{crafty} Thankful with Glitz

There are many things I am thankful for but my family and my surroundings are certainly at the top of my list. I am so blessed with an amazing husband and a incredibly quirky son who never fail to bring a smile to my face every day. And while I sometimes take it for granted in the day to day I often find myself in awe of the beauty God has created all around us and it brings so much peace in to my life. I live a truly blessed life. And I am so thankful for it!

What are you thankful for?

Supplies:

Glitz Design "Uncharted Waters" Element Pack 1
Glitz Design "Uncharted Waters" Paper Pack 2
Glitz Design "Dapper Dan" Element Pack 1
Glitz Design "Finnley" Full Digital Kit
Glitz Design "Yours Truly" Element Pack 2

Glitz Design "Yours Truly" Paper Pack
Glitz Design "Sunshine in My Soul" Element Pack
Glitz Design "Wild & Free" Element Pack 1

Other:
One Little Bird staples, Valorie Wibbens bow and stitches, Paislee Press wordart stamp

{crafty} Feathers and a Tutorial

This week Glitz Design is focusing on the current feather trend. Wild & Free and Finnley both have an assortment of fun feathers to choose from so I knew I wanted to pull elements from both of those kits. The woodgrain patterns from Dapper Dan were perfect to balance out the vibrant color from the other collections.

I knew I wanted to take this feather/bird image from Wild & Free and create a large cut out in my background. To do this in PS I opened the image and clicked on "Threshold" to turn the image to strictly black and white.

Next, you duplicate your layer and with the new layer selected click on ctrl + i to invert the image. With the inverted image still selected add a layer mask. Go back to your original image layer and select all and copy. Then hold alt and click on your layer mask from the duplicate layer and paste.

Next you can delete your original layer, the one without the mask, and you will be left with a black and transparent image that you can now use as a clipping mask. 

I open up my paper in a new window and paste my clipping mask over the top to decide on placement. The black area of my clipping mask is where my background paper will be so what I have done here is add black rectangles to fill in the area.

Next, select the shape layers and the feather layer and merge them together. Move the background paper above this layer and with it selected click ctrl + alt + g to clip your paper to the mask. Add your other paper behind it, and that's it! All that is left is to add a drop shadow to create depth. 

I hope that made some sense! I know there were more steps than photos but I tried not to make this too picture heavy. It does seem like a long process but once you do it once or twice it is quite fast. I'd love to hear if anyone has a different method of doing this!

Supply List: 
Glitz Design “Finnley” Full Digital Kit
Glitz Design “Wild & Free” Elements 2
Glitz Design “Dapper Dan” Paper Pack
Other: Valorie Wibbens Sprinkles V14 and By the Thread

Thank you for looking!

{crafty} Cambodia layouts

Last August I tackled my first layout to document my trip to Cambodia and since then the rest of those pictures have been sitting and taunting me. I have been squeezing in more and more time lately to craft and create some scrapbook pages and I find that I am reaching for those pictures more often than not. I have started with a few of my favorite pictures but I have so many more! I *think* I might create a few more layouts and then stick them in album together with pocket pages to hold the rest of the photos.

With this layout I wanted to record some of the details of the trip. It is so amazing to look back and recall just how amazing it was to be there and help.

 Thanks for looking!

{flashy} Photo Share

I have a couple of frames in the house that I have been thinking of swapping out with new pictures. I had a few in mind already but as I was looking back at my pictures, I realized I totally neglected my camera this year. I am terrible about capturing everyday moments from anything other than my phone, and on my phone they usually stay.

Since I am going through my small collection of photos I thought a blog share was in order. It's been a while for that too! Some of my favorites from this year...A few from Cambodia

look at those feet! these kids live in the dirt, it was rare to see any wearing shoes

this little girl was so precious

one of the nicer homes we saw in the villages

I snapped this from the van as we drove by on our way to a village

I just adore this picture! Taken at Remember Nhu.


Back at home, a few macro shots.

and of course some Instagram pics

Pike's Market in Seattle

Space Needle, of course

View form the Space Needle

A nearby park where I run...when I run

And most recently, on the road to a friends house on a beautiful fall morning

{off topic} His love is wide

There was a time when this blog was supposed to be about my artistic endeavors. Yes, even cooking is an art. Oh, what good times they were. I started off so strong and then lost all my umph. One thing about me is that I am NOT a naturally creative person. Not in the least. I have always been more logically driven. It just so happens that everything I find passion for, that I enjoy and strive for, involves a decent level of creativity. Since it doesn't come naturally to me I work at it. Painstakingly work at it. At times...err, always...its a slow process. I'm working on that. In the meantime I find it impossible to not share where I am personally. 


When I started going to church, just over a year ago, I wasn't sure what to expect. I had gone to church as a kid but don't recall being too involved. What I never expected was how much it would change me, consume me, fill me with joy. I was seeking to refine my beliefs, and I got exactly what I asked for.

I have had the song Furious by Jeremy Riddle in my head for the last two days. I have heard it in church a couple of times and all I can say is that this song completely overcomes me. One thing, in any genre of music, that pulls me in is emotion. I want to hear it in their voices. To feel it in my heart. And when that happens I am moved to tears without any real knowledge of why I am crying. This song is no exception. The only thing I can say is that it fills my heart with love, and who doesn't want that? And His love at that. 

I came home from Cambodia two weeks ago. I have been struggling with what to post and sat down several times at my computer to do it but the words would not come to me. This song has inspired me. Although I'm still not sure what I am trying to say while I am typing away :)

"His love is deep. His love is wide. And It covers us. His love is fierce. His love is strong. It is furious."

My time in Cambodia was spent helping people that needed to be shown this kind of love. To know that it is available to them, waiting for them. After enduring years of genocide, which is still fresh in their history, their country needs healing. And what better way to heal than with God's love? It empowers us to do more than we imagined possible. 

During the week we spent in Takeo visiting different villages I helped register our "patients". I struggled with not having much opportunity to interact with the people more than I did. They told my translator what they needed to be seen for; I wrote down what he said. But I tried to find moments to connect when words were not necessary. A smile is universal, right? Those small connections were some of the highlights of my days that week. Of course learning a tiny bit of Khmer, their language, helped a little too. 



We saw just under 900 people in that week and I saw many people turned away because we simply could not help everybody. A majority of the people had pretty standard complaints; arthritis pain, toothaches, colds and stomach aches.  There were some that had been dealing with chronic issues for 5, 10 even 20 years without ever seeing a doctor. Whether it was a 7 year old boy that had an abscessed tooth pulled. An 85 year old woman getting glasses so she could read again. Or a 40 year old man being given pain medication from falling out of a palm tree, true story! We brought relief and hope. 

I was met with so many faces of endurance. Of resiliency.


of innocence. 

The children. Oh, don't get me started on the children. They truly stole my heart. Seeing as though I could probably talk about them for hours, I will save that for another post. 

I can only hope that I helped touch their lives as much as they touched mine. 

{flashy} Beacon Rock

Pioneer Woman's Sunshine action

When we first moved to the Portland, OR area last summer we tried to spend a lot of time driving around the city discovering new areas and checking out all the city has to offer. Its been a while since we had done this. I suppose the winter weather deterred us a bit. This past Saturday, however, was a gorgeous day. It was about 45 degrees and sunny with blue skies. We decided to hop in the car after lunch and started driving north. We talked about maybe heading in to the Vancouver, WA area so I pulled out my phone to see what there was to do. I found out about a small hiking trail that takes you up to the top of the core of a volcano and once you get there, rewards you with panoramic views of the Columbia River Gorge. I'm in! An hour later we arrive and I stood at the base of Beacon Rock thinking "are you kidding me?"

I knew it had to be high to provide the views that were promised but standing there, staring at it, I started to think it wasn't the best idea. The trail was labeled as easy to moderate though, so we set out on our way. My, what felt like 20 pounds, camera bag on my shoulder and my husband carrying our 32 pound almost 4 year old. Let me tell ya, that hike would have been a lot easier without all the extra weight, and for once Im not talking about my own! My camera bag was killing my shoulders, but this was not the time to leave it behind. We made the 800 foot elevation climb and as soon as we made it to the top I started snapping away. It was a gorgeous view on a gorgeous day and some much needed family time outside of the home.

As we entered back in to OR territory the sun was setting amongst a gorgeous sea of clouds rimmed with golden light. I pulled out my camera, rolled down my window, and started shooting. This is one reason my husband always drives!