Challenges

While I was on my forced internet hiatus, I wasn't able to download any new kits or files, but I did manage to spend some time on some of the challenges they have at MScraps. Let me first explain why I love doing the challenges. Being new-ish to digi-scrapping, I have found that challenges on the scrapping sites were a great way to push myself and learn new techniques. What I love about the challenges on MScraps is that they have something for everyone, the newbie and the more seasoned scrapper.

Here are some pics from the last month's miscellaneous challenge by Jenny -which was to take one subject and photoshop 3 images onto one photo. I LOVED this challenge. LOVE, love, LOVE it.


Credits: Kit Playground by Jady Day Designs, Paper: The Things You Do/Mscraps June Collab

We all love getting comments on our posts. My favorite comment I got with this layout was one where someone said, Triplets, how cool!. LOL. Lordy, if I had triplets, I think I'd be in an asylum. lol

This page I did using Sherry Ferguson's Tropical Paradise kit (available at ScrapMatters) for MScraps' Miscellaneous Challenge for June. The assignment was to scrap a page with part of your image extruded out.


Credits: Kit: Tropical Paradise by Sherry Ferguson Designs, Paper: The Things You Do/MScraps June Collab

Back from 'hiatus'

When technology works, its great. When it doesn't it can just about stop all progress if you've come to rely on it. And I have. My internet was barely working (like 20 mins here, 10 mins there) and it was beyond frustrating. Then we thought we'd fixed it, and it'd be out again. Needless to say, I haevn't been much in the digiworld during the past two months. But I haven't been stopped either.

I'll start by posting my latest pages and work backward until I catch up.

Here is Wimpy Chomper's latest kit: He's Out of This World, available at ScrapMatters. She does the funnest kits, perfect for kiddie shots.


And here is my page Blast OFF, created with it.

Weather - Theme shots

I had some internet issues and didn't get to go online for nearly 2 weeks. Its almost unfathomable, isn't it? I seriously don't know how I did it!

Well, I missed last week's photo theme but I still took some shots. My scrapping pal, Romy, came up with the idea of 'Weather' as the theme. I thought it was a really intriguing idea. Then of course, its been non-stop raining. Well, Rain is a weather condition, isn't it? The first couple of shots are through my office window.


Weather Rolling In


Weather Through the Window



And finally, on Mother's Day weekend, the sun peeked out. A little. Even though it got covered right up again, we had one nice day, so I had to shoot it.

Semi-Sunny

Nikon D5100 - my new treasure

TA DA!
Here she is. My new toy. This was shot with my Torch blackberry - but here it is with my camera bag. LOVE THEM!!!!


Just testing out the new camera. I am sooo happy with it. Words can't describe it, so here are some test shots:

I was wondering how to organize it on the blog, so I'm posting the shots chronologically - all shots are taken in NYC unless otherwise noted.

Night vision in Times Sq.
The night I got the camera, my friend, Alana, drove me down to Penn. This is smack in the middle of Times Square. I took a bunch of shots and various settings, but the motion blur was pronounced in all of them (probably because not only was the street scene in motion, but our car was, too. Then I tried the Night Vision feature. This is what I got.

Here is one of the first shots, taken along 3rd Ave on my walk up from Five Guys (yes, PMS bad eating - lol). They have the Spring flowers up and each gigantic planter was more beautiful than the last.

Spring. finally


View down 28th Street (I think it was 28th - wonder if this thing has geo-tagging?)


Shadowy Swirls (original)
This is the same as the one in my Curves theme, except not in night vision mode.


Outside Penn
This is the view North toward Times Square, just before I ran for the NJ Transit train.




Streaming Pop News
This is one of my favorite shots of the night.



Paella
I took this using the 'food' setting of the camera. Delish, too!


And the crab legs...
(my friend's boyfriend got the left overs. Unfortunately, all that was left was the baked potato and green beans! lol lol lol )



Hot
This is silly, but this was the first shot I took using the Food feature. Its so crisp and real!


Keyboard
What I love about this one is that the shelf this was on was in complete darkness. There was a bit of ambient light that filtered onto the front of the keyboard, but the night vision setting took a really cool, grainy bw shot.



I just love this shot because its got such an edgy, urban feel to it.



And the last one - cliche, I know, but what is more NY than the Empire State Bldg?
And red hot at that. :)

Photography Theme: Curves

What a crazy week. Ups, downs, exhaustion - you name it. Still I made time to roam around and take some shots for the Curves theme.

Shadowy Swirls



Camera Nikon D5100, Exposure 0.017 sec (1/60), Aperture f/5.6, Focal Length 18 mm, Focal Length 18.3 mm, Flash Off, Did not fire,
Lens FStops 5.33, Scene Night Vision, Color Monochrome

This shot was taken using the Night Vision setting on under the Scenes feature of my new camera. I just loved how the light and shade combined to make the playful shapes on the concreate as they filtered from the shop window.


Column Curves


Camera Nikon D5100, Exposure 0.077 sec (1/13), Aperture f/3.5, Focal Length 18 mm, Focal Length 18.3 mm, ISO Speed 3200, Exposure Bias 0 EV, Flash Off, Did not fire

Neither rain, nor sleet, nor ...well, you can read it yourself on the top of the main post office between 32rd and 34th Street and 8th Avenue. I love the majesty of the building with the bustle of the street traffic.

Number Curves



Camera Nikon D5100, Exposure 0.033 sec (1/30), Aperture f/5.6, Focal Length 55 mm, ISO Speed 3200, Exposure Bias 0 EV, Flash Auto, Fired, Return detected

The catty corner view of the building awning made the triple 3s standout in my nighttime walk.



As you can see, I'm fascinated with low light shots and I'm trying to play with my new camera shooting in the various settings.

Thanks for checking out my shots!

Themed Weekly Photographers

Here is a list of everyone who has joined in the MScraps' 'challenge yourself ' theme photo exercise. Be sure to check out their awesome shots and follow them if you like what you see.

If you want to read more or just join in on the chatter, you can find the posts in this forum over at Mscraps


Heather T's Blog: http://oohlalaartsy.blogspot.com


Linda (Scrapporreia)'s Blog: http://www.scrapporreia.blogspot.com

Meg of OceanWideDesigns' Blog: http://www.oceanwidedesigns.com

Romy's Blog: http://by-romy.blogspot.com/


Reminder:The idea is to have a theme to shoot a set of photos over a week's time. This will hone your eye and give you practice with your camera. You're only challenging yourself, so shoot what you can. Make something fit, or see how it doesn't fit. Just have fun with it.

C'mon -- join us!

Today my baby turns 5

I'm so proud of the little boy he's growing into and sad to see the parts of him that are a little baby fade away. This one little guy gives me more joy and genuinely melts my heart more than I ever thought anything could.

Happy Birthday my little love!

Here is a shot of his school birthday cupcake. I made 30 of them. yeah, THIRTY. That's a mama's love, huh?



Help, my house is infested with catepillars... cupcakes, that is!

Theme photo blogging - announcement

I'm a regular participator in MScraps. I love their designers, the store is awesome (and why I'm always broke!) and the ladies there are so varied, creative, supportive, caring and I could go on and on. Its a place I feel I can throw ideas out and get real feedback and tons of back up.

Recently, there has been a lot of chatter about buying new cameras, comparisons, brands, etc. It led me to think (because, yes, I am also waiting for the Nikon D5100 to get to my store!) that I loved doing the Theme Photo blogging 'contest' after I got my D70 slr. It wasn't just the contest; it was the fact that it forced me to get out and shoot. I'd go for walks at lunch with my friends and it was so much fun to talk about our shots and what made it hard, what we liked, etc. I started a thread in MScraps to invite some of the ladies to join me in a self-challenge - a blogging circle of photography.

Interested in joining?

Here is how it will work:
4 Themes a month (theoretically one them per week)
Pick 3 - 5 of your favorite shots
Post to your blogs All blogs will be listed after I get some takers (bonus:we can each post the full list of blogs and the link back to mScraps' forum)
Everyone comments, reviews, critiques, etc.
We'll start on May 1, Sunday and the week will end on Sat (May 8)

Benefits: more photos, better shooting increase traffic and 'followers' to our own blogs Can get photo help from a group of fellow photogs

Example from a theme photo contest I ran a few years ago: We chose Circles as our first theme and we all had to shoot things that reminded us of the word. Shots included: Bi-circles (bike tires), retro lamps, the moon, ironwork around NYC, puddles, etc.

THEMES (thank you for those of you who sent in your suggestions prior to this thread) Be sure to name each of your shots - sometimes a clever title makes the shot that much more appealing. :) And it helps if we end up comments about it in the thread, we dont have to say: the one with the blue. lol

WEEK OF
May 1: Curves (hints: Many things curve; the curve of a body, curls in hair, winding roads, or you can to to the opposite extreme: lack of curves - as long as it relates)
May 8: Weather (hints: This outside the box, don't shoot just rain or sun, challenge yourself.)
May 15: Anticipation (hints: lots of us have kids/grandkids - there are so many possibilities here for them, but we can do inanimate things, too: plants prebud, ketchup dripping, an envelope)
May 22: Double takes - This one requires 2 photos; 2 things that look or seem similar (hints: obviously twins, two uses for the same thing, reflections, -- there are so many possibilities to this one.

The other photographers can come and comment on your shots.(I'm planning on posting the full list on my blog as well). Don't worry if you don't do each week at the same time as I've dated them. Whenever you shoot and post, we'll all be taking a look (and those like me, will surely be commenting).

This is just to get us all out and shooting. Practice makes perfect. The more we shoot the better our pictures have to become. Once I see how much interest we get in this, I can post a longer schedule. :)

If you know of a budding photog, send them to this thread at Mscraps so they can join in on the fun, too!

My little patch out back

I love being outside (minus the bugs and the animals - lol ). So I decided to make it feel more like me. My son has the whole house, my husband has the garage. I don't have a room thats just for me. So, for the few months of decent weather, I want my own space.

April Food Break

All this scrapping and creating makes you hungry, no? I thought the time was ripe for a food break. heh heh heh

I'll start with my April Fool's treats. I made these worm riddled apples for my son's lunch bag and it came out so cute that I decided to make 2 more for each of his teachers. They loved them and one of them saved it to take home to show her son. :) I love a 'pay it forward'.

I saw this 'treat' on a site or a magazine and I can't recall which, or else I'd give them their due credit. Here is how it was done, I trimmed a gummy worm, used a paring knife and dug out a hole. Then dripped some lemon juice inside to keep it fresh. To keep the gummy candy from getting too gooey too quickly, I dabbed the hole after a little bit. Then I shoved the cut side of the worm in. That's it!

Next Up are Cake Pops. You seen these online a ton of times by now. There are many variations: cake mixed with a binder (like cream cheese), straight up cake baked in ball shapes, or scooped out to ball shapes. Covered with a chocolate concoction, covered with frosting then fondant, frosting and dipped in chocolate, and so on. These were from my local Starbucks on Third and 48th in NYC. Rocky Road, Birthday Cake and Tiramisu. They were a little too sweet for me, but I wanted to try them, so I had to buy 'em. Cute though, huh?

For my DHs birthday, we had some of our close friends and their kids over on Saturday night. For his actual birthday, I didn't want him not to have a cake, so I picked up this peanut butter silk pie at Perkins. They have some yummy pies. I topped it with these colorful, rubber, finger puppets (available at Target). Aren't they hideously cute?

Blog Train Freebies with The Design Girl

Happy April Fool's Day! The start of the month, the beginning of Spring, and what better way to start than with a new Sprint kit from The Design Girl and a whole blog train of freebies? Here is her Hop To It kit. How cute are those little bunnies and chickies?? Here is a layout I did with the kit from last year's Easter Egg hunt down in VA.This is our adorable God-daughter (and neice) on her first Easter Egg Hunt.


I have create 4.25 x 5.5 printable labels for those Easter gifts or just to use as a fun mailing label. Click on the preview below to download the files. Then be sure to scroll down so that you can find all the other free goodies by The Design Girl's CT team.

Your next stop is Andrea's blog

If you lose your way you can find the whole list of blog's here :

Linda/Scrapporreia (you are here) - http://www.scrapporreia.blogspot.com/

Andrea - http://grandmasgotworms.blogspot.com/

Sharon - http://quietangelsb.blogspot.com/

Emma - http://scrappy-dappy-doo.blogspot.com/

Kris - http://myworldinscraps.blogspot.com/

Tamara - http://www.yesterdaytodaytamara.blogspot.com/

Donna - http://www.scrappydonna.blogspot.com/

Ulrika - http://www.ulrikaulrika.se/

Enjoy the goodies!

Be sure to check out some of the other freebies on this site before you go - click on Freebies on the tab above.

And I wanted to thank Danielle, her CT lead Andrea and all the other ladies for making me feel so welcome this month as a CT guest. It was a blast!

FREE Silhouette Birthday Banner Template

Hi Everyone, In honor of my wonderful husband's birthday, I'm giving away a free Silhouette banner template. I'm a circle girl. I like dots, dot patterns... circles. I wanted to make my hubby a sign for when he came downstairs on his birthday so I decided to make them in circles. My poor husband is color blind and I torture him about it all the time; "What color is that? Do you see that color next to that color?" and on and on. What better than to make a crazy mixed up color banner? The credits will be longer than this post, I'm sure. I needed to explain all of that so that you'd know why its all such a hot mess. It was intentional. :) This template uses an 8.5 x 11 sheet of card or regular paper stock. I strung them up with baker's twine from his cake. (yes, I know... how lame is that??) lol. Please click here or on the image below to download the free Silouette cutting template: Credits for Crazy Colorful Banner: Boy Oh Boy by Heather T, Camden's Buddies by Wimpy Chompers Creations, Happy Go Lucky by Sherry Ferguson Design

Clearance Sale

There is a huge clearance sale at ScrapMatters this week and Wimpy Chompers is having a HUGE 60% sale then the kits and alphas are retiring - for-evah! If you're just starting out or have those photos you've been meaning to scrap, now is the time to shop and buy! You can click below to go to her store.

The Letter O - for Oreos

Yum. Oh wait... I mean YUM!

If you've been reading my blog lately, you'll see why I'm no skinny minnie. I love to cook and bake. And I love my discovery: The Picky Palate. She has an awesome website and she just loves to concoct her own treats. She made these things that she called Cookies and Cream Squares.

Like Oreos? yum. Like marshmallows? yum. Here is a twist on rice krispie treats that's sure to send the kids and grown-ups back for more. I made these into tiny 1 1/2 inch squares for the letter O day at Pre-K. I tried to convince my son to bring in an onion but he wasn't going for that. I just thought it woulda been hysterical for a kid to show up with an onion. I dunno why. lol

He decided to bring in his Thomas train because Thomas is the #1 engine. Get it? One - starts with an O. We're just so darned clever. ha.

Anyway... here they are. They look like dark brownies, but they are something else entirely. Try it, its easy and yummy.



It only takes like 10 mins and 3 ingredients.

1 bag Oreos
1 bag Jet puff marshmallows
2 T butter

Melt the marshmallows and butter in a bowl - about 45 seconds in the microwave.
Crush the oreos in a food processor.

Mix together.

pour into buttered pan to cool and set.

I added the extra touch of the drizzled glaze and candy pearls.

Movies Under the Stars

OMGosh,I feel like I haven't blogged in eons! I've been so tired and post-vacation run down - not to mention catching up with work.

So, here is what I've been up to: Friday night, we did a really fun thing: Movie under the Stars. None of the photos came out so I probably won't be scrapping about it. We were trying to come up with what to do for Tyler's bday party since we already took him to Disney as his big treat. My friend suggested projecting a movie outside, which we'd all been talking about for ages. So my DH and I went to Lowes and bought a plain painter's canvas dropcloth, draped it over an old conference exhibit that my company threw out, set out some cushions, fired up an old Sony projector that my DH's company threw out (which he fixed) and voila! Outdoor movie night.

It was awesome and so much fun. This is the only pic that really depicts it but its kinda lame. :)