Bits&Pieces

Sponsor Giveaways: Simplify 101 and ReneePearson.com {winners}

With Halloween in full scale, it's time to announce the winners! Just a note of interest: the Random Integer Generator gave me two numbers: 11 and 376. I love that one is way in the front, and one is way in the back. You never know what numbers are going to pop up.!

Without further adieu...

The winner of the spot in Simplify 101's upcoming online workshop Get Organized for the Holidays is:

#11 Carolyn, who said... Great giveaways as always.

And the winner of the spot in the new Anna Aspnes class at ReneePearson.com, Album Magic is:

#376 Carol who said... Happy Halloween! Thanks for the 2 great classes!

Ladies, email me to claim your spots in these awesome workshop!

Thanks again to the sponsors and remember there is still time to register for both.

Do you want to get organized and truly enjoy this coming holiday season? One of my blog readers will win a spot in Simplify 101's upcoming online workshop Get Organized for the Holidays. This workshop is taught by professional organizer Aby Garvey, co-author of The Organized & Inspired Scrapbooker. In this workshop, you’ll create a holiday planning binder loaded with holiday planning forms, checklists, and best of all, a customized holiday plan that focuses on what’s most important to you and your family. Learn how to weed-out and simplify your less meaningful holiday tasks, freeing-up time to truly enjoy and savor those activities that make the holidays most special to you. Plus, get simple tips and ideas to implement your plan so you stay energized and joyful all season long!

The workshop begins next Tuesday and runs through January 12—giving you ongoing ideas, inspiration and motivation to make your holidays the organized, joyful and stress free. There’s plenty of down-time built in, too, so you can enjoy the season with your family. Then, when the season ends you’ll learn simple and effective ways to quickly reclaim your home, easily returning it to pre-holiday order.

This year’s workshop includes bonus handouts from two fabulous bloggers. Benita Larson of the beautiful and inspiring blog Chez Larsson, will be sharing "Simple + Stylish Holiday Decorating Ideas” and Laura of the popular Org Junkie blog will help us take the stress out of preparing holiday meals in her bonus handout "Holiday Meal Planning Made Easy.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

It’s time to kick your scrapbooking up a notch! One of my blog readers will also win a spot in the new Anna Aspnes class at ReneePearson.com, Album Magic. If you’re comfortable creating complete 12 X 12 digital pages but the idea of creating a cohesive album based on a single theme sends you running in the opposite direction, then this class is for you! Join Anna Aspnes as she demystifies album creation and leads you, one step at a time, through her own tried and tested process that will have you planning and executing albums over and over in record time. This class isn't about producing a specific album with a set theme. Instead it provides a framework to which you can apply your own photos, stories and themes...

•Whether you have children or not
•Whether you scrapbook everyday or special occasions
•Whether you combine photos with stories or keep things simple
•Whether you use one photo or many
•Whether you consider yourself artsy or traditional
•Regardless of your age and where you are in your life

At every step, you will learn to make your own choices based on your own preferences and style to create your own personalized album. This class is suitable for users of Adobe Photoshop Elements 6, 7 or 8 and Photoshop CS3 and CS4, and is designed for the intermediate digital crafter using either a Mac or PC. While you do not need to be proficient in any of these programs, you do need to be familiar with using them and understand the concept of layers.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To be entered for a chance to win, simply leave me a comment. I will draw a winner sometime on Saturday after 7 p.m. Good luck!
 

There's creativity in them there genes

Every year, my father-in-law grows pumpkins, and as they're just starting to form, he carves the names of each of his grandchildren into the individual pumpkins. Some years they work brilliantly, and some years they don't. This year, Aidan and Cole's most definitely did.

When the kids were smaller, he would hide their pumpkins down on the farm where he and my mother-in-law live in Southern Minnesota. We'd bundle them up and send them out into the fields to choose a pumpkin to pick. It was pretty magical the first time, when they got out there only to find pumpkins with their names on it. 

 

{Aidan in the meadow at the farm, finding her first pumpkin, at age 2}

Speaking of things that have gone, and things that are here, I'm so happy that Papa still makes the pumpkins for my now 10- and 13-year-old kids.

I can guarantee you when they walk through the door after school the magic of seeing their names will still remind them not only of what an awesome and creative grandpa they have, but of how much they are loved.

And the shrunken head apple faces he made aren't too shabby either:

 

I'm posting a giveaway tomorrow, so check back! I wanted to wish all of you a safe and happy Halloween a bit early.

And thank YOU Papa, for such an enduring and endearing tradition.

Go Scrapbooking.

Last night I was looking through Clean&Simple Scrapbooking (I know, maybe a little weird to sit and look through your own book, but hey, the book is like one big scrapbook, just one that's been professionally printed, right?), and I was struck at how much life has changed since the year it came out.

When I read over this Bedtime Rituals layout, it really hit home: my kids are growing up.

Gone are the days of cartoons from 7 to 8 p.m.; here are the days of watching Glee or The Wizards of Waverly Place.

Gone are the days of two-story bedtimes and Go Fish; here are the days of reading Simpson's books and chatting with friends on Facebook. 

Gone are the days of parents bribing each other to trade off bedtime duties; here are the days of kids who get themselves ready for bed without any parental assistance whatsoever.

Gone are the days we had to stay upstairs until the kids fell asleep; here are the days when even though we can come downstairs and spend quality grown up time together, we're often too tired to do so.

Gone are the days of a family with little kids; here are the days that feel—sometimes—like a lifetime away from those that have already gone before.

Don't get me wrong. It seems that here is a time that just gets better and better as our family continues to do what families do: grow, change, adapt and live.

I guess today I'm glad that I'm the sort of person who writes stuff like this down. You know…to remember.

Go scrapbooking.

Holiday Survival Tip Series Installment No. 1: Make Cards Early (Video Tutorial Blog)

I know what you're thinking.

"Cathy? What the? Halloween isn't even here yet and you're thinking Christmas cards already? That's just messed up!"

Au contraire, mes petit chiens… (I think I just called all of you little doggies in French, but keep in mind: my bad French aside, I love dogs.)

Yes, I realize Halloween is just around the corner, but there's another big holiday some of you may be familiar with. It's called Christmas. Maybe you've heard of it? Baby Jesus? Trees? Presents?. Endless lines? Tangled lights? 

Oh yes, and one more component that is commonly referred to as the CHRISTMAS CARD.

As creative women (and men) who have the reputation of knowing their way around a paper trimmer, the pressure to create Christmas cards is constant. Why? Because we are crafty. We have all of the stuff we need to create right here! Some of us even have ENTIRE ROOMS in which we can use our knowledge and tools to prepare messages of holiday merriment to share with our family and friends.

Now I'm going to admit something that I haven't told anyone except my closest of friends and family (and everyone I know on the Internet): the reason you didn't get a card from me last year is because I didn't make any.

(And a collective GASP falls across the crafting blogosphere.)

Last year I said, rather petulantly, "Not gonna do it," and I didn't. And to be honest with you, I really wasn't guilt-ridden over the decision. To me, it was one less thing to do in a season that already has an exorbitant number of things that need doing.

But inevitably, it happened: I found myself missing it. I missed the process of making cards to share with my closest family and friends, and I vowed that this year, I would not only make cards, but I'd do them in a timely, non-stressed fashion, leaving plenty of time to simply enjoy the season when it comes, and not feel the burden of 80 some odd names on a Christmas card list staring me in the face. Waiting.

In short, this year, I've got a plan.

 

It all started with a new set of word art which I designed for Designer Digitals (on sale next weekend). I dig type and words and I plan to create many more sets using fonts and phrases that I love. These sets come as PNG files, and can be used in any program. (They also come as .abr files for you Photoshop users.)

 

You can use them on scrapbook pages, of course, but you can also use them to make holiday cards.

Here's a quick tutorial on how to take some word art and make multiple, colored copies on a single sheet of cardstock to use for making some easy, crafty Christmas cards.

CZ Design Word Art Card Tutorial from Cathy Zielske on Vimeo.

Supplies Ho-Ho-Holiday 1 Brushes&Stamps (coming Nov. 1 to Designer Digitals) • Dasher and Garland papers from BasicGrey • Fiskars Squeeze Punch • pop dots • kraft cardstock

Once you have your word art file ready, you simply load in a sheet of cardstock, print, and cut into strips. Then, grab your punch tool and punch away.

This is definitely a card you can do production-line style. Just punch a bunch of holiday paper swatches, and then punch a bunch of word art print outs, glue down and presto: cute holiday cards.

(Note: the patterned papers I'm using are from an older BasicGrey collection that might be hard to find online, but any holiday themed papers will work!)

And for those of you who just can't stand the idea of holiday card making in October, I've got just the word art set to fit with the current season:

 

But at this point, there's no pressure on anyone to make cards. I'm not THAT crazy.

Look for these new word art sets this weekend at Designer Digitals.

p.s. And to everyone on my Christmas card list, please act surprised when this design shows up in your mailbox. Thank you.

Being 10 is awesome

Sponsor Giveaway: Win a class with Renee Pearson! {Winner announced}

The winner of the spot in Collage 101 is:

Kristen Butler, who said...

Looks like an amazingly creative class. Would love to play!

Kristen, email me to claim your spot!

Thanks to Renee Pearson for sponsoring the giveaway. The workshop begins on Nov. 19 for those of you who want to sign up and have some good digi learning fun!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you've ever wondered how digital scrapbookers get that cool collage look, then my friend (and sponsor) Renee Pearson wants to show one of my blog readers how to do it for free!

Renee is giving one seat away in her newest workshop, Collage 101.  Read on to learn more:

Digital assemblage or “mixed-media” is all the rage. It’s the art of using a single medium, digital, to create the sense of a mixed-media work of art. While digital artists can learn a lot from the traditional assemblage process, we have a different set of tools that allow us to push the art form in a different direction.

Collage 101 isn’t about mimicking the mixed-media process or reproducing an assemblage that’s already been completed. It’s all about developing the skills and techniques to produce your own unique digital assemblages. You’ll learn how to deploy the following five tools in your digital tool box: Adjustment layers, Blending modes, Brushes, Filters & Masks. Throughout this 3-week course, Renee will have you diving into your own creative well to produce unique digital collages you’ll be proud to place in an album or hang on your walls. 

You can learn more about the Collage 101 Lesson Plan by clicking here. To enter, simply leave a comment and I'll draw a winner sometime on Saturday after 9 p.m. Central time.

Good luck!

And then I made this one…

DIGITAL SUPPLIES: Cathy Zielske's Layered Template No. 4 (Designer Digitals) • Aspasia Solids Paper Pack (Michelle Martin) •  Classic Cardstock Foundations (Katie Pertiet) • (Stitching from a kit from Ali Edwards' Yesterday Today class by Anna Aspnes) • Avenir font

Ahhh…simple, clean, lots of space. My favorite kind of design. Blocky. Linear. Just how I like it.

And with pictures of a willing subject, no less!

Last week, Aidan put a bid on a Nigerian dress at our church's silent auction, and came home with this lovely purple number. She said, "Mom, let's do shots in the leaf pile!"

What? Me take pictures? Oh, OKAY.

 

 

 

Tell me one scrapbooker out there who doesn't feel a jolt of pure joy that comes from a teen-ager that actually suggests that you go grab your camera and take some pictures, huh? Yeah? You feeling me?

The layout above features one of two new templates coming this weekend to Designer Digitals, Template No. 4:

 

…and Template No. 5, an 8.5 x 11 template based on a page I recently did as a guest designer for Studio Calico:

 

Template No. 5 makes me very happy, with it's cute little scalloped edges, and little journaling spot (the whole spot can be used in your design, I just set it up so it bleeds off the edge!)

Here are a few gorgeous samples from the creative team at Designer Digitals:

Sarah created this fun twist:

(click here for her supplies)

And Steph did this (with a new cardstock design by Katie Pertiet that I am in love with!):

 

(click here for her supplies)

A great design to showcase a collection of 9 photos in a nice, tidy little package.

These templates go on sale this weekend, only at Designer Digitals!

Dear Diary, today my Mom actually accused me of being goth…

Last night I was tucking Aidan in and as I was telling her to shut the laptop off and go to bed, I noticed this little gem on her Photo Booth screen and was all, "When did I give birth to Robert Smith?"

Does it say more about me that I was secretly thinking, "Go little goth kid, go!" than it does her? While I may not have the immediate answer, I looked at her and said, "You have GOT to email this to me."

All these years, and I still haven't shaken the Bauhaus from my system.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

IN OTHER NEWS  Today, I'll be attending Photoshop Down & Dirty Tricks from the fabulous Kelby Training people. I can't remember the last time I took a workshop that required me to actually leave my house and interact with live humans. 

Not to worry. I've been practicing what to say to people in real life. Things like, "Hello," and "Where is your bathroom" and "I'm a scrapbooker."

I think they're really going to like me. Fingers crossed!

Digital Album Project: A Message to my Girl (or Boy…or anyone special in your life)

One of the things I love most about scrapbooking and storytelling is the ability to put together mini-albums with a message. The newest addition to the CZ Design line of digital template products is a set called "Message to my Girl" and "Message to my Boy" (coming Oct. 25 to Designer Digitals) and I'm excited to show you how it works and looks.

First the sets:

 

 

This new template set comes with 6 individual layered templates and is designed to help you create an 8 x 8 album of messages, advice, or just your general thoughts to someone in your life. The templates are designed to say "girl" and "boy" but you can turn off those title layers in the template and add in anything you like.

The end goal of this set is to create an 8 x 8 scrapbook of messages. I decided to use the templates to create an 8 x 8 hard cover Shutterfly book for Aidan, and am really happy with the final results. For the cover, I simply used a photo from inside the book, and for the back cover, I used a large swatch of the patterned paper from the inside. Take a peek:

 

Better yet, watch this video to see all of the spreads and learn a bit more about the project. (or click here to see the album in my gallery at Shutterfly.

Message to My Girl Preview from Cathy Zielske on Vimeo.

DIGITAL SUPPLIES: "Message to my Girl" Template Set (Cathy Zielske) • Alana Paper Pack (Michelle Martin) •  Weathered Neutrals Paperie (Anna Aspnes) • Krafty No. 7 (Katie Pertiet), PMN Caecilia Roman 55 font.

(NOTE the mini brads in the sample on the video have been swapped out with better looking ones, thanks to Katie Pertiet. Thanks, Katie!)

I designed the album project using a font called PMN Caecilia Roman 55, which is classified as a slab serif typeface. The type on the title page of this album design is converted to graphics and you don't need the font to print them, however, if you would like your journaling to match, you would need to have the font. You can always do a Google Search to look for free versions as well. (Or, any slab serif typeface would do. You may even have one in your collection!)

This project would make a simple and meaningful gift for the holidays. Whether you create a Shutterfly book, or digital pages for an 8 x 8 album, or simply adapt the design for a hybrid project, you'll be surprised at how quickly the words fill up when you are writing from the heart.

Word to the wise: don't tackle this project when you're overly hormonal without a good supply of Kleenex on hand. I'll admit, I had a touch of the waterworks going when I wrote this:

 

(click on layout to see larger in a new window)

Questions about this project? Feel free to post in the comments. The templates will be available beginning this weekend at Designer Digitals.

Happy 18, Mr. Zielske

I know anniversaries are generally a day upon which you wax all lovey dovey about your significant other, and don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't want to on this day—the very day 18 years ago where we both said quite clearly, "I do!"—but I'd rather share what our kids did to celebrate.

You remember the kids right?

There's this one:

 

And this one:

The kids made cards for us, featuring our favorite colors (Dan, burgundy; me, lime-ish green). Here's the one from Cole, featuring some of Mom's other favorites (including for some reason, my old car's license plate numbers) on the front flap...

 

And a few of Dad's other favorites inside...

 

Yes, that is a bottle of beer. Also, the photo? Taken from Game 1 of the 1991 World Series in which our beloved Minnesota Twims were participants. And why this photo? Game 1 was played on Oct. 19, 1991, and yes, we were required to have a big screen tv at our reception.

Next up, Aidan's card:

 

 

Don't ever accuse my child of being Leap Year-ist.

The cards made us both very, very happy.

Next, Dan and I headed out for a lovely dinner at a Minneapolis eaterie called Azia. We are now at the glorious stage in life wherein we no longer have need of hired babysitting hands. Aidan is 13, and provided Dan and I don't get into the habit of attending all-night raves, she is quite capable of holding down the fort for a few hours while we dine out.

As we lingered over a $40 bottle of petite syrah and were waited on by Taylor Lautner/Jacob Black's taller, hotter twin, the kids were home cleaning the house and making a short film.

I could go into details about our romantic, underlit dinner, but all you really need to know is how hard it was for me to not ask our server, Jared, if he was okay that Bella kept choosing the dead guy over him. 

We returned home at a respectable 8:30 p.m. to find a clean house, and the following video clip:

Seriously? The camera work is inspired, and all filmed using Aidan's little Canon Powershot.

At this 18 year mark, I just want to say this: we've done a lot of great things together, but those two kids? An undeniable 1st place tie.

Happy anniversary, Dan Zielske. It has so been worth it.

(And thanks to the best kids on the planet.)