Digicats (and Dogs)

There are three boys that hang out at the ballpark - Brett, who is the oldest and getting ready to go to college helps me out the most, with getting autographs. Jeff is Gene's son and was a bat boy for the Miracle for a while and T.J. I didn't really place T.J. except (1) I knew he came from money, and (2) he's Canadian.

I should have figured it out when he told me that he had a twin sister, but I just gave him a hard time about there being two of him.

Anyway, Brett e-mailed me yesterday with some shots of TJ he'd taken at a Cape Coral High School Seahawks game and wanted to know if I could do a layout for him, so that he could get it signed. He thought T.J. would get a kick out of it.

And he said "His last name is Cresswell if you need it. I am not sure if TJ Cresswell or Taylor Cresswell would look better." That's when it hit me. He's Neil's boy.

I used to work for Neil. He wasn't so bad, his partner Art is a big dick however. A few years ago...Summer of 2005, Neil said he was taking his boy to a Miracle game and so I made a point of getting a ball to give to him, which I usually do when one of my friends is coming for the first time. I don't know if T.J. had been out to the park before and I only saw them briefly. Neil's usually pretty busy and doesn't stay in one place very long. The next day, Art fired me, which - from what Shawna told me - pissed Neil off royaly, but he won't over rule Art on business matters. Also, Neil always calls him Taylor, not T.J. so you know...the names didn't click either.

Next time I see T.J. I'll have to tell him to tell his Auntie Shawna hello from me and reminder her we're supposed to go out for lunch together sometime.

I guess I didn't make the connection because I thought Neil's kids were a bit younger, but yeah, I guess the age is about right now that I think about it.

Que it's a small world music....



This is an 8 x 10 layout. In both cases, the background came from a freebie Blues Pack I'd downloaded off of Digi-free. For this piece, the orange paper was from Candy's Treats Fire freebie. The logo I found off a google image seach on one of the school websites. The CC High School site wasn't working. Brett said he took the shots late at night, so they're kind of dark and not all that good.



This one was done to print to 5 x7 size and the orange paper came from Shhhh Scrapz Burnt Orange freebie.

The Brushed Metal Alpha in both pieces is from Nettie B. Scrapz.

Dog Day Afternoon is an interesing kit from Danielle Engebretson. I liked the dragonflies, although suddenly, it seems like everyone is doing dragonflies. I do like the watercolored look backgrounds, but it wasn't doing what I wanted to do with it as far as scrapping was concerned.



Dog Daze I came out okay, except that Gene didn't like me using his picture. I thought it looked sweet through.

The Reptar pieces I was not so happy with, although I suppose it's okay...



However, when I came time to scrap the Tie-dyed Missy shots, I knew exactly where I was going with it:



She is definatly stylin', is she not?

I also did the one shot of Mija...just kind of for fun. I had not really expected to get him to sign it.

As it turns out, the opportunity presented himself and the funny thing was, he REALLY like it!



But it was odd watching Mija pitch again in GCL after all these years. He's just not "little Mija" anymore.

The lettering on the Missy piece was the Pink-A-Dot Alpha from Free Digital Scrapbooking The alpha on the Mija piece is from the Beachin' Collection Biggie kit from Scrap Girls

My mother fell off the wagon again - I think yesterday judging by the message she left on my machine. Today she's in the "I'm going to run away" phase. She'll be 72 in July and she still can't get that monkey off her back. Sad.

In any case, Vero Beach comes in next then we go into the All-star break. The boys then play three on the road against Dunedin to finish off the first half. We play a 3 game homestand against Sarasota starting on the 19th, so...I figured I should work up stuff for the Reds.

This is when my camera started acting up, so the shots are not the best, but they are workable.



This is the first one I did, and it uses Candy's Treats Fire and Temptress kits, which is - I think - the same combo I used on the layout I did for Alex Smit earlier in the year. The alpha on all pieces in the Brushed Metal set I got from Scrappin Dead Girls/NettieB Scrapz.

(A note on the Candys Treats blog - she has project playlist on it, so my computer hangs for a while it's loading. This is why it's considered rude to put music on the your webpage/site/blog.)

However, earlier this week I was visiting the blogs for the digital chaos girls, and found a Grey Delight Scrapkit Freebie at Chaos Priestess blog. I saved it, not from any immediate plans to use it, but because I like working in black and white and grey.

So after I finished the first piece I said to myself, let's to see what kind of grey papers is in that kit and well...low and behold, Chaos Priestess has saved me from really boring repetitious designs. Well, sort of. The basic layout is always the same, only the elements change.



The sun is from the Candy Treats Fire Kit, the paper from her Temptress Kit, and so I decided to call the layout Tempting Delights.









Dear Mr. Heisey, for reasons I cannot comprehend, I felt compelled to give you the sun, moon, and the stars, Please don't hold it against me.



The Kainer pieces uses star charms from Candy Treats Chrome Charms tube. I cropped the little tops off the stars before I used them.



And finally, the second piece for Mr. Long not only uses the Chrome Charms tube, but also the stud stars from Yarrow's Rock Devil Kit.

Oh...I need to go shopping at Digital Chaos again, they has such wonderful things1

However, I think that Candy Treats needs to hook up with the Digital Chaos girls, as their stuff would work nicely together.

I wanted to do something different with Tyler. The patriotic stuff is nice and he's fine with it, but, well...it's boring.

Anyway, I had the Arrr Matey kit from Digital Freebies and worked this piece up, which is neither overly piratey or nautical.



It is however, a bit on the boring side. Meanwhile, over in Beloit, Ben Revere has just been on fire.

Candy's Treats had done a taggers kit based on the elements of fire, which I'd used a couple of pieces from before. But this time, I decided to get away from the team colors.

Which just left the lettering. The Metalic wasn't working. However...



The whole thing worked just wonderfully with the burned lettering from the Arrr Matey kit. Hah!



And so lo and behold, the En Fuego layout was born.

When I had mentioned the Revere piece to T.J. yesterday, his eyes lit up and he said "I saw that. I really liked that." So we'll see what Mr. Robertson thinks.

I need to sit down and do the tutorial for the tag done with the Fire kit. I'm sure it will give me all kinds of new ideas. I also need to buy her heartbreaker kit...it looks like fun!

Friday as an educational day game for the Fort Myers Miracle, and the whole staff was providing entertainment for the children before the game started. This included a band in the reception area to greet everyone. Missy went over to the drummer, got him to move out of the way and started banging, in a rather experimental way, on the drum. "Show us your mad skillz Missy!" I yell at her and suddenly she goes into the drum solo from hell!



Well, who knew? I assume Matt, who is the "new" Miss A-Miracle was a drummer on his high school band.

This layout was made with Scrappin Dead Girls My Guitar Hero kit.

Rain Out


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I was trying to figure out all the rain related kits that came out this last month, but then I was reminded of the old "April Showers bring May Flowers" adage. The rainy season in southwest Florida - or Florida in general - does not start until June 1st, but I know that eventually, we're going to have a rain out at Hammond Stadium.

I had suggested, during a rain out, to Justin that they get someone to sponsor the rain outs, and he said "What if it doesn't rain?"

That would be a first, considering last year was a drought year and it still rained.

Anyway, this uses Retrodiva's Rainy Day collection, with the lettering from the Ema kit. It seemed more creative then just using a picture of the tarp, even though this uses a picture of the tarp.

Available from from Digital Scrapbooking Freebies, in the archive section.

And while we're at it....

Rain Rain, Go Away....


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A look at the 38th Street "Canal" and the parking late at Parkcrest, where I used to live in Fort Lauderdale, along with a picture of Tygre, a tabby kitten that lived with me for a little while.

I have several more shots of Lake Parkcrest that I think I'll scrap. These were taken with the way old digital camera that needed new batteries, so the pictures are really sort of "grainy".

Rainville


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I had been sitting out at the ballpark watching Jay Rainville pitch and I said to myself "You know, if I was half my age, I'd..." Then I had to pull up.

Because if I was half my age, I'd have married Anthony Swarzak the year before. But I'd still have loved to have an affair with Jay Rainville. Instead I had to content myself with trying to find out how many rain-out tickets I needed to bring my own Jay Rainville home with me. I'm sure they were giving one away.

I realize it's early in the season, but Rainy does not seem to be doing well in New Britain this year. He is 1-2 with a 9.53 (ouch!) era. Swarz on the other hand, is 2-0 with a 2.08 ERA. One hope Jay will turn it around shortly.

The Metal Alpha is from Scrappin Dead Girls, the paper and ribbons are part of the Rainy Day collection from Retrodiva's Digital Scrapbooking Freebies.

The last few days I've gotten some new shots so there will be more forthcoming...

And just in case you though digital scrapbooking wasn't cool, the guys really love these so far, and they're making wonderful autograph pieces.


I really like Eddie Ovalle. I'm glad he had that RBI single yesterday. This shot was taken on Sunday vs. the Tigers.


I used this on today's post, but the picture dates from April 30, 2006.


This picture is from last year. I have some new ones of him from this last homestand.


Once again, I was reminded that just because I'm not a big fan of Rocky's doesn't mean he's not going to be the hero of the game some nights. This was from when he was playing in the GCL in 2006. I got some of him in Miracle Uni Sunday that look nice, so I'll redo this one soon.


I told Cole I'd taken better shots of him in instructs and I wasn't lying. This was from October of 2007.


Mr. Santiesteban, I have not seen you in a dog's age. And I really can't say I've missed you.


I forgot Manny's pictures on Sunday, but that was okay, as he was pitching. Then I forgot Manny's pictures last night, but that was okay because he was in the dugout. I've got Manny's pictures today and this one is getting signed...


Tyler signed this Sunday and it turned out really nice. I need to scan the autographed one.


This one will be getting redone. I just did it for a game report and I'm not happy with it.

These were all done using the soon to be discontinued American Charm kit from Digital Freebies. It's worked really well, and I haven't found an Americana kit I like better yet. As our colors are Red, White and Blue, I can't complain. Now, if I ever feel compelled to scrap the Threshers I might be in trouble.

Click on image to enlarge.

There was not reason for this beyond the fact that I thought Ed's kids might get a kick out of it.

"Missy"'s fourth birthday was Sunday, April 13th and it was Mascot Mania at the ball park.

Composed using Karen Lewis' Little Safari kit from Digital Freebies.

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In 1994 Craig and I took a diving trip the Grand Cayman Islands for a week. I'd been to the islands as part of a cruise and had fallen in love them and wanted to spend more time there. It turned out to be a very expensive tip, but it was the vacation of a life time.

We dove for six straight days. The day before we flew out we detoxed by going snorkeling to Stingray City.

Our dive trip Captain had asked for suggestions and someone asked if Wildlife Reef was open. In order to preserve their reefs, Grand Cayman shuts them down to tourists on a rotating basis to let the flora and fauna recover from any accidental damage that might occur. Unlike St. Thomas who pretty much told us to feel free to touch or handle anything we wanted, the dive captains in the Grand Cayman explained how that damages the reefs and pretty much gave us a good ecological overview of the area.

In any case, it was and so off we went to wildlife reef. It was one of the nicest dives I've ever been on.


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I used Scrap Girls Beachin' kit on both these pieces. I haven't decided if I want to add a third for not. I used some the pics on layouts for Diamond, Cecil, Gretchen and Phantom. I had also done another layout on Wildlife Reef using a different kit, so I've probably scraped this topic to death now.

Click on the image to enlarge it.

After leaving the edge of the world, Grr goes south, following the directions provided to her by El Cheapo Travel. She does not find the beach though - ending up a very strange land that is inhabited by Rodents of Extreme Size. While this might seem a cat's playground, these rodents are protected by a strange orange dog.

Furthermore is seems the rodents have brainwashed the humans to stand in very long lines in order to ride on unsafe contraptions. And yes, there is lots of water, but not a grain of sand in sight.

Taking cover in a cardboard box, Grr ponders what she's going to do next...

Once again, the travels of Grr are sponsored by Raspberry Road Designs' Wild Kingdom.

Click on image to enlarge.

Hell is a group of short, black, limestone formations in the northwest Grand Cayman town of West Bay. It is roughly the size of half a soccer field, and people are not allowed in amongst the limestone formations; two viewing platforms exist for tourists. There are numerous versions of how Hell received its name, but they are generally variations on "a local official exclaimed, 'This is what Hell must look like.'"

Regardless of how it first came to be called Hell, the name stuck and the area has become something of a tourist attraction, featuring a post office from which you can send "postcards from hell", and a gift shop with 'Satan' passing out souvenirs while greeting people with phrases like 'How the hell are you?' and 'Where the hell are you from?'

When I was there, the post office was very quaint, and had a picture of the Queen on the wall. I'm now told it's been paint red and giving a more hellish appearance.

I made use of the Beachin' kit from Scrap Girls on this one and deliberately left out the picture with my ex in them, because I've discovered that I really don't like looking a him anymore.

I'm also really sorry I did not discover this kit earlier when we got going on the beach theme. It's very useful.

Click on image to enlarge.

The Power Puff girls recently turned 10-years-old. The calico duo where rescued from a barn in the country, two small kittens, no bigger than the palm of a hand.

Powder is small and still timid, and doesn't like strangers in her house. She loves to be where ever her human mom is, and loves to be in her lap when she can. She's very big on grooming, and is quite the little diva.


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Puff is bigger and fluffier. She likes napping in the sun and being brushed.

Puff is the Matriarch of the felines over at Perfectly Parker, where you can read more of the pair's adventures.

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I used a very nice freebie mini-kit called Red Velvet that I got at Element by Design. The colors are tremendous on it, and I needed a feline that could do it justice. It took me a while, but I think I found the right pair.

I supplemented it with flowers from Digital Freebies ArrrMatey kit and Raspberry Road Designs Wild Kingdom kit. The alpha is the Aged Embossed set from Free Digital Scrapbooking, a standard freebie that every digi-scraper should have at their disposal.

Click on the image to supersize the cuteness

While I was over at Digital Freebies, I found this adorable kit called Little Safari, so I picked that one up as well. While I have not actual use for it, it will give me some digital friends for Miss Diamond, and it will appeal to the kids who read her page.

Maybe I can work it into the Beach Theme for Diamond's blog and make it surfin' Safari?

The sunset pictures are from Smathers Beach, Key West, Florida, and were taken in 1993. Smathers is a man made beach. The natural beach that was there was destroyed when they built the airport, so they imported white sand from the Bahamas and made a new beach. Much of that orignal sand has probably washed itself back to the Bahamas, so they have to bring in more every year.

Clink on image to enlarge

I was more happy with this one, which uses Raspberry Road Designs' Mystic Winter kit. Maybe because it's darker and I'm not a big fan of pink?

Danielle was obviously expecting heavy snowfall here in Cape Coral, Florida, judging from the boots she was wearing with her P.J.'s!

Bike was one of the things she found under the tree.

Clink on image to enlarge

My friend's daughter Danielle has a princess fixation, which I understand is normal for little girls her age. I think this is where I messed up. I was into Roy Rogers when I was her age.

In any case, MeeGee Designs is an Australian designer who does a lot of Disney stuff and had a couple of Princess Paper Packs, so I decided to play with it.

There are elements from Shabby Princess' Splendid Kit, flowers from Five Corners of My Mind's Country Chic kit and the Pink Cookie lettering is from Free Digital Scrapbooking.

I'm not entirely happy with it, and I did save the working file in case Rowena wants it changed.

On a side note MeeGee designs has some awesome freebie papers as well as a mega sized Australian Scout Kit. Fun stuff.

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While Abbie (Harper Abigail Stephens) is technically the House Panther in the Cats Stephens gang, but Emily and Eliot are good candidates for Blue Wednesday.

Abbie became a Stephens in March of 2007 and celebrated her first Gotcha Day at the beginning of the month. She was adopted for PetSmart, mainly as a companion for Eliot. Evidently Emily is not really friendly and Percy is a little on in years. She likes to bit feet, especially if she's being ignored, and she likes to start fights with Eliot, then act like he's hurting her. Unfortunately, just about everyone has caught onto this ploy.

She is long haired Panther with a very long body and tail that are both low to the ground giving her a kind of ferret look.

There have been a lot of changes recently in the Cats Stephens household and they do not blog as actively as they did, but you can find Abbie and Company at The Cats Stephens.

Please stop by and leave a note for Percy as well, who has non-metastasized nerve sheath sarcoma and will likely have to have surgery to remove a couple of toes. The are picking up a referral to take him to see a specialist at a hospital in Virginia .


Image by Zoolatry

Friday is also Freebie Friday and Abbie's page was created using the Red Velvet Mini Kit Freebie from Element by Design. I should note that it took forever to download, but the colors are fabulous. Alpha by Free Digital Scrapbooking.

The piece was designed to an 8 x 10 page, and should print and frame well. I just hung a couple of Miss Diamond in my office - ah, cute cat! Everyone around here just adores her.

Click on image to enlarge.

In Western Culture, the Lion is considered the King of the Beasts. In the Eastern Culture, it's Tigers that are given that exhalted position. I never quite understood why Lions rated the King of Beasts title, and rather believe that Tigers rule the animal kingdom.

These three fellows live in the various zoos. The big one in the middle is from the Miami Zoo, the handsome fellow on the left in is the Buffalo Zoo and the sleeping kitty on the right is in the Cleveland Zoo.

I again used Scrap Girl's African Beat Collection on the composition. It's very attractive mega kit, well worth $10.00.

For more animals visit Friday Ark at Modulator.