End of Year Theme!!

It's the last day of the year and I'm sitting alone in my room at my mother's house in the great white North.  This year is ending exactly as it started...hubby working, Sam & I on the computer, and Scott and Kristen at a party in NYC.  It is not such a bad thing...status quo..same old, same old....  It is better than reverse!!! 
I'm pretty happy with the way this year unfolded, it was a pretty happy year.  If  I could give the year 2009 a theme it would be...Plan and when things don't go as planned....re-plan!!  So 2009 at the Switzer house was the year of the Re-Plan!!!!  I wonder what the theme of 2010 will be??  I will hope for more travel, more friends, more creativity.....and less planning!! 

 From Our House to Your House....May the year 2010 flow smoothly and end with a happy theme!!

And to the Glitterbee's....may everything you measure come out exact, all your inkpads be full of ink, and most of all...may all your "Glitter-bee" sparkly!!!

Tips for Photographing Cards

Hello Friends,

Since I am away from my scraproom I thought I would post a few tips for photographing your cards.

LIGHTING....is the single most important thing in your photograph.  Photographers love the light coming in from a north-facing window.  If you have one...use it..I don't have one so I have to make do.   If your photo always comes out with a funny color....too green, too yellow, too blue...it's the kind of light in your room...  Flourescent bulbs can make your picture a funny green or yellow color...LED light is really, really blue....  Each kind of light has a temperature (no, not a fever)... 

Use a background....like a solid color pice of cloth.  This will help the viewer just focus on the card.  Have the background really really flat with no wrinkles or really crumpled with lots of wrinkles. 

Props - If you use props around your card, don't over do it so that it takes the viewers eye away from the card.  Your hard work is the subject...not the things around it.  Use props that add to the photograph not take over the photograph.

Offset - Just like when making your card....you don't have to always have it in the center...  If you offset your card...always have it facing slightly into the picture....not facing out of the picture.  This will lead the eye to move off the photo.

Use different angles - I always enjoy viewing a photo that isn't just a straight view to the front of the card.  Move your camera all around for different angles....



I hope these tips weren't too "old hat" for you....Just Basics!!!

It's snowing here in Wisconsin today, but for a southern girl like me...it's a nice change.  My mother is having surgery here next week so I am staying at her house an extra couple of weeks to help out.  Her gallbladder is "kaput"...the surgery is outpatient so her recovery will be pretty quick.  I'm going to check out a local scapbook store today that has a really good selection of paper....I'll let you know what I find...
Hopefully, I will venture out in the cold soon and take some pictures....

Wedding Dress Shopping All to Ourselves!!

We had a very wonderful day yesterday at Brides Number One in Milton, Wi.  My mother works there and the store is normally closed the day after Christmas so mother, Kristen, and I had to store all to ourselves.  It was a once in a lifetime experience to have a whole store on our own, trying on any dress you wish and being able to pick just the right one.  She is going to be a beutiful bride for my son, Scott.  I took quite a few pictures but I'm not going to post any.  I don't think I would like to ruin any of the surprises of the wedding day....plus, I think it would be bad luck but I hope she likes the pictures.  All three of us had the best day and we appreciated her sharing the experience with the in-laws.  By the way----the dress is just beautiful and fits her personality to a tee!!!

Hey Y'all. It's Christmas

Every year the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas gets shorter and shorter.  I bet you heard all the "old folks" in your family say that when you were young.  I love the time leading up to Christmas, it has always been my nature to like the anticipation more that the actual event..don't know if that's good or not but it is what it is.  Today is the day to pack up the car to go "over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house".  Sam is packing extra because he is going to stay in the snow until after the Super Bowl.  Embrace the anticipation!!!

I'm attaching a picture of this years tree to this post....Merry Christmas to all!!!!

A Binks Brothers Christmas

Santa came to our house yesterday and brought the kitties a Cat Tree.  It was a big hit as you can see, each cat has a level.  Mr. Binks (lower level) likes to play fetch with his mice when we throw them into the levels.  Henry (top level) likes to jump from the top to the floor...  Yammer (middle) played with it a while and then went on his merry way to do his own thing.  He doesn't need these juvenile entertainments.  If anyone is interested in purchasing one for their feline friends, we got it at Costco.

http://svgcuts.com/blog/?p=4324

Link to a great SCAL SVG site....Don't know what that is??  For you Cricut lovers...check it out.

Hey, You're on My Chair

Hey Friends and Family,
I just did the coolest thing.  I've owned Adobe Premier Elements for a while now but just tried it out to see what it could do for me (it's a video editing program).  I used a few clips of the cats from the past year (not very good qulity by the way) and used a template provided with the program...this is what I got with just a few clicks of the mouse..... The Binks Brothers.  Click on my new video to watch...
Thanks..Micki

CopiC Pen Club Trial

I happened up on a Copic Marker Cllub class this evening when I went to the Funkie Munkie Scraps store in Greer.  That is a really nice scrap store with very helpful staff who make you feel so welcome.  Copic Markers are an alcohol based ink marker used in card making.  Tonight we tested out different types of paper to see which ones we like and which ones we didn't.  Since I was the 'rookiest" I was just glad to be a 'colorin".  But I think it's something I would really like to learn more about; shading and color families.

    Oh I also had my hair done today...took out some of the blond...a wintery look for Christmas...  All in all it was a good day.   Sam and I spent a lot of time driving and he said he had fun too.  TTFN....

Great Card Class

Hey All,
I took a card class tonight at Scrapnesia in Greenville, SC with Angie.  All the ladies there were really nice and I learned a few new tricks to add to my bag!!  I am posting a photo of all the cards I made.  The dandelion card was all about sanding cardstock and using dew drops.  The small card is a gift card holder, the green background was using Versa Mark Ink and StazOn Ink on glossy paper., and the fish card was made with a zippy bag and shampoo....  What a blast!!  Shampoo and zippy bag!!!

My Office During Christmas Card Time

Hey,

OK...I am an organized person but this is what I hate most about cards...the mess!  Just look at it.  If I could learn to put things away as I use them...well that would be a good trait to have.  When I get going on the project....I have to get it done.  It's like I'm in some kind of a race to the finish, the first one done with the card wins!!  Anyway, I hate it when I see pictures of people's work spaces and they look all neat and organized.  Ask them!!!  Ask any of them if it is ever like that for more than a minute, if they say yes they are lying.  Oh, I can keep my room clean but only if I sit at the computer all night and day.
A little about my office space...or studio space which sounds more official to me.  That's what I'm going to call it from now on...Micki's Studio.  When we bought the house this space was the dining room and we didn't need a dining room.  We have a breakfast area where the table is so when we gutted the main floor, I designed my office with scrapbooking in mind.  I love love my pegboard...it's my favorite.  I rearrange it all the time.  After Christmas I will post some of those "fake" non-productive pictures.....when it's all organized.

I wanted to do something special for my children up North for their first Christmas in their first apartment so I tried creating a mini chipboard album.
Album is from Michael's...$1.00 find. all paper is Die Cuts with a View.  For the snowflake embellishments, I went to the dollar store and found a Christmas garland which I dismantled and used the pieces which saved me a bit of time die-cutting.
The stamps used were # 20065 Purr-fect Holiday from the Max and Lucy series at Stamps Happen, Inc.  Fullerton, Ca. (Made in the USA)...Yeah
On the back I used my special order stamp from paperangel.com's online catalog which has my name and email address and a cute kitty in the middle.  It took me about 6 hours to make this card.
In order to make the pattern for the paper and to convice my self I could do it... I scanned in the santa hat shape and traced a bitmap in Inkscape...saved as an SVG so I could use SCAL to send to the Cricut Expression. 
I also used the RoundCatSVG from  lsshdesigns.blogspot.com/.

Here is a link to my Flickr account where I post my best photography. If you have anything to say about them, just make a commenet after the photo and let me know what you think. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mickiswitzer/

Hi....

It's official now, I'm addicted to cards and cats...cats and cards. I just got a new Cricut
Expression and Sure Cuts A Lot.... I can't stop the madness. Henry Binks, one of my cats
thinks watching the new Cricut is as good as watching the new printer..... I am in the process of creating my Christmas cards for this year.....