Template Tuesday #5

Happy Tuesday!  Here's a fun and simple 2 photo template for you for today!

Download MyRainbow Coalition #57 here

This template was another one based on a paper layout using a kit from 3 Scrappy Boys. I made the enamel dots myself using purler beads that I melted in the oven. You can make your own too! Here is a tutorial.

Template Tuesday #4

Today, I'm sharing another new template with you.  It was based on this layout I made using the 3 Scrappy Boys March Add On Kit.  The kit was so full of little embellishments that I found myself trying to use as many as I could on the page.  I love the energy of the page that I ended up with.

Download MyRainbowCoalition #56 here

Feel free to download and use the template. Come back and link to the layout you make with the in the comments, I'd love to give it some love!

Template Tuesday #3

This week's template was based on a layout I did for 3 Scrappy Boys.  I loved the end result of the layout, but I wasn't a big fan of all the fussy cutting required to get the effect.

Download MyRainbowCoalition #55 here.

You can get the same design effect with none of the fussy cutting work.  If you want it to look like the circles are all part of the same patterned paper, clip your papers to each circle, clear all the layer styles for all the circles then merge all the circle layers.

I wasn't particularly careful about fussy cutting the circle pattern because I don't really like fussy cutting (have I mentioned that once or twice?), but if that's a look you like, you can get that too.  After you have merged the circle layers (don't forget to clear the layer styles first), hold down control (command on Mac) and click on the thumbnail image of the circles layer in the layers pallette.

You should get the marching ants around the layer.  Create a new layer below the circles layer by holding down control while the layer is selected and pressing the new layer button.

Under the "Select" drop down menu, choose "Modify," and then "Expand."  I would start with 40 px or so, but continue to expand until all the space between the circles is included in the selection (alternately, you could use the selection brush wit the "Add to Selection" option to fill in the spaces between the circles).

Next, fill your selection using the paint bucket tool. Now you have a clipping mask to add a background paper  like the grid you see in the paper layout.

Whether you modify it, or use it just as it is, I hope you enjoy the template and link back to your projects in the comments section!

Template Tuesday #2

Look at me!  Two weeks in a row of templates to give away.  Most of these templates are based on designs from my paper scrapbooking.  I use much more varied designs in my paper scrapping, because it feels like less work to glue down an embellishment that to find it in a digi kit, open the file, and add it to my layout.  Converting my paper layouts to digi templates gives me some new configurations to use in  digi that are my own designs (and therefore more my style) and gives me something to share with you.

Download MyRainbowCoalition template #54 here.

This is another template based on a scrapbook page I made about our big family trip to see my sister-in-law and her husband and go to Disney World.

We got to see the new Festival of Fantasy parade and the girls really loved the whole thing--especially Minnie and Mickey waving right at them!

May & June Round Up and a New Series: Template Tuesday

I know I'm not the first one to think about having a Template Tuesday series on her blog, but I'm thinking if I start a few series, it might be easier to be more regular about posting.  When I started this blog, I was doing a lot of digi scrapbooking.  Over the last few months, I've realized that I'm much more of a binge digi scrapper, while I paper scrap more consistently.  For my Template Tuesday series, I'm taking the designs from my paper layouts and converting them to layered digi templates.

The first template is based on this layout about Lilah's "funny face" pose.

I love those little Studio Calico wood veneers, and there are so many of them in the pack that they're totally worth the price.

You can download the template here: MyRainbowCoalition Template #53

It's also the first day of the month, so it's time to do a round up again.  Once again, I've missed a month, so this will be another combined roundup.  I'm using the roundup tool from Katie Nelson

1. What did I watch, read, and listen to during May and June?
I'm all caught up with Game of Thrones, and I'm so sad that the season is over.  I've been kind of doubling up on Game of Thrones (both watching the show and listening to the books).  At this point, I've listened to all the books so much that I often randomly choose one of the 5 books at a random point and just start listening.  I know that a lot of people might find that a bit disorienting, but for me, it's like listening to a granparent's life stories: you've heard most of them before, so once you have recognized it, you can settle in and it feels like home...well at least that's how I feel.

I'm also listening to the Enchanted, Inc series.  It's really silly, far fetched, and shamelessly ROM-COM, but with everything else that's been going on in life these days, it's nice to be able to retreat to something ridiculous and insignificant.

2. What fun things did I do with friends and family?

The girls and I went to the Zoo in May with my friend Stacy and her son on the 24th.  We had a really great time, and it was fun to watch her teenager struggle to deal with my toddlers going completely GaGa for him.  He might have felt slightly tortured, but he was somewhat consoled by being able to have lots of desserts that day.

The girls and I went to Disney world while we were in Florida, and had an absolutely fabulous time!  Since the trip was so last minute, we used some air miles to get a hotel closer to the parks (partly because we didn't want to just show up on my sister-in-law's doorstep: we decided to go the day before we got there).  We did the entire 14 hour drive in one day, and went right into Magic Kingdom (yeah, I know, I'm insane) because I lucked into fastpasses to meet Ana and Elsa, but we had to be able to make it there for that time.  Both girls were totally excited.  After two nights at the hotel, we stayed with Crystal for a day before we headed down to Miami to see the rest of the family for the weekend. The "real" reason for the trip was that I was picking up the last of my aunt's belongings for her from her apartment.  I have a Mazda5, and I have to say that I HIGHLY recommend that car to anyone who wants to be able to haul a lot of people and/or things without going the Minivan or SUV route. I really should talk about that car more on here some day....Oh, how I love it!



3. What milestones, holidays, or special events did we celebrate in May and June?

I had a fun crop night at Scrapbooks Plus in Chantilly, VA for NSD.  They had a great goodie bag.  I really do love that store.  It's so nice.  I've been there several times since I found out about it even though it's an hour away.  I'm so sad that it's closing (and don't even get me started about 2peas).

The whole family went to the Black Hog (a local BBQ chain) for Mother's Day/my aunt Jane's birthday. There were 10 people at the table with us all there!  Alfred, the girls, and I made paper flower bouquets for all the other Moms and the Birthday girl, and I made my chocolate cake with white chocolate peppermint ganache and dark chocolate ganache between the layers (the Mother's day cake) and our family's traditional birthday cake (devil's food with caramel icing) for Jane's birthday cake.

We decided at the very last minute to go to Florida (without Alfred: sorry he had to work) the week of Father's day, so the day before we left (June 9) we had an impromptu father's day celebration: a pizza picnic in front of the TV and gave him his present: a handmade photo book of my favorite shots from the last year.  That seems to be becoming his traditional gift (the third year in a row)

We spent father's day with Alfred's mother's side of the family, with good food, lots of talking, laughing, and showing off my babies.

4. What progress have I made towards my goals in May and June?

I completed another LOAD: 31 layouts in 31 days.

I finished my application to teach high school in the district where I live, as well as my Maryland certification application.

That's pretty much it.  I've mostly been busy with unexpected things for the last couple of months.

5. What were the good, bad and unusual things that happened in May and June?

In short: Jane.  We've known for a long time that she was sick, and needed a new liver because of a genetically caused cirrhosis, but in between hospitalizations, she was able to do lots of things.  She wasn't even on the transplant list because her condition wasn't bad enough. All of that changed over the last couple of months.   She spent most of May and all of June in the hospital.   The degeneration of the liver caused her to be confused and disoriented, so we've tried to have someone from the family with her at all times when it was possible.

The day that I left for Florida, we thought that she was getting ready to go to Rehab as soon as we found a facility that would work for her, but before she could go, her kidneys shut down. That was both a curse and a blessing, because it meant that her MELD score, which determines your position in line on the transplant list, was actually high enough that she might be able to get a liver relatively soon. I was gone for 9 days, and in that time, she went from well enough to leave the hospital to sick enough that she was at the top of the transplant list, and on June 20 she got her new liver!  We are grateful for the donor's gift that saved her life.  There is a long, hard road of recovery for her, but I'm so happy to be able to be there to support her, in whatever limited ways I can.

6. What were the everyday routines in May and June?

I couldn't describe any part of life as routine right now. I feel like I've won a battle if the kids are fed and the dishes are washed. I don't even remember what my house looked like when it was clean and not under construction.

That's it!  LOL. I hope your life is less stressful than mine, and you're getting plenty of scrappy play time!

Remember that 3 Scrappy Boys is having a subscriber drive this month.  They have some great incentives.