One July Evening

I saw this beautiful rainbow.. well actually just the end of it, so i stopped and pulled out my camera. After i took rainbow pictures i looked around and was in awe of the beauty (I so miss my home town)so I took pictures facing various directions from where i stood. I got in the car a drove toward the rainbow but it disappeared in a patch of dark clouds. on the other side of the cloud patch there was the rainbow again further down the road and this time just both ends.. i stopped and took more pictures! LOL

Julie

As American As Apple Pie

See Cartoons by Cartoon by Manny Francisco - Courtesy of Politicalcartoons.com - Email this Cartoon

See Cartoons by Cartoon by Nate Beeler - Courtesy of Politicalcartoons.com - Email this Cartoon

I'm Excited

It's been a while since I was excited about a layout...
I think since the Flashback August 8, 1969 one I did over a month ago
This one I started for Rasmuth over at indie music works
Once I got started on this I couldn't stop! I call it
SLEEPY HEAD




credits: Dreaming Angels by Kasia Designs at Shabby Pickle Designs

New Music Stuff

Working on new banners and Cover Art

Autumn Sky: Imagine no limits - Sacramento Entertainment - Sacramento Movie Theaters, Music | Sacramento Bee

Autumn Sky: Imagine no limits - Sacramento Entertainment - Sacramento Movie Theaters, Music | Sacramento Bee

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On The Road Again

My Niece graduates from Kickapoo High School today so my mom and I flew out to Missouri from California last Thursday... yea I'm behind again! I had asked my niece to take me for a drive so i could take some photos. I saw some beautiful sights but she was going to fast to get any pics.... I did anticipate a shot and told her to stop right on the other side of the next hill... she did... i got out and snapped this

Color, Color Everywhere!

I have really been struggling the past few months.. the doc has been playing with my meds and i have had it with the cold gloomy weather so i did what i usually do when life gets bleek, i took my camera and went out in search of my muse!
This is what I found -

Yes, I'm Alive!

LOL.... it's been a month.. or more....

I've been keeping a secret...

I entered a 6 week Contest hosted and sponsored by The Shabby Pickle and After Five. It was an anonymous contest. we were all issued a number and had to register in the galleries with that number rather than using our regular gallery that is tied into our user names. The sites alternated weeks as far as issuing the topic of the week, judging, and creating a collab kit for that weeks theme. The collab kit didn't need to be used in the layout you submitted in the main round but if you did any BONUS layouts they had to be done with 100% of that weeks kit. Contestants got 50% off the kit... all six weeks kits seemed to use the same pallet (and not my favorite one i might add) Each week was judged by designers and ct members of that weeks shop plus some guest judges from other sites. No one got eliminated but you had to post in each weeks main event to be eligible for prizes. each week the top 10 layouts went up for a public vote... (a way for extra points) it was all about the points... I thought wow! of all the contests i have seen this one seems more fair than any!....

Week two I was disenchanted... not because my layout didn't make the top 10 for week one but because of a number of other things!

1. many people waited to post their layouts until the last minute and crashed the server


2. as a result they were given several extra days to post (5)


3. top 10 were never posted until almost the end of the following week


4. bonus round points were given by lottery and NOT per layout


5. judging criteria was NEVER posted


6. We NEVER knew where we stood point wise during the contest


7. people could vote as often as they wanted during each rounds public judging phase

so about mid week three I started referring to it as a challenge... how can you compete against the unknown??? I enjoyed the topics they really stretched me but to be honest, 6 weeks was a long time to do layouts and not be able to post them anywhere but the contest galleries... the final scores are not in but I am certain I didn't win anything, I never made a top 10, i never was drawn as a bonus round winner... but hey I finished and that was important to me... I was frustrated and i didn't quit!! hooray!!! LOL and I met a lot of nice people... err numbers LOL

So, here are my layouts... you'll notice i stared strong with the bonus round layouts and when i realized how that was working i backed off and then didn't do any LOL

Week One Topic - It's So Me...

something that shouts YOU.. a color an article of clothing, a place etc.. something that when people see it they will say that's so you!

MELLOW - I used a picture I had taken a few days earlier

Week One Bonus Round

Week Two Topic - FLASHBACK

Should transport you back to a time or a place

AUGUST 8, 1969 - Charlie Manson, The Manson Family and Sharon Tate

Week Two Bonus Round

Week Three Topic - A Moment In Time




Week Three Bonus Round







Week 4 Topic - Sing Me A Song

Use lyrics and/or title of a song that brings back memories or you just cant get out of your head

Elton John's Tiny Dancer - My daughters First Dance Recital age 4





Week Five Topic - Color My World

Use some type of photo treatment

Week Six Topic - It's a Bird, It's a Plane

inanimate object photos or no photos - i used a picture I took last year of the San Diego Temple

My First

DIGI DARE

the dare ...

1. list 5 things that consume me right now

2. use only 2 sides of the layout for journaling etc.

3. include on photo or extraction of an item that consumes me

4. include the words "right now" somewhere in the layout


I listed what consumes me right nowbut couldnt bring myself to really journal it... maybe another time...

credits: I used Maya's new kit BLUE MOON from Scrapbook Graphics ribbon and frame from Hung Up On Love by Aneta Branch AKA Sweet Made at ashaleeandsweet Stamped Word Art from Lie Fhung's ARTiculate Soul Searching at Ztampf I used Lily Designs Dark Angel kit from After Five for the the layout within the layout and that layout can been seen here http://tinyurl.com/ccoxwz fonts: metalic avacodo malapropism

The Julz Special Treatment

I think it started when I was in College and working in a small upscale boutique in downtown Napa during Christmas vacation. I believe it was reinforced when I spent so many years in a department store as an "exempt" employee.. I know over the years I have continue to add to and perfect my craft... I have even taught a class about it at church once.. It's a silly thing really... But it has come to be something I am known for... At gatherings of family and friends everyone knows which ones came from me...

the GIFT package!

While at the boutique I was embarrassed because my packages weren't as pretty as the others. At the department store, I spent many hours picking up slack in the gift wrap department.. Since then I have worked on perfecting the seamless wrap and mastered double sticky tape. It's well known that I can't just slap some wrap on and be finished, if I have multiple packages they have to coordinate... all the packages under my Christmas tree are color coordinated... just giving home baked cookies... yes those have to packed up pretty too... the smallest of gifts needs to have that extra touch or it just doesnt feel right to me...

recently I bought a gift... it came from England, Instead of having it shipped directly to the person i was gifting it to in Germany, I had it shipped to the USA so I could put my mark on it and ship it BACK over seas to Germany... The person I bought the gift from ask me what the Julz Special Treatment was...

Well here it is...

Struggling

AS LONG AS I HAVE HOPE,
I'M STILL IN THE GAME!!
(looking for something to ground me in the here and now)

Reaching

Trying desperately to shake the winter blues...
Reaching into the unfinished folder and finishing up some layouts in attempt to stay busy!
I started with my adorable Grandson.. this about 1/3 of those! Who knows how many total unfinished layouts I have....











all credits to follow

Stuff and Such

Okay... I have been inspired by my OLD dj friend to change the play list.... sooo these next two songs are dedicated to all you old dj's crusin' the "J" on Thursday night... remember they no longer allow loitering at 7-11 or Mickey "D"'s and Fuller park is less friendly these days. So if you have to loiter, find yourself an old bridge and hang out!

And now... a quick peek at what I have been working on

TOP SECRET

okay.. well part of it is a secret...
the who, and when... and well part of the what... lol
working with a cyber friend/ musican, I created this cover art for a new single which is set for release in the near future... that's all I can say right now... I still plan on a bit of tinkering but for now... this is what I have ...

Cyber Friends

Sweet Janita, I think she was in high school when I first met her. She is now finishing up her time at university... When we first met she was making ps brushes and giving them away on her site Vanilla Design. He brushes became so popular she couldnt afford the bandwidth so she made the tough decission to create a club where paid membership would give you access to her brushes for a certain period of time depending on the tytpe of membership you bought...
At this time nobody was selling brushes in the digital scrap shops and I kept telling Janita she could probably earn enough to off set her school expenses if she would open a shop. I also told her she was under selling herself, that her product was worth much more than what she was charging.
Janita went about her buisness and I went about mine. As I did so I continued to use her brushes and tell everyone that would listen about Vanilla Design. Since that time Janita changed hte name of her site, Seishido, and opened a shop! It's not surprising to see a seishido blinky on someones sig tag in the digiscrap community or find seishido listed in artistic credits.
Janita lives in Germany and we have sent packages back and forth to each other, discovered we share similar taste in music and continue to stay in touch on line... Despite the fact that she is the same age as my daughter and whe have never "actually" met, I consider Janita to be among my friends...

This was done for Janita... special thanks to another cyber friend "Aneta" for creating this wonderful word art especially for me

7 months past due

Perhaps you remember my aunt who came out to visit from Texas last summer... she spent the last of her 6 week stay with me. She was a wonderful house guest ans it was nice to have someone around during the day to talk to. One day we were looking t old pictures and she point out one each of her and my mom and ask me if i could put them together in a layout... which I started... but was never really excited about so i set it aside... a few months later i worked on it some more and set it aside again... the other day i pulled it out and decided to start over

this is the original layout




this is the redo



and a redo
of the redo LOL

Moving On

skipping forward to the here and now for a bit... just finished this one... my grandson back in October. He was four and a half and as you can see full of attitude! LOL He was obviously not happy about something... boy oh boy... I can't wait for 16 to roll around!



credits
fonts:
drac
ld notebook
facelift

products from Ashalee and Sweet
Ashalee Wall Ashalee's Accouterments
circle elements
Ashalee Wall Books and Papers
Ashalee Wall Mehndi
Ashalee Wall Urban Boy

And With That

I played a bit.. a little digital paint!
hmmm I had two others.... but between the new computer, the old computer, the laptop and two externals, I don't seem to be able to locate them.... another time I guess

Yes, More!

as, I was saying... I've been doing...just not posting... so I continue my efforts at catch up... last week I took my husband and his carpool partner (gal lives in the next town over and works in his office) to the sac airport so they could fly off for meetings in SLC.. I figured this was a good opportunity to go out with my camera in search of my muse!
SO.. as I left the airport, I drove in the opposite direction from which I had arrived. (knowing i could make a circle and not go too far out of my way) I headed to woodland, then to knights landing. Once I crossed the draw bridge on the other side of Knights Landing, I decided to take a detour... and turned onto the levee road.
Almost immediately there were lots of great things to take pictures of... unfortunately, the road was too narrow to pull off and driving DH beloved Dodge Charger, I wasn't up for off-roading LOL... Pretty soon I came upon a turn in the river and a wide spot in the road, so I stopped. I pulled off at the edge of a gravel drive. I could see a house down a way and I could hear a dog barking.
I got out, walked up and down the road snapping photos and just as i was finishing up an elderly couple came walking up the drive. The gentleman engaged me in conversation as the lady crossed the road to retrieve their mail and then she came and joined us. Bob and Marty were a very interesting couple, originally from New York, she was 75 and he was 78. We talked about life and love, home and family, the US and the world, art and history, politics and religion... in all we talked up there on the levee road for more than 3 hours! I'd probably still be there if I didn't need to "pee" so bad! LOL

Here are some of the pictures I took

It's a Small Small World

I think it was November Doris put out a CT call and the team got sizabley larger... While engaging in the usual meet and great, I discovered one of the new gals Anne
had recently moved to Northern California... so I inquired a bit more... seems Anne lives about two miles from me... and it didn't stop there! After a couple of lengthy emails we discovered we both grew up in Napa! WOW!
Well one thing led to another and Anne had mentioned she wanted to learn how to "blend" photos, so I offered to meet her at a nearby Starbucks and teach her. That was Friday, we had a lot of fun! We spent about 4 hours there.. I could have stayed all day, but that's beside the point! LOL Anne was a fabulous student and took right to the technique I showed her! I had pulled up a couple pictures and a paper for Anne to work with and her final product was so good it inspired me to go home and do some "blending" I started with a new kit from Doris and an old picture of Anna Nicole Smith I had kicking around and came up with this:




I kind of like it just like that, but I figured I should show more of Doris' beautiful kit... so I pulled out this wonderful groupie from the kit.. it made the layout so, so easy, Doris had pretty much done all the work! LOL I dropped in a couple more pictures of Anna Nicole and just like magic...





credits:
ForEverLasting by Doris Castleavailable here http://tinyurl.com/a7swj8 at SBG
Eerie Garden by Doris Castleavailable here http://tinyurl.com/3w69k3 at SBG
Fonts - Passions Conflict, MSReference

re: Anna Nicole.... I was never a big fan, but I certainly appreciated where she had been and what she had done.. and the deaths of both Anna and her son were terribly tragic... I was deeply affected when I heard the news...another fighter gone...

Behind Again!

aack! I've been having a hard time shaking the blues...I've been creating, just not posting! I think I'll make these seperate posts and post them in the order they occured..
The first is a layout I did for Doris, but it says Lorrie Davison as much as it says Doris Castle. The three most important people in my like... my husband, my daughter and my grandson



credits
Let Me Count The Ways... Templates By Dorisavailable here: http://tinyurl.com/8dmw7u
The Beep Beep Bugs Kit By Lorieavailable here: http://tinyurl.com/9twlps
Twitterpated Passion Collection Kit By Lorieavailable here: http://tinyurl.com/7v3ngx
Edgy Edges - Bedazzled Curls By Birgitavailable here: http://tinyurl.com/8cpt8u

Lost in the Holiday Hussle

just a few things that got forgotten during the holiday hussle

you've seen him before... I'd tell you his name but he'll probably change it tomorrow anyway.. he's a European fashion model and he takes a good picture... great for when i need something fresh to inspire me!




A kindred spirit... Stevie! Ya gotta love her... she has inspired me in so many ways over the past 35 years



Aneta Branch AKA SweetMade created these for a project she did for me and them put them in her shop! go see here! Notice the name... how cool is that???



thats all I can think of right now!

HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL!

Creative Beauty AKA Artsy Fartys Girl

my cousins daughter, i found back her in june via myspace after about 20 years ... her photos are so artistic and fun, I really wanted to bring this feeling across in the layout



credits
SBG Collab kit Inspirations of Imagination
available... here Jan 1 2009
fonts
passions conflict
inked