Step by Step – A Digital Scrapbook Page.

As promised by my previous post, I thought I’d just give you an incredibly basic step by step to show you how to get started doing a digital scrapbook page.

   (My very first digital scrapbook page).

Of course you have to own a design program like Photoshop.  (They are around 79 bucks at Costco, probably a lot less if you bought a year old one off eBay) I did a little research on other programs and I believe you can also do digital layout using Microsoft Word (any one out there use that program?) but I use Adobe Photoshop Elements so I will tell you what I know using that program. 

In Photoshop go to:
File> New>blank file

This shows you a box – enter height 12  and width 12 and resolution, 300
hit ENTER

Now you have your blank 12”x12” paper canvas to create your layout!!!


In regards to “papers” and “embellishments” there are actually lots of freebie sites and blogs to get you started. One of my favorite freebie and good deal site is Jessica Sprague.  Click for some of amazing free papers and embellishments!  She also offers great sale prices on Wednesdays on other paper packages.  WAY cheaper than buying this stuff at Michaels!  I use the Photoshop organizer to put all my miscellaneous  purchased and free embellishments in the system so I can easily find them when I am working on a page.

(some examples of my freebie or very inexpensive collection)

Now you just open (go to File>Open) whatever it is you want (paper, picture, embellishment) and drag (with the move tool)  that item onto your blank canvas!.  You do need to understand some basics of Photoshop but THANKS to blogs like CoffeeShopBlog and JessicaSprague.com you can get many tutorials on how to understand Photoshop better.  I followed Kira’s photo collage step by step tutorial for some of my first projects.  (Christmas cards, fancy collages etc) If you have already worked on photographs using Photoshop, making a basic digital scrapbook page should really be quite simple for you.
When you have completed your page save it twice – once in Photoshop and once in jpeg form.  Send your jpeg copy over to Costco to have it printed out for $2.99 a sheet.  Do you realize that means that you can print out a baby book for your child AND one for YOU to keep!  Did I mention I LOVE DIGITAL SCRAPBOOKING!!!!!! 

ENJOY!!!  I hope your creative juices have been inspired!

Digital Scrapbooking – Is it for you?

For those reading this blog I am guessing you enjoy the crafty side of life (or you are family members that have no choice but to read my blog because I send you my posts!)  Most crafty people have done some form of scrapbooking whether it’s a full on photo page or simply a few cards.  I was a fellow scrapbooked until I just stopped, as in cold turkey stopped and wondered if I would ever get my last child's baby book done.  Why did I stop?  I believe it was the MESS that just got to me.  In order to scrapbook “correctly” my dining table had to be covered in paper, embellishments and JUNK for a week at a time.  And speaking of TIME – it would take FOREVER just to do one page and sometimes the cost of that ONE page became astronomical! As much as I enjoyed the final product it was so hard to design it knowing that once I glued or taped that item down, it was pretty much staying that way forever. 
Only in my wildest dreams could I have imagined being able to see a page with the flower here, there, or anywhere with one click of a button!  This is until my friend Kira @Kissing the Joy showed me SIMPLY how to scrapbook digitally. My mouth just dropped as I watched her put on a beautiful background paper, picture and embellishment in the matter of 90 seconds.  WHAAAATTTT!!!  And NO MESS to clean up???

It was love at first sight.  (I had a feeling I  lost most of you until I wrote this paragraph – Love stories always bring people back in. ) 

So this is what I have been doing over the last few weeks.  (looks like her baby book will be completed!!!)

Next post I’ll do a very simple (not simple because I’m trying to make it easy for you to understand, simple because I don’t really know a lot about it myself!!!!!) tutorial on how to begin.  I’ll also give you some links of those professionals that DO know what they are doing. 

ENJOY my friends!!!! 

Crockpot Apple Spice Sausage Casserole

As you know I have lots of posts on crockpot recipes.I LOVE using my crockpot.  I use it for anything from entrees, jams to desserts.  Yep, we are Best Friends Forever.

This recipe is a tried and true yummy recipe that I have even made for company.  Kids seem to really enjoy it also.  It has a slightly sweet taste which tastes wonderful with the rice and sausage.  It calls for raisins but I don’t like raisins so I eliminate it.  I found this off of A Year of Slow cooking.  Stephanie’s blog is fantastic – she’ll even till you when her recipes turned out horrible!  Don’t worry, I’m only posting my absolute favorites!  So start up your crockpot for an easy dinner tonight!

INGREDIENTS

--1 pound sausage (I used a chicken sausage)

--1 large, or 2 small apples, chopped (no need to peel)

--1 yellow onion, chopped (I used a sweet onion)

--1/2 cup chopped carrots

--3 cups already cooked long-grain rice

--1/2 cup raisins (I skipped them)

--1 T dried parsley flakes

--1 T brown sugar

--1/2 tsp allspice

--1/2 tsp cinnamon

--1/4 tsp black pepper (start with 1/8 if your kids don't tolerate a touch of spice)

--1/3 cup chicken broth or water (I used broth)

The Directions.
The amount of ingredients fit nicely in a 4 quart crockpot. I'd say this comfortably feeds a family of 4-5 with a bit of leftovers. If you have a large family or teenagers, add more rice and sausage. It's a pretty easy recipe to adapt to your needs.
If you are going to use uncooked pork sausage, I'd recommend browning on the stove top, and draining before adding to the crockpot.



Otherwise, dump all the ingredients into the crock, and stir well.
Cover and cook on low for 5-7 hours, or on high for 3-4. You're really only heating through, and allowing the vegetables to soften.

ENJOY!  Creative Juices Décor