Ready-Set-Create! Publication

I just received the December 2008/January 2009 download of Ready-Set-Create and they published my New Years Resolution mini-album using the January 2008 Scrapdango Sugar Kit featuring Cosmo Cricket Hey Sugar. That was very exciting to see my work in print. My other publication will come out during the Summer in Scrapbooking & Beyond. As a contributor, I can share the download link with 5 people so if you would like to view this wonderful issue jam-packed with some serious motivation then let me know.

Playing around...

I have been wanting to play around with digital designing and learn more about Photoshop. I found a good tutorial on creating your own overlay and so I gave it a try. I know it is not anything great but here is what I came up with...

I actually turned it into a patterned paper rather than just an overlay for a patterned paper so I could learn more about fill color and blending modes. Well, maybe I will try to tackle a new tutorial each week and see what I can come up with.

Disappointed...

We attended the Washington CK Scrapbook Convention this last weekend and we had a sales table at the evening crops on Friday and Saturday. Everything went very well, Jose and I had a fun time together and stayed in a really nice hotel for a really great rate - only $87.00 per night thanks to Expedia.com. But I have to tell you how disappointed I am...I had a woman take me for $250 worth of product. I wish I had trusted my gut instinct about her. Another one of those times where you kick yourself for not listening to your instincts. She kept asking how much something was and saying "I'll take all of them!" It was as if she was on a shopping spree. I just had this weird feeling that her credit card was not going to go through and I was going to be sorry. I asked to see her driver's license and I remember the look on her face, like she was thinking really fast. She said it was at her crop table and she would bring it back to me. If I had been smart I would have told her I would hold her things for her until she came back, but I tend to think that all people are good people unless they prove otherwise. Unfortunately, I am proven over and over again that I shouldn't make this assumption.

She did come back but I was at the bathroom. She left a piece of paper with Jose with her what was supposed to be her drivers license number. I thought that since she did come back that maybe she might be for real so I let my worries go. On the drive home the next day, I found myself thinking about her and that charge quite a bit. I had prepared myself to not be surprised when her charge card didn't go through. Sure enough, out of about 30 charges over the weekend, her charge card was the only one that didn't go through. I tried the phone number she left me and sure enough..."we're sorry, the number you have tried to reach is not in service".

I called information and tried to see if there was a Nikki Johnston in the Mt Vernon area which is where she said her address was and they didn't have anything. So, either it was a credit card that was cancelled or it was not her credit card.

I am going to try to do some research and see what I can find out but chances are it won't lead to anything. It is so sad that there are such awful people out there who are willing to take from others for their own satisfaction. Jose told me that we need to learn from what happened and make changes to avoid it happening again and he also said that when people do things like that, it comes back to them in different ways. As much as I hate to feel revengeful, I actually hope that is true for this woman.

Another "Jovanna-ism"

I really don't want to forget this exchange I had with Jovanna tonight so I am recording it here. Jovanna had a meltdown tonight and decided that she was going leave (runaway) so she grabbed her pillow and blanket and a block of Tillamook cheese. Jose told her, "oh no...leave the cheese" (LOL). So she went out the door and I stayed far enough away that I could see her but she saw me so then she knew I was keeping an eye out for her and then she started walking further away. I finally got close enough to her to talk and told her it was time to come back inside. She told me that she was going to go and live somewhere else with someone who loves her. I asked her where she was going to go and she thought for a moment and then said, "I'm going to live with Grandma and Grandpa!". I asked her how long she thought that would last and she said it would last as long as she wanted it to. I said, "O.K., let's go call Grandma and see what she says." Jovanna thought for a moment and said, "Well, Grandpa will make Grandma let me stay, he loves me!" I asked her who would take care of her and she said "Grandpa will!". I reminded her that Grandpa was sick and she said "Grandma will take care of me then!" and I told her that Grandma is taking care of Grandpa, who is sick. She said that Grandpa will make Grandma take care of her. Again, I told her that if she thought that was going to work then let's go call. I asked her how long she thought she would stay there and she told me she would stay as long as she wanted until she was ready to come home. I told her to really think about that and how long Grandma would tolerate that. She spent a few minutes thinking and then she began walking back towards the house and said, "I'm going to think about this for a couple of hours and I will let you know what my decision is."

Oh my!!!!!