off to print

I did it ... previewed my project again, proof read for spelling errors again, and hit the publish button. Off it went. This is my second project to go to publishing, and I thought I would be calmer, but I am NOT. Now I want to hold it, and can't wait for the books to come in, I hope the ones I am giving as gifts will be enjoyed as much as I enjoyed the process of making them (glitches all worked out, it is still a ton of fun).

Hats off to the programming guys at HM, they have put together an excellent program, and I hear there are going to be additional perks added later. Bonus, I survived the testing phase, and eneded up with a storybook I am very proud of. Take a peak, search under germany.

Now I am focusing on the next project, or two. Just like with quilting, I need to have a couple of ideas on the go all the time, so if I hit a mental block I can just fiddle with something else until the preverbial bolt of lightning strikes. And it will make the time go by quicker.

digital glitches

I had Thanksgiving weekend all planned - my hubby was going hunting - and I had the whole weekend to finish my long awaited travel storybook. I was so excited about the new release of the digital storybooking tool, I couldn't wait to have all that time to myself ... and no one said "wait a minute, it's not quite perfect yet".

In the beginning everything flowed - the adjustments to the photo files meant I could now flip through my pictures and quickly find what I was looking for, and get them onto the page fast - the new backgrounds and embelishments provided by scrapgirls were amazing and versitile - and then I started to add text. That's when things got messy, frustrating and time consuming. I have to admit that I e-mailed a long complaint to the help department, offering to roast the turkey that believed the text formating was working, because it wasn't.

I felt a little foolish when I opened my e-mails and saw the announcement that these last bugs would be ironed out, and all will be well in the world by Oct. 16th. That's only a week away - I can deal with that.

digital scrapbook

WOW - I just was looking over some of the features in the "hot off the presses" digital scrapbooking tool that came out of the beta program we tested this summer. It is amazing, not only did Heritage Makers fix the concerns that consultants had with how the program was working, they took it to a whole new level. wait ... first check out how the program looks, or take the quick tutorial.

OK, now I can tell you that HM partnered with Scrap Girls* to provide even better layout and embelishment options. The creative possibilities have become unlimited. And if you are fortunate enought to put together tactile scrapbooks, you can still have them copied and published using the designer books.

I'm off to go back to work on my book now - have fun with yours.

*specialty accessories are now available through subscription with Heritage Makers to create even more amazing pages for your book, these are designed by www.scrapgirls.com , and questions concerning this collection should come back to consultants like me @ Hertage Makers. This is seperate from Scrap Girls web business.

threads that bind

testing new beta publishing tool

I picked my second project - my trip to Germany with my mom earlier this spring - just in time to try the new beta digital storybook program.

Now I have to admit, that I love working with pre-made patterns, whether they are quilting blocks or page layouts. But when I put them together I usually want to tweek them just a little, to make them more my own. And although there are lots of options available in page layouts for the various books styles, I was craving more control. I don't have (and don't plan to purchase) expensive software which would allow me to make my own pages from scratch ... and lo and behold, look what falls into my lap.

This is amazing. Start with a blank page ... add a background ... one to twelve photos ... one word or a complete story ... amazing embellishments ... limitless possibilities. Since we had travelled in the spring, my concept revolved around spring flowers, and they became the semi-transparent backgrounds for all my pages. Add the photos of our travels, some castles and a story to tie it all together. Now this is fun. From what I have read on digital scrapbooking, we have all the components available to us, and it will be professionally published - I think I need at least 3 copies.

There are a couple of bugs to work out of the program befor it becomes available to everyone, but I think it is definitely the cat's meow!

fast addictions

Although I've always been considered a crafty person, I didn't start quilting until about 5 years ago. It began innocently enough... a friend to teach me, a bit of fabric, a table topper, a bit more fabric, a lap quilt, a bit more fabric, a magazine or two, a bit more fabric ... to ... a decent quilting library, 4 projects currently on the go, and a respectable fabric stash. When you live in a small Northern Ontario community, gathering fabric is a challenge, and finding just the right colour to tie your bits together usually takes a road trip.

We moved last year, and I gathered my bits of fabric in one place, out from under the bed, emptied from closets, collected from baskets ... my fabric collection had my husband rolling on the floor. He told all his friends we needed one trailer just for the fabric (good thing he didn't notice the library that goes with it). Since we were downsizing I sorted it through, and donated to friends and our quilt guild, and now I have only one closet full. I think it is empty under the bed, but I'm not going to check.

I think I have an addictive personality, and what harm can fondling good cotton, or just the right shade of blue do anyone? Although you will understand why I resisted the lure of scrapbooking for so long - I don't have any closet space left.

getting my feet wet

Despite all the great ideas I had for books, when I tried to focus on one that I could actually begin, I got cold feet. All these negative thoughts invaded ... I'm not technically savy ... I've never used computerized drawing or art programs ... I can barely print digital pictures from our camera, how can publish a book ... I'm not a good photographer either ... how can I make an interesting story ... and I was sinking fast.

Getting a grip, I decided to attempt a small project.
Happy thoughts, no more negativity, what shall I do? well happy thoughts brought me to my happy-face grandson, and since he had just celebrated his first birthday, a family fold-out would make a perfect mother's day gift, for his mom and my mom, and a copy left for me. Perfect. Just 7 photos to work with, a few words, and it would be easy.

The directions were excellent, I uploaded the photos to my account ... no problems. quick tip - load large photos, as they can be cropped* in the layout section. Playing with which photo would go where was fun, I flipped one on its side ... looking good. All that was left was to add a very short story line. It took a couple of rewrites (I'm no author), then I asked my hubby what he thought, he was suitably impressed with the result ... first project done!

Well, almost done ... I sent it for publishing ... and waited (10 days can be a very long time to wait) it reminded me of waiting for our first baby to come, and she managed to be 14 days late! How would it look, would it really look like the file I sent in, would the grandparents like it ? Too many days, and finally it was in ... completely amazing. I was so happy with the results, I wanted to start another, back to paragrahp two (no more worries) and trying to settle on the next idea.
*cropping is like cutting pieces of the background away until you are happy with the photo that is left, because you can use the photos more than once in a project, you can even focus on two different sections of a photo and end up with two entirely different pictures, click here for tips, or try digital photo tips for a more technical explanation

found a new addiction - storybooking

Backtracking to this spring ... my friend Lisa introduced me to this great new concept ... telling stories with your own photos, similar to scrapbooking but without the tactile matierials (which neither of us have room for, see my first post under quilting). With her art and printing background, by craft and quilting background, we could see limitless possibilities.

We were both so excited - beautiful hardcover bound books - glossy pages - personal notes as short or as lengthly as desired - our photos preserved for future generations - the stories behind the photos. We quickly began envisioning possible books, a year in the life of a child - or a special day, a wedding - baby - anniversary, personal memories of a loved one - saved for those still here - or a family geneology, celebrations of a sport - fishing - hunting trip, and this was just the tip of the iceburg. Check Heritage Makers to envision yours, or learn more.

I immediately thought of an outlet for my frustrated visions of scrapbooking, wrapped up and preserved like a coffe table book. Words have the ability to bring pictures to life, the old saying of "a picture is worth a thousand words" didn't take into account that our memories are short and sometimes faulty. I though of my mother's box of photos, and the people pictured inside, and how few of them I knew by name, rarely did I know why they were important to my parents or anything about them. I knew I was hooked.

northeastern Ontario

While we don't have as many byways to choose from (or at least not as many paved ones) we did manage a couple of noteworthy trips this summer.

1. Timmins - Elk Lake loop ... an excellent day ride from Timmins
From Timmins head south on hwy.144 to the WaterShed Restaurant, turn off onto hwy.560 towards Elk Lake, this is a beautiful windy road travelling past scenic lakes, a bear or two, which also gets excellent fall colour. From Elk Lake, on different trips, we take a variety of short routes to end in New Liskeard, Earlton or Englehart, and return to Timmins along hwy.11. very important note ... the gas station in Elk Lake is closed on Sundays!! so plan your trip accordingly.

2. Matheson - Kirkland Lake loop ... shorter but noteworthy
Taking hwy.101 behind Matheson towards the Quebec border, turn off on hwy. 672 past Esker Lakes Provincial Park (next time we will have to stop in there) to Kirkland Lake. This road brought back memories of the secondary Muskoka roads, excellent hills and corners, a fun ride. After purchasing gas in Matheson, we arrived in Kirkland Lake with plenty to spare.

memories

beginning

Easier said than done. Hard to believe but I just found blogs, and although i am technically challenged, I am bursting with ideas of what I would like to accomplish here. If this doesn't work well, I'll delete and try again.


focus

Making new memories, savouring old ones, and sharing the things I love. Currently these are quilting, storybooking, and of course, my family (husband of 25 years, 2 beautiful daughters now living on their own, and one happy-faced grandson). Can it get any better? Well maybe this will become a new obsession, and I almost forgot travelling. Not necessarily world travel, road trips on the motorcycle (Yamaha V-Star 1100) are getting longer and better!

southeastern Ontario

We had high hopes to get a lot of rides in this summer (that was Plan A) what we did get was one good week in August (Plan B). So I searched for info on good roads in the Ottawa to Peterborough area, and we tested some of them, and these were the best to date ...

1. Calabogie area ... although we took some alternate side roads and ended in Peterborough, this was a great ride. The best part of the Calabogie Run was the road up to Griffith (no problem getting gas on the way), and in a coffee shop along the way we met some people who were planning a bike trip up to Timmins, what a coincidence. We are planning on travelling the missed portions next summer, and will definitely look forward to repeating the Griffith section.

2. Rd.10 ... running from Kingston up to Perth ... this trip had a smooth start that had us questioning why it was recommended, and then we knew ... sweeping corners through farm country mixed with forests and hills, delivered everything promised. It was an excellent afternoon.

Another nice thing we noticed about travelling in southeastern Ontario (besides all the lama farms) was that there is no problem finding gas stations, which is a concern up north.