Welcome.......

to all my new visitors! (I hope I have some and I'm not just talking to myself.) Today is the first day that I'VE actually gone out and told the digi-world that I'm here. My fellow CT members introduced me on their blogs and I told my family they could stop in and visit but today I spent a little time letting my favorite sites know that I started this blog.

I, like a lot of digital scrappers, wanted to know how to design my own stuff. I searched for tutorials, took a few classes but never really made any progress along the journey until I took the Design Academy class at Stone Accents Studio taught by Sherah Kraan (Skrapperdigitals). As I've said before on this blog, it's such a well-rounded, all-encompassing course. We got info on how to make everything from patterns and textures to buttons, brads and bows. Yet, they weren't a "copy me" type of tutorial. She taught us how and let us use our imaginations to create our own ideas. But we also got the behind the scenes stuff that truly makes a designer. Quality checks, the essential parts of a kit, making blinkies and blogs, gathering your creative team, desiging your terms of use, how to apply to a store for a position as a designer, resources........so, so much packed into this 8 week course. And, though I say 8 weeks, it's a progress at your own pace class. You can join at any time. Some of us are on week 8 while others are on week 2. We learn from each other's questions and have weekly chats. I highly recommend it for anyone even slightly leaning toward a more involved position in the digital scrapbooking world.

Earlier, I told you I couldn't get the bows right in PS Elements 5. I may have found a way in Real Draw Pro 4 (speaking of which, check out www.esteesbarn.com for a years worth of tutorials for $25 AND, if you buy RDP4 directly from her, it's like getting the first year free as she charges you for the RDP as part of her membership. Then it's just the renewal fee after that.) But at last nights chat, I told Sherah that I found out Elements has the liquify (I didn't know that was there!) and she showed me how I could use that to make my bow........ "puffier" is the technical term she came up with. I can accept that. My bow came out very real looking, according to her, but it looked like it had been ironed flat. Which was EXACTLY how it looked! Mwahahaha! She took my bow and sent it back.....all puffy and flowing and 3D-ish and said, "Now, here! That's what you can do with liquify!" So! I'm going to be liquifying my bow tonight. Wish me luck!