Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Beginning Our Move


Beginning Our Move
Originally uploaded by rocalisa.

Our first day moving house ended up being a day cleaning up the mess felt by the last tenants - as well as lunch at the beach - not a particularly auspicious start, so let's hope it gets better from here.

If you follow the link to Flickr, then click on the "all sizes" link at the top of the picture you should end up at the full size image which will allow you to read the journalling if you wish.

Details~
Everything is from Sand and Sea by Melany Violette; font is arial

Saturday, June 24, 2006

Dark Side of the Moon - Sherrilyn Kenyon (Contains Spoilers)

I'm currently reading Robin Hobb's The Mad Ship, which is fantastic but pretty dense and also long at 906 pages. I made a deal with myself that I would take a quick break when I was halfway through and read something lighter.

In rare perfect timing, my copy of Kenyon's Dark Side of the Moon arrived just as I reached halfway.

So I spent yesterday reading the latest Dark-Hunter adventure.

There was a lot of hype about this book - Nick was going to be back; we were going to learn more about the Dark-Hunter world; it was the first hardcover. Beyond that, I avoided spoilers and excerpts and waited to read if for myself.

It started off like most of the others. We met the heroine, who then met the hero and the story began. Then the balance began to shift a bit. While there's a great love story in here, the outside events taking over the Dark-Hunters and their allies and enemies are also beginning to take centre stage. Since I wasn't expecting that, it threw me off at first, but Kenyone has created a fascinating world and if this new 50/50 balance continues, I think I'll like it. It'll be better if I'm expecting it though.

So, the book itself.

I like Susan and I like Ravyn. They're not my all time favourites in the series (that honour still goes to Tabby and Val at this point) but they're a lot of fun. It was nice to see Susan as someone who has already hit rock-bottom and started her healing for herself. Getting together with Ravyn completed it, rather than being the cause and end of it, which I liked.

The stubborn stupidity of Ravyn's family was a bit annoying though. Gald they finally came around in the end.

I wish we'd seen more Ash. I guess things wouldn't have gone the way Kenyon needed if he'd been around more, but I'd rather have a fuller role for him or not have him at all than this kind of cameo. Still the scene where Susan goes into the bathroom and sees his back was wonderful and hints at, well... something. I'm not sure what yet.

I had felt at the end of Seize the Night that Artemis had finally shown a hint of the potential to finally grow up when she realised what Nick's death would mean to Ash. However, here she's just a selfish little bitch again, which I found disappointing. I'd like even Artemis to have a chance to turn out okay.

And Nick. What can I say about Nick? This hurts. His hurt, hurts. But what he's doing is terrifying. I am now so worried about him, about Ash, about, well, everyone and everything. Dammit, I reamain hooked on these books. My budget is so going to suffer.

So in conclusion, this is a good book, but be aware it focuses on a lot more than just Susan and Ravyn. If that's what you're looking for, it may disappoint.

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

New Release - Morgan Le Fay

Hey, go me! I finally got a Character Creations new release out.

This is Morgan Le Fay by Johanna Pieterman.



She's the companion to Morgan, Part II (and finally explains why my first Morgan is called Part II - she was the second version drawn by Johanna, but was stitched for me first). I'm really pleased with how she's turned out.

I am so very frustrated, as I have so many good ideas, so many wonderful artists and so many boring old "housekeeping" tasks that I want to do for Character Creations. The problem is that with my health (both the CFS and the depression which is playing up on me just a bit right now), Marcus and moving house in 2½ weeks I just don't get anything done.

Yesterday, I was imagining what it would be like to be able to sit down at the computer for a working day and just get stuff done. I could achieve so much. Except that I can't. Even on my best health day with Marcus off at daycare, the longest I could probably sit down and maintain any kind of concentration and achievement would be about 2 hours. So I guess it's no wonder things never progress as fast as I would like and I always have way more ideas than I can keep up with.

Chatelaine's Pompeiian Garden

Martina has just posted a preview of her upcoming Pompeiian Garden.

Lookie here

At this point I'm not sure what I think of it. I do like it, but it's different from what I'd been imagining.

I was thinking more along the lines of gardens, statues and columns rather than actual villas. So right now it feels very building-heavy to me.

All the same, I do like it. I'm going to wait a bit to let the reality settle in and then see what I think. Considering I still have Alpine Seasons to finish (I'm going to leave that one be until we've moved and then attack it again) and Illuminated Medieval Sampler to do after that, it's not like I'm in a desperate hurry to make up my mind.

Monday, June 19, 2006

Defender of the Kingdom - 19th June 2006


Defender of the Kingdom - 19th June 2006
Originally uploaded by rocalisa.

Wow, a stitching update at last!!!

I've been slogging through all the navy blue and I'm very tired of it. Still, I've done all of it on my second half page (I'm working in horizontal half pages across the full width).

I was going to do some more Dawn Star once it was done, but now I want to see how it will look with another colour added in, so I'm thinking I'll do another week on Defender instead.

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Organising my images

I know I often hear of people asking how to organise all their scrapbooking files as they get more and more.

I can't tell anyone what to do, but I think I'm finally happy with what I'm doing, so figured I might as well share.

I have a directory for all my scrapbooking components. Under that I have a series of folders for the different types.

alphas
elements
kits
other (brushes, overlays, that kind of thing)
papers
quick pages
word art

Inside those I have folders for each set of items. I name them by the designer's name and then the name of the kit or set.

eg. Lynn Grieveson - Island Winds
Gina Cabrera - Birtday Blitz Elements

I leave all the actual file names the same as the designer named them as they often have important information in the filename. (Besides, why would I want to do all the work to rename them all?)

I have been looking for some image album software to let me browse through everything to find what I want and I've found Microsoft Digital Image Suite Library to be the best for me.

This gives me easily viewable previews of .png files, which not everything does. (I couldn't get Picasa to do it, although there may be a way to make it work.) It keeps things sorted in my directory structure unless I choose to change it. I can set the edit function to go to the graphics programme of my choice rather than being stuck with the Image Suite Editor. It offers tags and labels etc that I haven't used yet because I'm happy with my directory structure at this point.

I used it in conjunction with Painshop Pro to do the Fearless layout and found it great. I can easily skim through all my folders to find what I want to use. The thumbnails are bigger than in PSP's browse function (and I can pull up a bigger one any time I like) and I can drag a file directly from there into PSP. It was also really easy to skim through again to do the credits. As each directory had the name of the designer and kit, it was all there for me to see easily.

So this is what's working for me. I don't know if it will be any help to anyone else but maybe there's something useful in here.

Fearless


Fearless
Originally uploaded by rocalisa.

These photos are from the park last weekend. It's definitely winter here now - with lots of rain and wind etc (Marcus has decided he doesn't like loud thunder, which is perferctly understandable to me). So any decent weather demands a trip outside. There were lots of kids there doing the same thing, but I still got some good photos. My son has no sense of fear whatsoever! It's okay though, I have more than enough for the both of us when he does things like this.

The details, including the journalling and credits, are on the Flickr page so follow the link for those and the fullsize image.

Friday, June 16, 2006

Sharing the Scrapbook Love

I figure I should start sharing some of the nice scrapbooking things I see aound the net.

Christine Smith has a lovely little RAK giveaway on her blog today. It's papers in nice, autumny sort of colours.

I've fallen for Lynn Grieveson's page kits. Her newest one, Blue Water, is up on her blog and will soon be on sale at The Digichick. And while you're at The Digichick, check out Blue Nile by Andrea Burns.

I love both these kits and will most likely buy them once there's some loose change around our place. I rather doubt it will be before we move, but I've got lists of favourites saved around the place to buy later.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Layout - Kitchen Drawers


Kitchen Drawers
Originally uploaded by rocalisa.

Here's me at three!

I now know where Marcus gets his smug little look that says "look how clever I am even if you don't think I should be doing this". It's exactly the same as the one I'm wearing in this photo.

Everything is from Lynn Grieveson's Island Blues Kit.

The details, including the journalling, are on the Flickr page so follow the link for those and the fullsize image.

Warsworn

I didn't like this one as much as Warprize. I'm not exactly why, but it didn't grab my attention. I struggled with reading it all and finally decided that I would skim through to the end because I didn't want to give up completely, but I didn't feel like reading every single word. I enjoyed it much more as that picked up the pace and I realise it did cover important aspects in Keir and Lara's relationship as well as showing up the disruption trying to join two cultures as created. I think I'm looking forward to the next one as Lara and Keir face the Elders on the Plains and fight for their vision. I think perhaps my problem with this book is that it felt like a pause or a delyaing tactic rather than a strong story in its own right. I'm glad I know the story in the book, but I'm not at all sorry about skimming some of it.

Third Guild Friendship Sampler


Third Guild Friendship Sampler
Originally uploaded by rocalisa.

The third sampler band I've stitched for my Embroiderer's Guild Friendship Sampler. Personally these aren't my kind of colours so I found this one a bit more difficult when it came to choosing a stitch etc.

In the end I did a row of rice stitch (second up from the bottom) and then used the bright pink for the divider band. Unfortunately I didn't read the diagrams properly for the divider at first and I had it almost all stitched before I realised I'd done it wrong and had to pull it all out and start again. Still, it's done now.

What is a Scientist?


What is a Scientist?
Originally uploaded by rocalisa.

Please follow the link for details, including journalling and credits.

We Remember Moments


We Remember Moments
Originally uploaded by rocalisa.

Please follow the link for details, including journalling and credits.

Tuckered Out


Tuckered Out
Originally uploaded by rocalisa.

Please follow the link for details, including journalling and credits.

Wild in the Rain


Wild in the Rain
Originally uploaded by rocalisa.

Please follow the link for details, including journalling and credits.

O is for One


O is for One
Originally uploaded by rocalisa.

Please follow the link for details, including journalling and credits.

New Gloves


New Gloves
Originally uploaded by rocalisa.

Please follow the link for details, including journalling and credits.

Kingfish Kid


Kingfish Kid
Originally uploaded by rocalisa.

Please follow the link for details, including journalling and credits.

Read


Read
Originally uploaded by rocalisa.

Please follow the link for details, including journalling and credits.

In the Rain with Nana


In the Rain with Nana
Originally uploaded by rocalisa.

Please follow the link for details, including journalling and credits.

Eating Piglet


Eating Piglet
Originally uploaded by rocalisa.

Please follow the link for details, including journalling and credits.

Digger Driver


Digger Driver
Originally uploaded by rocalisa.

Please follow the link for details, including journalling and credits.

Blues Groom


Blues Groom
Originally uploaded by rocalisa.

Please follow the link for details, including journalling and credits.

At the Park


At the Park
Originally uploaded by rocalisa.

Please follow the link for details, including journalling and credits.

Layout - Apiti Wind Farm


Apiti Wind Farm
Originally uploaded by rocalisa.

I'm testing posting to here from Flickr, so let's see how it works out.

All details and credits are on the Flickr page so please follow the link.

Saturday, June 10, 2006

Daily Covers

I've started posting daily covers again over at A Cover a Day. Resizing, coming up with something to write and picking which to choose was what kept stopping me I think.

So now I'm just putting up pretty covers in essentially alphabetical order.

Often I'll know nothing about the book - I just like the covers. So don't take these as recomendations of any kind. Although, if something takes your interest you're welcome to go look it up and make up your own mind.

If you find any really good reads, do let me know.

Friday, June 09, 2006

I'm stitching!

It's taken two weeks, but I finally picked up my needle again today and I've added a grand total of about 30 stitches to Defender of the Kingdom. I'm very happy just to have the stitchy urge back again.

In the meantime I did a whole bunch of layouts and I'll try to get organised enough to put them up here. I've also been working on finding the best options for getting my layouts printed so I can put them in a album. I sent off a couple of files to an online printing service yesterday and hopefully I'll have them back early next week to see how they came out.

I also faced up to finishing the next bands in the Friendship Sampler Round Robin. I didn't like the colours in this one, and then I made a mistake (okay, I didn't read the instructions) for the divider band and had to pull it all out when I was almost finished. I left it for a week or so while I built up the enthusiasm to do it again. It was done last night, so I'll take a photo shortly.

I'm fairly good at taking the photos, but not so keen on transferring them to the computer, resizing and uploading them. Considering how easy it all is with a digital camera compared to the days of prints and scanners I don't know why I'm so slack.

I have a bunch of photos of Joan D. Vinge from the SF Con on the camera that I need to get off as well. One of the Scrapmommies challenges this fortnight is "my favourite things" and I'm planning to do a layout about books by focusing on the day at the con and meeting Joan. I really do need to get over my bad habit of procrastination. Maybe tomorrow.

Monday, June 05, 2006

Dawn Star Update

As always, sorry for the delay. I totally cannot keep up with my own life.



You can see the original artwork here.

I haven't picked up a needle in the last week. It's frustrating, but the will just isn't there right now. Hopefully soon.

Saturday, June 03, 2006

Layout - Grommets Defined

The second of the grommets layouts.



Journalling~
20th April, 2006
1. Small teflon tubes inserted into the eardrum to allow air to pass through it into the middle ear to alleviate the hearing loss and pain that can occur with repeated ear infections, a condition sometimes known as glue ear.
2. Soft toy monkeys given to all children who receive grommets at Gillies Hospital


Credits~
Background from Kim Hill/CG Essentials; alpha from Dictionary Decoupage Alpha by Miss Mint/Peppermint Creative; flowers from The Simple Florist by Jen Wilson; arrows from Book Bag Essentials by Gina Cabrera/Digital Design Essentials

Fonts~
Font is Times New Roman

Layout - Getting Grommets Take Two

This is one of two layouts I've done of when Marcus got his second set of grommets. I wasn't sure how I was going to do it with lots of photos when Scrapmommies (yeah, them again) had a sketch challenge that gave me the answer.



Journalling~
20th April, 2006
You got your first set of grommets in May, 2005. They lasted for almost a year, but with winter coming, I wanted to be sure you wouldn't get lots of ear infections again, so I took you back to the doctor. He looked in your ears and agreed you needed new ones to make sure you stayed healthy and could hear properly. We all went back to Gillies Hospital early in the morning for your surgery and were home again for lunch.


Credits~
Papers from Refresh by ScrapGirls; tag from Summer Sunsations by Krista Mettler, Janine Baechtold and Jen Reed; alpha from Boy Oh Boy by Valeri Brumfield


Font~
Font is Baskerville Old Style