2007 October | Scraps Of Mind

Archive for October, 2007

Posted by karooch on

October 15, 2007

Shower with a Friend for Blog Action Day 2007

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Hello, my name is Karen and I shower with a friend.

I have been doing this since the beginning of January 2007. My friend is blue, and a little square…and has a plastic handle. Yes, my friend is a bucket!

Let me tell you my story.

I live in Australia: a continent and a single country that’s roughly the size of the USA (minus Alaska). The majority of this country is desert with little or no human population. Over 80% of the 21 million population is located around the coast line, especially the eastern coastline. And the two largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne are home to over a third of Australia’s population.

When I moved to Australia, many years ago, it was a dry country, but I lived in Melbourne. Drought was a problem for country folk. I watched the tragic effect of el Niño and la Niña and all the other climate change events on the country and I sympathised with the people who lived in the rural areas and were suffering from the impacts of drought. But it wasn’t my problem.

blog action day 2007 In Melbourne the worst impact that I faced was that for a couple of months each year I was only able to use my sprinkler system to water my garden every second day. And I felt I was really doing it tough when, during the 2 or 3 hottest months I had to use a hose rather than a sprinkler.

But it’s different now.

The penny has finally started to drop with us City folk that our water resources are severely depleted and are not being sufficiently replenished by Winter rains. And this is not ’someone else’s problem’ any more. Water restrictions are becoming more serious and are now a part of life, rather than an exception to it.

Our water catchment areas are running at well below 50% and we’re through Winter. Even if we get good rains in Spring (and they’re not looking too great so far), we’re already starting from a significantly further behind position than we have in previous years. Suddenly we’re all investing in water catchment tanks in our back yards to catch the rainwater from our roofs, and grey water recycling systems to pump used water from showers and washing machines onto the garden or into our toilet flushing systems. Those leisurely 30 minute hot showers are a thing of the past. Anyone who averages more than 5 minutes in the shower is practically committing treason.

Over Winter this year in Melbourne we’ve been on 3a Restrictions. Which are not very onerous. But the mere fact that we have any Water Restrictions in place over Winter demonstrates how things have changed for us. We can certainly expect higher restrictions to kick in this Summer earlier than in previous years. Our Governments are exploring ideas to address the problem; desalination plants, building new dams etc. But these are all long term solutions and the problem is clearly increasing rapidly year on year. And it’s no good blaming the Governments for not protecting us from this situation. Australia is a democracy, for Heaven’s sake. You get what you vote for. Any major political party that went to the polls with promises to invest this heavily in water conservation infrastructure at the expense of other social issues would have been slaughtered in elections a few years ago.

So now I share my 3 minute shower with my friend the bucket and use the water to flush my toilet to reduce my water consumption. I catch my washing machine waste water in a convoy of buckets to recycle on my garden. And I watch my annual Water Rates (taxes) zoom upwards as we start to fund our future water conservation projects.

My purpose in sharing this story with you is simple. Don’t let it happen to you!

This problem does not belong to the Country Folk or the ‘Tree-huggers’. This problem will be yours one day soon, City Slicker. Start paying attention now and find out what you can do to raise awareness in your community. Start treating water as a precious resource…because that’s what it is!

And make friends with a bucket. Showering with a friend does save water.

~This post is in support of Blog Action Day 2007 where blogs are focusing the World’s attention on one issue on this one day: The Environment. Scraps of Mind joins the millions of people who are participating in this event, either as bloggers or as readers.~

Words to Live by

Every day you may make progress.

Every step may be fruitful.

Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path.

You know you will never get to the end of the journey.

But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.

Sir Winston Churchill

Posted by karooch on

October 12, 2007

Five Freebies on Friday

Yesterday was Thursday, so it must be Freebie Friday again. Have fun with more free scrapbooking stuff.

Remember to leave some love when you download your freebie. It costs you nothing and means a lot to the designer.

A wonderfully eclectic collection of freebies at Jenni’s Chaos Lounge
Kaiela from Into the Drawer has some great freebies, including a 2008 calendar so you can get ahead of the game.
Scrappy Thomsen has an impressive archive of freebies. Check out her left sidebar for the list.
Check out the great stuff on Molly ‘n’ Max blog. Some unusual bits and pieces there.
And some nice templates at Colie’s Corner.

What You Need to Know About Copyright in the Scrapbooking World

Copyright is a touchy subject in the World of Scrapbooking. Especially in Digital and Hybrid Scrapbooking. It’s a lot simpler in the world of Traditional Scrapbooking as you buy an item, you own it and you use it once, however you like, and then it’s used up. You are not allowed to reproduce it or you will violate copyright.

But in the World of Digital Scrapbooking the rules of copyright is a much more complex beast.

One of the great benefits of Digital Scrapbooking is the huge range of digital scrapbooking kits and elements that can be quickly and easily downloaded over the Internet. And then used over and over again. Unlike with traditional ‘real life’ scrapbook products your copyright allows you to use these elements many many times. But this does not give you free and untrammeled ownership of them. Most downloads come with a Terms of Use document. I strongly recommend you read this so you understand both yours and the designer’s rights.

Fundamentally you need to understand that what you have purchased is the right to use these digital products for your own personal use in creating your own personal scrapbook layouts.

What you have the right to do:

Use the products as many times as you wish on your own personal scrapbook layouts

Make small modifications, such as colour, size and shape changes.

Share your finished layouts on the Internet through email, blogs, online galleries etc.

Print your finished layouts and give copies to friends and family if you wish.

What you do not have the right to do:

Share the actual digital product files with anyone else, either by copying them to a CD, emailing them or copying them on another memory device (eg. USB memory stick)

Share the digital files or print outs of them with a class of students so you can teach them how to scrapbook.

Use the digital products in any way that assists in the generation of revenue or other income.

Technically speaking you do not have the right to use these digital products in the design of your personal blog header, unless you have the approval of the designer. Most designers will not mind you using their products in your personal blog design and only ask that you credit them appropriately.

However if you have a commercial blog or website, and this can include any form of advertisements or product sales, then you cannot use these digital products without purchasing a commercial licence. This also includes designing templates for eBay shops etc. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by karooch on

October 10, 2007

Idyllic Greece

Karen in Greece I think I might get to like this cruising lifestyle. Sitting in the sun on the top deck of the MS Perla in the middle of the bluer than blue Aegean Sea, a tall blue drink beside me containing three different types of spirits and a fruit salad hanging off the edge of the glass. Life is tough.

The Greek Islands have been wonderful; from the ancient ruins of Ephesos and Knossos, to the maniacal bazaars and the beautiful blue and white picture postcard island villages.

We stopped at Kusadasi on the Turkish coast and went to the ancient ruined city of Ephesos. Definitely one of the highlights. A truly amazing excavation complete with the public toilet which could seat 48 men on marble facilities and was a sort of Men’s Club and meeting place where the well-to-do men of the town could meet to exchange news and gossip. I wonder if that’s where the expression ‘toilet humour’ comes from. The magnificent three storey library dominated the main square… opposite the town brothel. The rumoured secret passage between the two has never been found. And of course the magnificent collonades and amphitheatre. Just wonderful.

But each of the stops we’ve made have been great destinations. So picturesque with gorgeous whitewashed little houses clinging to the hillsides accented by blue woodwork.

It was a great feeling to sit on the balcony of a terrace cafe perched on a cliff top in Santorini, sipping a frappe and gazing at the sensational view of the Caldera. It just doesn’t get any better. Romantics have located the mythical island of Atlantis at Santorini, which was created by a volcanic eruption. And when you see the place it’s easy to believe.

And after our return to Athens we fly back to the island of Rhodes for a few days to wind up the holiday. Oh my God! It’s almost over! How did that happen?

The Secrets of Styles

Guest Post by Melothria.

What is a Style?

A Style or Layer Style, is a range of layer settings and options. So when you choose to add to a shape, for example a drop shadow, a pattern, some color and a bit of emboss, you’ve created a new Style.

You can:

copy this Style to another layer (copy/paste)

save it to use it later, or

save it by creating a new file with a .asl extension. This is a new Style file.

Styles can be saved in ASL file format. ASL files work in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. I use Photoshop but I found a quick tutorial for installing and using styles in PSE.

Styles One ASL file can contain multiple styles. ASL files are located in the Styles folder of the Adobe/Photoshop/Presets folder.

Styles appear in the Photoshop Styles palette and if you don’t see it on your Photoshop screen, you can make the palette visible by clicking on Styles in the Windows menu. By default the Styles pallette is set to appear next to the color palette on your Photoshop screen.

Styles Photoshop comes with default styles already installed. If you click on the little downward arrow top-right on the styles palette, you can choose to load and try some styles.

For example, if you are on a layer (ie the layer is active) on which you have typed a sentence and you click on a style, it will be applied to your text.

Have you got ‘Styles’?

The Internet is full of little (and big) places where you can find Styles for free. You can download ASL files thatwill generally contain several different Styles. Place your ASL file in the correct folder (described above) and then load the Style you want to use in your software.

Unfortunately these free Styles are most often aimed at webdesign and they are as cute as… the default Photoshop Styles…

Digital Scrapbooking online stores offer Styles that will enable you to add beautiful effects on your elements and texts. Using Styles, you can add a wide range of effects to your elements and texts like glitter, metal, paint, reflections, glass, textile and so much more.

You could also play with your layer’s options yourself, modify all settings (and there are a lot) and save your work when you’ve made something you like. You can then share your ASL files with your friends.

Create your own Style

Let’s say you’ve played for a while in the layer options and you came up with a beautiful effect on a shape, it doesn’t look like anything special but it’s beautiful or maybe, you’ve managed to create some very realistic effect.

What you have to do is:

While being on the layer on which you have set the options for this new style, go to the styles palette and click on ‘New Style’. You will be asked to provide a name for the Style and choose if you want to include in your styles the layer effects and blending options or not. You have saved your style.

If you have made several new styles, you might want to save them in an ASL file. Make your own ASL file by clicking on ‘Save Styles’ and choose to save in the appropriate Styles folder.

Hope you found this helpful.

Scraps of Mind would like to sincerely thank Melothria for this Guest Post. Melothria runs Digital Arts Cafe where she shares her fabulous digital scrapbooking creations (including great freebies).

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Get more mileage out of your digital scrapbooking kits.

Let The Scrapbooking Edge Video Tutorials show you how.

Posted by karooch on

October 8, 2007

My ScrapBlogging Journey - Part 3

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4

Discovering Digital Scrapbooking

I’m not sure how I was first introduced to digital scrapbooking. I think I was surfing the Net, looking for scrapbooking sites and came across one that had some freebie digital kits. I downloaded them and started playing around with them using Seona’s Fireworks program. This was a struggle as I didn’t know what I was doing. Hmm…not sure that a lot has changed. And so she found me an old, old copy of Paintshop. This was long before it had become PaintShop Pro.

That lasted until my next compu Scrapbooking, digital scrapbooking, hybrid scrapbooking ter upgrade when I needed something a little more up to date, a little less ’90s. I purchased Photoshop Elements 2 for $20 on eBay from someone who had got it packaged with their new camera and didn’t want it. And my love affair with PSE began.

At first I just used it for editing my photos, because I am a very ordinary photographer (that’s a euphamism for ‘crap photographer’. Then I tried making some A4 sized layouts that I could print out on my home printer. I like my layouts printed. Sorry, but they’re not real for me unless they’re printed. So I thought the only digital layouts I could make were in the A4 shape. Pity, because I do prefer the square shape. And I really only created digital scrapbook layouts for my older photos which I was making an A4 album for.

I really liked the increased scope that digital gave me (not that I gave up my paper scrapbooking though). The forgiveness of that Undo button seemed to unlock a creativity that I didn’t know I possessed. And I loved it!

And when I discovered 8×8 albums, my digital scrapbooking cup was full! Now I could scrap in my favourite 12×12, resize and print in 8×8 and have ‘real’ layouts. Yaaay!

…Which led to Hybrid Scrapbooking

Then I started adding ‘real’ embellishments like brads, silk flowers, foldout concertina books, lift up tabs for hidden journaling, ribbon, buttons etc. and I discovered I was a Hybrid Scrapbooker.

I started making cards and mini-albums using hybrid techniques for a great unique look. My family started to expect that I would produce something a bit ’special’ as a card for any milestone events. My teenage nieces told they feel excited when they open my birthday cards. I created some really cute little mini-albums where I made the album cover and pages as well as the layouts.

And it finally started to dawn on me that maybe, just maybe, I might actually be a bit creative after all.

Part 4 of the story to be continued.

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4