Cathy Zielske's Blog

Sponsor Giveaway: Crazy Daisy Kit Co. [winner!]

UPDATED WITH THE WINNER: Random Integer gave me a number…and that number was 720. Just goes to show you, you're never too late to win! And the winner is:

LeAnne S said... who answered the question: "How are you doin'?" with: "Much better now that I've had a nap!"

Amen Sister. Isn't that always the case?

LeAnne S., Email me to claim your prize! Have a great rest of  your weekend, everyone, and thanks again to blog sponsor Crazy Daisy Kit Co.

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Blog sponsor Crazy Daisy Kit Co. is giving away one of their butterfly-laden, brand spankin' new August kits that will make you want to stop, drop and scrapbook! Here's what they have to say about the kit:

A bevy of beautiful butterflies have taken over the Crazy Daisy August Main kit—an adorable butterfly album from Chatterbox; butterfly embellishments; and Jenni Bowlin paper featuring those fluttery little creatures. The kit is overflowing with pattern paper from Pink Paislee, Basic Gray and Crate Paper to name just a few. It’s bright. It’s happy. It’s the perfect kit to end the summer with.

Crazy Daisy was started by two busy moms with a passion for scrapbooking. Learn more about them here and see more peeks of the August kit on their blog.

TO ENTER: In the comments, answer this question: So, how are you doin'?

I will choose a winner on Saturday night, sometime after 7 p.m. central time.

Good luck and have a restful weekend.

This is the boy

The day has finally come: my baby just hit double digits. 1-0. Ten. Two numbers will from this day forth represent his number of years on the planet. How in God's name did this happen?

I remember this boy:

 

This is the boy who when he was born, I would've chewed through the umbilical cord, bolted from the hospital, and raised him alone in some cave, where I would've growled at all the foolhardy souls who dared to enter.

 

This is the boy who is an awful lot like me: loud, dramatic, intense and a propensity to go a bit overboard on pretty much everything.

 

This is the boy who is dramatic. Wait, I already said that, didn't I?

 

This is the boy for whom I quit my job to stay home and raise. Without a doubt, it was one of the single best decisions I've ever made and I'm so very thankful we found ways to make it work financially.

 

This is the boy who gets a new thing and becomes singularly obsessed with it for weeks on end.

 

This is the boy who always knows how to make an entrance.

 

This is the boy who is utterly brilliant and makes every day exceptionally extraordinary.

 

This is the boy who still fits onto a lap.

 

This is the boy I'm so glad we made.

This is my boy, Cole. And he's 10 years old.

How time does fly.

A Blast from the Past from Cathy Zielske on Vimeo.

Happy Birthday, Coley. I love you, buddy.

Tutorial: Create Your Own Photoshop Frame & Text Overlays

Last week I posted another riveting installment of "This Day in Zielske History," and one reader asked, "Hey Cathy, could you show us how you make those overlays? And I say, blog reader, yes!

Here's a video tutorial using Photoshop CS3, and below you'll find a printable PDF with the corresponding step-by-step instructions. For those of you using Photoshop Elements, you should be able to achieve the same results. There's nothing in CS3 on this particular tutorial that you can't replicate in PSE. 

Photoshop Frame & Overlay Tutorial from Cathy Zielske on Vimeo.

Download CZTutorialOverlays

Note: PC users may have to right-click the above link and then "Save Target As."

I will check comments throughout the day to see about any questions you may have. Good luck in building your own overlays.

We like good boys

Chester is here for another stay. We love him very much. He fits into our family so nicely. We're thinking of moving before his owners return later this week.

I would write so much more on the subject but Chester needs his morning walk. Look for a video tutorial on how to do make your own Photoshop overlay frames coming this week.

Happy Monday.

This Day in Zielske History

Four years ago today I took this picture of my then 9-year-old girlie. She had just picked up a magic kit and was practicing her act in the living room. Did I point out that she was just 9? And that now she's 13? And that time flies like a ridiculously aerodynamic rocket?

This Day in Zielske History is part nostalgia tour and part blog filler. But I like to pick a day, look back through the years, and then see if I made a layout or not. In this case, I did:

 

I actually created this layout as part of a feature in Simple Scrapbooks magazine called, "Trading Pages." In the article, two scrapbookers paired up and scrapped each others photos using the same product. My partner? Donna Downey. Unfortunately, I don't have the layout she did for me, nor do I even have a scan of it. But trust me, it looked a lot like this. Only by Donna.

When I look back on this page, I think two things: One, I love the design. Two, I love those old Scrapworks stickers. And three (so, I lied), the journaling feels contrived to me…sort of like I was trying too hard to be profound. I only say this because over the years, I've gotten a lot more conversational with my writing and lot less fluffy. And a lot less, well, contrived.

That's a good thing.

This has been: THIS DAY IN ZIELSKE HISTORY. (said inside a giant hollow metal hallway, for effect.)

Have a great weekend.

Recipes from yesterday

Some of you had requested recipes. So, here is the recipe for this bad boy. It's a Thai Chicken Noodle Salad from Everyday Food magazine. Of course, I'm substituting the chicken with tofu.

Here is a downloadable PDF that you can trim out and place in any 6 x 6 page protector.

Download Thai chicken salad

This printable is formatted to fit into my recipe binder album. Remember that fun little guy? I keep adding things all the time. Love that little project.

 

The Potato-Leek-Goat cheese pizza you can find by clicking here. I Tweeted the recipe yesterday in response to requests for the recipe, but I figured I'd post it here because not all blog readers are necessarily following me on Twitter. (But maybe they should, because I really do give all my best secrets away on Twitter… ahem.)

 

The gazpacho recipe is from the fabulous Ree, aka The Pioneer Woman. And it really is one of the better gazpacho's I've found.

And this salad?

 

Why it's just spinach, blueberries and strawberries. Pick a dressing and enjoy!

Thanks for all of your comments and suggestions yesterday. I'm eating them up. No pun intended.

A shot at cleaner and greener

Last month, I wrote whined about how puffy I was feeling. It's interesting to me that of all the things I write about, scrapbooking included, weight posts elicit the most comments. I do love the commiseration. I like knowing I am not the only one when it seems as though I'm swimming in a sea of people for whom food and weight is not an issue.

I also didn't realize I'd like getting kicked in the ass to stop whining and do something about it. One blog reader said, "Sorry. Not going to join your pity party." At first, I was all, WHAT? Wha? HUH? And then I was all, "Don't you know I'm not motivated by tough love?" And then I was all, "Alright already! I'll do something about it." (So thank you, blog reader, and you know who you are!)

What I decided to do was try and clean out as much sugar, fat and salt as I could from my diet. And get moving again. And make better choices.

Believe it or not, I decided to do the infamous Cabbage Soup Diet/Cleanse. Yes, that's right. The same diet your mother might have done in 1974. I'd  heard good things about it from a friend as a way to help curb your sugar cravings and get you in the right frame of mind to start a diet anew.

Unfortunately, by the time I got to the day known as the Milk and Banana Day, I'd had enough. (I don't drink milk and I don't eat bananas. I was kind of screwed on that one.) Still, the first three days gave me the jump start I needed to get back on the healthy horse and ride.

I read a book that most of you have probably heard of, Skinny Bitch. For those of you who don't know what it is, it's a diet book about the vegan lifestyle, layered with enough profanity it would make your mother blush. A girlfriend of mine went vegan and it changed her body in mind in several ways. LET ME SAY THIS: I have no plans to become vegan and I respect ALL choices of how people choose to eat, but you need to know this as a back story to what I'm doing this summer, and possibly beyond.

The book is brutally truthful about the food and meat industries, as you would expect it to be, considering the topic. [Edited to add: this is NOT an endorsement of this book in any way.]  But there were several nuggets of interest to me. See, my sweet One-Three is vegetarian. Has been for a while now. This is pretty common among her friends, too. They just don't eat meat. From 19 to 22, I too was a vegetarian. Not sure what triggered it, but it was a Burger King cheeseburger that ended it, I remember that quite clearly. I love a good steak. I love a good burger. But this summer, I'm taking a break from meat.

 

The good thing for me? I love alternative sources of protein. I adore tofu. Beans are my friend. And truthfully, other than a good steak or burger, I'm not a big meat eater. So there's that.

Next, I'm going to eat cleaner and greener. Even though I tend to flinch at organic prices, I'm buying as much organic produce as I can find at Whole Foods, my local farmers market, or even my neighborhood Rainbow Foods store. I'm trying to put better stuff in and feel better. It seems like a logical cycle.

I'm also cutting my dairy to a minimum. No worry on the calcium and protein. I'm making up for it with other foods, and vitamins. I've never been big on dairy anyway. I used to sit at our family dinner table as a kid long after everyone else had left, just staring down a big old glass of warm milk, willing it to disappear on its own.

Although don't ask me to give up all dairy. That goat cheese on the pizza above? DIVINE.

Finally, I'm reading a book called The End of Overeating, a rather scientific look at the food industry in our country, and how it's not just that we don't have will power, but that we really don't have a chance against salt, fat and sugar. I'm just barely into it, but I'm finding it interesting.

I'm not looking for excuses right now. I'm looking for information and then deciding how it can help me achieve my goals.

Finally, I'm exercising at least five days a week. Walking. Light weight training. No, I don't have a gym membership. I'm just making it up as a I go.

Still doesn't mean I won't whine about my puffy ass every now and then. Because believe me, I will. But I just thought I'd share how I'm trying to make some positive changes that will hopefully result in feeling better overall.

Note: I'll post a few of the recipes for the above pics later this week.

R&R in the Northland

This past weekend, the Zielskes took a somewhat spur of the moment trip up to our family cabin in Lake Shore Village, just outside of Nisswa, Minn. Dan's grandparents lived in this quaint little house on Gull Lake for years, and Dan has as many years of fond summer memories spent here.

I didn't grow up on lakes. I also didn't grow up going to Northern Minnesota. And I didn't grow up doing anything remotely woodsy either. I stayed indoors with my sweet mother, where we just avoided insects and sleeping near nature of any sort.

Many weekends that Dan heads up north, I stay home. It's not that I don't like my relatives. I do. I adore them. They are the most amazing family you could ever hope to marry into. But I'm one of those sorts who avoids crowds whenever possible, and on major holiday weekends, you never know if there's a bed for your head, and for me that's a bit of a stressor.

But this past weekend, Dan's sister Debbie was headed up with my cute nephew Nick, and his girlfriend, and said, "Cathy, it's going to be quiet weekend…why don't you come up?"

Combine that with the forecasted highs of lower 70s and no humidity? It was a no brainer.

And it was the nicest weekend I've had in a long time.

We played games at night, like Mad Gab and Balderdash. Notice the intense concentration of the teams on boys versus girls:

(Yes, Cole finds he plays better while wearing a helmut. One can never be too cautious!)

We admired Great Grandma Boeder's massive costume jewelry collection:

We went into Nisswa for pizza at Raffertys, some general shop browsing and a round of mini golf at Pirate's Cove. And, Dan channeled his inner Bret Michaels:

Despite the unseasonably cool weather, there was still time for outdoor fun:

 

Even I got into the nature spirit by taking my coffee on the deck.

 

And we did some good old fashioned bonding:

And one of the best parts about going up north? Men doing dishes.

Note to self: we need to get away more often. It's good for the collective souls to get away from city life. I'm certain I grow mentally with every trip up there. I think I can prove it by the fact that I only Tweeted two or three times.

That's what I call being in touch with Nature.

I think they had the time of their lives

(All photos taken by Aidan Zielske, or with Aidan's camera.)

And so, Green Day has come and gone.

This year's show served as the Zielske family cultural event. Last year? Jesus Christ Superstar. And I suppose, considering the performances of both "East Jesus Nowhere" and "Jesus of Suburbia" at the show, well…there's a connection in there somewhere, right?

I will say this: the kids were ready to go. Aidan had the eyeliner:

 

And Cole had the sign:

 

Unbeknownst to Cole, however, signs aren't permitted at the Target Center when Green Day plays. They confiscated it from him at the door. Poor dude. He was bummed. Hopefully, the horrifically overpriced concert paraphernalia made up for it. (Aidan got a t-shirt; Cole, a baseball cap and wrist bands; me and Dan? Lighter wallets.)

But once the lights went down, all troubles were forgotten and both the kids just rocked it out for the next two and a half hours.

 

From the opening number, Song of the Century, to the closer Good Riddance (preceded by a sweet version of a song Billie Joe wrote for his wife that I believe he only plays when they play Minnesota because she's from here, Minnesota Girl), the show was tight, fun and exceptionally profanity laden.

They bring kids up on stage and have them play or sing, or simply fall back and feel the power of the music. (If you want to see a clip that one of my Facebook friends Alyssa sent me from Green Day's Chicago show featuring her neighbor kid, just to see one fun thing that happens on stage, watch this. But I'm warning you: you will hear an f-bomb.) But I have to say, Billie Joe, you adorable imp, you could swear at me or my kids any time.

Long story short: they put on a great show and I have zero buyer's remorse.

And,in the tradition of scrapbooking, I made a page to go into my "Things We Do" album.

 

Supplies: Adobe Indesign • one sheet of photo paper • one sheet of cardstock • Hootie and Avenir fonts • awww yeah

I'm featured on Tuesday Tutorials (wanna see the outtakes and get a freebie download?)

I'm providing the content today for Tuesday Tutorials over at Ali Edwards' blog today. If you want to learn how to create multi-photo grids in Photoshop Elements, by all means, go check it out.

Recording step-by-step videos takes time. I can't tell you how many times I stumble over my words and have to re-record. Oh, heck… don't take my word for it. Watch the clip below:

Tuesday Tutorial Outtakes from Cathy Zielske on Vimeo.

Also featured on Ali's blog is the resulting layout from the grid tutorial. I thought it'd be fun to provide a set of month and dates from my "Monthly Snaps" project for anyone who'd like to make one too. One month, 12 photos, one date, and a journaling card. (Totally inspired by my friend Susan's 12 of 12 approach, but instead of one day, you pick photos from one month.) Feel free to check out Ali's blog to see the layout and then download the files posted below.

The CZMonthlySnapsKit doc is a layered .psd file and you can just select a month graphic and drop it into another document. The journaling card is a pdf file with crop marks. Enjoy!

Here are the files:

Download CZMonthlySnapsKit

Download CZJblock

(PC users may have to right click on the links and choose "Save Target As")

Enjoy the downloads and the tutorial!