Epson(dot)com--we'll call it "The Iron Age" of Digi Scrapping

One Saturday, when I still lived in Wymount, I saw a scrapbook show on BYU TV. They had a segment on digi scrapping, and referred their viewers to the epson website to download free papers and embellishments. (The older the download, the less attractive the pages). These pages (and many others) followed. I don't remember the title of the show, but they have tutorials online that are worth looking up, especially if you have photoshop or a similar program. I would say these pages each took me about half an hour--I was getting better. All of them are my own layouts--that's what takes me the longest time--TRYING to figure out how I want the layout to look and what pics to use.

I actually created all of this one (even the brads),

except I downloaded the orange, patterned page in the middle.

Just enough shading (yay me!), but not enough distressing.

I changed the colors--it looks weird

(it wouldn't if I'd deleted the buttons),

but these colors matched better.

If only I had used more shading!--and distressing!

Finally, the downloads are starting to incorporate distressed edges!

I didn't do this layout. It was all put together for me.

I just had to find a picture, resize it and drop it in.

Love it! Of course, I have the papers if I ever want to do my own layout.
I don't use pre-made as much, becuase I usually have specific things I want to do,

and it's hard to find matching pre-made pages for free.

Some Digi Invites--still mostly primitive

The very first thing I EVER made digi-wise was our wedding invitation. I started mostly with invitations, actually. Then when I discovered epson(dot)com, they got a little more interesting. I still didn't realize that there were so many sites out there with even cooler freebie papers and embellishments, so these still aren't my best work--the shading could definitely improve--but I like them--especially the ones with my hot hubby in them. (These ones are in sequential order from what I made first to last).

This took me forever, because we both had sunburn really bad (you can still tell on my arm), this was our best photo (we actually busted out the tripod for this one--none of that cheap hanging from trees stuff), and Robert was across the Atlantic, so I couldn't get another one. I learned how to take the red out of people's complexions, though--a very helpful skill. It also took me awhile going back and forth from the printers, because the green on the side wasn't right the first few times. Printer's ink does NOT exactly match your computer screen, so if you need to match embellishments, or envelopes, or something, make a couple of examples to take to the printers, or just focus on something that won't clash instead of something that will match.

Maybe not the most impressive invite,

but I like it because I learned how to make the words triple-toned :D.

Yes, I know I spelled Marriott wrong. . .

but I put shading under the pictures. . . so I pretty much rock. I wasn't sure of all of the information for Nana's 2nd B-day,

so I wrote that on later with a marker.

Obviously, I've discovered epson at this point. . .

just not the value of shading everything.

Primitive Digi Scrapping

These are a few of my firsts. (I thought I'd put them up before the nice ones so my more recent ones look really impressive. . . lol).

There is either little or no attempt at making 3D effects. Everything focuses on the layout with very few embellishments. I was also still making my own backgrounds (I had not yet discovered the shabby princess or epson dot com). These pages took me up to an hour each. (I was still learning a LOT, and I usually take a long time with my paper scrapping, too).

This plaid took FOREVER. I didn't know about the aviary yet (I'll talk about that later). This is actually one of my later firsts (the pictures came up backwards, so read them backwards if you want the full effect ;D). There are a lot of tricks in this one: shadow, embossing, cut outs, ribbon (or rather my first attempt at ribbon--it gets better), vellum. . .

One thing I did use right away (becasue I already had been editing photos) was the option to enhance the coloring of the photos--see how rich the colors are? These Christmas pictures were actually really dark and wouldn't have been worth printing if I'd been paper scrapping.

All of these pictures were in drastically different lighting, so I gave them all a pink tint so they would match better. I like how it turned out. And is that a little shadow around the letters I see? Hmmm. . . I must be getting better at the 3D stuff already. . . lol.

Yes, I made all of those stripes. I actually made this one more as a template for the boy (Eenie) that I was expecting at the time. No, I never put a picture of him in the template. Go figure.

I was naughty. I lifted this from a design contest online. That is why there are actual embellishments. It was very fuzzy, so I had to replace everything (except the embellishments, of course). There are lots of places online to get ideas, though.

You can still make some neat things without knowing much about special features.

Not a single shadow. I still like it.

Just Wondering

Could someone leave a comment or email me at alimaegardner@hotmail.com if the comments aren't working? I don't really know what I'm doing.

Yup, Bored Again

So, Robert just got a new battery for his laptop. That means that I'm free to use the desktop when he studies in the evenings. This is both good and bad news. Because Robert's in the living area, I don't want to work out there (i.e. do the dishes). I have issues with people watching me work--unless their working with me--unless their telling me what to do. Anyway, before I stoop to the level of searching random videos on YouTube all night (a recent past time of mine), I thought I might right another post.

What I'm thinking right now:
I want Brick Oven Pizza AND Root Beer. . . Right Now.


I can't believe I spelt "write" wrong just now.
Is spelt a word?
I took an English Linguistic class from Dallin H. Oaks's son.
Sometime I should right (I mean write) a brag post about all of the neat things I've done (so people could realize how cool I am, of course. . . bwah hah ha hah).
I think I've had too much sugar.
I wonder if there's any rootbeer downstairs.
Is rootbeer one word or two?
I totally saw something move out of the corner of my eye.
I am NOT going downstairs!
Darn it. I didn't switch the laundry.
I won't have clean pants for my dr appt tomorrow.
Shoot. I wish I could find where I wrote down what time my appt is.
I used to use google calendar a lot. I wish I still did.
I wonder if Robert needs a study break.
"RahhooooOOOooobert, would you mind putting the darks in the dryer for me and bringing up the lights?"
I'm so glad he didn't complain--he just said, "Sure."
I'n't he great.
There's no way I'm asking HIM if there's any rootbeer down there. :oP
He gets upset when I eat bad food.
Woe is me.
That was probably too personal to put on a blog, oh well.
I've been trying to find this cartoon forever. . . it's about a bald eagle that is so bald that when he flies, the sun reflects off his head and his bird friends all fall to the ground because they are blinded. Then there's this buffalo that has such a long beard that he can't walk around because he trips over it. They both sing this song "Woe, woe, woe is me. Things for me are as bad as can beEe." I'm sure you can guess the end of the story--the buffalo shaves his head to give the eagle a beard, and they both realize things could always be worse.

And with that, I'm going to go search random videos on YouTube all night.

P.S. If you actually read all of that--you amaze me.
P.P.S. (as in post post script--it drives me nuts when people right [uhhh. . . write] P.S.S.) If you actually read all of that, you are probably just as bored as I am. We should hang out.

Aiyyyyaeii!!!!

I'm so bored. My house isn't clean, I haven't showered, I could browse some blogs. . . there's lots I could do. I should probably also find my: wedding ring, cell phone (which actually belongs to my in-laws), driver's license (yikes!), camera. . .ummm. . . and my motivation. But right now, I'm DYING of boredom. I don't WANT to do anything. My Mom says that if you're bored, you're boring. Of course, Mom says a lot of things quite often. Maybe I'll post some pics.

This is Robert on a subway on his trip to Europe. He's so hot it makes me want to cry. Of course, that's not the only reason.

Here I am with Robert at about 2 AM the night he proposed (in January) at my parents'. It took us about half an hour (longer?) to tell my parents because my mom wouldn't stop talking about how my hamster ran away. Yes, four years ago I looked that good that early in the morning. No, we never found the hamster. (BTW, I lost that ring, too--never found it. I'm beginning to notice a trend here.)

Cue Steve. This is just a bad picture of Steve that makes me laugh--and kind of cry--but mostly just be angry. These two guys were mission companions in Stanley. We kind of sent Steve on secret missions for us while we were dating. Case in point: I wrote a "do you like me? check yes or no" type letter in Chem 105 (which I conveniently shared with Steve), and Steve delivered it to Robert in English (which was also conveniently Robert's class). What I would give to have those letters! Here they are at their mission reunion. I didn't go. They doorbell ditched me on their way home (actually, I'm not sure Steve did). That night was the first time Robert called me Ali Mae. I didn't like it. :P!

Irreconcilable Differences

Nana doesn't want to go to the potty.
I want her to.

Nana will take off her diaper to mess on the floor.
I don't want her to.

Nana won't sit on the potty seat.
I fail at bribing her.

Nana will run naked through the house all day.
I don't let her.

Nana loves toilet paper.
I'm running out of toilet paper.

Nana doesn't want her diapers, but she also doesn't want the potty. . .
I just want the stink to stop.

"R" Movies

are bad. I know. I made a commitment to stop watching them when I was like 16 or something, and now I can't believe I ever began watching them. They aren't worth it. Period. Most PG-13 movies aren't worth it either, and I (except once last year, and it was awful) never watch those without studying them out beforehand.

However. . . I'm a little hypocritical. Today I heard a song that reminded me of one of my all-time favorite heartwarming scenes (from an "R" movie). Soooo. . . I sought out the clip on YouTube. I've learned 2 things. Some things are better in your memories than they actually were in the beginning, and I have the hugest teenage-type crush on Hugh Grant (which is awful, because he doesn't have the cleanest background, oh well).

Anyways, it used to make me cry, but not so much right now. I do think of this clip often. It's one of those things you see that help shape you into the person you are, or at least the one you want to be. . . I want to be the man on stage, with his eyes closed, feeling a song that used to make him spout snide remarks, for a purpose he didn't know he had.

Movie: About a Boy
Background (Spoiler alert--but we all know you shouldn't be watching "R" movies anyway, so it's okay, right :D): The boy's mom is depressed. She has recently tried to commit suicide. Her favorite song is the song he's about to sing. He was going to sing it for the school talent show with a bunch of his friends playing instruments, but they decided it was too nerdy, and they chickened out. (The boy already is bullied at school). The man, Hugh Grant, has been a rich, selfish bachelor, who has never cared about others, but has sort of been chosen by this boy to be his mentor. He has previously made fun of the boy and his mom for singing this song at home and being so moved by the lyrics that they would close their eyes as they sang). Okay, I think you're up to speed. . .

Click here for the YouTube clip that I couldn't figure out how to put on here :D

Nothing Interesting to Say:

Hi. I felt the need to blog, but didn't have anything to say.
What's happening right at this second:

We just got home from a road trip to Pittsburgh.

JoJo's running around the house after her bath in wet hair and a diaper. . . the diaper, she tells me, is NOT stinky--it's POOPY. (Did I mention I just gave her a bath?)

Eenie's pushing keys as I type, and just found Robert's Christmas gifts: a box of thin mints and a box of Russel Stover. (I was wondering where he hid those.)

Robert's putting together the two chairs we bought today from IKEA :).

I'm getting ready to put the kids to bed, and do the laundry, hopefully watch the fifth Harry Potter with Robert, and finish what I need to do for primary.

I can still taste the Subway sandwich we all shared for dinner. I'm still kind of hungry--maybe I'll go eat a yogurt before I start any real work (or there's always Robert's chocolates ;D).

Happy New Year everybody!

Sunday Study

I have always believed that any religion is better than no religion (save Satan worshipping, which is just creepy and does NOT lead to any type of happiness--I know from secondhand experience). I was reading an article about a study that showed apx. 70-80% of Mormons who have left the church become aetheist. This was one of their reasons:

" They feel the evidence supporting the reliability of the Bible/Christianity is no stronger than the evidence for the Book of Mormon/Mormonism. This is encouraged by the LDS church’s deconstruction of all other Christian faiths. It’s a restoration church so it has to show why mainstream Christianity is false and why the Bible is unreliable by itself. To supports it’s own mission, the LDS church has latched onto the best the anti-Christian community has to offer and used it to bolster its own claims. When ex-Mormons leave the LDS church, they don’t need to learn why mainstream Christianity is false, they’ve been taught that their whole lives."

(No, I do not remember who wrote it--yes, I'm awful at this editor stuff. But, you can find the whole thing on MormonTimes.com)

I thought that was interesting. I don't see Mormonism that way personally, but I do see it around me. My favorite thing in the world is Medieval studies. Ooohhhh. . . don't get me started. Just looking at an illuminated text, well, there's really not much out there more beautiful. Thing is. . . pretty much everything Medieval has Catholic undertones. I wish I could take a class in Catholicism. That, dear friends, is a FASCINATING religion. The symbolism. . . I can't find the words. . . (Okay, so I'd pretty much die if I felt I had to be celibate to be religious--never have children!--but maybe I could be like Margery Kempe--although I'd much prefer to preach the doctrines of Julian of Norwich--I really dislike Margery, and I would feel silly all in white outside of the temple--but I digress).

Anyway, I don't completely agree with that statement (Apostles of the Lord definitely do not "deconstruct" other Christian faiths--other LDS members. . . yes. In fact, I have heard the Apostles give praise to other religions and ask us to follow others' good examples), but I do hope that I can always teach my children to respect the truth in other religions. Every religion (although I do believe The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the only church given God's authority to perform saving ordinances) is inspired in one way or another by God. What I don't think is inspired of God is sitting on the fence, partially believing, but not acting on your religion. If you believe in something, you should put all of your heart and soul into following it.

I have seen so many of my high school friends fall away from their beliefs. They end up in really bad places. I just hope that my kids can always believe in something, put their whole heart into believing it, and follow through with their actions. I don't always show them the greatest example. Obviously, I hope they stay in the LDS church. It is more true than any other church. There are still some false dogmatic things that have snuck in, but that's why we have a prophet. He'll set us straight. I'll stop rambling now.