Cathy Zielske's Blog

My girl wants to party all the time

Aidan turned 16 on March 29th and we hosted her Sweet 16 Party last weekend.

Before you have any images of "My Sweet 16" and gold-plated Mercedes convertibles or Apple stock options or diamond-encrusted tiaras (I have never seen that show, so I'm totally stabbing in the dark here), you need to keep in mind that Aidan Zielske is of the practical, creative kind. All she wants to do? Host a theme party of her choosing, year in and year out.

This year's theme? Come As Your Favorite Decade.

Perfection.

I present the Zielske family, in all their decaded glory. First up, Coleman Zielske in the 1940s.

Cole was off school the day of the party, so he pleaded with me for a trip to Goodwill and AxMan Surplus. For under $25, we scored the hat, the jacket (and the pants you don't see.) He even went so far as to request a haircut for added authenticity. He is nothing, if not authentic.

Next up, Dan Zielske, coming to you directly from the early 1960s.

The funny thing about this shot? This could be Dan heading to church on any given Sunday. This isn't some ancient sweater that never gets used. I truly believe my husband is living in the wrong decade from a fashion standpoint.

Next up, me, which you've seen in the shot above and as if there were any question as to what decade I would choose. Duh. I was so goth in 1984 for roughly 3 months.

As I was questioning the grey hair and the goth culture and the potential incongruency, Dan told me that grey hair would only make me more goth. Touché.

And last up, the winner of the night, Aidan Zielske, party planner extraordinaire and 60s tartlet, courtesy of web tips for creating sixties-styled hair and the Lula vintage store.

I mean, seriously. Get out, you little Barbarella you.

Be still my heart.

And come hell or high water, this will be our Christmas card photo for 2012:

And yes, I created a digital layout to commemorate this special night in the Zielske family history, because it truly was one of the Best Days Ever.

SUPPLIES:

InLinkz.com

Layout Share: I have something I want to tell you

The past few weeks have seen me experiencing a whirlwind of emotions: first with my daughter leaving the country for eight days, then by living through her absence for those very eight days, and then getting her back safely in one piece.

And what do we do ladies (and scrapbooking dudes) do when we process our life events and innermost feelings? Why, we scrapbook them. Naturally.

I designed a new template with the idea of having something to tell someone, in this case, my now 16-year-old daughter, Aidan. I envisioned it as a letter of sorts. A letter with photos and a title, assembled onto some cardstock.

Here is the finished page:

JOURNALING READS: Time, my dearest daughter, is a bullet train. Now I know this doesn’t really register when you’re 16. Right now, you are infinite. We are infinite. Life moves forward but not in the same way as it does for me. At least not anymore. You had such an amazing adventure in El Salvador and though you’ve been away from home before, something about this trip sent me into a state with which I’m mostly unfamiliar: the state of connecting to the fact that you won’t always live with me.

I know you’re supposed to grow and learn and eventually leave. That’s the path for many children. It was my path and once I left for good, it felt right. And good. And realizing how I’ve traveled this path in my own life made me realize that you too are going to follow your own version and it will result in you not living under this roof anymore. Last week when you were away it really hit home and I was overcome with the sadness of it.

Not sad that you get to live your life; that’s not it at all. I want you to have everything in life that you want; to experience things that bring you passion and joy; to continue forging this amazing, singular identity of yours. I’m so proud of you and your independence. I just want you to know that sometimes,  I will feel a twinge of sadness at this rite of passage in both of our lives. I wouldn’t keep you home forever if I could, but sometimes, the idea of it… well, it puts a smile on my lips.

I just want you to know how much I love you and how thankful I am for our relationship. I still need to get out of the way from time to time, but I think we both know we have something very special here, something kind and supportive and loving. I will always be part of the four walls of your home that support you. And those walls, even when they’re not visible, will be with you for the rest of your life. Love, Mom.

TECHNICAL NOTES: I began this page using a base template and working in Photoshop. I placed all of the elements into the template: photos, words, embellishments. Then, I turned off the photo layers and the date bar layer and date text, and printed the rest out onto a sheet of white cardstock. Next, I turned those photo layers back on, and turned off all the other layers (text and title). I moved the photos in from the edge, moving both the photo and its layer mask together. (I did this by holding down the Shift key and selecting the appropriate layers.) Next with everything moved into the center, I used the Pencil Tool to create some trim guides. Why? Because once I drew the guides, then I could make the layer masks on each photo slightly bigger than they originally were and this would allow for bleed on the photos for trimming. Here's what the page I sent to print onto photo paper looked like:

In essence, I created some hasty crop marks to help me trim the photos to the correct size. That's how you can take the base of any digital template and begin breaking it apart, turning off and on layers to create a hybrid design like mine.

DESIGN NOTES: The balance structure on this design is asymmetrical—if you draw a line down the center, what you have on the left is different than what you have on the right in terms of the space occupied by the elements. I use repetition both in color (orange), font (Archer is the font for the title and journaling), and for elements (the digital flower stamp.) One thing I look for when desiging is how can I align elements so they make sense. Notice in the title how "I have" aligns with the same left edge as the journaling block. It's a simple touch, but looking for subtle alignments is a great way to create a design with unity. Also, I maintained equal amounts of white space around the photos and around the edges of the entire design. Unified and common white space contributes to a sense of purposeful design.

SUPPLIES:

InLinkz.com

Celebrating my 100th template release with a layout share + a software giveaway

Many moons ago, long before digital scrapbooking was even a twinkle in my eye, I spent many a day looking through the inspiration over at Two Peas. It was 2002 and people were coming up with the coolest ideas for making layouts.

One of my favorites? The then ubiquitous "100 Things That I Love" concept. You took a sheet of cardstock, grabbed a pen, and had at it. Even a die-hard computer journaler like myself felt the fun and freedom of tackling this themed page.

Fast forward to today and I knew I was coming up on designing my 100th template for my collection over at Designer Digitals. What better way to celebrate than to re-create the "100 Things" concept in a layered digital template?

I didn't look at my original page prior to designing and creating my 2012 version. I wanted to see how much has changed, and how much has stayed the same. Here's the latest and greatest version:

The things that have changed? My children have gotten older. When I looked at my 2002 page and read "The way Cole says Aidan's name—Aine" it made me swallow just a little bit harder than normal. The last time I did this page, my children were little. They're not so little anymore.

The things that have stayed the same? My love for what I do, and for puffy clouds, and for lip balm and for clean sheets, just to name a few.

I adore this concept—whether handwritten on a piece of cardstock (which I actually really love), or journaled out in true digital style—this is a page that lets you simply riff on what you love. Of course, I had to create my 100th template in 8.5 x 11 because that is my tried and true go-to size. This 100th template is all about celebrating what I love to create and the way I go about doing it.

And to further celebrate today, I've got a pretty sweet giveaway for you.

I've got one copy of Photoshop CS5, the full version of Photoshop, that could have your name on it. This program retails for $699. Yep. It surely does. One of my best friends works at Adobe and is hooking one of my blog readers up with a fresh, clean and fully-legal copy of this amazing software.

And that's a pretty sweet piece of software, let me tell you.

UPDATE: My friend John at Adobe, has been reading your comments and is throwing in a second copy of Photoshop CS5. So make that TWO copies of Photoshop that I'm giving away.

TO ENTER THIS GIVEAWAY: Leave me a comment today and tell me one thing that you love. That's all I'm curious about. Simple enough, right?

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank you not only for supporting my product line at Designer Digitals, but for continuing to come and read my blog, share your thoughts and opinions and generally for giving a damn about what I have to say. It means the world to me.

Thank you so very much.

(And thanks to my life long friend, John, at Adobe. xo.)

This contest will close on Thursday at 9 p.m. and I will choose two random winners. I'll post them on Friday. Good luck.

THIS POST IS NOW CLOSED. Check back tomorrow to see who won, and also there will be another giveaway in the morning.

Video Tutorial: How to Recolor PNGs

I designed a new set of 3 x 4 cards last week called Check Cards. The cards are perfect for use in your Project Life pockets and some might say they're kind of adorable.

The set comes as a PNG and ABR set, but also includes sheets of printable PDFs (cards come in black ink only) for those who don't have Photoshop. Today I wanted to show you how to change the color of the PNG files in Photoshop Elements. Once you have this basic approach down, you can apply it to any PNG file you can get your hands on. Following is a short video that demonstrates the steps plus also how to size the cards down for a perfect fit into Project Life Design A page protectors.

 

Watch the video at Vimeo by clicking here.

STEP BY STEP: RECOLORING A PNG
1. Open the PNG file.

2. Go to Edit > Fill Layer. Under Contents, click on Color….

3. From the Color Picker, choose a color you'd like to apply. Make sure "Preserve Transparency" is checked. Click OK. Then click OK again. The color will apply to only the image content.

STEP BY STEP: SIZING DOWN 3 x 4 CARDS in PSE
1. To change the width of the card to 2-7/8 wide (the actual width of Project Life cards), or 2.875, go to Image > Resize > Image Size. In the Width field, type in 2.875. Make sure that Scale Styles, Constrain Proportions and Resample Image are all checked. Click OK.

2. To change the height of the card to 3-15/16 (the actual height of Project Life cards), or 3.9375, go to Image > Resize > Canvas Size.

3. Click on the Center Anchor Point. Change the height to 3.9375.

4. This will add an equal amount of extra space to the top and bottom of your page. Your card is now sized correctly.

STEP BY STEP: PRINT MULTIPLE CARDS ON AN 8.5 x 11 DOCUMENT
1. Take your finished PNG file and flatten the file (Layer > Flatten Image), then double click on the locked Background layer to create a new Layer 0.

2. Create a new 8.5 x 11 document (File > New > Blank File).

3. From the upper control bar area under the Arrange Documents icon, choose Float All in New Windows.

4. Click on the PNG file window, then go to the Layer 0, click on the layer and drag over to the 8.5 x 11 document and release. The file should copy into the new document.

5. To add a trim line to the card file, go to Layer > Layer Style > Style Settings and check the box before Stroke, then change the stroke weight to "1 px." Click OK. Repeat for more cards.

FRACTION CONVERSION CHART
As mentioned in the video, I have this nifty little chart I use all the time when working on digital and hybrid scrapbooking projects. It converts fractions to decimals and millimeters which is very handy when converting for sizing in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. Download, print and enjoy!

Download CZ_Fractions2Decimals

Questions? Comments? Post in the comments and I'll do my best to answer. And look for my full Project Life post on Thursday.

This set is on sale today at Designer Digitals. To purchase, click here.

A Tiny Templates Tutorial + a free fraction conversion chart download for you

I have a new digital product at Designer Digitals called Tiny Templates.

The idea is very simple. Seven 3 x 4 layered digital templates that allow you to create tiny little cards containing photos and a story. I created them for use in my Project Life album, and I'll be posting about my Week 3 of Project Life later in the week, but today the Tiny Templates are on sale and I thought I'd show you exactly how to use them, and how to size them to fit exactly into the Project Life Design A small pockets.

I put together a 20-minute video walking you through working with one of the templates, including how to size the templates down. Just a word of caution: you may see Tiny Elvis at some point during the clip.

You can watch the clip at Vimeo by clicking here.

I wanted to include the written instructions for resizing a 3 x 4 file to fit perfectly into the Project Life Design A page pockets. You can always trim them down after printing them at full size, but heck, why not just print them at the exact size and employ the use of crop marks for easy trimming? It's your choice!

SIZING DOWN 3 x 4 CARDS STEP-BY-STEP in PSE
1. To change the width of the card to 2-7/8 wide (the actual width of Project Life cards), or 2.875, go to Image > Resize > Image Size. In the Width field, type in 2.875. Make sure that Scale Styles, Constrain Proportions and Resample Image are all checked. Click OK.

2. To change the height of the card to 3-15/15 (the actual height of Project Life cards), or 3.9375, go to Image > Resize > Canvas Size.

3. Click on the top Anchor Point. Change the height to 3.9375.

4. This will add a small amount of extra space to the bottom of your page. You will need to adjust your elements to fit the space, including moving the Background layer clipping mask down to fit, or moving your photos or type layers down to fit.

FRACTION CONVERSION CHART
I have this nifty little chart I use all the time when working on digital and hybrid scrapbooking projects. It converts fractions to decimals and millimeters which is very handy when converting for sizing in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. Download, print and enjoy!

Download CZ_Fractions2Decimals

Questions? Comments? Post in the comments and I'll do my best to answer. And look for my full Project Life post on Thursday.

 

 

 

The Holidays via Instagram

I've settled down a tiny bit since getting my phone last Spring in the Instagram department [read: I don't take photos of every lunch item on my plate anymore]. That said, I still adore the photos taken with my iPhone.

The fact that it's always with me means I always have a way to quickly snap and save a decent enough photo without having to lug the DSLR around everywhere and without having to be the scrapbook Mom who's overly worried about missing the moment.

Now I just get to live them and if I really need a shot, I pull out the phone. Imagine that!

So I gathered up a handful of Christmas-related shots to drop into my Instagram template to save a little holiday slice of life. It's a fun, quick way to get shots off the phone and into an album.

It doesn't bother me that Instagrams aren't the highest quality in the world. I generally use them small, so it's not a big deal.

Just wanted to share a holiday slice.

SUPPLIES: Layered Template No. 89 (Cathy Zielske) • Holiday Cheer Worn Solids & Stripes Paper Pack (Lynee Grieveson) • Just Linens No. 04 (Michelle Martin) • Honey Script font (free)

 

Holiday page and process

With a wintry 5 or 6-inch snowfall this past weekend, it was the perfect time to stay in pajamas, pour an extra cup of Joe, and play with my Thanksgiving photos. In other words, it was Sunday Scrapbooking Time.

It started out with a base template and a computer. First up, select photos:

You know, this part never causes me much stress. I took (or rather, Aidan took) around 75 shots on Thanksgiving, low by Zielske standards, but I knew that a handful or random photos would be just enough for the visual story because I had a whole other page to actually tell the story.

With the key pieces in place, it was time to send files to print. The photo page went onto a sheet of photo paper; the journaling onto a piece of white cardstock.

Now this could have sufficed. Done and done, put it into the family album. But I really wanted to cut and paste. I love scrapbooking with my computer but I also love a little bit of cut and paste. So, I cut apart all of the photos, trimming very close to the edges to preserve the sizes.

Ahhh, there they are. All ready to go.

Next up, select a background cardstock from my stash.

Sometimes I think my colored cardstock gets a bit lonely with my affinity for basic white. But I managed to select a holiday color to complement the bit of color on my journaling page. The other motivation behind the cut and paste was to try out this new Scotch Dot Roller adhesive.

For those of you who were Kokuyo fans, I have been told that Scotch bought them and that this adhesive is essentially the same thing. Honestly, it seemed like the real deal, minus 2 percent. That's my official review. In short, it's a great replacement.

And the adhering began…

After the photos were down, they looked like this.

Just a nice pop of color for a base. Simple. Clean. Done.

But then I thought, "What if I dressed up the journaling page with some stamps and paint?" In other words, why not get a little nutty and crafty?

But the problem with me getting nutty and crafty is that things sometimes end up looking like ka-ka du jour.

Stamp placement? Not part of my overall skill set. Next.

Okay, that's better… whew! I just pulled an old sheet of scalloped cardstock out from my ancient stash and it was just the right bit of scrapbooky goodness to call it done.

Try as I might, I just like simple. Simple designs, simple approaches, simple execution. It's just the thing that keeps me coming back for more. Simple is good.

JOURNALING READS: In the Zielske family proper, there are five kids and we’ve started alternating the Thanksgiving hosting duties. It actually started a number of years ago. One year will be at Joanie’s, then the next, a sibling, then Joanie, and onto the next sibling. Our first stab at hosting the holiday was back in 2006. It wasn’t the first bird I’ve ever made, but it was definitely the biggest of the batch. So this year, it was our turn to host once again. Actually, it was a toss up between us and Deb, but Dan really wanted to host, especially with our house remodeling project being completed. I think we both wanted to test out our new family room with actual family.

I started the preparations the Saturday prior, getting my 18-pound bird in time for a full fridge defrost.  I really wasn’t stressed out about what had to be done, even knowing that we’d have less people bringing actual dishes to share, because Joy and John were both eating at their other families’ homes. The night before Thanksgiving, I made Sarah’s yummy cranberry chutney, and a doubled batch of sausage stuffing. We had a Lady Gaga HBO concert blaring in the background.

I always say, nothing like Lady Gaga to inspire a holiday sense of gratitude, right? I also cooked up the squash, and made sure the bird was in prime defrost mode. (Side note: at the last minute, I decided to brine the bird, until I realized you technically don’t brine self-basted, frozen turkeys. Yes, I ended up dumping all the brine after Googling whether or not I should have done it in the first place. God bless the Internet.

The day arrived (with unseasonably warm temps on tap), and after shaking off a wee bit of morning stress (and having a glass of wine at noon) everything turned out beautifully. From the most perfectly done turkey you could hope for, to breaking in our new electric knife that was a gift from my parents, our day was full of family, noise, food and gratitude. There is a reason this is my favorite holiday. It’s just about celebrating all that is good and all that we have. So glad we hosted on Sheldon Street this year.

SUPPLIES: Layered Template No. 97 (Cathy Zielske) • white cardstock • photo paper (Ilford)

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In other news, I'm happy to announce that I'm on board to be part of Becky Higgins' creative team for Project Life in 2012. I dabbled in Project Life this past year, and am really looking forward to working with some of her new products and finding a way to make it fit into my memory keeping process. Plus, I'm honored to work along side all of these other talented women. I'll be sharing my work on Becky's site and here as well beginning in January. Thanks, Becky! Glad to be part of it all, friend.

 

 

Video blog: sharing the finished project for Me: the Abridged Version

 

To learn more about this album project, see my post from last week! Questions? Comments? Leave 'em here and I'll do my best to answer!

New at Designer Digitals: Me: the Abridged Version

Quick: what's your favorite album project of all time?

Got you thinking now, huh?

I will tell you what mine is, without hesitation: my volumes of Me: the Abridged Version.

For the past two years, I taught a workshop at Big Picture Classes called "Me: the Abridged Version" which a number of you joined in for. This year, I've retired the class and decided to release the project as part of my Designer Digitals collection.

The workshop was based on a CKU class of the same name, and that class was inspired by the wonderful memoir by the equally wonderful Amy Krouse Rosenthal called "Encylcopedia of an Ordinary Life." If you've never heard of this book, I would strongly suggest that any memory keeper check it out for a whole new take on documenting your life.

This approach is the basis for this album project. Write about your life in little, random chunks from A to Z, and sprinkle in a few photos for good measure. It is not an album that relies, however, on photos. It relies on you and your voice and the people, places and things you choose to include as you present an overall slice of your life right here, right now.

My first two volumes were hybrid creations, using papers, adhesives, Microsoft Word and Photoshop to build the final albums.

Here's a sample spread from my album in 2009:

In 2010, I decided to go all digital for my class sample album, recording my life in an 8 x 10 printed photo book from Blurb.

I want to share with you a PDF showing my entire album for 2010. Plus, it could serve as an inspiration to get some of your wheels turning:

Download CZ_2010AlbumShare

I love this concept Why? It's simple and it's filled with random bits of my everyday life. For people who find journaling tedious, once you get going on a project like this, you'll be surprised by how many things start to pop up under each letter. And you'll be surprised how easy it can be to write about yourself, via all the people, places and things that make up your life.

This year, I decided to redesign my digital album and create another volume and that book is presently being printed at Inkubook. I chose Inkubook because they offer 8.5 x 11, which is the size of this project. Some of my students had great results with them last year, so I'm giving it a whirl. Here's a look at my newest volume:

Create your own Photobooks with Inkubook.com!

I ordered a soft cover book this year. Each book has to be a minimum of 20-pages, so if you'll notice, I had to add some patterned paper and cardstock paper in strategic spots to fill out the book. (We call those fly sheets in the publishing biz.)

As you can see, photos are really just accents in this project. The focus in on what topics you choose to write about. You can write about as many things as you can fit into each space. I typically wrote about two things per letter. In some cases, just one thing. The project can be flexible.

I share all of this today because I'm really excited to announce three new products from Designer Digitals, all featuring the Me: the Abridged Version concept, with a few twists, namely, the ability to swap out the titles to create not just an album about you (though I'm a huge fan of that idea), but you can also create "Us: the Abridged Version" or "You: the Abridged Version." Both concepts have so many possibilities for scrapbooking about your family or your children.

Here's a look at the packages:

Me: the Abridged Version Vol. 1 Hybrid Album Project

This is for scrapbookers who want to build a traditional album using the enclosed printable elements. This is essentially what most of my students did in both 2009 and 2010.

This package includes files for both Photoshop Elements and Non-Photoshop Elements users. It includes Microsoft Word templates and printable PDFs for non-PSE users. The printable elements come in 10 different color options so you can find elements to match your favorite papers and cardstocks. Non-PSE users will create their alphabet blocks using cardstock and stickers or chipboard alphas. Included is a 17-page How To PDF, a complete guide to the project showing the basic album structure, tips on how to get the most out of your patterned paper, with complete step-by-step instructions for creating the various pieces in Photoshop Elements. Layered PSD files will help you to create your journaling blocks, title page elements and alpha blocks, as well as allow you to customize the colors yourself. All fonts and font colors are also customizable in this project.

This package also contains the printable elements for creating "You: the Abridged Version" and "Us: the Abridged Version."

In short, this package is like a class in a box with every imaginable piece needed (minus cardstock and patterned paper of course!) to build a complete hybrid album project.

 

Me: the Abridged Version Vol. 1 Digital Album Project

This is for digital scrapbookers who want to build a digital album using the enclosed layered PSD files. This is what I used for my 2010 album. There are just a few files in this package, and you will do a series of Save As commands to save all of your album letters. Typically, most digital scrapbookers in my workshop designed their A and B pages first, choosing their digital papers and cardstocks, then did a series of Save As commands so as not to re-invent the wheel each time.

This package also contains the layered logo files for creating "You: the Abridged Version" and "Us: the Abridged Version."

In short, this package is for digital scrapbookers who know their way around PSE.

Me: the Abridged Version Vol. 2 Digital Album Project

This is for digital scrapbookers who want to build a digital album using the enclosed layered PSD files. This album, however, has custom letters created using my favorite font, Archer, which is also used in the title options as well. You choose your own font for the page entries and journaling blurbs. This package also has the A to Z pages already created for you as layered PSD files. No Saving As is needed. Just build and go, letter by letter.

This package also contains the PNG files for creating "You: the Abridged Version" and "Us: the Abridged Version." It also contains PNG dates covering the next 10 years, so you could make future volumes.

In short, this package is for digital scrapbookers who know their way around PSE, but also like the added convenience of having the pages already set up for them.

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Each of the packages has different pricing because of the different number of files. Each of the packages, as new products at Designer Digitals, will be on sale through Tuesday at 6 a.m. EST.

Also, each of these packages has been designed in the 8.5 x 11 format. The main reason isn't just because that's my preferred size. The main reason behind this is that this design in 12 x 12 would create journaling blocks that are wider than I like to create. I have some personal rules of thumb when it comes to readability and journaling. I like my journaling colums to stay uner 5 inches wide. Plus, it makes for less required journaling, which can facilitate an easier completion process.

I really hope you'll consider creating an abridged version about yourself. This project always makes me reflct on my life, and my blessings, and focuses me on what really matters: family, life, love and all that goes along with it.

Whether you make an all digital album, or a cool hybrid project, this is a project that will truly serve as a time capsule of your life right here, right now.

I also think they'd make a fantastic gift for someone in your life. You could make an album about a child, or about your entire family for a wonderful and meaningful album gift for the holidays, and you've got plenty of time to create one!

If you have any questions about the packages or the projects, please don't hesitate to ask. Leave me a question in comments, and I'll be sure to get you an answer!

I also want to give you a free downloadble brainstorming PDF (included in the packages as well) where you can jot ideas for what you might want to write about in your album.

Download MeTAVBrainstormSheet

Here's to slices of life from A to Z. And, of course, scrapbooking them.

p.s. I know for some of you, the idea of doing an album all about yourself might seem a bit indulgent, but consider this: everything you choose to write about your life really is just a reflection of the people, the places and the things you love. I think every woman should explore this process. There is only one you. Document, save and enjoy the process of celebrating and recording your life.

People who love you will thank you.

 

Layout share: Master of Disguise?

JOURNALING READS: In his twelfth year, Coleman has become a bit of a master of disguise. Okay, maybe master of disguise isn’t the right term, I mean, we can clearly see that it’s him, but still… He loves his fake glasses, his fake moustaches and his ridiculously diverse collection of hats. In fact, for the month of September, Cole vowed to wear a different hat to school every day and he’s tracking his progress in his journal. Maybe it’s just more of his theatrical side coming out. Maybe it’s the Leo in him that thrives on making an entrance. Maybe it’s just good old- fashioned nutty fun. Whatever the case, I hope Cole never loses his taste for the slightly silly. It’s rather infectious, truth be told.

I have a lot of silly pictures of my son.

I'm sure none of you with 6th grade boys can relate.

The camera is not always their friend during this phase of 'tween-dom.

But I absolutely adore the goofy looks this boy offers up.

Just like allowing me to still accompany him to the bus stop, this era will one day just be a remember when you used to do that? time in his life.

Goofy pictures and expressions are some of my favorites all the same. How about you?

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SUPPLIES: Layered Template No. 84 • Just Linens No. 1 (Michelle Martin) • Arial and Arial Rounded fonts

P.S. When you look at the word disguise too long, you wonder if it's spelled correctly and then you Google it to double check yourself and then when you realize it is spelled correctly you feel a sense of relief and yet it still looks weird and you will never see the word quite the same way again. Then you realize you need to get a life.