This is one of the coolest kids I know.
He is still in that awesome place where he believes in magic. Oh how I hope to encourage him to never lose that skill at being delighted by life.
At his family birthday party last night he was thrilled and thankful (expressing his thanks both spontaneously and when he was gently reminded). One of my favorite parts of the evening was when he read his cards out loud (the first year he has done that). Hearing, in his own voice, what each of us wrote to him was really special.
While Chris lit the candles on his cake he went into the other room so he could be surprised by the cake and all of us sitting around the table. With the cake on the table and the candles glowing Chris went to get him, had him close his eyes and walked him around the house before bringing him back to the table (so glad I had long candles for the cake). When he was brought back to the table and opened his eyes we all yelled surprise and the look on his face, the absolute joy, was priceless.
The photo above showing him in mid-wish before blowing out the candles is my favorite from the day.
I hope you enjoyed the basic information on Scrapbooking With Your Computer this week. I definitely let the content evolve over the course of the week (keeping it really simple) and still have a bunch of things on my list to share with you.
With that in mind I am planning to do two things:
(1) Coming soon I will do another weekly feature focused specifially on hybrid scrapbooking. I want to put some projects together with step by step photos of my processes. I need a little time to get that going.
(2) I am going to designate one day per week for a post on Scrapbooking With Your Computer. Each week I will bring you a specific tip, how-to, or video tutorial that will walk you through a specific process or idea. Some concepts will be digital and some hybrid. I currently have a list of questions that I will be using to generate specific content for the next few weeks but if there is something specific you would like to see me cover feel free to leave a comment below or email me ali at ali edwards design dot com.
![Two Peas](http://www.avantlink.com/gbi/10513/24901/21775/26723/image.jpg"width="120"height="240"style="border:0px;"alt=)
Ali…thanks so much for the info from this week. It’s moved me off dead center and jump started more than just scrapbooking in my life!!!
Happy birthday Simon!
Love these thoughts Yolanda – it’s interesting for me to think about the why – I will make sure to address that.
Hi Cindy – I’ve got a written tutorial on how to create a gathering of photos in photoshop here: http://www.lifeartmedia.com/newsletter4.html
What a fantastic shot of such a special day. Happy birthday Simon!
You should also check out this video tutorial that Cathy did for making multi-photo grids for my Tuesday Tutorial series: /2009/07/tuesday-tutorials-cathy-zielske-.html
Hi Amanda – I added this to my list to cover during hybrid week. Usually I know that I am going to do (like that it will be hybrid)…and then it always evolves.
Hi Samantha – I will add this to my list
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Hi amyellen – check to make sure that the layers are above the background. Also make sure that when you go to Edit/Fill layer that the color you have selected in the small window the pops up is the Foreground.
Yes, you can do it in Word. I don’t use Picasa so I am not sure about that. I will add the topic of adding an overlay to a photo in word for the upcoming hybrid week.
Thank you – I am always searching for a nice balance between the two.
You should also check out this video tutorial that Cathy did for making multi-photo grids for my Tuesday Tutorial series: /2009/07/tuesday-tutorials-cathy-zielske-.html
I find party photos really hard, but this is lovely. I’m really looking forward to hearing more about your thoughts on hybrid scrapping- it is something I want to do more of.
Wow, what a priceless photo! Happy Birthday Simon from New Zealand
. Thanks for the computer tutorials. I use PhotoStudio and I hadn’t really had much luck figuring things out, but with your posts I could find the relevant bits on that programme!! I look forward to being able to do a bit more hybrid layouts. Cheers
Great picture, Simon! Happy, Happy Living to You!
The video tutorial yesterday was wonderful, A! I watched it straight through and I’m going to do it this weekend. I really appreciated the command shortcuts for the MAC that you included too. I’d love to see more videos and the year long ‘using your computer’ will be perfect for me. Thanks so much!
I have been doing digital scrapping for 2-3 years now but your tutorials this week have been very helpful with things I wasn’t sure about. Thanks so much. I am looking forward to the next “class”.
Tanjoubi O-medetou, Siman-san! (Happy birthday in Japanese)!!!! Your family party was fantastic. I can’t wait to read what you will accomplish in the upcoming year.
Love the photo of Simon!
Thanks so much for sharing all the information! It has been so helpful, looking forward to your assitional posts.
HI Ali! Just wanted to say thanks and, more importantly, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO SIMON!
That is a great picture – the lighting is really nice.
Love the “mid-wish” photo. Happy birthday to Simon.
and thanks for the great tutorials this week!
-abbie
Ali, Thank you for doing this. I was a paper scrapper and then after breaking my wrist in 2003 became a digital scrapper.It seems I did one or the other and never used my computer for the paper scrapping. I missed so very much with paper and now am at a loss with paper and digital combined, and want to do hybrid scrapping. I will wait patiently for the hybrid tutorials.
The photo had me smiling and nearly in tears — from one mother to another. It is so so awesome and amazing to watch our children grow and realize that we are as in wonder and awe of that process as they are of the world. What a joyous day for all of you! Time sure does fly………
Always good to be reminded to enjoy all the moments because before you know it — they’re 8!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Heidi
P.S. Thanks for the computer info. Gave me confidence that it’s not too late for me to get on board w/ digi
priceless!
as soon i saw the picture, i pictured myself there! love it!
lovely story as well. and he’s looking more like his father
Ali-thanks for the ideas this week – it has prompted me to get in gear and use the tools I have. Happy Birthday to Simon – looks like a Lego Birthday!
Happy Birthday to Simon!
I so love the idea of a weekly digital scrapbooking tip! I am just getting started on that venture and you are by far my favorite artist!! I am so thankful you linked me to Designer Digitals, although my pocketbook surely isn’t!! But they have so many great items and sales!! Thanks for all you put into your blog! It is awesome!!
Such a sweet picture of Simon…you can almost hear him thinking. Happy birthday to him and congrats to you for giving birth 8 years ago! Thanks for the tutorials this week. I find it so much easier learning Photoshop in bite sized pieces!
I’m really loving the Scrapbooking with Your Computer series. I’m new to it all and basics are so helpful. Love it.
I was just thinking the other day that Simon’s birthday was almost here. I love the photo and as always, the perfect way you describe everything. Thanks for sharing your special family moments with us
No matter how my day went, I always feel so much happier after visiting your blog.
What a great pic! Thanks for sharing these wonderful moments…
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIMON:) Hope you had a wonderful day and may this year bring you tons of HAPPINESS!
Firstly, Happy Birthday Simon! I’ve been following your blog and books for a few years and have seen photo’s of him since baby and todler hood, so he’s quite special to me.
Then, thanks again for the series. I can finally CLIP stuff into templates. That is huge for me. I’ve previously opened my photo’s in organizer and just dragged them on top of templates. It didn’t work for anything but square and was quite a drag (Pardon the pun).
I was also wondering about the process of keeping track of supplies used in a layout. Seems courtesy to always mention your supplies when posting a layout. And link back. No idea how one does that.
I hope he never stops wishing! Love you guys.
Ali, thank you for your generosity in sharing your knowledge with us…you are such a blessing.
This may be overly simple but I always have a time and a half getting any text or element to line up perfectly inside of my marvy punches. Could you share information on how you calculate your margins and how you are sure you txt will fit just right inside once you are finished with designing what you want to punch. I have googled my heart out for this one. I know there has to be an easier way than to way I fiddle over and over to achieve something that should be so simple.
Thanks, Robin
Ali,
Happy Birthday to your very special little guy.My amazing oldest daughter is about 1 year younger than him and I owe the two of you a world of thanks. It is because of you and your blog (and my awesome local scrapbook store owner, Cass, who directed my to your blog) that I was able to realize that I wasn’t a “crazy, over-protective, first time mom.” After reading a lot of your posts and a lot of the linked info you had about autism I was able to have my daughter diagnosed. She has blossomed since the diagnosis. (As a matter of fact we are getting ready for karate class right now!) So, happy birthday to one of my favorite guys I’ve never actually met!
This is such a sweet picture – that expression on his face is priceless. I am so glad that you have captured that forever…
I can see why this is your favorite photo. Very sweet.
Hi Ali,
Thank you soooo much for the videos! I had Elements and was too overwhelmed to work with it. You made the process seem so easy. Thank you for keeping it simple. That is my one word for 2010
Great picture of Simon. Was wondering if you played around with that picture or is that how it came out?
~Susan
My first thought was “Yay, we get to see a family picture!” But don’t think this hasn’t been a wonderful week of instruction. It must be wonderful to know that you have the talent and ‘celebrity’ to bring this to so many people out there. This has been my NY resolution and it WILL start Feb 1 w/ the purchase of elements. Thank you so very much. Looking forward to hybrid hints.
This is wonderful! I love these posts and video tutorial. So glad to see that you will keep them coming! Happy birthday to Simon and what an awesome moment you captured in that photo! Wow.
Thanks for sharing Simon’s birthday with us! And thank you for an awesome week of information! I can’t wait to have some time to go through it in detail…crazy life right now…crazy good!
Enjoy your weekend!
Thank you so much for sharing your expertise. You have no idea how much this is appreciated when you don’t have the funds to purchase the classes.
Thank you very much Ali!
Amazingly that is how it came out. I upgraded our camera recently to the 5D and it is able to do pretty amazing things in low light.
Awesome to read about your daughter Shannon
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Happy Birthday Simon! How wonderful that you go to lengths to keep the magic for him.
I’m thrilled to hear you’ll be doing some digi-scrap stuff, can’t wait to see!
Thank you so much for the great template and all the great info!
Thankyou again Ali…not only have I loved and learnt so much from your tutorials….but you have blown me away with a blog comment… that made my day…thankyou.
Happy Birthday to beautiful Simon too..
First—Happy Birthday to Simon
2nd–love the idea of the once a week “scrapbooking with your computer”–thanks for that—and for what it’s worth VIDEOS are so much easier for me to follow along than just a tutorial —-(not sure which is easier for you though)