Cathy Zielske's Blog

The giveaway winner is…

The winner of a spot in The Photoshop Brushshop taught by Tiffany Tillman at ReneePearson.com is:

Nancy, email me at czdesign@comcast.net and I'll hook you up with your class! Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend. I'm preparing to host a gaggle of 4th, 5th and 6th boys. Lucky me!

Eleven.

 

 

 

Happy 11th birthday, Coleman Asher.

We really like having you around.

Sponsor Giveaway: win a class from ReneePearson.com

Want to learn about using brushes in Photohop and getting artsy with 'em? Well good! One blog reader will win a spot in The Photoshop Brushshop taught by Tiffany Tillman at ReneePearson.com.

The Photoshop Brushshop: Getting the most out of brushes in Photoshop & Photoshop Elements runs August 2—22 and is designed for both Photoshop and Photoshop Elements users.

ABOUT THE WORKSHOP: Grab your smock, clean your digital palette and get your hands dirty for our premiere art class: The Photoshop Brushshop brought to you by Tiffany Tillman This is the perfect course for digital enthusiasts who want to explore the Brush tool as well as discover their inner, creative artist. Tiffany will teach you secrets to mixing your brushes, not with paints, but with paths, masks and modes that put digital design on the map! She'll also pull you out of the pixels and into your own paper to digital art studio! My friends—this isn't just a workshop. This is the Brushshop!

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To enter, tell me if you're a PSE user, or full Photoshop. I'm always curious to know the percentage among blog readers, and though it's not completely scientific, it'll do! I'll choose a winner Saturday after noon.

{comments are now closed. winner will be chosen shortly!}

Wanna run? Here are two great books (and a story)

Aidan and I biked up to the library last week and I decided to look up books on running. (Imagine that!)

Turns out, there were a gazillion, so I had to choose based on title alone. I loved the title: No Need for Speed: A beginner's guide to the joy of running, by John "The Penguin" Bingham, and thought it sounded perfect for a speed demon like myself.

From the first few lines of the book, I was hooked. Little did I know, being the newbie runner that I am, that John Bingham is a very well-known figure in the world of running. Bingham is a former contributing editor for Runner's World and author whose message seems to speak to every single person who never really felt like they could or even should run. An overweight, former pack-a-day smoker who laced up his running shoes for the first time at the—ahem—advanced age of 43, Bingham set out to lose some libbies, but in the process, ended up discovering an absolute passion for the sport.

This book is extremely beginner friendly. John's tone is supportive, humorous and very, very real. He encourages you to start from where you are with the body you've got and go at your own pace. He believes that the greatest joy in running comes not from how fast you go, or how thin you get, but simply from having the courage to take the first step. He has another book called, "The Courage to Start: A Guide to Running for Your Life" which from the reviews I've read online, takes a similar tack.

My local library had his books, and yours might too. Again, a really inspiring read that makes you believe you too can make this part of your life for all the right reasons.

 

The second book is one I've mentioned before, Run Like a Mother by Dimity McDowell and Sarah Bowen Shea. My attitude toward running changed completely after reading this book. I instantly felt connected to a wider community of women getting out there, making the time to take care of themselves while balancing so many other things that we all are responsible for on a daily basis.

Told in 26 chapters as a nod to the 26 miles of a marathon (plus little ".2" extras at the end of each chapter), both Dimity and Sarah are real, funny and smart (not to mention both accomplished runners.) You feel like you know them at the end of the book, or that you want to know them.

When I read this book, I didn't know what a tempo run was from a hole in the ground, but I still felt inspired to keep lacing up my shoes and plodding along at my less than race ready pace.

Lucky for me, I've gotten to know both women via email, and had the pleasure of meeting Dimity (a Minnesota native) when she was home last weekend for her 20th high school reunion.

We hooked up at my hubby's downtown coffee shop to swap books, t-shirts (well, I got one out of the deal!) and chit chat about running, life and how amazing it is that the internet can connect and inspire people.

While neither Dimity nor Sarah are scrapbookers, Lord knows I'm trying to indoctrinate them any way I can.

 

And as you know, any chance I get, I'll try the same thing with Dan:

 

(Though secretly, I think he'll get more from Run Like a Mother.)

 

In short, I keep this book on my nightstand, and re-read parts because it continues to inspire me. I think it is an absolute gem of a read that deserves as broad an audience as it can find.

The only reason I went trail running last weekend was because Dimity was in town leading a group on an official RLAM tour stop. Yet another reason to love the internet and meeting people who inspire.

You can check out their awesome blog or their Facebook page, too, for more inspiration and to get to know their growing community.

 

Just sharing a bit of the running inspiration with you today. I realize it might not be for everyone. I mean, afterall, I speak from experience.

Running was never my thing.

p.s. Sarah, I'll catch up with you on Portland trails, where I'm sure the Twilight vibe is WAY stronger. xoxo

Fitness and sustainability: what makes it click?

The other day while digging through old videos in my basement searching for my long lost figure roller skating tapes (yes, they're coming to a blog near you very soon!), I came across a video that for a time, changed my life back in the late 90s. It was Oprah's "Make the Connection" video. Remember that one?

At the end of 1997, when I watched it and subsequently purchased the companion book, I had a nearly two year old baby girl at home, a full-time design job, a hubby, a house and about 40 extra pounds on my 5 foot 6 inch frame. I decided to follow the 10-step plan and get a bit of fitness back into my life. I didn't want to be a chubby, out-of-shape, tired 31-year-old mom. It was time to get busy.

A year later, I had dropped 30 pounds, was exercising (though not enjoying it) 5 to 7 days a week (mostly doing Cher Fitness step aerobics at 5 a.m. every day in my family room) and thought I had really figured out the keys to being healthy.

Then, drastically departing from Oprah and Bob Greene's plan, I took up smoking again, quit exercising, and got even thinner.

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Here I am all these years later, having gone up and down the scale a handful of times, having restarted and quit smoking more than I'd like to admit, and now I'm exercising again. But for some reason, THIS time feels different.

Why is that?

I thought about Oprah the other day, and remembered this video and how utterly amazed I was at her transformation, and the fact that she not only got fit, but she trained and ran the Marine Corps Marathon. At the age of 40, after a lifetime of struggling with her weight and inactivity, she ran a freaking marathon in under 6 hours. Oprah ran for 26.2 miles.

Of course we all know that she never maintained that level of fitness. Her journey is nothing if not well documented. You can always count on Oprah to keep it real and continually explore it from new and enlightening angles. That's one of the things I admire most about her.

Just last May, I was touting her show with Geneen Roth, author of Women, Food and God. But as I have moved further into this whole running thing, and have found myself not only enjoying the act of being out in nature and running, but even missing it on the days I take off, I had to wonder: what did Oprah miss with the whole running thing? Why no sustainability in her own life?

Was her running simply about a goal and nothing else? Was it purely a means to an end? And more importantly, what is my running about?

When I started exercising back in January, I had one goal: move more, eat less. But what that really translates to is: for the love of all that is holy, get thinner!

I recall quite clearly begrudgingly lacing up the old running shoes, jumping on the treadmill, and watching the clock for when my next walk break was due. It was not love at first site. It was 'this is what you have to do if you want to be thinner, end of story.' There was nary a drop of love to be found anywhere in my basement.

In the video, Oprah is seen working out really hard, complaining the entire time how much she loathes being there, doing what she's doing. And oh, do I get that. Or at least I used to get that.

But I have to wonder: did she ever look at the process of running and find any joy in it?

I am finding joy in the process. Last weekend, I went on a five-mile trail run. Five miles along the Mississippi River, under tree-lined cover on muddy, sandy trails. I ran side by side with someone I didn't even know, and we chatted the whole way about life and running.

On my drive home, I was elated. Aside from feeling like I'd just been running on the set of Twilight, I had no idea that running through the woods could make me feel so proud and strong and connected to my life.

This just has me thinking about what is it that makes fitness, or the act of moving your body one of sustainability? Why can we keep it up for a time only to lose the inspiration or the dedication?

Why do I look at my hot pink running shoes and smile every time I walk past them in the hallway?

Why is this so different this time?

Finally, what did Oprah miss that for some reason is clicking for me?

Don't get me wrong: I do not have the magic bullet to health and fitness here. I'm fully aware that I could leap off this wagon at any time without warning. But something IS different. Something is changing.

It ain't just about getting thinner anymore.

Workout Tunage

So it's been pretty obvious from reading my blog during the past 6 months that I'm moving more and eating less.

Part of me moving more is wholly dependent on a) choosing an activity I can stick to, and b) ably supporting it with music.

My current activities are running, biking and swimming. The latter two don't really work so well with music, from both a safety and practicality standpoint. But running? That's the basket containing all of my iTunes eggs.

I've been asked by a number of you to share some of my mixes and I'm happy to do so. Keep in mind, different music motivates different people. You may not really be a big Billy Joel fan and may scratch your head as you realize my whole "I like cool music" front is nothing but a clever ruse. Still, perhaps my added commentary will help to explain where my head was at the time.

Let's begin, shall we?

It started back in March, when I was really just starting to make progress in my short running career. I think I had managed to work my way up to 15 or 20 minutes of nonstop jogging at around 4 mph. The mix that helped push me there? The Michael Jackson Run Mix:

 

True, a few non-MJ songs brought this mix home, but this collection was a happy experiment. I rarely like to workout to one artist for the entire time. Yes, I'll put more than one track by the same artist on a mix, but not THIS many.

The mix worked really well for me. Who doesn't like a good MJ song every now and then, right? I mean, it's actually hard to hold still while listening to mama say, mama sa, mama coo sa. By the time I warmed up (2 minutes of walking before jogging) and got to Smooth Criminal, I was a sweaty mess. I never really made it to the end of the mix though. I'd do my 30 minutes, then just jump ahead to the cool down songs (Human Nature and Down to Earth.)

But Michael was growing tired for me, and I knew: time to mix it up (yes, pun intended.)

Enter Run Mix 2:

 

This mix was designed with a bit more grit in mind. Some old school hip hop (Rapper's Delight, a song that I made up a really elaborate dance to in the 8th grade, and Fight the Power) combined with a bit of good old dance pop and electronica-tinged pop. This mix pushed me into the 30 minutes of running category (still in my basement, mind you). I realized that the hip hoppier/dance beats were a better bet for continued success.

Then, I started running outside with Run Mix 3:

 

You will notice mix carryover. Some songs were just too good to leave behind. This mix still reminds me of the shock and awe of running outside, and realizing, holy hell, that I actually liked it BETTER! Starting off with that Dixie Chicks song was perfection. I really was taking the long way around to better health and fitness. Not a shortcut in sight. It was almost a spiritual way to kick off a run. Again, the mix was way longer than what I needed, but therein lies the beauty of being able to jump around.

Favorite song of this mix? Tidal Wave by Owl City. It never fails to pick me up and make me feel instantly more floaty and light.

Next up, my recent running favorite, the ingeniously named Run Mix 4:

 

Again, you've got your carry over songs, along with a whole new gaggle of songs to test out. Some favorites on this mix? Creep by Radiohead (surprisingly motivating), Root Down by The Beastie Boys (makes me giggle and feel really hip hop and old school), Everlong by Foo Fighters (you will have no choice but to pick up your pace just a bit), X-Static Process by Madonna (even though it's a slower song, I LOVED having this at the end of my run), and Some Fantastic by Barenaked Ladies (a nice cool down song that just makes me happy.)

My newest mix hasn't even been tested yet. In fact, by the time you are reading this post, hopefully, I will have hit the road and can report back via Twitter: success or failure. And you guessed it! It's called Run Mix 5.

 

I am anticipating two things: 1) Secret World (from the Secret Live World disk), at nine minutes, will be either the most epic run song for me ever, or conversely, one of the worst) 2) One Tree Hill by U2 will make me run as if carried along by glitter-laden, gossamer wings, and 3) Running to a Stand Still will find me curled up in a fetal position weeping.

By all means, while I'm out there work-shopping this one, please do share your favorite workout songs in the comments today. It's such a great way to get some new and motivating tunage.

Note: but please, for the love of iTunes, I urge you: be more creative than me in naming your mixes. I'm guessing that won't be a hard bill to fill.

{winners} Sponsor Giveaway: classes from Willette Designs and Big Picture Scrapbooking

The two winners of a seat in Finding Your Joy: Capturing Your Life Through Photos from Willette Designs are:

 

The winner of a spot in Permission to Live a Creative Life, taught by Courtney Walsh for Big Picture Scrapbooking, is:

Ladies, email me at czdesign@comcast.net and I'll get you hooked up!

Thanks everyone. Have a lovely rest of your weekend!

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Two blog readers will win a seat in Finding Your Joy: Capturing Your Life Through Photos from Willette Designs. 

Willette is super excited to launch a mini version of finding the joy for the month of September.  This finding the joy is called “finding YOUR joy” and focuses on the self-portrait.  Answer this question HONESTLY….how many photos of you are in your family albums?  How often do you look back at your family photos, only to see that you are not in one single image?  Well….we’re gonna fix that!  No more will you be the absent parent behind the camera.  We focused on our children in our last finding the joy class….NOW, we’re gonna focus on YOU!  That’s right…..you are going to be in pictures, my friend!  Your life will be documented for a change.

The class will last three weeks on-line, and it will be presented in a forum setting with a gallery within the forum to share images if you choose. Kelly Willette will email weekly lessons as well to participants (lessons for the last class were only available on the forum).  The class will have weekly lessons, video tutorials for your camera/shooting and tutorials for photoshop or elements.  All levels of photographers are encouraged to participate (as the class is focused not so much on technique as it is on encouraging you to focus on  yourself in photos for a change).

CLASS TOPICS INCLUDE:
• getting in the frame..how to.
• documenting YOUR life….areas of your life you would like to document
• capturing your everyday/routines
• sign up….start your autumn focusing on YOU once the kids are back in school.  you will thank yourself, • and your children will thank you in 20 years when they get to see how beautiful you are (and when they • actually get to see some photos of YOU).

The cost for the three week e-journey is $45 USD.  CLASSES START SEPT 7 AND END SEPT 28.

If you don't win the giveaway, you can sign up here for the class. 

Willette also has two GREAT free downloads on the blog for readers:

A free summer photoshop action set. Click here.


 
And a list of 100 free summer photo opportunities. Click here.

Visit the blog to download these freebies.

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One blog reader will win a spot in Permission to Live a Creative Life, taught by Courtney Walsh for Big Picture Scrapbooking.

ABOUT THE CLASS: We are designed to be creative…so why is it that we feel so guilty for taking time to create? You have a to do list as long as your arm and a million other things you should be focusing on, but have you ever thought that if you stop and take time to be creative, you will end up being better at all the other things on that list? Fulfilling the creative need inside yourself will lead to a happier, healthier you… a you your family will love! This class will help you realize that creativity is an inherent need in each of us-a need that needs to be met, not overlooked, and you will find the courage to start down the path towards living a creative life today!
 
Courtney is a freelance writer whose books include Scrapbooking Your Faith and The Busy Scrapper and she worked as a Contributing Editor for Memory Makers Magazine for 2 1/2 years. She's been published in Creating Keepsakes, Scrapbooks Etc., Scrapbook Trends and Simple Scrapbooks and managed the Chatterbox Design Team. Most recently, she has been working on her very first fiction series, which will feature scrapbooking in a fun and memorable way. The first two books will be published by Guideposts and will be released in the fall of 2011.

Permission to Live a Creative Life isn't a "once and done" kind of class. This class is just the beginning of a new journey in your life. You will learn tools to help you spark your creativity, ways to keep the creative fire lit, but most importantly, you will walk away feeling like it's not only OK for you to create, it's necessary. You will be able to carve out time for you—and to realize that the laundry can wait. What a freeing thought! After all, it'll be there tomorrow! The mini album you create during this class will serve as a place to keep your dreams safe, to stretch your creative wings, to try something new and different and most importantly, to never be judged. Courtney will walk you through all the steps you need to create a beautiful, unique album that you can easily add to once the class is over!

 

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TO ENTER: Leave me a comment today and I'll choose winners on Saturday sometime after noon!

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The Ella Blog Tour comes to an end today with the spotlight falling on two industry pioneers, Shimelle Laine, who really took the online education bull by the horns before anyone else did in the scrapbook world, and the one and only Stacy Julian, a woman to whom I own pretty much my entire career in this business. Both of these honorees will be giving away the same awesome group of prizes on their blogs today, so by all means, drop by, leave them a comment and good luck!

 

{Comments are now closed. Check back to see if you're a winner.}

Missed it by that much

1986. Self portrait. Grapevine, Texas. Cathy MacDonald.

 

2010. Re-created portrait. St. Paul, MN. Aidan Zielske.

 

So my spatial framing abilities aren't what they used to be.

How I love filling the time during summer vacation.

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The Ella Blog Tour continues today with the spotlight on two women that are both near and dear to my heart. The woman who seriously makes me crack up every time I'm within 10 feet of her (and I wish I were within 10 feet of her more often), Margie Romney-Aslett, and my inspiring, lovely friend (who I've been lucky enough to travel, teach and hang out with over the years), the digital artist Renee Pearson. Both of these honorees will be giving away the same awesome group of prizes on their blogs today, so by all means, drop by, leave them a comment and good luck!

Scrapstalgia

During this week where I'm celebrating the honor of being named as one of 9 influential scrapbookers, I decided to spend a bit of time in scrap nostalgia—scrapstalgia—if you will. (Okay, "scrapstalgia" sounds like a fungus-based scalp condition, so I will refrain from using it again.)

Let's just say I'm digging looking back at older pages. Pages like this:

 

When I first got hit with the scrapbooking bug (see, there's that disease analogy again), it was all I could do to NOT make a page every single day. Why? Because I was singularly obsessed.

 

The whole idea of it. Photo+Story+Paper+Design. It was every crafting and creative thing I was ever meant to do from the absolute beginning of my life all wrapped up in one convenient hobby.

 

I was never cutting edge in my techniques. I can count the number of times I've used my heat embossing tool on one hand.

 

Still, something about this process hooked me.

 

I know a big part of it were the relationships that have emerged because of the amazing internet communities built around the hobby.

Some of my favorite people in the entire world are people I know because they too got hooked.

 

But the bigger part of it is how it reminds me of the life I have led and am leading.

 

Things that I sometimes forget, or overlook. Things I thought at one time or another that may have changed or evolved over the years.

 

This past weekend, as I was putting my newest layout in my All About Cathy Vol. 3 album, I found myself reading every page in that album. And I guess that's really where this post came from.

A feeling of love for the hobby. A feeling of thankfulness for the opportunity to tell a story here or there.

 

An overall feeling of gratitude as well for an audience to share it with.

Thank you.

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The Ella Blog Tour continues today with the spotlight being on the one and only Jessica Sprague, and the talented and lovely Maggie Holmes.

Today, visit their blogs for a chance to win more giveaway goodness, as well as to learn a bit more about each woman and her philosophy.

5K scrapped, hybrid-style {plus winners from yesterday and more links for giveaways!}

I know you aren't supposed to use the term "flat" with a time that has seconds on it. I know this. Really I do.

 

Never mind that little detail, because woo-hooooo, it's time to scrapbook! (Sorry, that was a bit too enthusiastic, wasn't it?)

Here is what the final two-page layout of awesomeness looks like:

JOURNALING READS: I did it. I officially ran 3.1 miles outside, surrounded by nature, sunshine and other runners, on a lovely July day in my 44th year of life. Go figure. When I started getting back into shape last January, there weren’t any dreams of running road races. Mostly, my dreams consisted of fewer potato chips and size 10 jeans. But once I managed to make the connection that running continuously OUTSIDE could actually be rewarding, something started to click. People starting suggesting races, you know, just for kicks. Initially, I thought, “Nah. Not my deal.” But then I kept thinking, “So maybe it’s NOT my deal. Doesn’t mean I couldn’t at least try one, right?”

I picked my race rather hastily based purely on location. I could handle a race around Como Lake. I do the full lake route at least once a week and it’s only a mile or so from my front door. I waited until the very last minute to register online and told no one, save for my immediate family. Why? I wanted an easy out. What I didn’t anticipate were the nerves the night before. I mean, it’s not like these were Olympic trials. I barely got three hours of shut eye. I was flashing back to every single skating or swim meet I’d ever entered. Those sickeningly familiar pre-competition jitters that always threatened to overwhelm me we’re bearing down hard.

But on the morning of the race, I felt calm. All I had to do was pin on a number, put one foot in front of the other, and do what my body had been proving it could do for a  few months now: run. Once the race kicked off, I was golden, running a faster per mile pace (10:30) than I’d previously clocked with Nike+iPod. With Dan, Aidan and Cole to cheer me on (and ably document the day with photos) I was one proud little cookie. My new goal? To run the next one under 30. And maybe a nice 10K in the fall. Go me.

I building this design by using a digital template as my layout base. Here's the template.

 

This is a good template for when you have a big story, and a goodly chunk of photos to match.

I opened up the left facing page and set out to create my title, subheading and journaling. I changed the font in the template, and I turned off the layers with the circle embellishment components.

Then, I added in a "5K" PNG from a new set called Road Race, and then layered another PNG from the set ("My First Race") over that.

 

After coloring the "5K" PNG to roughly match the greenish-yellow of my Lucy running top, I sent the file to print onto my favorite Bazzill white cardstock.

{Note: to change the color of a PNG, click on its layer in the Layers Palette and go to Edit > Fill Layer. Then in the Contents drop down menu, choose Color, and a Color Picker window will pop up. Choose a color, and when you click OK, that color will apply to the PNG. Make sure the Preserve Transparency button is checked, or the color will apply to the entire layer.}

Then I opened the right facing page template (for the photo collage) and dropped in my race photos. {To learn how to drop photos into digital scrapbooking templates, I have a series of videos that show this process. Click here for a basic video on digital scrapbooking using templates.}

Next I added words to the two journal strip layers, along with a piece of black digital cardstock to serve as the background for the strips.

Then it was time to print the collage of photos and the strips. To print just the photo collage page, I turned off the journal strip layers, and sent the file to print with a borderless setting onto photo paper.

To print the journal strips, I turned off all of the layers containing my photos and the photo masks, and sent that to print, also on a borderless setting, onto the same Bazzill white cardstock.

Printed out, my cardstock pages look like this:

 

 

I love how the PNG looks like a stamp on the background. I also dropped one of the PNGs ("A Perfect Pace") onto one of my race photos, and colored it white.

And this was the right facing page with the photo collage.

 

I trimmed the journal strips, and then adhered them onto the photo collage printout.

 

 

And there you have it, a completed scrapbook page, with a hybrid approach, achieved simply by turning off layers to print specific components, then assembling them for the final pages.

 

SUPPLIES:

Layered Template: Cathy Zielske's Layered Template No. 51

Digital Brushes & Stamps: CZ Road Race

Digital Cardstock: Aki Solids (Black sheet)

Font: Archer

Cardstock: white cardstock (Bazzill Orange Peel 8.5 x 11)

Photo paper: Ilford Gallerie Smooth Pearl

Photo printer: HP Photosmart 8750

Questions? Leave them in comments today and I'll do my best to answer!

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The Ella Blog Tour is happening every day this week, with more great prizes being given away on all of the Most Influential Scrapbooker Nominees' blogs.

Today, visit the blogs of my fellow nominee Noell Hyman for a chance to win even more fabulous prizes, and just to say congrats!

 

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The Winners of Yesterday's Drawing are…

Courtesy of the Random Integer Generator…

Ladies, email me at czdesign@comcast.net so I can coordinate the prize delivery!