Beginnings Layout & Evan @ the Park

I have spent so much time the last three months learning Photoshop Elements, and now Photoshop, that I have neglected my traditional scrapbooking a bit. I really want Jack's book to start coming together so I pulled out some traditional supplies + played in Photoshop to create a hybrid page:

The photo of me at the top isn't great, but I had just had Jack a couple of hours before, so I had an excuse, right? This page is 6x12. [Supplies: Page protector: American Crafts. Pattern Paper: Chatterbox. Cardstock: Bazzill. Digital Elements: Ali Edwards & Karla Dudley. Acetate Heart: Heidi Swapp. Border Punch: EK Success. Other: Staple.]

A couple of close-ups:

Evan starts pre-school tomorrow & in preparation of his big day, we headed to his school today to play on the equipment and run off some energy. He was a little bundle of energy (and naughty-ness!) this afternoon, so this trip was good for him:

I have a ton of photos from this trip, over 200, but I don't have time to sort through them tonight. Evan learned how to

swing on his own, which he just loved :-)

The past several weeks I have been searching for some photos that I thought were lost on my hard drive. They were

taken when Jack was just a couple of days old, and I was getting very upset at the thought that they were gone forever.

Tonight, I found them! Somehow they were moved to my external hard drive and were in really weird digital download

folders. I cannot tell you how relieved I am to have them back. I take thousands and thousands of photos, but these are

particularly special because of how little Jack was. Those first few days and weeks go by so fast, and those photos show

growth & special relationships & just how tired I was! A couple of those photos I look just exhausted... completely

overjoyed, but exhausted. I want to remember those moments. I am so happy to have my photos back! Thank you,

hubby, for putting up with me tonight & for taking care of my frustrations. I love you!

Tomorrow is the big day & I am really anxious/nervous/excited/scared to death to be dropping Evan off... and leaving

him... for three whole hours. Wish us luck.

Up & Running with Photoshop Lesson Four

I had a chance to finish up Jessica Sprague's Up & Running with Photoshop class tonight. Here is the layout I created:

This is one of my favorite photos of Jack & I was excited to use it on this beautiful layout.

Jack also turned 4 months old yesterday :-) We are enjoying our time with him so very much:

Have a blessed Sunday, friends.

New Photoshop Technique by Karla Dudley

A couple of months ago I was checking my favorite blogs and was linked to a Photoshop technique by Karla Dudley: making creative drop shadows for photos. I finally had a chance to try her technique today:

It was actually really simple to do & I love the results! The One Little Word site has a whole section dedicated to tutorials... by Karla and other great scrapbookers. It's a great resource for digital & paper scrapbooking.

-E

Today...

... we went to Evan's pre-school open house. Evan got a chance to see his classroom full of students & play in the learning centers. He also made a name tag for the first day:

... we headed to the Palouse Discovery Science Center for a science lesson on melting (ice and a freezer pop) & some free play:

("Mommy, this is a yeild!" We learned all about yield signs during our walks along the Chipman Trail earlier this week.)

... this little guy was a fantastic traveler today & hung out in his car seat/stroller for most of the morning:

... Evan had a complete conversation with Jack about his cars & his orange juice & his school while Jack was taking a swing:

... Jack hung out on his play mat and worked on his hand/eye coordination. He is getting so good at pulling on the

toys hanging above him & making his little monkey & penguin rattle:

... Evan spent a long time playing with his Handy Manny transforming truck. That darn song is still stuck in my head:

... Evan got to use his cars as paint brushes and create a cool tire track painting. He thought I was crazy when I told

him he got to dip his cars in paint. His creations turned out great & are hanging in our kitchen right now:

... I want to share a couple of recent layouts (both have been created digitally):

We are going to enjoy the last beautiful days of August outside at the park & having a picnic & maybe a trip to Kamiak

Butte. We will be enjoying our time together.