Girls Weekend

I love to scrap, I love to eat, I love to hang out with my girlfriends, and I love to spend time with my daughters... so this weekend was just about perfect! Only thing that would have made it perfecter (I know, not a real word) - would have been if A. had been able to come - but she had rehearsals and couldn't go away for the weekend.

The "grown-up" girls scrap space. This was a mother-daughter weekend - so most of the young girls scrapped as well. The teen girls did homework, and played on facebook, and took naps and watched movies.

My girl E - with her laptop - supposedly doing homework - probably on facebook!

S'mores for dessert!

An incredible array of food, all weekend long - YUM.

And a toast to girlfriends - pomegranate martini's courtesy of Amy!

Man Made Card

Man Made Card

Angie Pederson had a link to this on her blog - I thought it was too funny not to share with all of you!

Enough with the Camera MOM!

"Would you like to take a picture of my scratching my nose?"

Hmmm... do ya think that maybe the fact that I took about 180+ photos in about a 2 hour period tonight might have gotten a little under her skin? Having fun playing with the new camera and it's settings.... And I had great subjects tonight - we had an impromptu BBQ at my seester's house, and all the cousin's (except E who is at Dance Camp) were there! So I shot a blue million photos. Apparantly one too many of A!

We interrupt this blog for a brief commercial message...

If you've ever clicked around on my blog - you may have followed a link over to "The Pioneer Woman" - an incredibly humorous blog writer, great cook, and awesome photographer. I have long admired some of the fun effects that she uses on her photos with something called "Photoshop Actions". She has a bunch of free one's available for download on her site.... only trouble is - I have Photoshop Elements, and sadly for me, her actions don't work on PSE, they only work on the full blown, and very EXPENSIVE Photoshop.

Fast forward to today - I got an email from my favorite digital scrapbooking store - Polka Dot Potato - (that's where I bought the kit that adorns this blog!) - and they have a whole set of Photoshop Actions for sale - and they work on PSE!!!


I couldn't help myself - I downloaded several, and have been playing - I thought I'd show the results, and perhaps tempt you to download and play with some actions yourself!


(What exactly is an "action" you ask? Well, if you ever used Macro's in a word processing document - it's pretty much that - it's a program that executes a series of commands automatically in Photoshop - sometimes it does the whole thing and is done - other actions pause and let you tweak things along the way.)





This one is my favorite - it's called midnight color - and this tiny size hardly does it justice - it makes a great photo into a stunning photo! Just love how it made her hair so rich! It also made the leaves in the background almost appear to be painted!

This one is called EZ Vignette. I actually applied this action to the photo twice - because I wanted it slightly darker than one application creates. I just love how it seems to add depth to the photo


This action is called Contra Soft. Again - hard to see in these little examples - but it softens out all the lines in my mom's face - and heightens the color a bit. This one is not my favorite - or maybe this isnt' the right photo for it - because I found that even though it soften the lines - the colors became harsher. I'll keep playing with this one.

Finally - this is Vivid Color. It's the first one I downloaded and used. The first picture I applied it to - I didn't like it - but this photo - which I already thought was great- I added the effect and WOW! (Isn't my goddaughter cute? And what the heck is all over her face?)

So - have some fun - download some actions and play with your photos!! And if at first you don't succeed - try the action on a different photo! I need to go play with that Contra Soft some more - I think I just haven't found the right photo for it yet!!

(Perhaps instead of commercial message, I should have called this a Public Service Announcement - because I didn't recieve anything for this promotion!)

Me - May 31

OK - I must confess... once again, I missed the deadline by a few days..... I just went into my basement and snapped this shot (it's 6/3!) BUT.... I was scrapping on May 31st; so I think it still counts! I did put a reminder into Outlook in ALL CAPS to come up on the last day of the month from here on out. You'd think after messing this up for several months now, I would have already done that. Nope. But it's done now... so hopefully we'll have no more late pics!!

You can see the layout I did Saturday (sort of - the lamp blocks it a bit) posted on my magnetic board - it's the lower layout. I'll be posting a better shot of it in about a week. Hoping to use to as an inspiration for a challenge over on the GLMM Community!

I got A's Ice Show album all caught up - now I'm working on E's. I really want to do the current challenge on the GLMM Board - but I can't think of what to do - I've racked my brain and reviewed my photos - and NOTHING is jumping out at me!!

Toodles... here's to a great month of June. E starts driver's ed... now THAT'S scary.

The whole year builds to this...

Takes us a year - but then GLMM weekend arrives and is here and gone in a heartbeat. If you blink - you miss it! If you catch the "plague" from your daughters, and are sick, you save a lot of money, because you have no energy to shop.

Sorry to all the booths I missed because I was too miserable to shop! I did buy my first acrylic album. I can't wait to play with it (but I have to tie up all my loose GLMM ends first!)

I uploaded some awesome pics we took this weekend - first is a shot of my awesome team. I'm missing two members - Margie - who had already left, and Rachel, who unfortunately spent the weekend in the hospital, instead of at the GLMM. WE MISSED YOU! We're glad to hear you are on the mend!!

The next picture is Tara on her new "toy". This made the trips back and forth from one end of the building to the other much more bearable, and I'm sure saved T's tootsies! We all enjoyed the occasional spin - but HOLD ON - because when T hit's the gas - you are OUTTA HERE!!

The next photo is my attempt at an artistic rendering of the brownies I baked for Stacy Julian's birthday. Here's the story.... 45 minutes before I'm set to leave my house for the GLMM - the car is nearly packed, I have a few loose ends to pack up, etc. - I decide to check my computer one last time. I use this thing called "Google Reader" to keep up on the blogs I follow - and it shows me that Stacy has posted! Since she's on her way to DTW that night - I decide to take a quick peek and see if she mentions us and OMG - her post is all about it being her birthday! We had NO IDEA she was flying out to see us on her BIRTHDAY! So, I quick, call Cara and say "we need to get cupcakes or something" and Cara says "NO.... we need BROWNIES! They are her favorite" (and later we find out that she made a whole "Brownie Tracker" scrapbook documenting every brownie she ate in 2007 (darn, we won't be in that album!) Long story short - I have Ghiradelli Brownie Mix in the house -and I whip up a batch of brownies and toss it in the oven - pull out the still warm brownies and make my way to Novi! The brownies were yummy - Stacy was surprised - but best of all - we made Stacy's blog! How fun!!

The final picture is of Me and Tara and Cara finally digging into the Cookie Bouquet that Cara had made for us, depicting our "Scraplympics" girls from the GLMM! I'm eating Rolling Tote Racer, Tara's eating Photographer, and Cara's eating "Runner with Scissors". Those were some yummy cookies - and we enjoyed looking at them all weekend, and then dug in to eat them at the start of tear down. As usual - I was exhausted when the weekend finally came to a close - I wish I didn't have to work so hard and could spend more time just BEING with all my friends that come from all over (Arizona, Wisconsin, Ohio) to work for me for the weekend!

I read John Grisham's "The Appeal" on Monday - I'd been saving it! I also caught up on all my TiVoed shows! I hope to get back to regualar scrapping and blogging now that the GLMM is over for another year! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you to all of my family and friends who read this blog, who also come and work the GLMM... I truly appreciate your support for the weekend- It's amazing to me that you all love to come back year after year! I love you guys!!

Leap Day

Once again - it's the last day of the month - and so I sent out a reminder that it was time to take the end of the month photos for our 2008 scrapbook project. At first I thought "I'm not taking the photo until I've showered and dressed" - and then I thought - "Hey - this is supposed to be the REAL me - each month this year!" And so, even thought it was noon - and I was still in my PJ's, and I had a slight case of bed-head - I took my self portrait. This month I put the GLMM website in the background - since other than our breif escape to Hawaii - I have spent February living and breathing GLMM details!

Sunny California!

The end of last week is kind of a blur - I had lots of work to do to get ready for this trip to CHA in California.

Yesterday, Tara and I spent 13 hours travel time to get here. (Because, apparantly, I'm a cheap-a** and wanted to save $100 - so it took us THREE flights to get to CA!)

Because I was in and out of airports all day, I missed E's first JV Dance team competition - but great news! Their team took 2nd place in their division... doesn't she look ecstatic! Can't wait for the next one - which I'll actually be IN TOWN for! (BTW - it is supposed to be 80's rocker hair)



The weather here is wonderful - the best it's ever been in the 5 times I have been here for conventions. Too bad I packed for the weather we had the last 4 years.

Today was EXTREMELY productive on the show floor. Lined up some great new classes for the GLMM. Can't give too much away about that just yet!!

I've been waiting practically all year for tonight - when I got to return to Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen in Downtown Disney for dinner. Last year I had "dirty rice" for the very first time - and OMG - I fell in love with this New Orleans classic! So... I took ALL kinds of photos - but none of that fabled "dirty rice"!



Tara, Cara and I went out with my friend Barb, and her new business partner - Trish (who I've known ALMOST as long as Barb, and is my friend too!) Of course, after a long day walking the show floor - every girl needs a little refreshment!



We have to finish up our business on the show floor tomorrow - as we travel home on Tuesday - but with the kind of progress we made today - we're in great shape!!

Well - I better hit the sack for some shut-eye!

Weekend Wanderings

Pretty lowkey weekend here.

It was pretty much filled with skating, dancing, scrapbooking, and giddy girls.

I am almost done with my Europe scrapbook - I posted the 5 new layouts I did yesterday at the GLMM Gallery!! 4 more and I'm DONE!!

John watched the superbowl with my Dad - and we had my Dad's annual treat of "Seafood Bisque". It was yummy as always!

I'm almost completely healthy again - yay.

Here's my favorite superbowl commercial:

Me - Today

OK - so Cara has talked me into doing a scrapbook project for 2008 with her. It's really kind of cool. The last day of the month - you take a photo of yourself - and then you do a mini-book of you - throughout the year - capturing the things you did each month. I agree with what Cara posted on her blog... I think having this blog-diary to look back on will help with this book!


I did another 2007 album about me that was different than this - but this will be good - I don't scrapbook me enough - but this seems like it will be just enough - and not too much.

So anyway... here's me... today... complete with the telephone headset because I was still on the phone with Cara when I snapped this. Gee whiz my eyes are blue, eh?

Weekend Update

E has made a full recovery - and although we cancelled skating for the weekend, by Sunday she was back at her Dance Team practices. Today she took her last two finals after the half day... now she's just getting ready for her skating test and the skate competition this weekend.

After staying in regular contact on Friday, our friends from Ohio decided that E was recovering enough for them to continue with their visit as planned. We had a great time! The mom's scrapbooked, the dad's watched football and "shopped" for a new camper for our friends. The kids played lots of DDR, sang Karaoke, watched Hannah Montana, and linked up DS's. We did take a family field trip to the Detroit Science Center (first time I've ever been!) E couldn't join us because of Dance Team - but the kids had a great time. Hands down - the favorite exhibit was the "Jam Room" where they got to rock out and be rock stars. Isn't my daughter A just lovely in her rock star pose? Or in the crazy mirror?

I'm posting my layouts over in the GLMM Gallery - only NINE to go until the Europe album is DONE!!! I can't wait!!

I'll upload a cute video of the jam room. My friend has a future rock star on her hands. Check out her youngest daughter on the drums.... she has all the moves!!

Fun with Photoshop

Cara did fun stuff with photo shop and her kids wearing a Santa Hat.... loved those photos - so I convinced Annie to wear this great hat I got for her this year outside today (not just for this project - but also because I found a layout I want to scraplift!) and I played with Photoshop until I figured out how to get the same effect!

UPDATE: How I did it.
Step 1 - Opened the photo and created a duplicate layer.
Step 2 - Removed the color from the top layer
Step 3 - Erased all the areas of the top layer that I wanted to be blue!

(isn't that the same way you did it Cara?)

Random Musings

This photo illustrates how something so little can be such a pain in the you know what! With this crazy weather (blizzard/thunderstorm/blizzard) our basement has been flooding. Now, when I say flooding - I don't mean a wading pool - but I do mean water bubbling up through the squishy carpet when you walk on it. We've been sucking it up in our rainbow and dumping it as fast as it comes in.

We've had 2 basement companies out - and we'll be having some work done next week to hopefully stop the flow. In the meantime - all the work we did to clean the basement? Let's just say it's pretty much a mess right now. Pray for dry weather between now and when they do the work - right now we aren't having to suck up water! (However the dehumidifier is still doing double time!)

On a happier note - these shoes make me happy! I bought them with some of my Christmas money! They are the Crocs "Mammoth". The furry lining makes them warm like slippers - but the solid sides means that I can run out to get the kids from school without having to change my shoes. I love, love, love these shoes. I also like that they are pink ;-)

Changing the subject yet again... last weekend was the annual GLMM Holiday party. We had a great time scrapbooking together! Thought I'd share my favorite layout that I made that day. Not very complex, but I love the subject matter!

Also, I put up some of A's other vocal videos for those who haven't gotten to see her sing. They also show her progression through the years - you can see all the videos (plus a couple of E skating) on my Youtube Channel.

OU Magazine Feature!

Go check out the Mega Meet Blog - my alma mater - Oakland University - interviewed me this summer for a feature in the magazine. I'm so excited that it finally came out - it arrived just before Thanksgiving - and I finally got it scanned and posted over on the GLMM Blog.

A Personal Space...

I posted a few "personal" type posts over on the Mega Meet Blog - and it always felt strange. It's supposed to be a business blog - do those people actually care about my kids and family? Probably not much....

So, I've been thinking, and pondering, and contemplating starting a second blog to post all about Life with the Griswold's (yeah - while sometimes it seems like we're living in a National Lampoon Comedy -we're just a normal family!)

So, to introduce you to my cast of characters:

I'm Kate - I own Scrapbooks Mega Meet, LLC, and produce the Great Lakes Mega Meet Scrapbook Convention, and several retreats, and other fun events! I've been doing this since 2000 - without a 2nd job since 2003. I also have a web design business, Kaleidoscope Concepts! I love to scrapbook, but have no desire to be published (other than on the Mega Meet Gallery, where I like to show off my stuff) I also love to read, and try to squeeze in books whenever I can. A little known fact about me is that I figure skate - not well - only been skating for 3 years - but I find it fun and relaxing.

I'm married to J - he's my soul mate. Loves me despite my faults! He's a great Dad, and one of the smartest people I know. He's a computer guru, and works in our basement because his company is several states away from our home.

We have 2 kids - E the teen and A the pre-teen. Neither one drives yet - so I'm Mom the Taxi Driver!! E is my Skater, JV dancer, Band Geek, perfectionist child. A is my Singer, Actress, Dancer, sometime Skater, reluctant Band Geek, and free spirit child.

Well, I plan to start out by inviting family and friends to keep up with me via this self-indulgence, and we'll see where things go. As my English teachers always used to tell me "You should keep a Journal!" I've never really had the discipline. Let's see if this new medium helps me be more disciplined!