Catching up
Sorry for the veeerrrryyyy loooong absence of late, but it’s hard to get used to this WordPress format after using LifeType for so long and, to be honest, it’s been a little depressing to lose my whole blog. It’s a little like losing a good friend without warning - a friend you didn’t really appreciate as much as you should have so there’s all this guilt and self-directed anger which leads to avoidance.
But, I’m working through my issues - without counseling, thank you very much! (do you think there’s a therapist that specializes in lost blog issues?) - and continuing my two main projects of simple templates and an album for my teen.
I’ve also had a birthday since we last met and I got some nifty tools to use with my Nikon (remember my Christmas present?)Â My mother-in-law, wonderful woman that she is, actually used my Amazon WishList to shop for my gifts and bought me Scott Kelby’s The Digital Photography Book, Volume 2
So, of course, I’ve been playing with my camera settings and learning more about it. The most exciting discovery was the rear-sync (or rear-curtain) flash setting. Since my previous cameras weren’t DSLR and my previous SLR didn’t boast an on-camera flash, using this nuisance feature has been rather problematic and I’ve mostly just turned it off and suffered blurred or grainy photos. Well, let me tell you, this rear-sync setting is perfect for casual, spur-of-the-moment portraits. It produces pictures with warm, natural tones that really look the way you see the scene with your own eyes. Now, it’s not the final solution because it has it’s limitations. If your subject is active and any part is moving rapidly, you’re likely to get a great deal of blurring because the shutter stays open longer than with typical flash exposures. This also means that you should try to stay relatively still when taking the shot. Since my test shots were of my couch potato husband and my sloth-like teen, there were no worries that they’d move.
I can’t wait to dig in to every chapter of Scott’s book and even have a photo session planned for this evening!
Beyond that, there’s nothing much going on. I’ve been asked to teach scrapbooking at my daughter’s school’s community center. Regular scrapbooking. The kind without computers. I just got rid of the bulk of my paper and lost interest in the process along the way and now they want me to teach it. The good news is that they’ll be licensing Photoshop to all the center’s computers next fall and I can start classes in digital scrapbooking at that time. I just have to start with paper scrapping. Ugh.
I found another layout using one of my freebies and this one’s gorgeous! I just love the photograph Cheryl used.
And finally, one of the templates I’ve been working on… This one’s kinda fun. (Sorry, the download link has expired.) You can change the color/texture of the color rings by clipping a color layer or paper to the rings’ layers - easy! Or, you can just turn off a layer if your color scheme requires less than 4 colors. I’ve been trying to keep up with my scrapping, so I think I’m going to resolve to only share a template after I’ve used it to make a layout. If I were really ambitious, I’d go ahead and make it two layouts, but I may never get around to sharing if I did that! So here’s the template (image linked) and here’s the layout I made using it and a couple of items from Tracy Ann’s April and May grab bags. It’s the second page of a two-page layout, so there’s no title or journaling but the first page is still “in-production” as there’s some extracting yet to do.
There’s more, of course, but if I spew it all out now what will I have to talk about in the coming days?
Don’t forget the rules of downloading… don’t share your downloads, don’t share the links and please let me know what you think. I’d also love a link if you use something I’ve designed.
Tschüss!
Filed under Freebies, How To, I Scrapped!, Plugs & Reviews, Stuff and Rants |15 Responses to “Catching up”
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Wow! So cool that you found my page! I’m glad that you think it’s good . . . I for one think that alpha ROCKS. Thanks again for sharing it and helping me make another great page for my albums.
Many blessings to you!
Cheryl
Cheryls last blog post..Departures
Thanks so much for the templates! Sorry to read about everything that happened with your blog! this is my first visit, but I will def. be back!!
Thank you for the template
Also it was nice to know you got awesome stuff for your birthday.
Veras last blog post..Team Number One
Thank you for the template!
Great layout!
Have a great weekend!
wow, i can’t believe I went looking for digital scrapbooking blogs and found a fellow Joss fan.
I’m definitely learning a lot from you blog, and finding lots of stuff that I can see myself applying in my own future pages.
Alexiss last blog post..A Foray into Digital Scrapbooking
I’ve just started digital scrapbook and this looked like a fun and simple layout.
thanks for sharing 
Alexiss last blog post..Waiting for Echo
I’m bummed for you about the loss of your blog. I’d be in depression for quite some time if it happened to me.
Your template is really fun! Great idea!
Thanks so much for the great template!
twoboyz00s last blog post..Week 3
Beautiful LO and thanks you for the template, it’s great:)
Thanks for the template, looks awesome!!!
It’s good to see you back blogging. I was thinking that something was wrong with my computer/internet settings that you were posting but my computer wasn’t letting me see the posts!
Thanks for the template-you daughter will love the finished book-even if she doesn’t say so right away!
Scott Kelby’s books are just fantastic and they’ve really helped my photography improve, especially with the flash!
Sorry you lost your old blog, GM. I would be heartbroken!
Barbs last blog post..I Really Did Try
A flash diffuser is on my wish list, too! I’m happy for you that you got one!
This is my first visit to your blog - sorry to hear about the loss of your former blog! Bummer!
Julianas last blog post..So hard not to eat all that chocolate…
Welcome back. I’ve missed reading you blog! Don’t worry, after the denial/avoidance stage is acceptance. Hopefully the comments people leave will cheer you up and make you realize how much we all appreciate you.
Your camera sounds cool, I so need a new one. Christmas???
Yeah May birthday (me too) and I do care very much about Pampered Chef measuring cups. Can’t live without my wet/dry 2 cup measurer!
Thanks for the template. I like the option you gave for changing colors and quanity, more versitale.