More layouts

Seems like life is only allowing me an average of one post per week these days - which is better than nothing, but with as often as I was able to post in the beginning it just seems a bit choppy!! Things have picked up with the girls being further into the school year and the general routine that comes with this time of year. I know we're on the downhill slide to the holidays and while I always look forward to this time of year I know it will be gone before I know it and I hope I don't miss out on anything!

My new class has been keeping me extra busy this time around ... she is really pushing and challenging us to use and really LEARN the skills she is teaching us in Photoshop Elements. I really can't say enough about Jessica, her teaching style, and her classes. If you aren't able to take one of her classes or you just want to try out some techniques in photoshop I HIGHLY recommend checking out her Photoshop Friday tutorials on her blog. I added the link to the Photoshop Friday index under Links I Love in the sidebar. Check out all of her great step by step tutorials :)

We had our ward Trunk or Treat this past Friday and it was good times as usual. I'll be posting photos of the kiddos in their costumes soon. I'll be accompanying Ashton on a field trip to the corn maze tomorrow and will then be helping at Kendyl's preschool Halloween party on Tuesday. Loads of fall fun coming this week :)

I told you class was keeping me busy and here is the proof ... 2 more layouts!! This one was from a challenge she gave us on Wednesday. She gave us 6 different challenges and we were to incorporate at least 3 into our layout. I used 5 of the 6 challenges she gave us!! They were: Use at least 2 patterned papers from the Carnival Kit (which was a freebie kit specially designed for our class by Sweet Shoppe Designs), use a photo that contains an area you've selectively recolored, use at least 4 photos, make the layout about yourself, and re-color at least one item on the layout. Doing all of that was quite a task!! I decided to do a layout about my love affair with my new camera. Santa was scheduled to bring me my new DSLR camera for Christmas but decided (out of the goodness of his heart) that I should have it for our trip to Disneyland!! I'm a little obsessed with it - thus the over 400 pics of our trip, 100 pics of Kendyl's field trip to the fire station, countless photos of completely random things, etc. I made this layout for myself and my girlfriends on the message board over at Jessica Sprague who know all about my new appendage (we talk about things like this over there). Kendyl took all of the photos for me ... including the one of me kissing the camera. Steve thinks that one is a bit out of control - I can't completely disagree - but do you have any idea how long I had to hold that pose for my 4 year old to figure out how to take the picture?! Oh - and I wanted the journaling to sound as "soap opera-like" as I could make it ... just added to the affair ;) And to copy my friend Tori, instead of retyping the journaling for you just click on the layout and it will enlarge the whole thing so you can read the journaling ... cuts back on the work for me!!!

(click to enlarge and read journaling)

Credits: Papers and flower from Carnival Kit (an exclusive freebie designed for our class by Sweet Shoppe Designs), Katie Pertiet Paper Reveals Layered Template No. 2 and Grunged Up Alpha (title), Trish Jones Distressed Diva (grungy edge frame), Century Gothic font

The next challenge she posed to us was HUGE!! She calls Saturday start to finish day ... our challenge was to complete a layout in 30 minutes!!! We were supposed to take a photo that day and then complete the layout based on the theme Today or Daily. She wanted us to take the photo off center so we could use the empty space in the photo to create our title and journaling. The 30 minutes started once we sat down to create - we were allowed to open our photo and any papers and embellishments we wanted before we started the clock. I decided to chronicle Cougar's growth - he had just been to the doctor on Friday for his 6 month check up so it was fresh on my mind. I decided to make my photo the entire background - I've been wanting to try this for some time now and this seemed like the perfect opportunity! I played around with the blending modes and opacity on this one and ended up with an extremely simple layout that gives all of the focus to that adorable baby boy :) And I was happy to have it completed and uploaded to the gallery in 30 minutes flat!

(click to enlarge and read journaling)

Well, I know that was a lot to take in ... imagine how I feel having lived it!! The sad thing is all you really got to hear about was the work I've done for class this week. Like I said - it's keeping me busy ;) I promise to get to the field trips and Trunk or Treat/Halloween in the next few days. Thanks for sticking with me through this one!!