be AUDacious

2012: product line and take twelve layout

I've got a simple new product line coming to Design House Digital over the next couple of weeks. The first release are these easy-to-use photo templates, perfect for scrapping your Take Twelve Photo Challenge pictures. These templates can be used to easily create a digital layout of your Take Twelve photos; you can also use the templates as a way to share your photos on your blog each month. In addition, these templates are flexible enough to use for printing and scrapping the traditional way, too. There are four photo templates: 2x6, 3x4, 4x3, 6x2 (that's width by height) and they come in two styles: square corners and rounded corners. 

Each template comes as a layered .psd file, meaning that each square is on a separate layer. Using these in Photoshop or PSE is really simple. Just open the template, and then open your photos. Place one photo above the layer where you'd like to have it located in your photo grid. Resize your photo as necessary, and then click Ctrl G to "clip" your photo to the template square. Make any adjustments to the location and then click Ctrl E to merge the two layers together. Repeat these steps with the rest of your photos, and then merge all the layers together. Here's a tutorial from the DHD blog to help you out.

Here's what the templates look like in action. I used the 4x3 template with rounded corners; I chose the 4x3 orientation because my photos were divided into morning, afternoon, and evening and this arrangement let me keep them grouped in that way. The other products I used are a brief glimpse at some of the products you'll see in next week's release in my digital shop. My plan is to use these items throughout the year on my Take Twelve Challenge. 

Speaking of the Take Twelve Challenge, have you signed up for Ella Publishing's reminder email yet? It only takes a few minutes; fill out the required fields and make sure to check the box that says "Take Twelve Project." You'll be sent monthly email reminders about the Take Twelve Photo Challenge, and you'll get some great opportunities to share your photos and win prizes! Also, don't forget to check out the Ella Blog today to see how other team members are scrapping their Take Twelve photos.

Take Twelve: January 2012

We ended up having a snow day today, so I'm really late on the blogging front. (The snow, sadly, was nothing to get really excited about. While it did snow quite a bit yesterday, much of it melted because we had temps close to 50 the day before that. Still, temps dropped below freezing last night, and much of the melted snow then freeze, which resulted in today's snow day. Ahh, the joys of living in the South.)

First things first, here's the winner of the Ella Publishing Take Twelve Guided Inspiration Kit: 

Janet, email me at audneal at gmail dot com and I'll get your redemption code to you right away! 

Thanks to everyone who entered. If you didn't win a copy in one of the many giveaways going on, Angie is offering you a chance to take 10% off your purchase off the Inspiration Kit or the Take Twelve Templates with the code PROCRASTINATOR. 

Here's a look at my 12 photos for the day. Just a few notes about my process: I had planned to take a photo an hour -- just a random collection of whatever was going on at the time my phone reminder went off. Instead, my photos are grouped into morning, afternoon, and evening. That just ended up making more sense with the rhythm of my day. These are processed through Instagram, but I took them with just the regular camera on my phone, so I have plain, unfiltered files to use (if I want) on my layout. I like having the two options -- Instagram is fun for blogsharing, tweeting, and even Facebook posts, but I prefer having unfiltered images to use on my scrapbook layouts. 

Morning: As I was dropping Cami off at school, the cold rain was just beginning to turn into snow. The first thing I do at work each day, after booting up my laptop, is check my agenda to see what needs to be done; much of my work involves planning for upcoming projects and presentations. Just a quick shot of three of my favorite things: my Fossil Key-per tote, my gray Converse sneakers, and corduroy pants. When I left for lunch, it had been snowing for several hours, covering the bushes, ground, and cars.

Afternoon: Beatrice spends much of our lunch hour just lying on the rug, near us. A random shot from my living room: a vintage typewriter I found for $5.00 -- I love the faux wood detailing and the red spacer key. Cass was all smiles when I picked her up from school this afternoon. Snow kept lightly drifting along the edge of the car windows; I was amazed at how downy it looked, rather than icy.

Evening: Cami came home with this little monkey toy from the school's 4th/5th grade Jamboree. I spent the evening catching up on some laundry; it's so much easier to fold it as soon as I take it out of the dryer (why don't I do this more often?) Any time we go into Cami's room now, the ratboys run to the bars of the cage to see what's going on; they've become quite nosy. I headed to bed fairly early, mostly to warm up and to spend some time reading; I finished one book and made it about halfway through another before falling asleep.

Christmas: how we celebrated

Christmas was pretty low-key, which is the way we like it. Our weekends involved a couple of different activities while the girls were still in school. Chris and I are lucky enough to get two full weeks off for Christmas break while the university shuts down, so it makes for a nice break. 

This year we headed downtown for an event called Dicken's Alley, which was a recreation of an old English alley, with a blacksmith, a foodseller, a storyteller, mule-drawn wagon rides, and even a pickpocket who gets locked up by the constable. The girls were able to do a few little crafts -- making reindeer food and writing a letter to Santa -- before we admired the newly lit Christmas tree on the court square and then headed home. The next morning was the annual Christmas parade. We're always amused at the variety of "floats" that make up our local parades each year: 20+ emergency vehicles, all with sirens blaring; Corvettes, antique cars, motorcycles, old tractors; church and community organization floats, decorated in a variety of themes...You really never know what you're going to find. If you're a kid, you can usually end up with pockets full of candy too. 

We also make a trip to Nashville every year to visit the Gaylord Opryland Hotel. Millions of lights decorate the hotel atriums and the grounds. We head down early so we can shop at our favorite used bookstore (McKay's), then grab a bite to eat at Outback. This is our way of celebrating our birthdays too, since mine is on the 23rd and Chris's is on the 26th. One of these years we'd love to actually get a room at the Gaylord and stay overnight; the girls in particular want a room with a balcony that overlooks one of the decorated atriums.

We also decorated our tree; we usually end up waiting until just a couple of weeks before Christmas because we get a live tree each year. That hasn't always been our habit; we had a fake tree when the girls were younger, but after moving three different times, it just didn't hold up. I prefer a real tree, so I'm glad we made the switch. When I was growing up, my parents owned 40 acres of land, and my family would head out onto our own land to cut our own tree each year. It's one of my favorite Christmas memories. Even though we don't cut our own tree (we buy it from Lowe's), I love the fresh smell in the house. We also add a new ornament from Opryland each year; the girls pick one out while we're in Nashville. The rest of our decorations are a mix of vintage (mostly family heirlooms from childhood) and handmade, like the circle garland I keep hanging on our windows.

The girls were so pleased with and grateful for the gifts they received. Despite being 15, Cassidy was so easy to shop for this year. Several of her gifts were obviously panda-themed, and she got some really cute clothes as well.

I'm not sure there was a kid alive who was more thrilled with her gifts than Cami was. Cass bought her the Adele Live at Royal Albert Hall CD/DVD combo, and Cami's face just lit up when she opened it. Her latest LaLaLoopsy obsession was fueled by two new dolls, and -- after two years of being her sole Santa request -- she got a pair of fancy rats, appropriately (???) named Peanut Butter and Cheese. (Those names have been in the works for YEARS now, seriously). 

My pile of gifts were impressive too: the PJ20 collection (book, CD, DVD) the newest Cassandra Clare novel, a new phone case, new Chucks in the prettiest gray color, as well as a new lamp for the living room. (Cami was sweet and put it together for me, since I was sick at the time). 

We spent the week after Christmas with Chris's family in Memphis. It's so wonderful to be able to bring everyone together for a full week of playing Wii games, eating great food, telling stories, and just spending time with each other. It's always one of my favorite weeks of the year.

 

...gonna rise up, find my direction magnetically...

Kentucky State Cross-Country Meet, Kentucky Horse Park, two nights in Lexington, Cassidy's 15th birthday, dinner at Outback, shopping at Joseph Beth Booksellers, giant cookies and hot chocolate, nature's bounty, the campus of University of Kentucky, a rental car to Frankfort, developing English curriculum frameworks, academic meets and practice, a Thanksgiving potluck, a College Fair and a parent workshop presentation, Foo Fighters documentary, getting hit by a deer in one of the fleet cars

two quickies to share

Are you familiar with Geninne's artwork? I am amazed at her watercolors, and her studio is perfect. PERFECT. Each month, Geninne offers up a lovely desktop calendar. It makes me smile to have her lovely little birds fluttering across my screen. Even better, this month featured San Francisco (Alcatraz Island), one of my most favorite places to visit EVER.

Also, related to yesterday's post, I came across a RT by Holly Black, alerting me that one of her short stories was available on the Storyville app. A quick search brought me to this subscription app that offers a free short story (from a forthcoming collection) once a week to subscribers on the iPhone or iPad platforms. It's a great way to preview the collections and a fantastic way to have a little bit of story waiting to be read each week. 

 

...but everything looks perfect from far away...

(This will be a longer-than-normal iPhoto Friday, since I missed last week. If you'd like to see more of my photos, you can follow me on Instagram on your phone -- I'm audneal -- or you can click here to follow me from your computer.) Here's what we've been up to over the past two weeks:

Beautiful days on campus, and time for my yearly update on the ACT and financial aid.

Days both in and out of the office; so many big projects going on right now. I'm trying to figure out the best way to get these things finished and learning that I need total silence and isolation to do it.

An introduction to old episodes of The Addams Family and The Munsters by her 4th grade teacher.

Chris got a new work toy: a Lenovo Thinkpad. He likes it. He likes it a lot.

Cami's first rodeo. She's been begging to go to one since we moved her four years ago. 

Halloween, a Racers football game, and the band's annual tradition of costumes and Thriller.

The Trail of Treats -- trick-or-treating through Central Park, followed by games and a hayride.

One night of steady rain, and all the leaves that were on the trees now are...not.

Academic team season has started. Again, she is the only girl on the Quick Recall team (for the entire high school).

The foggiest morning I've seen in a long time, and a reminder that winter isn't far.

Region 1 Class AA Cross-Country Champions!

Dinner at The Outback to celebrate two great seasons (plus, any excuse to eat at The Outback is fine with us!)

A weekend soccer tournament in Evansville IN for Cami's Revolution team: 2 losses, 1 win. They played well, despite the losses.

A drive through Audabon State Park...stunning. I'd like to come back and stay for the weekend.

Temperatures back in the low 70's at the end of the week, bringing our gorgeous weather full circle.

Lots of math homework going on around here lately. Cass and Accelerated Geometry, Cami and long division.

photos: the Garrett session

Mindy and Katy are sisters, and so I've always done their family photo sessions as one big afternoon session. Mindy and Kris have THE cutest little guy, Dax; he is seriously the sweetest little boy I've ever met. He's just so affectionate and good-natured, and those freckles and big brown eyes are going to make him a heartbreaker when he's older.

photos: the King session

Kelsey is a former student of mine; I had her in both middle school and high school, and she was also one of my middle school cheerleaders. I think the world of her parents, Sandy and Will, so I was super-excited when Sandy emailed me wanting to know if I could shoot some family photos of them. We hung out in the alleys of downtown Murray (HA!) and I really love how these photos turned out. Hope you enjoy them too!

photos: the Eddleman session

This is the third year that I've taken pictures of Katy and her family. Rob is a high school friend, and I was thrilled when he and Katy met and got married. They have two absolutely gorgeous girls -- I don't think I've ever met two people who create more beautiful children. Here are some of my favorites from their session.

10 Things: Kelly Photo Session

For the past couple of years, I've had a chance to take pictures for my friends Scotty and Brooke. I love getting this chance to reconnect with them and their adorable family, to see what's new and just how much the boys have grown. I love how laidback their family is, and how comfortable they are together. Here are ten favorites from my session with them.