Jack Kitten - the Summer of '05

Ya gotta say it - "Awwwwwww!"

I've been scanning printed photos (or their negatives, if I still have them) from 2005. It's a tedious job but like most tasks, when I look hard enough I can usually find something that makes the work well worthwhile. In this case, I didn't even have to look very hard.

My BFF, Judy, is making me something - I'm guessing a book of some sort - using my and her emails back and forth to each other, and photos, from 2005. She has asked me for a long list of photos from that year, to go along with the stuff I wrote about in my emails. When I went looking for photos that she could use I realized that in 2005 I was still using (mainly) my Canon print camera, and was only just learning to use a small digital camera I'd gotten for the previous Christmas. (It's sad to see the very poor quality of my digital photos from that year, but at least I can see that I have since improved a thousand-fold!)

So, the days of scanning are going to be well worth it just for that, but there are other benefits, too. Since I'm a digital scrapbooker it's awesome to now have those photos in digital format and available for digital layouts. I can use them on my website, my blogs, email them to people, or share them at sites such as Photobucket or Flickr. Plus, they are now backed up on my external backup drive. If the prints or negatives get wet, or my laptop has a melt-down, no problem; I have backup copies!

In fact, I'm thinking I won't even keep the prints or the negatives. I think the negatives can be thrown away and the prints given away to whoever might want them. And....if no one wants them, I'm pretty sure I'm going to (gasp!) throw them out, too!

Yeah, a little scary, but I can't hold on to everything; my house is just too small. As long as I have digital versions I can always print out a copy if I ever want to. As I'm scanning the photos I have been tagging them with people's names, events, etc., so they're super-easy to find later. In fact, if I want to do a special layout for a specific person (or pet!) I can quickly retrieve all photos tagged with that person's name. Much easier than shuffling through piles of printed photos no matter how organized they are.

Oh, and one last bennie? Finding photos like the one at the top of this post! My guy-cat, Jack, when he was just a few months old and during one of his earliest explorations of the outdoors. Wow. Was he ever CUTE!

And since the photo is now digital I was able to bump up the color, sharpen it a bit, and then try out some creative cropping.

Bringing the focus forward to Jack:

Putting a slight leftward tilt on the photo:

And my fave, a very definite rightward tilt for a really fun look:

Jack-Jack the Jungle Cat

Can't wait to do some more scanning tomorrow!

Digital Layout - Hiking at Skyline Wilderness Park

I recently posted about our hike at Skyline Wilderness Park in Napa, CA. Can you believe it, I actually got a layout made from the day, LOL! Well, I had some help. There's a template challenge going on at K-JOI and I love templates so here's my finished layout:

(template by K-JOI Studios / paper & elements by Club Scrap)

I love templates because I can use one to create a great layout very quickly. One of the hardest things about scrapbooking, whether traditional (paper) or digital, is designing a balanced and aesthetically pleasing layout. That's why page templates are such a great time-saver; someone else has already figured all that out for you!

One of the things I'm doing in my little biz this year is creating a lot of page templates to sell and/or give away as freebies. Keep your eye on my Webajeb blog for more info, and grab the templates (and other cool stuff, too) as they are posted!

In the mail today was a cross-stitch kit by Bucilla that I ordered (just what I need, yet another project). I'm excited, though, because this is one I've wanted to stitch up for a long time, have been on the lookout for the pattern and finally found it on the internet.
It's called Max's Moon and I think it's soooo cute! As soon as I finish the hummingbird I'm working on (soon!) I'll be starting on this one.

What are you working on?

First Christmas for the Newlyweds . . .

. . . and we were there!
Dianna and Rodrigo in front of their first Christmas tree, in their little house in Oxnard, CA. It was fun spending a few nights there; we were the first ones to use their guest room so Mike and I felt quite honored. We had a super-comfy bed with thick comforters and we were toasty warm every night in spite of the cold snap that had hit southern Cali with a vengeance.
This is the cross-stitch wedding record that I made for them. It was a lot of work, and there were a few technical difficulties because I made some modifications in the pattern and kit, but I worked them out, and I think it turned out real nice.

Here's my fave gift:
Rodrigo and Dianna gave me (among other things) a cashmere sweater and, can you believe it at my age, it's my FIRST cashmere anything! Love the color, one of my favorites, burgundy - YUM. This will be a treat to wear. You can see how super-soft it is!

The "kids" have three cats. Two are identical solid black female kittens, about 6 months old or so, Meeka and Maddy. They are nearly impossible to tell apart. Here they are playing in a pop-up cube that Mike and I brought to them:
They love it! Pancho, the third cat, likes it, too, but he's a bit older (and more dignified) and preferred spending most of his time in our laps:
Isn't he awesome? Of course, I do have a soft spot for orange male tabbies, dontcha know. He has a curly tail, too, of which this picture doesn't do justice. It curls right up over his back just like a Norwegian Elkhound! I've never seen anything like it on a cat before. I really think he should be in the movies.

We opened our gifts on Christmas Eve because Dianna had to go to work early on Christmas Day, but Rodrigo was a great host and made us a fabulous Christmas morning breakfast; cinnamon french toast, hash brown potatoes, a fancy egg scramble, and french-pressed coffee.
What a guy!
I did the dishes - in my pajamas, of course!

It is Impossible to Keep a Straight Face . . .

. . in the presence of one or more kittens. ~Cynthia E. Varnado

Here's proof:

I'm gonna miss this little guy when he goes back to my niece's house . . . although, at the same time it's going to be nice to have peace & goodwill amongst the felines in my house again!

Opie Needs a Home

If you read my niece Jenny's (Bookworm Cat Girl's) blog you will have already seen photos of this little guy. His name is Opie.

She's been bottle-feeding him since he was about 10 days old. Now he's about 5-6 weeks old and living at MY house! Yeah, I got talked into bringing him home with me last Saturday when I was visiting Jenny and her family. Jenny was getting ready to go away for two weeks and needed someone to take care of the kitten for that time (as well as possibly fall so in love with him that he'd also be adopted)!

But I can ONLY take care of him for the two weeks Jenny is gone. My other cats, Jack and Scout, are absolutely beside themselves with fury over the tiny interloper! Jack hisses and spits at everyone (including me!) and Scout has twice tried to flatten poor Opie with a well-aimed SMACK to the head. It's a lot of work keeping everyone separated and halfway happy.

It's too bad because Opie is so much fun! Kittens are just a hoot. This little guy is very independent, playful, and affectionate. Since he's been hand-raised he bonds very quickly to people. He has tried to make friends with the other cats; unfortunately, they're having none of that!

Here is a little video of Opie playing with a cat toy. Isn't he adorable???

He is completely litter-box trained and is now weaned from the bottle. He eats both solid and canned kitten food. I'm still giving him kitten formula but he drinks it from a saucer instead of a bottle. He sleeps quietly all night in a room by himself. I'm sure he would prefer sleeping with a person but I already have two cats in my bed and they have voted unanimously that a third is not welcome!

So....if you know anyone at all who would like a kitten, PLEASE have them contact me! Opie needs a home! The sooner the better so that he can bond from this young age with his new family. I promise you - he's irresistable!