Beautiful Leaves

KISS OF AUTUMN, originally uploaded by Aspenbreeze.

I love the changing leaves…

Autumn Colors…

Autumn Colors !, originally uploaded by Ming chai.

Loved looking at all the beautiful fall colors on Flickr…

End of The Road…

We have arrived at the end of the road.  I have decided to make this blog private.  Three years ago I started The Legacy Lady Blog with the intention to document my digital scrapbooking pursuits and share how-to’s.  Over the years with no formal structure it became a journal of sorts with educational scrapbooking posts and photography spliced in.  It has been a fun ride.

During the past three years I had some fun gigs that lead me to meet some amazing people who I feel very blessed to still call my friends.  There were the good times at PCLayers, teaching some amazing women at Weber State with DigiScrap101, and working on CK Media’s Digital Scrapbooking Magazine Creative Team with others whose talent I felt shadowed by and so grateful to learn from.

Finally last fall on exactly August 28th (that is ONE year ago today) I made the educational site brainstorming around in my mind a reality with Digiscrap101.com.  DigiScrap101 led to more friends who I am so blessed to know and some great opportunities that involve current projects I am working on – Digital Coaching for LOM on Big Picture Scrapbooking, tutorials for Scrapper’s Guide, and others I can’t share just yet.

With my professional work showcased on DigiScrap101, this blog became somewhat of an afterthought, a behind the scenes look at my life.  After a long and enjoyable summer off from most things digital scrapbooking, I have decided that one less place with information about me might be a very good thing…

I am looking forward to blogging about my kids, their schools, and the crazy details of our home search in this crazy economy without worrying about someone unknown getting the wrong information and using it in a way that would stress me out.  I have been lucky so far, but it will be nice to keep an online journal and not worry about the wrong person reading it.

So, if you are reading this and we are friends (yes that includes a few choice online friends who I feel like I know because we have emailed back and forth – you will know who you are) or family, email me and I will share with you where I am and how to get access.  For everyone else – thanks so much for reading the past few years – your positive comments and encouragement have meant more than words can say.  You can still catch me at DigiScrap101.

How Now, Brown Cow?

On the way home our shortcut takes us through farm fields and pastures near the lake.  I have often seen these Texas longhorn cattle right as the sun was setting and couldn’t help but think they would be fun to photograph…

This momma cow was so sweet.  Most of the cows out there could hardly care that I was there which brought me to a moment of self-discovery.  I like photographing things and people who don’t realize I am photographing them – you get authentic and natural shots this way and you don’t have to deal with the drama and expectations of being a portrait photographer.

You get to create art through your lens the way you see it and not think of how others want to see it…

These two were sweet and followed me around the pasture.  The calf was intriqued with the click noise of my camera and kept coming closer and closer…  The mom cow just gave me a look like, “I don’t entirely trust you but your life is going to be pain if you mess with my baby…”

Another cute pair who also walked along the fence with me…

Meet The Neighbors…

Last night as I was driving the kids to an activity, I noticed a herd of antelope on the side of the road.  We see them all the time but never this many at once.  I ran home to grab my camera and amazingly they were still there by the time I got back. They didn’t stay for long though…

It is times like this when I wish I had a longer lens.  I also had inadvertently set the IS mode on my lens to wrong setting so instead of Image Stabilization I got Image Blurrification on most of the shots.   Which is a bummer because I had some great shots that could have been better if my lens hadn’t been set to compensate for motion – so what I thought were going to be fabulous crystal clear shots were blurry – like this one…

However, I learned…the next time I go out I definitely will be making sure the lens is in the right mode. Every mistake is an education…at least that is what I am telling myself to feel better!

In the spirit of photography, I urge you to watch the video in this post I came across on Moose Peterson’s blog yesterday…  If a guy who shoots bears like this has days where all he does is get out to shoot and takes home very few keeper shots, than I guess my time behind the lens ( no matter how inept I feel some days) wasn’t wasted.

A Day In The Life…

This was the calming, peaceful view from the kids’ school parking lot.  I needed this view today and I am glad I spent time enjoying it…

Today was one of those Mondays.  You know those days where you barely survive to the end and then you laugh because you realize if you weren’t the one living it, it would be so funny to watch someone deal with everything you went through?  So this is how it went…

Woke up 30 minutes late and hurried to get everyone fed and ready for school.  Also sorted the huge piles of laundry that desperately needed processing.  Head back to the kitchen and see clock – it is 8am.  The problem with that is both the Jr. high and elementary kids’ schools START at 8am.  Small panic and then huge rush to get shoes and everyone in car.

Drive Jr. High child to school first and on the way remember that some of the kids have appointments today with the pediatrician.  Have dd look on my phone calendar to figure out which kids are going, only to learn that iCal is not syncing with my iPhone and I have no calendar whatsoever.  Flip over to voicemail for confirmation phone call from doctor’s office only to see that it is deleted and then amazingly the message is in my deleted voicemails – the doctor’s office confirms two kids’ appointments.  I call to confirm and ask if there is supposed to be a third kid at the same time – there is – they just forgot to mention her in the voicemail – thankfully I didn’t drop her at school before going!

Run to the doctor’s office for appointment and three kids get physicals.  While the first child is being examined the doctor mentions that the flu shots just came in and wouldn’t it be better if we did those today so if an H1N1 shot comes later we don’t have to do them at the same time. I say that would be great and then one of my twins (7) starts to stress and tells me she doesn’t want a shot, starts to cry and I tell her it is better to get it over with.

While the doctor is telling me about the other twin’s height and weight percentages, the first twin grabs my arm and says she feels sick.  I am thinking she is just trying to get out of a shot so I tell her she is going to be fine… and turn back to the doctor who is now explaining milk fat and calcium that would be good for the other twin.  Next thing I know, the shot shy twin throws up on my arm and we quickly usher her to the sink in the room.  During the chaos I am running back and forth with wet paper towels, cleaning the arm on the chair and then throwing the towels away, then going back to dry the arm off  (this really makes me think about what is on chairs at doctor’s offices).  The doctor continues to examine the other twin and I help the sick twin wash her face and then I clean out the sink.  Finally it is over and I sit down and listen to a few more tips from the doctor.  The visit ends with three kids all getting their flu shots and older son getting flu and tetanus shots – score one for mom.

With the doctor’s office out of the way we are finally on our way to school.  I check the kids in late and hurry home to see what I can do about the house before their early release at 1:45.  I call a friend and chat while cleaning house and then catch up on email and make a quick lunch before the alarm goes off to signal it is time to run out and get the kids.

I drive to get the kids and congratulate myself on being there early enough to be right out front waiting…when the bell rings the only kid to show up is my oldest son.  I ask him where the twins are and he says they have to stay late.  I ask him to go ask why they have to stay late and he returns a few minutes later to tell me that they are “Later Gators” and have to stay until 3:30.  I wonder about this new school and the odd policy not to release children on time when they are late to school for doctor appointments and so I go into the office to ask about the policy.

I mention my kids and ask about the policy and the secretary kindly explains to me that my twins are on the “B” track for school which means that they should be showing up an hour later than I was dropping them off and then picked up an hour later…So basically I learn that for all last week I was taking my kids to school and picking them up at the wrong times…  So we switch my son to the A track which requires a class and teacher change that I hope will go well.   Tomorrow my kids will be there at the right times…

This all takes about 45 minutes and as we get into the car I check my calendar (thanks to MobileMe my phone was syncing again) and learn that my Jr. High daughter had been out of school for 30 minutes waiting for me…Thankfully Jr. High kids can spend lots of time talking to their friends so I was still cool with her.

Now I am taking all the girls to get our hair done – hoping that the events proceeding it are not a foreshadow of things to come.  If I were superstitious I would cancel our appointments but my hair needs help and my teenager would kill me.

So that is a crazy day in my life – and all I can do is laugh – the best part about the internet is that I can’t see you so I won’t really know if you are laughing with me or at me…

Hope your Monday went better!

PS – I so think they should do a mom olympics show that highlights all that moms have to do, organize, nurture and be – and then fill the contest with men…now that would be interesting!

Vintage Wonderland

I thought I would share another thing that makes me happy about our move…  I think it will make you happy too – or at least wanting to visit….  Well actually it depends on what kind of person you are and if you find antique/consignment shops fun and cool…

Saturday I ventured out and came home with a few treasures and a heart full of inspiration and vintage eye candy.  The first stop was Star Mill…This is an amazing antique shop that resides in an old flour mill in American Fork.  I probably could spend days in there looking at everything – it is only open Thursday – Saturday from 12pm-6pm.

There is seriously some amazing things here and of course my favorite piece wasn’t for sale…

Can you imagine this sideboard in your scrapbook room?  To die for!  I took more photos to try and convince my husband to make me something like it for Christmas – so fun!  If I were still a paper scrapbooker, it almost looks like it would perfect file 12×12 paper away…

And the storage for the embellishments is in the same room – check this out…

I would be ecstatic for just one section of it!  My husband would love it for his garage…

And that wasn’t all I found there – I picked up something fun to work on as a project but I will share that in another post.

This place is not only fabulous for the vintage finds but also a great photo location – for $20 you can come after 6pm and take photos – fabulous place for family photos…

So many possibilities…

I also visited another store but that is another post for another day.  Happy Monday!

Happy Weekend…

A fabulous Friday to an eventful week…

1.   School started – which means I really should paint my car yellow with stripes as I drive the kids to their schools…  I now spend about an hour a day running kids to school – can’t wait to be in our permanent house where the kids will walk/bike to school…which brings me to the next good thing that happened…

2. We have a house!  The house saga started when we sold our home in Centerville and had three weeks to move.  A half finished house we were going to buy & finish ended up being more of a money pit than a smart investment.  A short sale after that  with no end in site persuaded us to look elsewhere and the sellers verbally accepted our offer on a different property yesterday… The latest house is closer to schools and better for our family…

3. Today my teenager and I giggled over these…talk about multi-tasking!  Just in case you can’t read the label – they are Microfiber Cleaning Slippers .  I think I am going to send some to my sister – they would make a fabulous white elephant gift!

4. Cute Binders – can you believe all the cute tabs/binders/file folders out there these days?  I was looking for binders to organize my different projects and loved these!  Functional and cute!

What makes me most happy about this Friday?  Wrapping it up with a clean house and pedicures with my girls tonight – can’t wait to soak my feet and have some well-deserved pampering… looking forward to a good weekend!

Tutorial Overview Digiscrap101

An index of just a few of the things you can learn about digital scrapbooking on Digiscrap101.com:

DIGISCRAP101 BEGINNING PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS CLASS

Below are the download links for the materials used in our class. To download the materials, click on the link and your computer should start saving the materials where your downloads usually go. If you have any questions or problems, please contact me. Please do not share these links with anyone else. I have licensed these materials from designers who have spent many hours creating the products we are able to use in our class. While it seems simple or just a little thing – if the direct links to our freebies are shared outside of this site, it jeopardizes our ability to share them with students in the future. Please help us maintain the integrity of our licensing agreements with our designers by keeping the links to these class materials to yourself. Thank you.

You can download a free trial of Photoshop Elements 6.0 HERE.

Pre-Class

• Video: The Very Basics of Photoshop Elements
  

Week One

• Video: Quick Photo Fixes in Photoshop Elements
  
• Video: Working With Quick Pages
• In-Class Materials
• Quick Page Album and PDF Instruction Files for CS3 and PSE6
• Bonus Homework Quick Page Album from our Sponsors: Tinkering Ink & PCLayers.com

Week Two

• Video: Creating A Layout From Scratch In Photoshop Elements
• Last Minute Additions
• In-Class Materials
• Bonus Summer Favorites Album (As seen in Digital Scrapbooking Magazine)

Week Three

• Videos: Using Templates in Photoshop Elements, Installing Fonts, Going Digital with Photo Borders
• In-Class Materials
• Bonus Template Collection, Free Fonts

Week Four

• Video: Advanced Templates in Photoshop Elements
• In Class Materials
• Bonus Kit of over 40 papers and custom frame templates

Extra Kits (Just for Fun)

• Just Like Home Kit
• Raising Boys Kit
• Tranquil Moments Kit

Cliff Notes: The Best Freebies on the Web

•  Shabby Princess has some amazing free kits on her site – easy to download and no registration required – she also has a very cute shop and site!

• PCLayers has a cute Freebie Kit on their site. They also have a very fun community with very secure online shopping and the ability to always go back and download what you have purchased – the download links never expire!
• ScrapMatters is a friendly online store run by a very nice group of designers. They have a great selection of free templates, quick pages, elements, etc.
• Little Dreamer Designs Newsletter Signup Freebie (just go to the bottom right of the page and signup for their newsletter (The Creative Voice) and get the beautiful Vintage Dreams Kit for free!! I used the kit in this layout… First you need to register for the LDD forums – Once you are registered and logged in, go this link and download some amazing Freebies!
• At the Designer Digitals Community you may register in their forums and after registered, download freebies here.
• The Ikea Goddess blog (she tracks blog freebies and shares links to them every day) Very fun place to check digital things out…
• DigiFree is a Freebie Search Engine that shows freebies on blogs all over the internet – it isn’t always accurate but it is a great resource for fun and free things.

OTHER TUTORIALS ON DIGISCRAP101

Making Yourself at Home on Digiscrap101
- How to customize your profile page, change your photo, or even stop all the notification emails from this site?

Blogging on DS101
- How to start your DS101 blog – tips shared are also helpful to anyone wanting to start a blog elsewhere as well.

Customize your Blogger Blog with SMJ Blog Templates
- An older video but still good on how to make your blogger blog pretty

Accentuating Papers in Photoshop
-Accentuate papers in photoshop using elements and blending modes.

Digitizing PDF Files to Use in Photoshop Elements
- As you all know, CK was kind enough to provide printables that everyone could use to get started on Project 365 even though the kits are sold out. In this tutorial I teach you step by step how to take those files and make them more friendly for digital (meaning you don’t have to print them out on your printer to use them!)

Even More Tutorials Here!

Fresh Perspective…

Lately I find myself snapping images with my iPhone as I drive around town – so many beautiful scenes I want to capture.

The clouds clearing after a rainstorm, the way the fields of alfalfa look against the mountains with sunflowers in the foreground, the double rainbows over the lake – it is all so new and beautiful.  Sometimes I look at it all and wonder if it really is going to stay like this – which is probably why I take photos – just in case.

I remember when we first moved to Centerville.  Fall leaves were everywhere – moving from Arizona having crunchy leaves under your feet and the crisp cool air really was something.  I was in heaven (fall is my favorite season). For the first two years I watched every seasonal change with delight – the leaves falling from the trees to the magical first snow to the first bloom of spring and the mild heat of summer (remember I was an Arizona girl).  The last year things started to blend together – the seasons seem to come more quickly – like a blur melding all together.  Of course we were crazy busy…

In Arizona you have just right and too hot – the two seasons of the desert.  However, I still miss the monsoon seasons, the Arizona sunsets and believe it or not the towering saguaros in the desert.  When I go back to visit, I seriously just drink it all in…

We miss so many things about the places we have lived and at the same time it is fun to view everything here with the gift of it all being new.    Life is always a journey of a discovery…