LOTS of friends.

There was lots of zooming.

There was waving.

There was a little crashing, a little bleeding, and a few tears. But not too many.

There was lots of fun wheel-themed artwork.

And best of all, there were popsicles.

The kids had a great time. What a fun way to kick off summer vacation!

Oh, and I made the invitation in PSE, with Kim Meeder's super cute Tike Transports Collection from Scrap Girls.

Teacher Appreciation Week

I know this post is a little late, but I guess better late than never, right?

This year, the kids were asked to bring a little something for their teachers each day for Teacher Appreciation Week. In years past, I've made myself CRAZY trying to figure out something to do, staying up way too late making things for the next day, etc. This year I got smart and made everything at once. It was great to just tuck little things into the kids' backpacks each morning.

I used PSE and Melissa Renfro's Inspired Child Collection from Scrap Girls for all the tags.

On Monday, the kids were supposed to bring flowers. I had seen these really cute pencil vases on Pinterest, but I didn't really follow a tutorial. I just laid a strip of masking tape, sticky side up, on the table. I laid out pencils side by side on the masking tape (I used 36 pencils). I wrapped the masking tape/pencils around an empty soup can, overlapping the masking tape to hold it all in place. Then I covered the masking tape up with a piece of ribbon. Easy-peasy, and the teacher can take it apart and use the pencils later. The tag says "I think you are just WRITE."

On Tuesday, the kids were bringing a sweet treat. I knew Jared's teacher liked skittles, so that's what we went with. The tag says "You are better than any treasure found at the end of the rainbow."

On Wednesday, it was office supplies. I bought a couple of packs of sticky notes for each teacher and put them in cellophane bags. The tag says "Stuck like glue on you!"

On Thursday, they brought a salty treat. We chose boxes of microwave popcorn. "It's no Secret that I think you're great!"

On Friday, the kids were supposed to bring a note for their teacher. I had them each make a card and I added a note at the end. We slipped the notes inside these journals.

The kids also wanted to do something fun for their Specials teachers (Art, Music, and PE), so we made bags of Hersey's Nuggets for each of them and the tags say "I think you are as good as gold!"

Photo Editing Class at Scrap Girls

So, I know I'm the biggest blogging slacker around. I have about a dozen blogs started, but it'll be a while before I get them finished. So, while y'all are waiting with bated breath, I thought I'd prove that I actually AM doing something productive (please don't look at my kitchen floor or the pile of clean laundry waiting to be folded).

I'm teaching a class at Scrap Girls!


Online Class - Photo Fixes You Need to Know: PSE - Wednesdays, November 2 and 9 - 7:00 PM MT

If you are interested in learning more about photo editing, this is a great class to check out. And since we switched to the new Webinar system, it's a lot easier to SEE me work and HEAR me talk. No more chat room. :D

Megan's Room

For Megan's birthday, instead of presents she wanted to redecorate her bedroom. She said "I want something more grown up....What about MERMAIDS?"

Mermaids. Okay, I can work with that. I tried to choose the solid colors for the main pieces so that someday, when she is tired of mermaids, we can just take those elements down and not have to start completely from scratch.

Since I was working with a fairly small budget, I actually went all crafty and made a number of elements.

I started by making these posters for her walls because as a digital scrapbooker, that's what I was most comfortable with. They turned out cute, don't you think? All of the artwork is available HERE. I had them printed at Office Max on tabloid sized paper for like $0.75 each. Can't beat that!

For the other piece of wall art, I found a drawing of a mermaid online that I liked, cut it out, and then cut it apart (so I cut the tail off of the body, the hair, the rock, etc.). I traced each piece onto the appropriate colored felt and cut that out, and then glued all of the pieces to another piece of felt in the correct places. It was sort of like a puzzle. I stuck it in a frame I already had, and since I already had the felt and the glue, it was free! I'll probably repaint the frame at some point, but here it is:

After I made the first set of posters, I started looking for bedding that coordinated with it. This is what I found from Target:

I liked it because someday when she outgrows the mermaid theme, the bedding will probably still work.

Pulling colors from the posters, I knew I wanted to use green, dark purple, light purple, and sand (that's a color, right?). I brought those colors in as throw pillows and curtains. I really wanted to bring in some textures as well, so I  looked for those when I was shopping. I found the green pillow and purple curtains at Walmart, but I couldn't find the purple or sand pillows anywhere, so my ultra-talented friend Laura made them for me. I love the sequiny, sparkly sand colored pillow.

To add another layer of fabric to soften up the room, I got a canopy from IKEA to go over the bed. Since it was plain white, eventually I'll sewed on some large sequins randomly to give it a little sparkle. I'll probably also add some pieces of Infatuation Yarn because I think it looks a bit like seaweed.

I looked and looked for a lampshade to replace the pink one that Megan had before, but I couldn't find one that was the right size, shape, and price. So I painted the pink one with turquoise acrylic paint.then I glued on a glittery fish applique, with some small white buttons for bubbles.  It looks FABULOUS when the light is off, but when you turn the lamp on, the shade blocks out pretty much all the light. So you only get lamp light coming out at the bottom and the top. It makes for a dramatic lighting scheme at night. I used Infatuation Yarn around the top and the bottom of the lamp to tie it together with the canopy (and because I was too cheap to go buy more ribbon.)

I looked for a mermaid doll to put on Megan's bed, but couldn't find one I liked, so I bought a regular doll from the craft store and gave her a tail. I don't have a sewing machine, so it was all hand sewing on felt (I would have used hot glue, but I wanted it to last a little longer.)

There are still several more projects to complete - I would like to repaint the letters above the window to match the color scheme, and I would like to get coordinating bedding for Kate's crib, but those will have to wait.

Oh! Although I haven't done much to make Kate's crib cute yet, I did make a mobile. I took a medium sized embroidery hoop and wrapped it with purple ribbon. Then I colored some drawings of seashells in PSE, merged all layers,  made a duplicate of the document, flipped the duplicate horizontally, and sent both documents in to Office Max. They printed them back to back. They don't line up perfectly (they are pretty close, though), but since I didn't cut them out exactly on the lines, it doesn't matter. I attached the shells at different lengths to the hoop using invisible thread. Fishing line would probably be easier, but I already had the thread so that's what I used.

All in all, I am really pleased with how everything turned out.

Top Ten {Tuesday}: Favorite PSE Shortcuts

Find more great Top Ten lists at www.ohamanda.com


I love teaching people to use Photoshop Elements. It's not a very expensive program, and it can do so much! I use it for photo editing and digital scrapbooking. The more you use PSE, the quicker and easier it becomes. Knowing a few shortcuts can really kick things into high gear. I like to work with my right hand on my mouse, and my left hand on the keyboard, ready to use shortcuts. Here are a few of my favorites:

1. CTRL+Z (Undo) has to be the best part of PSE, hands down. It's so freeing to know that you can undo anything you want. Don't hesitate to play because you can't permanently mess anything up.

2. Knowing the keyboard shortcuts for the tools that get used the most: V=Move, B=Brush, C=Crop, W=Magic Wand, I=Eyedropper, K=Paint Bucket, S=Clone Stamp, M=Marquee, L=Lasso, U=Shape Tool. If a tool shares a spot with another tool (like the shape tool, pressing the key again will move it to the next tool. So, pressing U once gives you the Rectangle Shape tool. Press it again and you have the Rounded Rectangle tool. Again, and you get the Ellipse tool, etc.).

3. ALT+Click on the line between layers in the layers palette instead of CTRL+G for a clipping mask. I like it because you can use it to unclip as well.

4. CTRL+J to copy a layer or a selection,Shift+CTRL+J to cut a selection and paste it onto a new layer.

5. Hold the ALT key while resizing to resize from the center instead of from one side.

6. After applying a style (especially one you have customized), right click on the layer in the layers palette and choose "copy layer". Then, highlight and layers you want the style applied to, right click, and choose "paste style".

7. Hold the Space Bar down to get the "Hand" tool, especially when you are zoomed way in for fine brush work or making a detailed selection. Don't switch tools or zoom out, just hold the Space bar down, move to a new spot, and keep working.

8. Brackets [ and ] to change the size of your brush. And Right+Clicking to get the Brush Palette.

9. To quickly lighten an under exposed photo, make a copy of the photo layer (just drag the photo layer up on top of the New Layer Icon at the top of the Layers Palette and release), and change the Blending Mode to Screen. If it still isn't light enough, make a copy of the copy layer. The Blending Mode will be copied too. You can keep making copies until you get it light enough. Merge all of the layers together when you are done.

10. To quickly darken an over exposed photo, make a copy of the photo layer and change the Blending Mode to Multiply. If it still isn't dark enough, make a copy of the copy layer. You can keep making copies until you get it dark enough. If it's too dark, you can lower the opacity of the copied layer to get the look you want.

New Classes at SG!

 I just had two more classes go into the Scrap Girls store. One is a Basic photo editing class for PSE users called Photo Fixes You Need To Know - Photoshop Elements. We'll cover things like straightening pictures, fixing color casts, blemish removal and teeth whitening. Little things that make great pictures even better. Saturdays, July 10 and 17 - 9:00 AM MT

(Scrapbooking page uses: ABC Fun Collection Biggie, A Little Worn Out Collection, AMC_Chalk Talk Font, and ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Basic Shadows 6501)

The other class is based on Shalae Tippetts' fabulous Mastering Brushes in PSE book. This ebook is so full of techniques for brush work, but it can be overwhelming because of the sheer amount of information it covers. The class is 6 sessions long, and it's a great way to break the book up.Wednesdays, July 7 - August 11, 7 PM M. Mastering Brushes in PSE Digital Scrapbooking Class

(Scrapbooking page uses: Mastering Brushes for Photoshop Elements eBook, Zac and Sarah Collection Biggie, ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Basic Shadows 6501, ScrapSimple Layer Your Own Brushes: Scallops, ScrapSimple Type Shapes: Circles 8301 Biggie, Brush Set: Grungelle)

I'm in love with my Bind-It-All

I outdid my crafty self this time. A few months ago, I was hanging some frames up in Jared's room. To get the frames to lay against the wall correctly, I had to take the stiff cardboard triangle-y thing off the backs. After I ripped them off, I thought "Hey - those are sort of tie-shaped. They would make great covers for a cute Father's Day mini album!"

I scanned one piece and opened it in PSE to use as a guide for my album pages. It didn't scan as crisply as I had hoped, and I wanted my pages to be a little smaller than the cover, so I just used it as a guide. I created my own template in PSE. Since the sides were straight, I used the Polygonal Lasso to draw the sides. When I had my shape outlined, I created a new layer and used the Paint Bucket tool to fill the selection. CTRL+D to deselect. This became my template. I deleted the original scanned layer, leaving me with just one layer with a transparent background.

I created a duplicate file (File>Duplicate), and flipped the template vertically (Image>Rotate>Flip Vertically) to create the template for the back side of each page.

I opened and edited the pictures that I wanted to include in the album. Since it was for my husband, I wanted to keep things very clean lined and simple, so I chose just one picture for each page (or one picture for the bottom page and a paper for the top page). I moved a photo or digital paper onto the template document, and used a clipping mask (CTRL+G) to make it take on the shape of the template. I added a quote or thought to the pages that just had paper and no picture. Then I went File>Save As, and named it something original. Like "Father's Day Album page 1" or "Father's Day Album page 2". Something original like that. I used a .png file type so that

Once all of the individual pages were finished, I created several 11x17 documents and placed as many of the .png files on to them. I got 5 per page. I saved these as .jpegs, and I emailed them to Office Max. They printed them as colored files on cardstock. I really like to have this kind of thing printed at Office Max. I like their paper (for something that won't be in page protectors, I don't like to use photo paper), and they are always really helpful and quick. I ask for prices on a variety of sized papers and then try to put as many album pages onto one paper as I can to save cost. I got 5 per 11x17 inch paper, and each paper cost me $1.25. That's only $0.25 per page. I couldn't print it for that price at home - even if my printer was working right now.

I roughly cut out each album page, matched them up and glued them back to back, and then trimmed them. I glued the cover pages to the cardboard pieces and after they dried I trimmed them as well.

Then I used my Bind-It-All to punch through the cardboard pieces (I had a moment of panic when the cardboard pieces were almost too thick to fit in the Bind-It-All! After all this work, I would have fallen apart if I hadn't been able to punch the covers! I jammed them in and they did fit finally). I put all of the pages in order, inserted the O-wire and used the Bind-It-All to close it all. Tada! A tie shaped Father's Day album for my sweetie.

Along with my Bind-It-All, a glue stick, scissors, and some modge podge, I used some digital supplies: His and Hers Collection Biggie, A Little Worn Out Collection, Brush Set: Grungelle, and AMC_Doodlelicious Font.

I loved these quotes:

• It kills you to see them grow up. But I guess it would kill you quicker if they didn't. ~ Barbara Kingsolver
• Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. ~Elizabeth Stone
• Any man can be a father. It takes someone special to be a dad. ~Author Unknown
• Dad, your guiding hand on my shoulder will remain with me forever. ~Author Unknown
• The greatest gift I ever had came from God; I call him Dad! ~Author Unknown
• I don't care how poor a man is; if he has family, he's rich. ~M.A.S.H., Colonel Potter
• A daughter needs a dad who will let her know that while she may not be the center of someone else's world, she is the center of his. ~Gregory E Lang
• Dad, you're someone to look up to no matter how tall I've grown. ~Author Unknown
• You don't marry someone you can live with, you marry the person who you cannot live without. ~Author Unknown
• Soul mates are people who bring out the best in you. They are not perfect but are always perfect for you. ~Author Unknown