Alicia Bull's Digital Muse

A few more scanner thoughts

I can't believe I forgot to mention these the other day when I was talking about utilizing your scanner.--That's what I get for late night blogging! :-) Anyways, a few other important tips and tricks about using a scanner.

1) Place items like water and seashells into a zip-lock bag then set the zip-lock onto the scanner.

2) You can remove your scanner lid completely and just use a dark towel to throw over the item when scanning it. That way you can scan items that are bulky and have dimension without having a bunch of shadows show up on your final scan.

3) I have people ask me all the time why their items are turning out blurry when they print them after they have carefully scanned them. Chances are you need to scan the item at a higher dpi (dots per inch). You need to adjust that number manually.  I scan everything at 300 dpi and the print quality is excellent.

Hope those scanner how to's help you enjoy using a scanner to capture your cherished keepsakes!

later- A

Check out SmileBox!

Make your own | Click to play

More than a "Tad" bit happy!

John needed to work on his strawberry patch today (he is freaky about the strawberry and blueberry plants--they have to be well tended to!) I admire his drive to have a nice crop but it was a day to play with the kids. We just haven't gotten to spend much time as a family lately because he is ending a several month period of work that has him traveling a ton and working really long days.On the other hand the poor guy has been working so much he doesn't get time to himself so I snagged the boys, a big bucket, and a net and we headed down to our pond.

I had to drag myself down there and I was faking the smile because I really wanted all of us to do this together. (I'm not a huge fan of creepy crawly slimy wet  things) But I went and guess what? The boys and I spent several hours down there. It was an absolute blast. I rolled up my pants and we got busy catching golf ball sized tadpoles. We were snagging them left and right and the boys were cheering. We ended up catching 18 of them and it was what we decided to call  A "Tad" bit of fun! I didn't take my camera and so regret it because the joy in their eyes as they got to do just what they wanted today was priceless. (Plus John is smiling now because his strawberry patch is looking sharp) It was all good!

I did get pics. today of John and the boys shooting the rocket they got from cousin Devlyn for their birthday. I am going to do a layout called "ROCKET MAN" and I will post it here for you guys to see!

I always feel so creatively inspired by family activities and the photos I get. I guess that is because for me they really are the heart of my inspiration. It is for our family that I preserve our memories and the thought that they will share the stories with their children and so on.

I am more than a "Tad" bit happy about today!

Take Care! Alicia

Thought for the day: (more of a question:) What provides your creative inspiration? Nature, animals, kids, a charity? We would love to hear.

If you can touch it--you can scan it!

Ahhhhh, the scanner! I love my scanner. I use the thing all the time and love it. That single piece of hardware has extended my digital art to a level that allows me to personalize my art/work far beyond what I ever thought it could be.

Basically, my belief is "If you can touch it, then you can scan it". A wall, your dog :-) , a counter top, your favorite sweater, a beautiful old doilie, your baby's foot. A portable scanner  or even a light-weight scanner and a laptop can be simply set on the wall or any other thing you might feel compelled to scan. (You can get some amazing textures off of a simple wall)

My only real caution is making sure you don't scratch the glass on your scanner. I take clear plastic wrap from my kitchen and tape it tight over the glass of my scanner so that I avoid scratching it and then can put stuff like sand onto the glass without worrying.

Personalizing my digital pages with my scanner is fun. Here is an old picture of my Grandpa Fox that I scanned into my computer along with the background that is a doilie that his mother made. It means so much more to me when I can incorporate backgrounds that have meaning. I cherish what my scanner does for me!

Disc Talk Radio

Well, here it is. This was really fun to do. It was great to see where Disc has grown to and it felt so completely full circle to be a guest on the show that I was the founding Program Manager and Writer for.  The gals at Disc are incredible and I encourage everyone to support their awesome site. Let's face it Digital Scrapbooking is on the move and this site will keep you in the know!

Hope you enjoy!  Alicia

http://www.disctalkradio.com/dnn/SiteApril2007/tabid/122/Default.aspx

My Mystery Man

I had fun tonight creating a layout about Bennett. Just click on it to view it in a larger format.

Space--Give me Space!

No-I'm not talking to my kids or my husband. :-) I'm talking to my computer! I'm telling you what I am a mega byte hog. But lucky for me I have found a great solution that works great for me!

I have invested in Smartdisk "Firelite" external hard drives. I am up to 4 of them now and I consider them to be no different than the file cabinets I have sitting in my office. The sleek silver life savers are about the size of my hand, the ones I own are 80 gigs of space (they come in a few sizes) and they are only around 100 bucks. I have gotten all of mine through Staples on-line (free overnight shipping for orders over 50 dollars).

I live and die by these things and let me tell you why. It is a small portable drive that does not need to have an energy source other than your computer. You plug it into your USB plug and it runs off your computer battery and at the same time shows up on your computer like an additional drive.

I have 1 for work specific graphics, I have 1 for personal photos , I have one for booking keeping with all our QuicKBooks / payroll info and Tax info, and the last one for all of my personal digital scrapbooking graphics and things I have scanned. I have a label on the top of each drive and swap out which one I am working on within seconds.

To store stuff on it all you need to do is drag your stuff from your computer onto the firelite icon under "my computer". It is just that easy. It saves me the heartache of a slow moving computer and the fear of losing everything if my silly PC gets a virus.

I encourage everyone to invest in one and at least back up those photos. (Two years ago I lost 1 years worth of photos via a virus and was so sick that I had not backed up my files)

Here is a photo:

Random thought for the day: If it is the law in our state that my 1st grade twins not only have to wear seat-belts in the car but also booster seats until they gain several more pounds then why were they able to ride a school bus full of their classmates on the freeway today all the way up to Seattle without any seatbelts? Crazy Concept, huh?

The honest truth..........

My friend and I always laugh at the fact that we are fully immersed into the scrapbooking industry and feel compelled to paper scrap but can't seem to do it anymore. We claimed to be "Bi-Scraptual" which is a fine blend of paper and digital scrapping but the honest truth is I am pretty much an exclusive digi girl. It is not because I don't want to necessarily paper scrap but for me there are some major factors that play into my passion. Here are the reasons:

1) The mess: I love being able to save a project on my computer and simply clean-up by turning off my computer. Coming back to the project can be done within a minute and doesn't require me dragging my cutter, adhesives, papers, embellishments and everything else out to continue working on a project.

2) Products: I am a huge fan of shopping on-line. My friends know I love to shop and also know I appreciate the instant gratification of the DOWNLOAD NOW button. How awesome is it to be able to see something you like one minute and to be using it to scrap with 3 minutes later.

3) My Digital Camera and all those photos: I am a picture taker--beyond my families wildest imagination! LOL--I have friends tell me "Wow, your kids just stop and pose!" Not sure that is something to brag about or to be embarrassed about but either way I can safely say I am keeping the external hard drive companies in business with my Mega Byte storage issues. I take more photos now than ever before because I do not worry about the cost of developing bad photos. I am able to download my photos onto my external hard drive and select which ones I use on my digital pages and that is the only time I have them printed. I put several on a page so the cost for getting them in paper format is very affordable and organized. I burn back up disks for my pages and the raw photos so I always have copies.

4)Making multiple copies is a breeze: Ok, so my mother is just as obsessed with pictures of my children as I am. She whines when I make a cute page of them for myself and was having me take my paper layouts to the copy store and making me copy the pages and had me put them in an album for her. Now I just press "Print 2" and my mom is covered!

5)Storage of it all: Digital Scrapbook (expressly books like the bound and printed ones that I love) are so neatly organized on the shelf in my home. They also go perfectly on my coffee table!

6) Time: I DON"T HAVE TIME TO DO IT ALL! Scrapbooking is a huge passion of mine but honestly I was getting really behind and it was stressing me out. The fun had ended and the race had me in overdrive to keep up. I would spend all day at a crop and get two pages done. I can now complete a digital album (a full book) in a few hours. It has allowed me to chill out a bit and get some of the stuff I wanted to make sure we documented down onto paper and in a beautiful finished form.

Ok--this was not meant to tick off the exclusive paper scrappers--I love paper scrapping and I love the feel of paper and the colors and the products. It is just where I am right now and with my life I have come to terms with the fact that ...The honest truth is.........I am a digital girl! :-)

Have a great day! Alicia

(PS--I am starting a new little upbeat something at the end of each post called "Random thought for the day"..............Here is my first one:  I think Dried Blueberries and Raw Almonds are my favorite new snack. I get them at Costco in huge bags. I pour them in a bowl and munch on them throughout the day instead of something chocolate! :-)  REMEMBER I SAID THESE WERE GOING TO BE RANDOM! LOL!

A little bump in the ROAD.

Whoa---I hit a little bump in the road last week. I was notified on Monday that Tuesday would be my last paid day at Picaboo. Laid off. Ouch! That was painful, but business is business. So, it is onward and forward with other options. I was busy during the week setting up interviews and moving forward with a good share of options. I am thrilled with what the possibilities are and look forward to a new great challenge. It has been an amazing week full of meetings with incredible people that have so much to offer. I know taking my time and finding the best match possible for me is the best approach. I am going to take it slow for the next month.

It is funny how something as seemingly sad as getting laid off can really be such a wonderful opportunity to move forward with other amazing opportunities. It takes me straight back to my core belief that everything happens for a reason and we need to move forward with a positive attitude to see what is in store for us around the next corner.

I don't plan on being quick to make any decisions here and have enjoyed the interviews and discussions thus far. It is apparent that digital interests are high and jobs are abundant. That is comforting and encouraging.

I will let you know as soon as I make my decision but have meetings scheduled out until May 4th so I really need to hold out until I can get all my options sorted. Options are good! Even more important is making sure I chose the right option! :-)

The support of everyone involved in my life has been amazing and the networking that the people around me have provided is breath-taking. I can not tell you how grateful i am to all of the people around me that have helped spread the word that I am available for employment and have provided me with open doors to incredible life opportunities. You are all the best and you have made a "not so fun life experience" turn into an incredible step into a new challenge!  God Bless!

Have a great week and enjoy the sun!

Alicia

sad day.

Wow, I am sending prayers to the family and staff at Virginia Tech today that were involved in the shooting on their campus.

It really has forced me to take my very simple life into perspective and has helped me to realize that my day to day issues are so tiny compared to what some people are dealing with.

Alicia