Class Frustration

I'm using an older version of Photoshop than the class supports. I have had to do work-arounds to complete a couple of the steps. I knew that was going to happen and it wasn't upsetting. But this one, the brushes one, I'm going nuts. Versions of Photoshop don't have reverse compatible brushes when you go back far enough. So, the brushes that were sent out aren't working for me. I've got to convert them to a .png file and then create new brushes from those .png files.

The class materials don't cover this. Do I know how to use a brush? Nope, that's why I wanted to take this class. I can't use the brushes that were included in the course materials and the course doesn't cover how to make new ones. I'm not happy. I'm really not happy. I've gotten part of the way through the process, I've gotten files I can't open converted to files that I can open. That's step one. I don't even know how many other steps there are in the process.

When I post a question to the forum, I'm getting answers from other students. Some of them are using my version of Photoshop and most of them aren't. I don't trust their directions, though I know they are posting information to the best of their ability and knowledge. I HATE digging through a thread for an answer. I can do it, but I don't like it at all. That's why I took the class. I thought I would be following a set of directions from one person, not random advice from a group. I don't want to be taught by committee.

Jessica has had a lightning strike near her house and is running on one laptop, problably at greatly diminished speed and she has to share access with her hubby, who is administrator of her site. At some point, I know, she'll be back in and handling these questions. Right now, I'm dead in the water and ready to walk away from my computer for a while.

Digital Class and Paper Shipments

Today is Day 1 of Jessica's digital scrapping class. I've got mixed feelings. The start of the class has been plagued with technical glitches. Links to freebies that aren't for free any more and access given to an archive from the last class instead of files specific to our class. But the video instruction has been excellent. As I'd suspected, she's also a 'brain dump' kind of instructor and you get side note descriptions with a lot of extra information in them. I want to watch the videos more than once, they are so full of information. I am usually bored while watching instructional videos, because they are covering what I already know.

Club Scrap sends me regular shipments of paper, stamps and embellishments each month. Over time, I've increased my monthly order until I'm getting a large pile of paper each month. I hadn't realized how much paper I got until I stopped following the guide they have each month for making layouts and just let the paper collect. At the end of the month, I had a lot of paper!

There have been months where I've not only used up all the paper they sent, I've ordered extra and used that as well. I'm creating a lot of layouts. I'm not putting them into albums. I don't own enough albums to put them into. I'm not quite sure how or when, but I really need to fix that.

Effort for Results

I am continually creating not only things, but myself. I have been working very hard lately on keeping a positive mental attitude. This would amaze folks who think of me as a perpetual sunny day kind of person. But this sunny day person gets grumpy at times. Often I get grumpy at the wrong things, or for the wrong reasons. I've been practicing doing things to make myself think happy thoughts instead of becoming grumpy for the wrong reasons. I listen to happy music, I repeat happy phrases to myself or I just think of one of my many, many blessings. I'm not getting grumpy nearly as often for the wrong reasons. In fact, some things are losing their power to make me upset at all. I like realizing that.

On another front, I'm also creating a scrapping/papercrafting space in my basement, where I can work and be closer to my Wonderful Husband. The first step was going into the basement and moving things around a little, so I'd have space to work with. Now, I'm working on creating shelving for stamp display and storage. We got two ten foot lengths of 1 x 4 and I'll be painting them white after I cut them to length and sand them a little. Then Wonderful Husband will hang them on the wall and I'll have stamp storage.

For all that I will have 20 feet of shelf space for stamps, I can fill that much and more. I've just finished measuring my collection, which is currently in rows four to six deep on the meager shelving that I have now. I might not have gotten enough wood.

Here is the space at the start of this project, as it looks right now. The walls are a pale blue, the carpeting is gray. The opposite corner of the room contains my sewing furniture and the ironing board. You can see less than half of the room in this photo, it's more like 1/3.

Classes in Digital Scrapping

I signed up for a digital scrapping class from Jessica Sprague. Jessica's class isn't cheap, but I think it will cover a lot of material. It's full, but she offers these classes regularly. It will start on Monday, and run for a month. It's a self paced, video guided class and having listened to and watched videos from her, I think she has a good speaking voice and she can explain things well. While she's not so specific as to make you feel like you are in a remedial class, she gives detail and explains what you need to know.

Years and years ago, my mother and I took a summer school class on calligraphy. We worked our fingers to the bone and learned at least five different hands in one class. A year later, we looked at the course descriptions and realized that to learn the same amount, we would have to take four classes. And the class we'd taken was the same cost as one of the newer classes.

As my mother would say, "You don't have to hit me in the face with a wet mop." I have ever after been careful about selecting classes for content as well as for price. A set of cheap classes that don't cover much isn't a bargain compared to a more expensive class that covers a lot of material.

My only concern is that I will not be able to keep up. Because I am self taught, I have odd 'holes' in my skills. I might know a few advanced techniques, but not know a basic one. And I'm working with an older version of Photoshop, which I still haven't updated. I could dash out and grab a copy of Elements, but I want Bridge to manage my files, and I don't think Elements comes with Bridge. I haven't ever bothered to check. I do enough photo editing that I really want the full version of Photoshop.

Not One More Step!

I've gotten to the point in my digital scrapping that I need to get my files organized. I want to use Bridge to keep paper, embellishments and such filed in a way that I can get to them when I want to. But I don't yet own Bridge. It looks like today is a shopping day. I will not allow myself to buy or download for free another digital scrapping object unless it is a download of CS3. If I keep getting one kit here, a set of paper there, just one really kewl group of embellishments, then eventually, I'll have this gigantic pile of items that I must tag and enter into Bridge, as a catch-up task. I hate trying to catch up.

Until I get Bridge, I'll continue to work on Disney projects. I got some progress made on Friday at the crop, then I went off to the graduation. Yesterday, I made a little more progress and I'd like to keep that up. One or two pages each day would be wonderful, but I doubt I'll be that productive. There's too much to do around the house.

Not Bad for 2.5 Days

I took 383 photos for one graduation. I wasn't at all of the events, there were things going on Friday and Saturday that I didn't get pictures of, but I did get pictures of the school, the halls, her locker, and I got photos of her getting her actual diploma. This photo is one of my favorites. Her dad is usually a well. Silent, deep, inscrutable. He is visibly proud and loving here. it's just a peek, but that's all you ever get with him. Still, I like this photo a lot.

Minor Project

I had the motor drive on again. Six shots per second add up quickly. I don't know how many photos Ive taken this weekend, but I do know that I got a few good ones. Graduation was a typical high school graduation, but there were a few extra speeches. Last night, as I was drifting off to sleep, I thought of the paper and the layouts that I'd be making and I planned a couple in my head. I can't make a minibook of this, I need to do full sized pages. I might do a minibook as an additional thing, but right now, I'm thinking in 12 x 12.

So I've now got a second project that I need to think about putting into the schedule and I'm still thinking about moving the workspace. At least it isn't as big a project as Disney.