One famous person I'd like to have dinner with is...

Margaret Mitchell. Regrettably, she is deceased, but I still find her completely fascinating! She is the author of Gone With the Wind. My all-time FAVORITE book. I read it once a year and thoroughly enjoy it every time! If you've never read it, you should! It is a great read both as a fictional novel, but also as a historical novel as well. The Civil War era in the United States was a scary and confusing time, and Margaret Mitchell did a wonderful job in making it all seem so real and giving a very thoughtful retrospect of a lot of real events. I doubt you'd ever read such an insightful view of this time in America. I'd love to meet and chat with the mind behind such a superbly written historical piece of literature. I know her story is fictional, but it is set in such a historically accurate setting that it reads almost as a non-fictional tale. Her way with character writing helps this fact a lot! Ms. Mitchell knew how to write a heroine. Scarlett O'Hara is the girl you love to hate and hate to love! So assign, if you have never done so, grab a copy of Gone With the Wind and try it out, I promise you'll not be sorry, maybe you'll decide that YOU'D like to have dinner with Margaret Mitchell as well!

New LO..."Leah"...and other ramblings!

Credits:

"Beyond Beauty" kit by Stacey Jewell Stahl
The fonts are:beast and another hand font

I did this layout yesterday. This is my daughter, Leah. She turned 4 in November. She's such a wondeful person! I can't believe how big she's getting. She is my 2nd born, and my oldest daughter. I love that she's so much herself in this picture, slightly dirty but in a dress, typical Leah fashion. Oh, and she did her own hair! She's growing up too fast! :(

So, I've had my PSE 4 for 9 days now and I'm already obsessed with digital scrapping! It is so free and clean! Which is great as a mother of 4 crazy, handsy, and rambunctious children! I love the Undo function, and the freedom I have to manipulate elements and photos! Wish I'd known about this 7 years ago. While I still love the tactile side of paper scrapping, I think digital is for me!

I think I'm getting better! I'm loving all of the tutorials I'm finding. I even made a grossgrain ribbon on Tuesday! Yeah me! :) I wonder what the average time frame is for people to be fairly proficient at PSE? I'd love to hear some comments...how long did it take you to feel pretty confident with your software? If you design, how long after your first digital LO, were you making kits and/or elements? I've already dabbled in making my own papers, which is fairly easy for a basic look, but I'm at a loss as how to use "brushes". Guess that will be one of my next mountains to climb!

What sort of strange pet would I want, you ask?(okay, maybe you DIDN'T ask... :P)

Hmmm...good question...I'm allergic to most anything with dander IE; anything with fur. Birds are very cool, but seem messy and require a LOT of attention from what I've heard, and since I have 4 kids, time is not an abundant resource in this house! I'm thinking some sort of aquatic animal...OH! I've got it, a seahorse...what can be better than a species where the male gives birth? :)

Seahorses are beautiful animals, and seem to come in a lot of wonderful colors. I wonder if they are hard to take care of? Maybe I should look into really getting one!

Here is an interesting link for seahorses...
http://www.seahorse.com/The_News/Latest_News/Come_shake_hands_with_a_pregnant_male_sea_horse!!/

or this...
http://www.ugoto.com/pictures/themajesticseahorse.html

Either way, it seems to be an interesting choice, if I was, indeed, in the market for a new pet!

New Computer

WelllI finally got my new computer. My 27th birthday was July 1st, my husband, Eli, surprised me with a brand new computer and new 3 in 1 Canon photo printer. We were planning on buying a new computer, but my mom was going to let us borrow half and we were going to use part of our "still to come" tax refund, to buy it. Wel, Eli got a side job with his friend doing a deck and another side job with another friend to help finish a basement...he even had my mom and mother-in-law secretly getting info from me on what tyope of computer I wanted! So imagine my surprise when he comes walking in the house with 3 HUGE wrapped gifts! With 4 kids we have RARELY gotten each other gifts on any special occasion...I was so happy, but the sweetest gift he got me was a new Crown Tail Beta. I had a beta who dies a few weeks ago, and I was really upset. I am not a "pet person" so to speak, but I really loved that fish, he was actually my son Seth's fish, but I sort of adopted him as my own. My son Seth got him on the last day of school during his Kindergarten year, so 1 year ago. He was the classroom fish, and Seth's teacher let us take him home. So anyway, Eli really surprised me twice in one day...that is a record for him!

I got my computer up and running and have installed the trial version of Photoshop...my mom is buying me the full version as a present when she is back from her vacation. I made my 1st LO last night...here it is..



It's very basic, but I literally just got the program and did the LO within about 3 hours time...I'm finding Photoshop trickier than I thought! I'm hoping I'll really get the hang of it soon!


Credits:
SPLENDID by Shabby Princess
(c) 2006 Shabby Princess Designs of http://www.shabbyprincess.com/ and/or http://www.theshabbyshoppe.com/
Contact:
princess@shabbyprincess.com --or-- princess@theshabbyshoppe.com