Not Shopping

With the economy doing the nosedive trick, I've cut back on my own shopping. Not for groceries and such, but I'm not shopping for scrapping things. I didn't realize how much I'd cut back until I went to the scrapbook store in the area with my MIL. She got some ribbon to wrap a package and I got nothing at all. I had money in my wallet set aside for 'fun stuff' and I didn't spend any of it.

The more I don't buy, the easier it is for me to not buy. I'm still creating pages, but since I went to digital scrapping, I re-use my digital supplies again and again, without having to purchase more to restock my stash. I've still got a lot of paper to use up and I am still doing many paper layouts. The things that I'm willing to spend money on are tools that I can use for hybrid scrapping.

Product Review

About those downloads.... I am in general very happy with them. I've realized that Miki Ferkul creates sets of frames with ribbon wrapping them. I don't care for the ribbon wrap, it just isn't my style. But she doesn't include frames with no ribbon and it's a royal pain to try to cut and paste and merge and healing brush and whatnot to try to create plain frames. I do like the way she limits her bling. I'm NOT about the bling, so being able to limit what I use is good. If I wanted more bling, she has accents that are bling-a-plenty. While I won't get a lot more of her kits, I'm happy with the ones that I do have. If I find myself in need of 'girly' kits, I know just where I'll go.

I also got some accessories that are going to have to wait until I have Harley Davidson photos to go with them. Bud and I have been parenting and not riding very much.

The free 'Welcome Home' kit contains a heaping helping of accessories and paper, but it isn't really in colors and styles that interest me. It's a lot more 'country' than I will ever be. Remember when some women were decorating their kitchens with ducks? Yeah, it reminds me of that, but there's not a duck in sight. It's rustic, rural, homey, and not at all they way I live or scrap. I might use some of the bits, I probably won't. I'm glad I got the kit for free.

Legally, I can't sell it, or share it, but if I give it to a friend and delete it from my own computer, I'm OK. I should NOT use any part of it before I give it away, to be technically and completely legal. I don't think that will be a problem. The problem might be finding one of my friends that has that style of working. We are all pretty urban.

All Over but the Shoutng

The USMC Graduation album is done! Except for the memorabilia page and a little bit of journaling, it is finito. Yay? I don't know quite what to work on next. I'm puttering around with a mini album I started a while ago. I need to finish the front and back covers. Then what? The decision of what to work on next is as overwhelming as the mountain of tasks I've set for myself.

Even with blasting through this album quite quickly, I am still falling behind. My photos to scrap stack is growing faster than my finished pages pile. And I have been rather productive this month. We had graduation, life and a trip to Disney. Next month will be just as busy. Or rather this month, as I'm catching up on October's events in November and we have Turkey Day, a trip to visit Will in NC, and a tool box recovery coming up in November. Over Christmas, we shall draw a polite curtain.

USMC Planning and Progress

I'm doing better than I thought I'd be at creating the album for Will's graduation from boot camp. My photo sorting went well and I've got the entire album planned. Yesterday, I pulled paper from my stash (I'm trying to use it up) and selected what I'll use for most of the rest of the album. When I counted up, I realized that I'm more than halfway done with the album. Yay! The pre-planning is really helping. I'm not losing momentum.

I do not understand why some scrappers choose paper that matches what folks are wearing when they create a layout. The people in the photos fade right into the background and you can't find them. If you choose a color of paper that is opposite on the color wheel to what is being worn, the person pops out and can be found. Will is wearing a tan shirt for all of the photos, and I can't use paper that is brown or tan. He just fades into the background. I've pulled green and blue paper. He'd pop best if I were to use a purple, but I can't do that to him.

Backing up Files

As it is close to the beginning of the month, I am taking a few moments to make sure that my back up system is in order. My process is pretty simple. Download files. Move files from laptop to EHD, leaving a copy on the laptop. When I have enough files, I burn them to a DVD and delete them from the laptop and the EHD to save space. Finished and in progress layouts are stored on my small EHD. When I feel the need, I copy them to my second EHD. The goal is to have two copies of a file, but not more than two.

The most important steps are based on a question I ask myself before I shut my computer down for the night. "If I could not re-start this computer tomorrow morning, would I be upset?" If the answer is yes, then I make a backup. If the answer is no, I just shut it down.

Downloading More Kits

I headed out to Scrapbook Elements for the Digital Scrapbooking Day Sale and with a little fidgeting, managed to reach the necessary minimum purchase for the big freebie. I needed to purchase $20.00 worth of stuff and I spent $20.63. Then I spent 30 minutes downloading kits, backgrounds, alphabets, torn edges, and borders. I haven't had time to do anything with the stuff I downloaded, so I can't comment yet on if it's nice. I got a Miki Ferkul kit and items from at least four other designers.

I didn't have time to play with my new digital stuff because we went out to West Virginia to the 20 acres we have there. We loaded up the truck with firewood so we could enjoy the fireplace this winter. Last year, we cut up a few downed trees and left the fireplace length logs piled up in several places. This year, we went back, split the wood we'd cut and hauled it off to burn. Do we own a log splitter? Yes, it's called 'Bud', and it is quite effective.