Tis The Season For Love ? and Stress!
September 22, 2007
The holidays are upon us and for many people this is the most stressful time of year. There is so much to do and not enough time to do it in, places to go, people to see, gifts to buy, food to prepare, and on and on and on. We may feel overwhelmed, frustrated, exhausted, and angry, rather than joyful, loving and peaceful. Greeting cards proclaim wishes of peace, joy, happiness, and love regardless of the event being celebrated. They talk of families gathering, warm homes filled with love and peace, but for many, those wishes do not translate into reality.
Our memories of wonderful holidays from our childhood and our expectations for this year may put an enormous amount of pressure on us. There are traditions to be followed and expectations to be met, those of others and those we put on ourselves, along with the commercialism that has the stores full of holiday decorations and "gifts" even before the Halloween candy has been put away. Some people will struggle through much of next year to pay off the credit card debt that they accumulate over the holidays. But saddest of all, is when the holiday is over and we think to ourselves "Is that all there is?" "Where was the joy, the peace, the love?" "Why does it seem as though it never measures up to our expectations?"
How to Use Textured Paper and Book Jacket Backgrounds to Give Your Scrapbook Dimension
September 21, 2007
Textured paper can add extra dimension to your scrapbooking page. Textured paper can be used to highlight focus items on your scrapbook page. Textured paper can also be used as a backgrounds or border to give your page an interesting fresh look.
Textured paper is available in a variety of textures and colors and is available in most craft and office supply stores.
For an added personal touch and artist flair use a book jacket as a background. This scrapbook technique looks especially nice when the book jacket is the reader’s favorite book or author, adding a wonderful personalized touch.
Be aware, however, that the glossy coating on the book jacket creates an added challenge to sticking objects to this background. Alternative attachment methods include sewing and eyelets.
One good way to add dimension to images is to use double stick foam tape. Double stick foam tape literally allows items to pop out at your reader adding realism to items. This technique is especially useful in children’s art and educational scrapbooks.
Simply, cut the foam tape into whatever shape and size you want. Then, attach to shape onto your scrapbook page. Double stick foam tape is available at most craft stores in various colors and thicknesses.
The Leather Look, Accents, and Punching for Your Scrapbook
September 20, 2007
A leather look can add elegance to your scrapbooking page.
To create a unique leather look, simply distress cardstock. To do this, grip the cardstock in your hands. Then, with a gentle circular motion, rub the cardstock together as if you were pre-treating a laundry stain. Gradually, work your way around the cardstock until you get the desired effect.
Simple accents can be added to your pictures, borders, and backgrounds to create an air of softness and elegance. Simply rub chalk (or eye shadow) along the edges of the paper. The color of chalk chosen can be either a similar color to the background, a contrasting color, or an outlining color such as black or grey depending on the result you want.
Basically punching is the cutting out of an image or piece of text using a cookie cutter like tool. Most punches are made of die cast steel. They come in various shapes and sizes. Photographs and text blocks can be punched into virtually any shapes or sizes. These shapes can add to the impact of the themes.
Photography Poses ? The Missing Ingredient
September 19, 2007
You’ve read all the “best digital camera” articles, got the best price on your first digital camera, and even glanced at its owner’s manual. Are you itching to take some shots of your family, or what?
Slow down, soldier. Before you take 200 shots that seem great at the time, but then upon review of the final picture are less than what you expected, let’s prepare. Prepare?!?! I’ll bet you thought charging the battery was the hardest part of taking great photos, didn’t you? Sorry to disappoint you, but if you want to improve your photo results 50% in 2 minutes, let’s review some basic advice of the pros.
There are two categories of GENERAL ADVICE which applies, regardless of whether you’re using a digital camera to take family portrait poses, baby pictures, pet portraits, group pictures, funny photos, or even maternity portraits. The first category is…
“Good Planning” Advice for Photography Poses
1) Prepare For The Event
Prepare for the event by thinking about every photograph you want to take and what kind of photography pose or poses you would like to capture. Consider who, where, how, and the type of environment.
Happy Holidays? It?s Up To You
September 18, 2007
The Holiday Season. Does time seem to compress, or is it just me? There’s so much going on — the end of autumn, the beginning of winter, and all the holidays that follow. As a child it was an exciting time of year. As an adult, it seems filled with more shopping, baking, parties, and other events than I can squeeze into the available time.
In Aikido, the martial art that I practice and teach, we have something called “randori,” an exercise in which the student stands alone on the practice mat and as many as five opponents attack simultaneously. Sometimes the holidays feel like this — which task, event, or relationship do I take on first?
The first secret of randori is to handle one attack at a time. I can’t let myself become overwhelmed by the enormity of what’s out there. I must stay fully present with what’s right in front of me. It’s hard to do, but it saves time, energy, and wear and tear!
Secret #2 is to engage the attack. Though it sounds counterintuitive, welcoming the attack puts me in charge of it. I decide what I want to handle first and move toward it.
Choice and Social Acceptance in Human Organizations
September 17, 2007
Let’s discuss choice and social acceptance. I had the most interesting conversation the other day with a friend at a coffee shop. I was working on a quote and read it out loud and then we discussed it for hours. First here is the quote:
“It is interesting how many groups, religions, teams, military organizations, etc. offer: "Social Acceptance" all in trade for you giving up your ideals, thoughts, personal observations and dreams.”
This of course later after the conversation had two qualifiers.
First; You actually have to have formed ideals, thoughts, personal observations and dreams (Many perceive they have formed such, but in reality are brainwashed like the masses through media bombardment and the nurturing within the false land of political correctness. These poor souls have merely convinced themselves that they believe rhetoric which has been purported as fact throughout the history of mankind).
Faux Wax Seals, Tearing, and Fraying in Your Scrapbooks
September 17, 2007
Would you like to add more creative appeal to your scrapbooks? Here are three methods to add more depth and creativity to your scrapbook creations.
A good way to make your own personal seals is with Crayola Model Magic. Simply, roll out a small ball of the clay. Then, imprint this ball with a small rubber stamp or a brass seal. In this way, you can create whatever stamp impressions you can imagine.
Also, who would of ever thought ripping or tearing your project would be a good thing. Well here’s how tearing actually adds character to your scrapbook.
As the word suggests, tearing is the ripping of paper or tissue paper into various shapes or abstract forms. Tearing creates an artist look to backgrounds, borders, and embellishments.
Be aware however, because tearing does not comply well with all themes. In some more formal themes tearing appears unprofessional. However, when used correctly it really adds a nice look to your work.
Fraying can create extremely interesting and artist border accents. Fraying looks especially good in children’s scrapbooks, as well as pages for your more creative and imaginative friends. Be careful, fraying does not comply well with all themes. In some more formal themes fraying creates an unprofessional appearance.
Lucky…
September 16, 2007
You make me smile like I’ve seldom done before You give me a reason to want more and more…
Of you - of us any time - any where It doesn’t matter as long as you’re there…
In your heart and in your soul as much as in mine We have a connection that escapes time…
And probably logic as some people would say But it does not matter if we cannot be us today…
Or tomorrow for everyone to see because what we share is between you and me…
We cannot turn back time to another place when our lives were different and we didn’t face…
The challenges of being together today… Our obstacles only lead us to find new ways…
To share a special moment or steal a little kiss… Something so special that many people miss -
Out on for their entire lives Not lucky enough to find That one person who satisfies their body and their mind…
We are truly special because we found each other no matter how hard it is to be together…
Right now atleast - We will find a way to see each other almost every day…
The Only New Year?s Resolution You Need
September 15, 2007
I am going to make a bold statement. I think I have the only New Year’s Resolution you need. You have got to be kidding, right??!!! You don’t know me, Kimberly. You don’t know that I need to lose 20lbs., exercise, be a better mother, be a better worker, a better wife, etc. How in the world can you boil it down to one New Year’s Resolution?
We can find our one New Year’s Resolution in the Bible. Listen to this verse,
"Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."
1 Corinthians 10:31. What do you think? Can we sum up all the many roles in our lives and state without reservation that we are doing them to the glory of God? I have to admit I do not do everything to the glory of God, but that certainly is a goal to try and attain. When you look at your New Year’s Resolutions how do they look differently in light of this verse? Do I eat to the glory of God? Do I parent my children to point them to God and reflect his glory? Do my co-workers know there is something different about me, because I reflect God’s glory?
Wax Pencils, Stickers, and Rubber Stamping in Your Scrapbooks
September 14, 2007
Another important writing implement for scrapbooking is a wax pencil. Wax pencils are soft pencils designed to write on glass, plastic and photographs. These pencils are easy to draw with and can be used to color in portions of lettering, in borders, or to create accents.
The unique thing about wax pencils is that if they are used on the front of a photograph, the ink will rub off. However, when used on the back of a photograph, the ink will become permanent. Wax pencil ink is acid free and available in a variety of colors.
Stickers are fun and easy to stick to scrapbook pages. Stickers can be used for captions, thought bubbles, to hide mistakes, or as embellishments. Stickers of your child’s favorite cartoon or television program can add a personal accent to your scrapbook page.
However, not all stickers are suitable for scrapbooking. Check to see if the stickers are lignin free and acid free. Furthermore, be careful that the sticker adhesive does not dry out or seep around the edges. Never place a sticker on a photograph as the adhesive may cause irreversible damage to the photograph.
