amazed by technology

I have to confess that I’ve been spending way too much time on my computer lately. The reason? I recently discovered digital scrapbooking and free “digiscrap” kits that can be downloaded. For a while, I was checking almost daily to see how many free downloads I could get. I found the best ones at Digital Freebies and Shabby Princess. Then I use the pre-made elements in Photoshop to create layouts in a jiff. I could create the elements myself, but why? With 3 kids ages 5 and under, I have an abundance of digital photos and a serious lack of time (not to mention sleep). This whole new industry has amazed me. We have come so far with technology advancing at an exponentially fast speed.

By trade, I am a graphic designer. I’ve been designing on a computer since 1992. I started on a 286 PC creating my own clip art for Print Shop. I didn’t have a mouse, I just used the arrows on my keyboard and the enter key to turn pixels on or off (see above). From an artistic standpoint it was crude, but so cool that I could make something digital that could be printed over and over again, even if it was with a dot matrix printer. Then I got a mouse and a new 486 PC. Wow! I was amazed by Windows. I think I spent hours changing the color scheme for the desktop. In college I learned how to use a Mac. In a typography class we worked on those tiny 4” screens that make you feel like you’re looking out of a submarine. For my first job in the real world, I worked at a magazine publisher. We still did paste-up with x-acto knives and a wax machine, but we designed on Macs and used the new super duper Syquest 44MB cartridges to back up our work. Then the Iomega 100MB zip disks came out and we used those to transfer clients’ files back and forth. In time, we were burning the whole magazine onto a CD (which took about 2 hours) to send to the printer. Now, you can just export them as PDFs and email/upload files to a printer. I can also download an 80MB digiscrap kit in about 30 seconds. It takes longer to warm up a frozen burrito! All this change in just a span of about 15 years. Amazing!

That said, I hope I can jump on board and become a digiscrap designer someday too. I have the Photoshop and Illustrator skills, now I just need the time! LORD, please multiply my time so I can create things that are pleasing to You, according to Your perfect timing and will. In Jesus name, Amen.

Here are some things I've made using my free digital scrapbooking elements...

Trading for love

The Silhouette blog is having a design trade contest right now. You can submit a die cut design and then get one from their online store for free. I decided to try it and see if my "LOVE" design ends up on their store. I think I'll submit my butterfly sucker holder too. From a money standpoint, they are making way more off of free submitted designs than the price of a $1.99 download. But, it's my first time trying this out so I don't mind. One lucky person will be picked to receive a $50 gift card to their store. That's what I really want! I found the cutest little strawberry box design on there as my trade. I'm not sure when I'll use it - maybe for Valentine's day next year.

Speaking of "LOVE", Valentine's Day has always been my favorite holiday. Maybe it's because of all the pink and red (my favorite colors) sprinkled around. There's not much to it, just a simple day of showing love to the people in your life. And if you have a special someone to share it with, that makes it much more fun. I have a friend who calls it "Single Awareness Day." LOL. But when you look at the holiday with childlike faith, you realize that God is the one who loves us each one of us without abandon. He longs to be our special Valentine. This year I gave my kids simple Valentine hearts with "Jesus Loves You" and 2 verses on them...

"Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for His friends." John 15:13

"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8

I want them to know the Biblical definition of true love. And that love has been perfected in Jesus Christ. When I allow myself to be a vessel of His sacrificial love (not my own imperfect love), my family is happy, I am happy and God is glorified. Now that's what I call a real design trade - trading human love for God's love! Surrender your imperfect love today and let God perfectly love others through you.

valentine butterflies

Love is in the air!  I have too much fun re-living my childhood when Valentine’s Day rolls around.  My daughter has to bring 15 signed valentine cards to school this week and we decided to make them by hand instead of buying them this year.  I saw a cute idea in Family Fun magazine to make butterflies out of old fashioned candy sticks.  So we took the idea and changed it so suit our own needs.  I found valentine message suckers at the store that would make a perfect fit.  First, I scanned in a mock-up butterfly shape and traced it in Adobe Illustrator.  Next, I printed some of my digital scrapbooking papers on cardstock.  Then I used my Silhouette to cut these out.

You can also use traditional means.  Trace the shape on paper and cut it out with scissors.  Then hole-punch the center 2 times so a sucker can be weaved through.  Use a 1/8" hole punch if you have one. My 5 year old practiced writing names on each one.  We both had fun.  Happy Valentine’s Day!

baby girl gifts

I will take any excuse to break out my sewing machine and sort through my stash of fabric.  My cousin is about to have a baby girl.  Joann’s was having a sale on flannel.  What a wonderful excuse to be creative!  Knowing that my own little baby loves the tags on toys, I decided to make a soft play mat with fun little ribbons to play with.  I really don’t like to spend a lot of time cutting fabric, so I made the mat 44”x 44”, since the flannel is 45”. For the ribbons, I folded each color a little differently to add textural interest.  I also heat sealed the cut ends with a lighter before I sewed them in, to make sure they don’t unravel.  The prep work took the most time; the sewing went pretty quick. I was finished in about 2 hours and pretty happy with the results.  I’m planning to make another play mat for my sister’s baby this Spring.

I also made a nursing cover – one of the most used baby items I have.  The secret to the nursing cover is a 12” piece of corset boning slipped into the casing on top.  This makes it pop out just enough for you to see your baby while you nurse, but still keeps everything private.  It’s just a rectangle with straps sewn to the front and D-rings for closure.  Super easy – a great project for beginners.  If I can get more corset boning, I will make another nursing cover too.

I love babies…precious gifts from God that are fearfully and wonderfully made.