Verse of the Day


Friday, March 23, 2012

Boys will be BOYS!

I just love these photos of my great-nephews Cade & Korbin. I'm SO blessed to have so many "boys" in my life (3 sons, 2 grandsons, 'many' nephews & 4 great-nephews)....AND they're among my favorite subjects to scrap!
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These 2 precious wig-wams are my brother Gary's grandchildren. He went to be with the Lord 18 years ago, so never got to meet them. I see Gary every time I see these precious little boys.
♥~♥*♥~~♥*♥~♥
Mud-Play!
 credits: Oh! Happy Day kit by 3 Li'l Monsters Designs
font - Century Gothic
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Isaiah 40:31

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Swim Lessons

Lots of memories here. We watched Star Wars for the very 1st time after their swim lessons one day... with all 3 boys in a shopping cart at the Navy Exchange... in the TV department... feet hurt after standing for so long, but it was worth it! We now have ALL the episodes... on Blu-Ray! 
 ♥~♥*♥~~♥*♥~♥
credits: Fresh Start kit and November TemplateGrab Bag "Not Just One" #2 by 3Li'l Monsters Designs
font - Elephants in Cherry Trees
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Isaiah 40:31

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Who likes moving?

Here's a mark for every time I've moved:
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
That's a LOT of experience moving! We've survived this move by almost 8 yrs :-)
♥~♥*♥~~♥*♥~♥
credits: Moving In kit by Milly Dee Designs
font - Myriad Pro
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Isaiah 40:31

Friday, March 16, 2012

Lots of Frames

Love My Man
credits: Oh Love kit by Eirene Designs 
font - CK Terzini
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Beloved Pets
font - CK Terzini
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Isaiah 40:31

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Here Fishy, Fishy...

Mags now has Newsletter Freebies... the one AVAILABLE NOW is calle Lake House. It provided the perfect backdrop to scrap some fishing memories (btw, I hold the family 'King Salmon' record (not seen in these layouts).

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credits: Lake House newsletter freebie
SIGN UP NOW! http://eepurl.com/j0Mov
by MagsGraphics
fonts - Ck Newsman, CK Terzini
 
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Isaiah 40:31

I LOVE to Scrap!

Carley recently did a OKC (one-kit-call) on her FB page. I got to use this FABULOUS kit and its GORGEOUS colors to do 2 layouts. The finished design was a 'double-page' spread that I ended up using for my PC desktop (widescreen monitor). The layout says it all :-)

  To Scrap
fonts - Chiller, CK Grocery List
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Isaiah 40:31

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Cubbie Feet!

I'm a HUGE fan of the North American Bear Center and the Wildlife Research Institute's bear study. The cubbie viewing has been awesome at Black Bear Jewel's Den Cam.
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Black Bear Jewel's Den Cam
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 credits:screen shot by janieinMN -- Jewel's Black Bear Den Cam
Capture the Moment kit & alpha by Binty Designs (March 2012 grabbag)
font - Space Toaster
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A long-term study of black bear ecology and behavior is being conducted by the Wildlife Research Institute near Ely, Minnesota, less than 30 miles from the Canadian border.

You can visit the Bear Center's website to watch the live cam feeds and learn more about the history of each bear. Please, consider making a donation to help with this incredible research program.
 
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Isaiah 40:31

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Scrapping FAVORITES...

My favorite subjects to scrap are our 3 sons (mainly the 'growing up' pics), 2  grandsons (ages 4 1/2 and 2), my puppy (now 7 1/2 months!), my honeybun (of course!!), my 'great'-nephews, and family adventures. Here are a few layouts (using kits by MagsGraphics) that use almost all my 'favorite' subjects :-)
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Keiko-Stylin'!

Keiko Dakota
  credits: Baby It's Cold Outside kit by MagsGraphics, font - Gabriola


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My Babies
credits: Trendy Baby kit by MagsGraphics
fonts - SA-Serif, Segoe Script, Times New Roman
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Snow Wars
 credits: Snow Day kit by MagsGraphics

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Christmas Eve 1991
 credits: Easter Fun kit by MagsGraphics, Template by Simple Kelly Designs
font - Century Gothic
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Isaiah 40:31

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Digi-Scrapping using TEMPLATES...

There are times when I love using templates... and my favorite template designer is Binty Designs (see the layouts of our SD vacation, and our boy's early year adventures following these few template tips).
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TEMPLATE TIPS: Open up the Template psd 1st. Do a SaveAs and rename it. Then open your photos (edit as desired), then pull them into your template psd. Then pull in your elements & papers, placing them in the layers above the template layer they'll be going in (you can always pull them in any ole' way if you like, but then it takes a lot longer to click & drag them into place because you have to scroll with them to get them in the proper layer). SAVE YOUR FILE.  Then start playing!! FREQUENTLY save your file. You never know when your program might freeze on you... believe me, it's NOT FUN to lose your artwork cuz you forgot to save it since you started!! So, save, Save, SAVE your file!!

Sharing this tip because I began a couple of layouts yesterday (using my 'normal' approach) and decided after pulling in all the papers & ellies that I wanted to use a template. It ended up taking much longer than it usually takes when using a template... so thought I'd pass on what I learned... and HOPEFULLY I'll remember for the next time :-)
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MY NORM: The above is the opposite of how I usually do a layout. I normally create a new file (12x12, 300dpi), open & edit photos (making sure they're also 300dpi and resized accordingly), pull them into the new SB file. Pull in the papers & ellies that I like (sometimes I start with the "entire" kit). SAVE FILE. At this point, I place my cursor on the little check boxes to the left of the layer thumbnails and I click & drag to hide ALL the embellishments (or elements as they're referred to in digi-scrapping). I work on the photo placement (with or without frames/masks). Then I play with placing the ellies... SAVE FILE. Then I play with the papers... layering, blending, etc. SAVE FILE. When everything is in place and I'm happy with the LO, then I give it the finishing touches... the special effects (drop shadows, beveling, strokes, glows... whatever works to make the right things POP). SAVE FILE. Then I merge all the visible layers, delete the hidden if I missed any, resize to 72dpi and SaveAs PNG file. Then I do a SaveForWEB and select JPG and 600px, apply & Save. This gives me a high quality photo for uploading to my FB albums (using the PNG) and the right sized JPG for uploading to my digi-galleries.
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WINDOWS 7: Before we got our new PCs, I was using dual monitors (17") and loved being able to have both file explorer open to the directory of the kit I was using and PSE and drag things across the screens... windows large enough to actually SEE everything. Now, with W7... I have a widescreen monitor (23") and can split my screen lickity-split and do the same thing (dual-monitors using only 1). The way-cool thing about W7 is you don't have to do all the sizing by hand... you just click & hold the windows icon button (usually between control & alt on the lower left of your keyboard) then click the left or right arrow (depending on which side you want the open window to snap to). It's great!!

And now for the layouts using these great templates by Binty -- btw, she's got a fantastic retirement deal going on thru the end of March that includes some of her templates along with several kits that I've used before.... totally worth checking out... it's amazing what she's bundled for only $5!
I did the following layouts using Binty's January, February & March 2012 GrabBags (come with a full kit, set of templates, alpha(s) and usually an extra little goodie or two).

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Love to Read

Be Like Daddy
credits: Everyday Templates Vol3 (March 2012 grab bag) and Home Sweet Home kit  
(Jan 2012 grab bag) by Binty Designs, font - Steamer

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Hospital Adventures
credits: Binty's February 2012 Grab Bag! plus Enjoy Life Everyday Addon (freebie)
font - OCR-A II

Peter's 1st Birthday
credits: Binty's February 2012 Grab Bag! plus Enjoy Life Everyday Addon (freebie)
fonts - problem secretary

Jonathan's 3rd Birthday
credits: Binty's February 2012 Grab Bag! plus Enjoy Life Everyday Addon (freebie)
fonts - Ravie, SBC Love Mom

Andrew's 4th Birthday
credits: Binty's February 2012 Grab Bag! plus Enjoy Life Everyday Addon (freebie),
fonts - SBC Stone Inscription, Schindler


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Smokey and Bear Country USA
credits: Colors of Summer kit by Binty Designs, Everyday Templates vol.1#4 
(Jan2012 Grab Bag) by Binty Designs, font - Gabriola

Black Hills - SD Wildflowers
credits: Colors of Summer kit by Binty Designs, Everyday Templates vol.1#3 
(Jan2012 Grab Bag) by Binty Designs,  
fonts - Gabriola, Geometr231 LtBT, Herald, LokiCola, Jokerman, Mandingo

SD Bear Country USA
credits: Colors of Summer kit by Binty Designs, Everyday Templates vol.1#1 
(Jan2012 Grab Bag) by Binty Designs, font - Gabriola

R-J Photography
credits: Colors of Summer kit by Binty Designs, Everyday Templates vol.1#2 
(Jan2012 Grab Bag) by Binty Designs, font - Gabriola
You can find these wonderful kits & templates of Binty's at
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Isaiah 40:31

Friday, March 9, 2012

My Life is in HIS Hands

I've had 3 'major' life adjustments where health events have 'altered' my life. Through it all, my Lord & Savior has been there and made HIS presence known in a miraculous way. Before, during & after, HE continues to be my Rock & Salvation. I'm going to briefly share about 2 of them.
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The 1st occurred in Dec 1994—when I suddenly lost the hearing in my right ear. I was devastated... bursting into tears, I cried out to my Lord... "what am I going to do?!??!? music is my life!" HE answered immediately and quite clearly, "No, 'I AM' your life. Music is just a tool I've given you." And throughout the remaining years of my music ministry, HIS strength was made perfect in my weakness.
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The 2nd event was in Feb 2009—when I was exposed to horrendous levels of latex and plastics chemicals through an accidental microwave fire that melted & burned a plastic food dish. You can read about this more in an older post about that event. I suffered recurrent anaphylaxis for 8 full days (and countless doses of epinephrine (epi-pen & epi-inhaler) and very high dose benadryl, etc). My husband says I almost died twice during that time. The ambulance came twice and I was taken to ER once... but they were NOT able to help me. This is the week that "traditional" medicine (BOTH doctors & drugs) failed me and a couple of dear friends directed me towards a couple of professionals who counseled and brought advanced nutritional therapy & homeopathic remedies into my life. That's another story in & of itself. What I wanted to share with you about this terrible event that catapulted me into further isolation & drastically increased the severity of my disabilities (NRLA & MCS)... when my brain was non-functioning... couldn't even complete a sentence... my speech was uncontrollably choppy... I'd start to say something, getting a few words out... and in the difficulty of speaking those few words would immediately forget what I was saying. I couldn't do anything for myself. The brain fog was overwhelming... nerve & joint pain horrible... lack of coordination & balance frightening... all happening in conjunction with the recurring anaphylaxis. It also triggered a pretty bad flareup of my chronic Lyme Disease. Typing went to the birds... my letters were getting all mixed up as I typed (like dyslexia on steroids! like the word puzzles...), my fingers began taking over... typing words that I was 'not' thinking or using (so strange that I can't even think of any examples!). Twice during that time period, I forgot "HOW" to type and there was one time I forgot "HOW" to play the piano (THAT was really scary!!!). However, with all that was going on in my body & brain (or lack thereof... many brain cells died during that event) -- there was one phrase that remained steadfast, in its entirety, throughout the entire time (and beyond!). I know for a fact, beyond any shadows or doubts, that the LORD put it there and sustained it during that whole ordeal. Even now, HE frequently brings it to mind, along with the memory that I'm alive because of HIS divine intervention! This is the phrase that kept me going...
"Only what's done for Christ will last!"
My prayer for you is that you will come to a saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. And if you already know HIM, may your faith be strengthened and encouraged in some way this day.
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JESUS - There's Something About That Name
Sheet Music excerpt of There's Something About That Name by Gaithers
photo by janieinMN "Rainbow Reflections", Pine River MN
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Isaiah 40:31

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Cubbie Alert!!!

Facebook is a great way to connect with not only friends & family, but the digital-scrapbooking community. DeDe Smith (DesignZ by DeDe) posted an event that's taking place today at her blog  - Easy Peasy Challenge. I've been following the precious little cubbies at Jewel the Black Bear's den cam (see links below) and this was a fun way to scrap the snapshots I took yesterday of those cute critters... also added a couple from February. They were born Jan 22, 2012 and are my new 'addiction' :-)
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credits: screen snapshots by janieinMN - Jewel's Black Bear Den Cam
*North American Bear Center – www.bear.org
*Wildlife Research Institite – www.bearstudy.org
DSD 2008 Treasure Hunt by DesignZ by DeDe
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HUGE fan of the North American Bear Center and the Wildlife Research Institute's bear study :-)
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A long-term study of black bear ecology and behavior is being conducted by the Wildlife Research Institute http://www.bearstudy.org near Ely, Minnesota, less than 30 miles from the Canadian border.

You can visit the Bear Center's website to watch the live cam feeds and learn more about the history of each bear. Please, consider making a donation at http://www.bear.org to help with this incredible research program.

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Isaiah 40:31

Friday, March 2, 2012

Caption Fun & a Birthday Celebration!

Kinda fun today to win the Calendar Caption contest over at Lily the Black Bear's FB page. I've been hooked since Jan 21st to watching Jewel and her precious little cubs (who are now almost 6 weeks old!!). The cub in this LO is cousin to Jewel's cubbies (which have been confirmed to be 1 boy & 1 girl, yahoo!). Tonight, they're having an internet birthday party over at Lily's page for Faith. You should see the pics of all the delicious desserts they're posting... all while having some precious viewing of Jewel's cubbies.
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Here's my contribution to the birthday party :-)

credits: PHOTO - Faith, 3mo bear cub, Lily the Black Bear FB page
*North American Bear Center – www.bear.org
*Wildlife Research Institite – www.bearstudy.org
 

You Make Me Smile kit by Melanie Lees, BeeHaven Designz
(week 4 of Stuff to Scrap Designer Darling's contest)
font - Schindler

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Isaiah 40:31
"When you choose to use fragrances, chemicals, or pesticides,
You are not simply making a choice for yourself,
You are making a choice for everyone around you."
© MCS America


For More Information - NRLA & MCS

http://latexallergyresources.com/

http://mcs-america.org/

Support Groups

NRLA—Natural Rubber Latex Allergy
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/LAForum/

MCS—Multiple Chemical Sensitivity
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/MCSA-Public/
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/MCSphotography/

Digital Photography
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/funwithallcameras/