Addictions & Obsessions

I have a lot of these, or so I am told by those around me. I prefer to simply call it creativity! I've been this way for as long as I can remember. My hands and mind are always busy, sometimes simultaneously, sometimes not. As you can tell from my profile brief, I have a wide range and variety of interests, so I seem to never suffer like some people do from too much "down time". I don't know the meaning of the word "bored", because I am never that. My Love tells me that life in general will not be long enough for me to accomplish all that is in my mind to do. Unfortunately, I am oh so sure he is right. Hummm......With that said, let me tell you my latest find to which I am already avidly addicted. I love digital photography and take a million pictures all year, every year, of everything. I also love my computer and all my equipment hooked up to it, and every piece of software I have collected over time. While surfing the net recently I came across a whole wonderful world of digital scrapbooking and a wonderful online community of those already deeply into it. Now mind you, I have always played with editing my photos, framing them, collecting graphics to utilize in dressing them up, making slide shows of them, etc. But WOW, I just discovered a whole new concept and tons more that I can do with my photos!! The world of digi-scrappin' as they lovingly call it has its own lingo which I am learning, abbreviations for the lingo, and best of all I am finding out that I am not the only one that goes whole hog deep into whatever they like to do. I do believe that are a lot more folks out there with more determination, dedication, desire and perseverance than I have always exhibited. It's just loving whatever you are into! And as I always do when I love something, I find a need to share it. It somehow makes me feel more complete. So, if you have contemplated even remotely any form of scrapbooking, be not afraid to attempt digital scrapping on your computer. There's an online community of wonderful sharing people already out there that give away their knowledge and creative talents to the entire rest of the world, and that's a total boon for a newbie like me! In posts to follow I am going to begin sharing with you the great sites, blogs, and people I have come across already that have spurred me right into this latest obsession. There are designers out there giving away their time, creative talents, tips, tricks, software tutorials, scrapbooking kits, and the whole of everything you need to enjoy this hobby in its full glory. This amazes me to no end, and I am bound to take full advantage of all of them!

I will start by giving you Teri Mayo at her blog http://teristhingomyjigs.blogspot.com/2008_08_01_archive.html

She says she is relatively new at all this too, but I don't believe a word of it! She's designing like wild, she's great at it, and it's all there for you to collect and have fun with for free! Hear me now, believe me later (after you take a look for yourself)! As a newbie to all this myself, she has inspired me immensely and I have been spurred by her creative genius to enter two template challenges, one in July and one this month, called "Starbucks Tumbler Template Challenge" which can be found, hopefully monthly, at another great site where addicts like us post our work and gather more freebies and such at DigiScrapDepot.

Below are my challenge layouts for July and August, and if I can do this, anybody can. All you need is an ounce of slight desire!

My July layout:

My August layout:

Well people, all I can tell you is that this is just too much fun! At the same time I'm having so much fun I am probably creating this year's Christmas gifts ahead of schedule. All I need do to prep this gift is print these out on photo paper, cut out the large curved design (the August layout will loose that water background), roll into a tube shape and insert into the empty tall Starbucks Tumbler and VIOLA! I have unique gifts ready for more than a few folks on my Christmas list! Gotta be happy about that this early!!

I'm definitely a night owl, but saying tootles here to go and create for awhile before the zzz's take over! Chow!