Lauren Ferguson | There are no mistakes in art, just opportunites to embellish. (tm)

Beauty is...

The one thing I do not have is a green thumb. I never liked working in the dirt. I never wanted to go to hang on a farm.

I am a little black kid from the suburbs of NJ and as close to doing the lawn and planting I want to ever get is giving the guy my money.

Now that does not mean that I do not have friends who like to play in the dirt. I actually invite them over to make sure that my children have a well rounded appreciation of the dirt.

But play in it as relaxation or fun... NOT! As a matter of fact, I am the house on the block that only cuts the lawn.

My motto is if it grows in my flower beds, then it must be a flower. Who would have thought that weeds could be so beautiful. LOL

I was sitting out on the side of my house a few months back and saw these amazing flowers growing in between the weeds.

The first thoughts that ran through my mind were

Man is the only critter who feels the need to label things as flowers or weeds. 

May all your weeds be wildflowers.

Then I ran and got my camera.

The next day, I saw that the neighbors had cut the vines and the weeds out.

I am convinced that I was the only one in the universe that got to enjoy them. So rather than hoarding all their beauty for myself, I decided to share them with you.

ENJOY!

until we meet again,

Getting Digi with it!

Y'all know that the closest I am going to get to scrapbooking is this digi stuff.

I love it!

I cannot say more about how wonderful it is to be able to take my photos and not stress over anything.

I am not worried about having the right paper or the right embellishment.

I am loving the fact that I do not need to print photos or what size they need to be.

I even love the fact that they are not all black and white. And I love my black and white photos.

I still have two more weeks of this self paced class. So here they are, the photos from the park.

OK, so my take on this whole digital thing is changing.  While I still need my textiles and to have glue under my nails, I just love being able to take photos and get the story down. It has made such a difference in the way that I take pictures now.

I still have a bunch of photos from the park, but how many layouts can a girl be expected to do of the same day at the park. So I grabbed some of my favorites.

Did you notice, I even added some journaling.

All in all, this is not a bad thing.

until we meet again,

Oh Somebody Stop Me...

I have projects that are due in days and I am still sitting in front of this computer doing another layout.

I have sat in front of this computer while polymer clay has been calling my name for the past three days.

Oh how I love this digi thing. Oh I just love it.

I realized that I do not like a bunch of stuff on my digital layouts. Not like my traditional stuff.

What I am totally digging is the brushes and the patterned paper.

Now lets keep it all in perspective.

I have not found myself with any creative Mojo to make my own layouts. I am still a do it from the sketch kinda girl.

I am still at the point of being excited the computer does what it does more than once when I click the mouse.

As soon as I get comfortable with piecing together my own layouts...

Somebody stop me.

until we meet again,

Another Digi Layout!!

I had been working on this layout all day long.

And it was just one of those things that sat on the desktop. It was just one of those days when I was moving in and out and just took my time.

I just love being able to grab a photo and re-size, drop and drag. But picking the photos is so hard. That is the time suck of the digital thing.

I must have tried seven photos before I found the right one.

This is a photo of our trip to the Chattanooga Aquarium in the Butterfly House.

Amy's husband, Wade, was the apple of Chi-Chi's eye. She could see no one else but him. They found a butterfly and he was passing it to her. I snapped this photo just as the wings opened.

I have finally figured out brushes. Thank goodness because it was killing me to change the colors and sizes. The bracket key is just the bomb.  I love it!!

I am still confused??  How is this suppose to save me money?  I want to spend all my money on brushes. I want to upgrade to the newest full version. I want to buy it all.

Am I wrong or was that what you thought?  WRONG!!! 

You just can now put it all on an external hard drive and not have to worry about running out of adhesive.

You have been warned!!  Don't say I did not tell you. You must have restraint.

until we meet again,

Digi Addicted

Oh Please somebody stop me. 

I could not sleep so I came down to the dungeon to do my third lesson in the Digital series.

I spent more time writing and rewriting my journaling.

These were some of the pictures that Chi-Chi took when I was teaching at Memories Expo in NJ. 

I really do love the process of of being able to get some photos on a layout and get the journaling done so that I do not forget.

I found a site online that will take my handwriting and turn it into a font for next to nothing. 

I do have my signature scanned in, but I would have loved to have handwritten the journaling on this one.  I am just so excited.

While I am very much a beginner, I am enjoying the process of putting my photos on the page again.

I think I may do another layout tomorrow. I have so much time that I need to spend on the computer and making phone calls, that I might just be able to squeeze in a few moments to get another layout done. I even have some other digi stuff to use.

until we meet again,

Brushes and Another Digi Layout

I have to admit that I am loving the whole thing. I am glad that I can get some photos on layouts and get them done. I love it.  I also understand why it is so easy to drop and drag photos.

I have been in front of this computer for the past few hours trying to work with these colors. Then a friend just told me to get over myself and turn the photo black and white.  DUHHHH!!

Oh how I love my friends.

I still have not figured out how to change the color of a brush. Yes, I know I know.  I told you I have sat here for hours trying to get the colors to change. I just decided that tomorrow is another day. 

I love the layout.  We went to the Chattanooga Aquarium two years ago and I just love this picture of all the kids in front of the large water tank.

It was perfect. And that picture was taken with my cheap, now Chi-Chi's world, camera.

This is going to cause me to have to buy a large format printer. I thought the purpose of digi-scrapping was to stop me from spending so much money.

My frugal friend Amy Wood will kill me if I come home with a large format printer.  I just won't tell her... YET!!  (Love ya Amy)

until we meet again,

MY FIRST DIGI LAYOUT!!!!

Oh My Gosh!!!

I just sat and did my first Digi Layout Ever!! 

Yes, I paid to do the online class with Jessica Sprague. I have no idea who she is.

I was told to take the self-paced class and I am loving it.

Oh, I can scrapbook like this again. 

I not only did a 12 by 12. But look, it is a picture of me and my hubby.

A first.  I have never done any pictures of us.

I may be able to get my wedding album done if I keep this up.  I am going to have to scan in over 1500 photos to get it done, but I am feeling a digi album coming along.

I have to say that the basic skills that I have and now understanding the easiest way to push this rock up the hill is really not so bad.

I can't believe it!  I digi scrapped!  Holy Moly. Watch out Hybrid, here I come.

Did I mention that I used some color!  I am just grinning from ear to ear. 

until we meet again,

Digital Stuff

OK, yall I have never worked with Adobe Photoshop Elements before.  I have it on my new computer and I need to get a project done for publication.

I have just tonight started learning how to use it.  My first project was the new header.

I must admit that I really like it.  I also have to admit that I have a whole bunch to learn.  But just from what I could figure out on my own in a few hours, I came up with this new header.

And I figured while I was at it, I would give y'all a real picture of me.  Now, I am 12 pounds thinner and I still have my hair.  Now, y'all do know that while I may grow some hair, I do not plan on combing it.  Nope, not me.

But I figured that it was time to get out of the past and step to the present. 

Wow, all this reality is way more than I can handle.  So I am going to bed.

until we meet again,