Bits&Pieces

Spawn of Neil, and more free tag book downloads

Saw Liam Finn at the Cedar Cultural Center on Minneapolis' lovely, patchouli-laden West Bank. He was opening for Laura Veirs whose music I am not really familiar with (and we actually left after Liam's set, much to the horror of those sitting around us. You're not staying for Laura?)

Don't know if it's weird to say I saw two Finns separated by two days or not. And true, the only reason I bought I'll Be Lightning was out of curiosity, you know, parentage considered, but I'll be damned if it isn't a great freaking disc. Truly. So not Crowded House. Very original. And yet, the young lad's knack for melody must just be a streaming DNA thing. And personally, it's a shame more people don't get to hear it, thanks to the state of American radio. Long story short: check it out. You can get it on iTunes as well. Then you can feel all cool because you're listening to something the critics love, but very few others have heard. Go you!

Liam and his singing partner E.J. Barnes rocked it out. Really, really good show. Too short. I would have loved to have heard every track from the album. And after the show, a few people came up to the stage, and those two were just so polite. I thought to myself: what a great sign that the young people of today ARE on track.

Then I felt ridiculously old, and left.

Because remember, I'm just an old scrapbooker now. Felt a bit too cougarish going to see that show, until I got there and realized I was surrounded by a bunch of older hippie types anyway. Then I felt bad for Liam. I wanted to shout: there's a younger audience for you out there, bucky. Keep plugging away!

So, along those scrapbooking lines, here are the tag book downloads for the next three months, if'n you're so inclined. I've had a handful of requests so I thought I'd upload them.

Even en Francais.

Download june.pdf
Download july.pdf
Download aug.pdf

Download juin.pdf
Download juillet.pdf
(ps. what is August? I can't seem to remember? Anyone?)   

You can still enter for a chance to win Le Box Du Mystere! Oh, and Happy NSD Day!

Still taking names in the previous post comment area. MAN it feels good to be TYPING!

I miss written blog posts. Sorry, Donna. I know you don't like all those bloody words!

Check back later today for the winner of the giant box of scrapbooking goodness! It could be you!

Comments for the giveaway are now closed! Back soon with a winner.

The mostly finished end result

I finished up my acrylic album over the weekend (save for some journaling that needs to be added) that I started at Inspired  (cool slide show,  Paolo!).

The cover is something is a graphite transfer I did in Kal's class, over the top of one of my favorite photos (the same one I made into a tape transfer on the page that says, "Hopeful.")

Totally took Ali's idea of incorporating stuff from the event itself. That kind of thinking rarely finds a home in my brain. If it's not in the handout, well, then hellO, it so does NOT belong in the same room as me.  But a funny thing happened as I worked on this album: I felt moderately adventurous.

What I mean to say is that as a designer, especially in my work for the magazine in publication design, I have a very carefully controlled way to approach any given project. I am of the belief that in publication design, it's all about how to communicate the information in the most direct way possible, lest you create chaos. (pronounced, just for fun, as "chowce")

And don't get me wrong, I still have issues with tilting and believe that good design is essentially balanced and linear, but... I did feel just a tiny bit out of the box for me.

And I realize that my "out of the box" might look like your "anal retentive freak of nature."

But go with me for a minute here.

I mean, tape transfers and alcohol ink, y'all. It's like I got really, really drunk and now, can't really remember what I did the night before, but, I woke up feeling like I did something I could regret, but that it was likely very worth it.

I love when that happens.

The lack of regret, that is. Not the super drunk, hangover part.

Love,
Cathy

Materials
(not a complete list, and a lot of this product wasn't part of the actual class,but for those who need to know)
•Tim Holtz Adirondack Inks in Lettuce, and Denim
•Scenic Route ruled patterned paper
•Tiny Alphas in black from Making Memories.
•Rub ons from Luxe (these heart rub-ons are SUPER lushous!)
•7gypsies' ATC Inserts 97% Complete (i just cute off the tab parts and used them as journaling cards throughout.)
•Big Timber Line Technique Tuesday stamps (an old stand-by fave!)
•Heidi Swapp Damask stickers and block alphas, that I can't find a link to. Anyone? I love those stickers, too.
•Other patterned paper is by My Mind's Eye and I used Prismacolor Premier colored pencils to color in some of the stamped letters and some of the rub ons (also called Pencil Crayons in an earlier post.) That's what cute Kal calls, 'em. Maybe it's a Canadian thing?)

 

gettin' jiggy with it

So one of the cool things I learned at Donna's event was how to do a tape transfer, courtesy of the super cool Stephanie McAtee. (Yes, I realize I might be the last one standing in the Have Never Tried Tape Transfer room, but what can I say? I cling to the tried and true with a vice-like grip.)

Does everyone know how to do this? Am I the last one? Really? You just put packing tape over a laser-printed image, submerge in water, and rub off the paper? Really? I'm that behind?

And after seeing how Ali incorporated some of the work from the various classes at Inspired, I decided to do the same, because I'm "lemming" like that. I'm going to work on it over the weekend, filling up my acrylic album from cute Tena's class. And playing more with pencil crayons, now that I officially adore Kal Barteski, who showed me how fun they are.

And speaking of Kal, her artwork is absolutely amazing, and I have to show you an illlustration she did that got me majorly verklempt. It's this piece. It absolutely nails what so many of us don't see, myself included, when we look in a mirror. I bought a signed print and I plan to gaze on it daily and work on giving myself more of a break.

When art gets you in the gut, I think it's pure magic. Kal, you are conveyor belt of magic.

And with that, I'm off for a super highly productive day of creating design comps for the so-new-I-can't-even-link-it upcoming Simple special issue, tentatively titled "Mini Albums You Can Make in an Evening," and then I look forward to a weekend full of tape transferring anything in my house that moves.

Love,
Cathy

p.s. Those stamps are by Fontwerks. And the rad photo on the transfer by Tara, who makes me look good.

Jennifer Stewart is blessed among women because she has made me overcome my fear of glitter, y'all

DUDES! GLITTER! and... TILTING!

So this post will serve as my Inspired Artist Workshop recap. Where to begin?

Got back yesterday, mid-morning, and immediately dove into finishing off the projects I didn't finish in class. And let me just say, I am NOT the best of students, because we had AMPLE time in each 3-hour class to finish. But for some reason, I find myself drifting off into is this straight enough land?, and I become easily distracted.

Long story short? I had a great friggin' time at this event. Having never been a student before, I was just really impressed with what Donna had to offer. It was relaxed, and creative, and cool. The teachers rocked, the projects were totally out of my personal box (and I NEED that, let me tell you!) and I left feeling totally inspired to make stuff.

Where I once was, "Gel medium? what the HELL is that?" I now know what it is, and that it won't come off my hands for a solid 24 hours. And the cool thing is, a lot of these projects are things I want to make again. In different themes, and styles.

The other fun part is seeing women I love and adore, and making new friends. (Hi Anne! Hi Katie! Hi Nadia!) And of course, making new friends that I could listen to all day long. (Oh yeah, Deitra, you KNOW I'm talking about you! Praise Jesus and Pass the Biscuits!)

But the bottom line is this: Donna, you kicked ASS on this. You (and Mr. Ask Bill) just did. I'm so proud of you it's not even funny. Thank you for including me.

I am just in awe of people who are willing to take risks. I'm SO not that person and admire you in huge quantities for doing just that. (Did you realize the word "tities" is in "quantities"?)

I love you AND your quanTities.

Smooch, Donna Downey. Now excuse me while I stay outside because airports make me claustrophobic.

Love,
Cathy

Leave name here for FREE STUFF that I will send to you, no questions asked (a.k.a. the Donna Downey Twins' Giveaway!)

So today's all about my comrade in arms and erstwhile smoking buddy Miss Donna Downey. Donna has two more (and final) books out in her killer Yes, It's a Scrapbook series: A Photos-First Approach to Designing Layouts and Fabric Scrapbooking. I've got two of each, so I'm giving a set away to two blog readers with a bit of that Irish-Catholic Downey-esque luck on their sides. Could it be you?

But wait, there's MORE!

The more part is this. I have a confession. I briefly paged through one of the sets I'm giving away. I'm sorry. That's bad, isn't it? I couldn't resist. Truly. And as I was flipping through the Designing Layouts book, I wondered to myself, "Hmmmm, could I make a cool page using one of her designs?" And then, rather than wait for the voices inside my head to answer, I simply shouted out: YES! YES WE CAN!"

So here's the design I chose:

And I did what Donna encourages you to do throughout the book (and she shows samples on every gate fold!)... I flipped it, and made it work for the photos I had. And because I already had some killer journaling, this page came together in about and hour.

I used my much loved HP Photosmart 8750 printer to print a full bleed, edge-to-edge title strip (and used a font called  Rosewood for the title—and might I add, if you like super ornate display type like this, a good rule of thumb? Use it for short, big titles. That's how it works best.) I also printed out my photos from a bunch of really goofy shots we took last Friday night with my little point-and-shoot, and I think they're perfect for this.

(We also took a series of shots with my friend C.T.—who introduced me and Dan, lo those many  years ago.) Here is C.T. and me, with me looking much like the whitish, subterranean cave dwellers in the movie The Descent, about to take a lethal but tasty bite of her naturally sculpted cheek bone:

(Remember how some of you thought I looked so great in that toilet shot the other day? Remember people, it's called Selective Photo Editing (SPE). Go ahead, stand in front of a sun-flooded window, holding a camera a foot directly above your head and look straight up. You'll swear you're ready for the next season of Make Me a Supermodel, too! Chins be GONE!)

Oh, and one more shot of me and Dan that didn't make it onto the layout, but will DEFINITELY be part of the 2008 Christmas Newsletter.

We're sure not as young and hip as cute Elsie and her friends, but damn, we should earn points for trying. Afterall, I DID get that new shirt.

Okay, where the hell is this post going?

Leave your name. I will draw two winners to receive both of Donna's books, tonight at around 9 p.m. C.S.T. And one of those set will be rife with the discarded epithelial cells of yours truly. Now THAT is a value-added!

Good luck.

Love,
Cathy

{comments are now closed! will have winners shortly!}

If I am not, in fact, the first person who ever thought to do this…hold your "sorry to inform you, but..." posts for a day or so, just so I can live another 24 hours under the illusion that I invented something spectacularly brilliant

You know how when you open a package of say, stickers, or rub-ons, or whatever… and they come in a plastic sleeve?

Well, if you're like me (and you KNOW you want to be!) you might not use every single item on said sheet of stickers or rub-ons, or whatever. So… what do you have to do?

Put the stickers or rub-ons, or whatever BACK into the packaging.

And what happens? Come on... every single time? What happens?

The product STICKS to the sticky part of the flap on the plastic sleeve.

ARE YOU WITH ME?

Well, I don't want to toot my own horn TOO loudly, but I invented the following cure-all to this very common scrapbooking dilemma.

Watch closely:

 

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is EXACTLY what I'm thinking every single time I scrapbook.

Happy Easter.

Love,
Cathy

So where was I?

Oh yes… I was making tags.

I got me some new stamps from the creative people at  Cat's Life Press. I love this (Gotta Love the Everyday) and this one (Today I Feel) and this one (Random Memory No.). Good stuff. This company has really made me unafraid of stamp usage. Go Cat's Life Press!

And my little tag book is getting thicker…just like ME!

But it's all good, right? Monday's 2-year Smoke Free celebration culminated in my predictable justification that I deserve to buy things on my anniversary with the money that I would have spent on smokes. What's funny is that I've used this very logic to buy things so many times that I would actually have to START smoking again, and smoke three to four packs a day for at least another 15 years just to have those funds truly available. I'm actually heavily in debt to the Bank of What I Would Have Spent on Cigarettes.

That said, I bought this nice little all-purpose Nikkor 18-55 with Vibration Reduction. Ever since I dropped my camera while mildly buzzed at my Pampered Chef party and busted up my 28-105, I've wished for a different all-around lens, and this new one should fill the bill. Plus, I'll have more wide angle than I've had since going digital. Which I may soon need for decent self-portraits. Besides, the price was nice. Just under $200.

So put that in your Bank of What I Would Have Spent on Cigarettes and smoke it.

Love,
Cathy

12/12

Hey Susan… I actually joined in the fun! For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, check out the Twelve-of-Twelve blog. I've only done this once before, and i really think I'm going to change that. My 12th was a pretty average day. Nothing of consequence really happened. But once I saw all the pictures together (half taken with my Nikon D200, half with my Kodak EasyShare) I was reminded why this idea is such a cool one: it's just a slice of life. Wouldn't it be cool if you did this every month for years? And included a lovely self portrait to see how you change?

This design is essentially the same as the last time I did this (you can see that layout by scrolling down a bit here.)

I love having a little photo template in InDesign, that I can just plop images into, and then print them out on my Photosmart 8750, which, with this whole tag book thing, has been seeing a lot of action and performing at fabulous levels. Love that printer.

But I'm guessing a lot of you don't have InDesign, so…I made a simple photo template in Photoshop for this very 8-1/2 x 11 page. Now I know, I know… but what if I don't scrapbook in that size? Well maybe it's time you try it, sisters and brothers! And honestly? You can TOTALLY make a 12 x 12 page with it. You could get all creative with a big, funky mat or something. The other thing you can do? Open the file, and just size it up to 11.5 in width and voila—it should be good to go for your pics.

Also, don't forget when you're printing it from Photoshop to add the Crop Marks option (I find it under the Output drop down menu, which you may have to dig around for. I love crop marks to the point that yes, I would marry them.

Anyhoo…my sweet doggie friend, Kyla, is here for the weekend, keeping me company in the office as I toil away. Enjoy the template. And have a lovely weekend.

Download 12of12template.png

(Mac Users, hold down your control key then choose "Save Link As". PC users, right click and choose "Save Target As".)

[edited to add: if anyone can offer help how to download to a pc? there are a few questions in comments? I have no clue where PCs are concerned! Go ahead and post in comments!]

Layout materials: stickers by Heidi Swapp; blackboard alphas by Cosmo Cricket; stamp by Cat's Life Press

No, I mean really…you could have saved the time and effort and just bought me a pack of cigarettes

And of course, I am KIDDING. I don't want packs of cigarettes for my birthday. Sillies. But come to think of it, Easter IS just around the corner…

My cool mother-in-law, Joan (aka Joanie, or Juana, because she travels to Spanish speaking countries so often) always gives me and Dan the funkiest birthday gifts, picked up during their many travels. Like CRAC! Apparently, in Brazil, it comes in these super affordable and convenient packages. I have no idea what's in it, but MAN, as soon as I came down from trying to fly off the roof of my house, I just wanted MORE!

(Why was it that almost every single ABC After School special about drugs involved people trying to fly off roofs? Or was that just Helen Hunt?)

Hard to say… but, my OTHER birthday present came, courtesy of my cute Mom, Shirley. (Well, she didn't know when she sent me a check for $50 that I was going to spend it this way, but still…)

Now I think many of you would agree, I'm not really the cute and cuddly type. You know what I mean. That said, I cannot get enough of Little Miss Matched socks. It all started when Stacy sent me a pair for Christmas. I was like, "Wow. Little kid socks!" (And Stacy, you KNOW I love you when I say you just kind of out trump me on the cute stuff factor. I mean, I don't think you own a SINGLE Bauhaus album. Follow me?)

Anyhoo… I decided to try 'em out one morning, and I shit you not: in an instant, I became the CUTEST PERSON ALIVE. Sure, it wasn't obvious to the outside world (because I rarely ever leave the house), but every single time I looked down at my feet, I was like, "HOW CUTE IS THAT?" And I just knew.

So that's why I splurged and bought 50 bucks worth of these socks. They also wash up superbly, and are super comfortable. Right now, I'm wearing the light lavender ones, and yeah, you guessed it: I'm ADORABLE from the ankle down. And no amount of Joy Division can take that one away.

Also. I can eat and eat and eat, and my feet always remain thin and fabulous. Lucky me!

Speaking of fabulous, I share my March 12th tag. I didn't do the 11th. Wasn't in the mood. I had a really crappy, hormone-fueled day. And come to think of it…I wore plain brown socks on the 11th.

It's all making perfect sense now.

peace and super cuteness,

cathy