ctrl-alt-doll » Scrapbooking

still not over my cough

Rita Blue Flower Art — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:41:49 +0000

I’m still not over my cough. I’m exhausted. It keeps me awake at night and I’m barely getting a couple of hours of sleep each night. I’m so over it. My ribs are sore from coughing and it’s so hard to concentrate. I spent a few days in bed last week, the air conditioning makes it worse and the cooler air at night makes it worse. One good thing, I have my voice back.

I made this new alpha and it’s available at Zig Zag Scrap

a new page

Rita Blue Flower Art — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:50:50 +0000

I slept right through the night last night for the first time in a week. Hardly any coughing at all. I did however, loose my voice. Maybe it’s my imagination, but when you loose your voice, people no longer listen to you. They talk above you and even walk away from you. Weird.

We are having the biggest thunder storm ever at the moment. There are loud claps of thunder right above us and the pets are slinking around low to the ground.

I did this layout for Cori Gammon with her new kit Asian Fusion. I think it turned out lovely.

this weekend…

Rita Blue Flower Art — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 14:25:44 +0000

I’ve spent the last three nights awake coughing. It’s been horrible. As soon as it cools down in the evening, I start to cough and lying down makes it worse. Then, once I start coughing, nothing seems to help until morning. I am so tired.

Look at this template. I made it last week for Zig Zag Scrap:

And look at all the wonderful layouts that were made with it by the Zig Zag Scrap store Creative Team:

Wonderfully creative “welcome to wherever you are” by Juhh

Isn’t he adorable? This is little dreamer by snaggletooth75

Xmas by BobbieB

faith : hope : love by evitangel

and my very own

some great news to share and freebie frames

Rita Blue Flower Art — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:20:23 +0000

I have some news to share – this week I started selling templates at Zig Zag Scrap. There is one template in the store for the moment and I’m working on others. The template is selling at a 20% discount at the moment.

This is the first template, and you can find it at Zig Zag Scrap

My aim is to provide a template that has a little more in it than just a bunch of layers. The layers are organised and grouped so they are easy to find. Wherever possible, I will be providing custom shadows. I’ve included PNG files of all the layers. I’m providing some basic elements like a staple or paper clip, maybe a brush or wordart and it should give you a starting point to your imagination.

I also made some frames that I would like to give away.

[no longer available]

the weather is getting warmer

Rita Blue Flower Art — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 21:44:02 +0000

It’s still busy at work here so things like blog entries take second place. I am so tired at night that I fall asleep at the keyboard while catching up reading email and blogs. The weather is also warming up and it’s been very humid. We had the air conditioning on for the first time last weekend.

I managed this layout for Edith, one of the ladies on the Zig Zag Scrap creative team, of her son. She has three lovely boys and some goregous photos.

I am on Cori Gammon’s creative team this month and I created this layout with her kit called “Boy Crazy”.

It landed in the Gallery Standouts at DST today.

happy birthday husband

Rita Blue Flower Art — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 21:30:24 +0000

a very happy birthday to you. I hope you enjoy your new GPS even if you can’t use it for 24 hours because it’s charging.

catching up with some pages

Rita Blue Flower Art — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 11:57:43 +0000

Not much to say. I’ve been so busy, there is little time for anything other than posting my latest layouts.

This is me and my brother on our balcony posing for mum. I must have been about 5 years old and my brother about three.

My brother, it can’t be seen in the photo because I’ve cropped it, but he is standing under a huge bell. We were at the castle in Gorizia. My godmother took the photo. She used to take us for outings.

This is a photo of Disneyland that my husband took when he was there in 1992. I have the wrong date on the layout. I have changed it on the original but was too lazy to save for web again.

The photo was treated with some HDR tools to make the colours stand out.

A photo of my cat Poppy which I took in February. I drew the doodle.

some layouts

Rita Blue Flower Art — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 11:04:45 +0000

Here are some layouts that I completed this month so far.

My neice about to do some mischief.

This is a stock photo. I didn’t have anything suitable.

An old photo of me and a cousin.

Some flight of fancy just to be artistic

My husband looking thoughtful. Or was he focused on the TV?

A wedding album I’ve been working on. This is the front page.

safety pin shadow

Rita Blue Flower Art — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 13:36:21 +0000

Picture this scenario… You’re making a layout, you want to add a safety pin that looks like it’s pinned to the paper or fabric that you’re using. So you cut out a section of the pin and then, to make it look real, you start to paint or burn and dodge some shadows so that the fabric looks raised. Half an hour later, your head is spinning from the number of times you’ve hit the undo keys and it’s nowhere near finished or looking like a pin through fabric.

I got sick of it and today I posted a message on the DST board that I was looking for a png file of the shadow. Wendyzine, kindly provided me with some tips on how to do it in photoshop using the emboss mode. From the tips Wendy gave me, I made the necessary png files to make the pin look like this:

I’ve included 4 files in the download – a shadow file and pinholes file for a lightly curved pin and a shadow file and pinholes file for a straight pin. There is also a text file with some simple instructions. The pin and paper are not included.

The shadows and pinholes for the safety pin look like this:

The TOU is simple, use it however you like, no credits required and use commercially if you want to. The only thing that I ask is that it’s not used for anything illegal.

[Download not found]

the start of spring (cleaning)

Rita Blue Flower Art — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 05:10:16 +0000

We are heading into spring in Australia and we have started with the spring cleaning. All our windows and the outside of our house were washed last week. The house literally sparkles. The greenish tinge where the sun doesn’t reach is gone and the glass of the windows let in so much more light. The gloom of the colder months is now gone.

This is a photo of my stephanotis. It has grown so well in my garden that it’s almost wild. I used the embossed papers to make the layout.