A quick post of a wonderful cam.

I have been watching intently the following webcam of a mamma hummingbird and her babies as they hatched and grow. They will be fledging the nest soon and I cannot believe I have not thought to share this wonderful webcam with you until now. The mamma hummingbirds name is Pheobe and her babies have been named Bea and Jay although we will not know if they are boys or girls before they fledge. This is a great opportunity for you to show your children a wonderful miracle of life. You can watch the cam with me HERE. You can also join the chat and ask questions that you have about the hummingbirds from the moderators on staff in the chat at all daytime hours. They are very knowledgable. The nest is located in Orange County California so you need to watch during California daylight hours. I have been lucky enough to watch Bea hatch and last year I watched two baby hummers fledge the nest, which was simply amazing. I have also seen during the day many different schools signing on to show their students the babies and watch them from hatching to fledging. It truly is a unique experience. I hope you take the time to have a quick peek and I really hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Tata for now.

Quick post tonight and a new layout.

Hi everyone!! Just getting in a quick post today! I have been having a blast at my new job and I even started teaching today...Can you believe it? I start my actual classes on Monday, but I taught a vitals class today for the MPM students which I think turned out okay for my first time ever teaching. I start 2 classes next week one being Educational Strategies and the other a Computer Tech class revolving around Microsoft programs like Word, Powerpoint, Excel, and Outlook. Wish me lots of luck please!! I may need it.

Anyway here is my latest layout (I should actually say layout I can share with you at this time: I will explain this in a moment). This is a layout for a challenge at Scrapbook Graphics about our goal/s for the year. Well, I am sure you know by now that I am really working on my weight and health, so here is my layout.

Credits:
Buttercup Designs: Punched Petals Vol. 2 @ SBG
Studio Gypsy: Industrial & Keeper of Time @ SBG
Tangie Baxter: Keep Moving Forward Freebie & Impossible Things @ SBG
 
Now about that layout I did but cannot show you yet. The reason is because its part of the SBG Valentines Day blog train coming soon to a blog near you. Keep your eyes tuned in to SBG for details that should be coming at anytime I would think. I am so excited to see all the goodies you will be getting for FREE!!!!! I will post that layout along with the information as soon as I have it in my hot little hands....Or maybe I should say my hot little E-mail?
 
Have a great day all!! See ya soon!!!

Good Morning everyone!

Well, no layout today I have had a busy week. I have some good news. I got a new job as a teacher at a local college! Yeah for me!! I am so excited. Don't think this is going to slow down my scrapping though because I have a lot of photos to get done.
In the meantime though I found this awesome video on how to create realistic shadows in photoshop. I don't know about all of you but I think creating shadows has been my biggest issue with creating my pages. I can never seem to get the shadows right like other people seem to be so good at. I also think that the correct use of shadows can make or break the overall composition of a layout. I see some layouts that look like the elements are hovering over the pages and others that look like they are all part of the background papers. So how do we get those shadows to look like that are layered on the pages and not freakishly flying or somehow sinking into the page? Well, this video is a great start to getting those shadows right. Check it out HERE.

Daddy's Girl and a Freebie!!!

I finished this layout last night of my brother and niece hanging out together. Audrey absolutely adores her Daddy and he feels the same way about her. I wanted to use some flowers I had here on the layout so I scanned and created these digital versions of the flowers I had here at my house.

Credits:
Buttercup Designs: Punched Petals Volume 2
Studio Manu: Moments to Remember & Timeless Elegance
Studio Vivarant: Moments to Remember

Everything is available at Scrapbook Graphics except those adorable flowers I scanned and created in digital format. Lucky for you all I am a generous person because I am going to give those awesome flowers to you all here as a freebie along with a few other little goodies I created in PSCS today.

You can grab this freebie HERE and I would love to hear your comments here on my blog about the freebies and how you like them. I wanted to try and get some hybrid scrapping done today, but I had Boot Camp and my son was home from school sick, so I took him to my moms so I could go to the gym. Once I got back I sat and talked to her and my Aunt and we went through some old photos that I want to start scrapping. Maybe I will get the hybrid project done later now, we shall see.

Well, that is it for me today. I hope you enjoy the freebie and leave me a note please! Thanks!
Huggles!

Family is so special....

Its been a lazy day around here at the ol' Salmon house. Hubby and I decided to go for a drive to get out of the house and well it ended up in a total waste of 1/2 a gallon of gasoline. We drove all the way to Ventura and wanted to go and look at a lake Piro, (I think it was called) but when we got there they wanted $9.00 for us to simply drive around the lake and check it out for 1/2 an hour. Holy Cow! Hubby refused to pay it so we turned around and drove home to Bakersfield. Yep we never even got out of the car once. Yippieeeee!! Now we are home and I decided to upload another layout I completed yesterday for you to peruse.

I just love all the bold primary colors in this layout! I used another one of Courtney's templates from the BadicBuds Vol. 3 set at Scrapbook Graphics and I also used a kit from SSD called "2 Thumbs Up" by Penny Springman and Libby Pritchett. I was really unsure about the kit until I got over half way through with the layout and I decided to move some of the BG papers around a bit. I had the red patterned paper on the top and the black behind the red and it just didnt work well that way, so I moved the two around and it made a drastic difference in my eyes at least. I think the bright colors pop so must better agaisnt the black background and they sort of got lost on the red patterned paper. You see we live and learn everyday.

For your information and just incase you happen to be able to get there in time a friend of mine Maddy has a great freebie up on her blog today to create a Hybrid Circular Card. The link is HERE and her design turned out great. I already downloaded it and hope to give it a go either tonight or tomorrow. When I get it done I will post it here for you to see. The template also includes a template to make a great envelope for the card as well. I'm rather excited about giving it a whirl. Get there fast thought because she is taking it down tonight and will put it up for sale in her store tomorrow. If you download it and create anything I would love to see your result. Have a scrap happy day!!! See Ya!

"Hoo" will be mine?

Are you ready for Valentines day yet? I am, well kind of. I decided to make Wyatt some really cute Valentines Day candy boxes to take with him to school. So I went on a cute template box search and found a great freebie that is shaped like an Owl. I just love Owls and I thought this would be the perfect box to make for my son to fill with Valentines Day goodies for his friends. I uploaded the file for you all incase you want to give it a whirl HERE. I had a very hard time finding a working link for the original template.

Isn't that the cutest thing? The box is not very wide so you can fit small candies in it like M&M's or Sweethearts for Valentines Day. You could change the papers about and also use it for other holidays as well. It would work well for Halloween I think. I did mine all digital but it would be great as a Hybrid with buttons and bows added to the box. I wanted something that would be fast and all I would have to do is fold it up and fill them.

I also created a new layout with some photos I took of my Nieces at my mothers house. They got to spend the day together playing and were having such a great time together. My brothers both must think alike because they actually accidentily dressed them in the same shirts that day.

I used a template from Buttercup Designs: "BasicBuds Vol 3 Templates" and a kit from Studio BCD called "My Favorite Things" both available at SBG. I really like how the colors worked with the photos. These two designers are simply spectacular!

If you happen to use the Owl Template to make a box please share your creation with me as well. I would love to see them. Have a great day everyone!!

R U a Beginner Scrapper??

I received a wonderful surprise in my In-box today when a friend of mine Kait Gonzalez shared a list of links she had formatted to help beginner scrappers get around the world of Digiscrap and provide them with resources such as tutorials, freebies, and well just awesome information to assist the beginner scrapper get started and be creative. I thought the information was spectacular and she said I could share that information here with you. I am telling you there are resources here I did not even know about and I have been scrapping for years now. I don't want this post to be too long so I will simply post the information for you to peruse and get out of your hair for the day. I'm off to Fot Body Boot Camp, today I am halfway through my program!! Yeah!!

Beginners, stop here first:

http://debbiehodge.com/category/howtocomplete/

http://thedailydigi.com/



Having a good foundation is essential in creating your digital scrapbook pages. It gives you page direction and structure. Sketches are your friends. :)



Sketches

http://www.scrapbooksetc.com/layouts/sketches/

http://www.everything-about-scrapbooking.com/scrapbooking-sketch.html

http://www.pencillines.com/

http://www.pagemaps.com/



Tutorials

http://www.scrapbook-bytes.com/chat/articles.php

http://www.scrapgirls.com/SG_University_The_Basics.htm

http://thedailydigi.com/

http://www.theshabbyshoppe.com/tutorials/software_tutorials.asp

http://www.scrapbookgraphics.com/category/tutorial/how-i-did-it/

http://www.cottagearts.net/tutorials.html

http://www.digitalscrapbookfaves.com/digital/digital-scrapbooking-tutorials

http://www.scrapbookgraphics.com/vBulletin/forumdisplay.php?145-SBG-Classrooms

http://www.scrapbookgraphics.com/vBulletin/showthread.php?5506-Design-Theory

http://www.scrappersworkshop.com/



Titles / quotes

http://freedigitalscrapbooking.com/digital_scrapbooking_pagetitles.html

http://www.scrapbook.com/quotes.php

http://www.peppermintcreative.com/phrases.php



Fonts

http://www.dafont.com/

http://www.1001fonts.com/

http://www.urbanfonts.com/free-fonts.htm

http://www.abstractfonts.com/

http://www.1001freefonts.com/

http://simplythebest.net/fonts/



Sharpening your photo

http://www.theshabbyshoppe.com/blog/index.php/2010/09/22/focus-on-photos-sharpen/

http://thepioneerwoman.com/photography/

http://www.mcpactions.com/blog/2011/01/20/preparing-digital-files-in-photoshop-for-print-part-2-strategies/



Free Kits

http://shabbyprincess.com/downloads.asp

http://donnadowney.typepad.com/simply_me/2010/05/sponsor-spotlight-back-on-the-road.html

http://krystalhartley.blogspot.com/2010/06/new-lds-primary-inspired-kit-and.html

http://www.peppermintcreative.com/index.php?main_page=downloads

http://freedigitalscrapbooking.com/

http://mandagirl.com/free-templates/



Scrapbooking sites that you might want to check out. There’s a ton more out there but these are some of the ones I frequent.



Scrapbookbytes

Scrapbookgraphics

DigiShopTalk

PickleberryPop

TheDigiChick

ScrapGirls

Digital Scrapbook Pages

Digital Scrapbook Place

Cherry On Top

Oscraps

2 Peas in a Bucket

Scrap Matters

Scrap Orchard

Digiscrapaddicts
ScrapbookElements

MSScraps

Funky Playground

Sweet Shoppe Designs

Catscraps

Weeds and Wildflowers

ScrapMatters

Little Dreamer Designs

I would also like to add After 5 Designs to that list as I myself love that site as well.
Well, I will leave you know to start clicking links and have a great time. If you find any sites you think woudl be great additions to this list please let me know. I would love ot keep building on this list.