Under The Mulberry Tree

Heritage Fun

2011-07-09T15:14:00.005-05:00

We've had some gorgeous new kits come available at NDISB in the last couple of weeks. I fell in love with the wonderful papers in Happy Day from AneczkaW Designs. Anna has such a unique style and her kits are always fun to work with. This one jumped into my hands screaming "You need to do a heritage page with me!" I know, a lot of people subscribe to the theory heritage pages should be all in neutrals. I'm not one of those people. Our ancestors didn't live in a neutral-colored world. Their world, like ours, was in living color. So I use a LOT of color in the heritage pages I make to preserve my genealogy research. There's every reason to make beautiful, interesting pages. Genealogy should be fun, not boring and humdrum! Our ancestors were living people, many of whom led very interesting, often intriguing lives.

Anyway, I was a little surprised at the thought of heritage with this kit, because as soon as I saw it I thought of the thousands of happy hours my boys spent learning with Blue on "Blue's Clues" and I fully intended to scrap some of those memories. However, it not only works for heritage, it works well! But, you be the judge!

Here's the kit preview.

Here's my layout. Florence and Annie Todd were my 1st cousins, three times removed. Their mother was my great grandfather's oldest sibling, Anna (also called Annie). There was a 20 year span between Anna's birth and Thomas Winter's birth, Annie being the oldest of the 12 Winter children and Thomas being the youngest.

Page credits: Kits: Happy Day from Aneczkaw Alpha: Time In A Bottle (re-colored) a Guild Encore Kit Template: Breakthrough 2 by Helena Jole Font: Harabarahand

I discovered something very interesting when I accidentally filled the shadow layer for the top center curled edge. Shadow layers filled with papers make wonderful shadows. The extra flourish under the curl is not from the paper background. I inadvertently filled the shadow layer, thinking I had clicked the paper curl layer with the beautiful black paper from the kit. It made such a neat shadow, I decided to leave it alone and just fill the paper layer. It's a really neat technique I think I'll use again.

Well...It's My Anniversary Here - Again!

2011-06-09T19:04:00.003-05:00

I don't think I need to say much. I'm such a bad blogger! No promises, but I'm trying to get better at this. It just takes a lot of time.

This visit will be brief, though. I wanted to take a minute and let all you digital scrapbookers know we're having a Creative Team call for Natural Designs in Scrapbooking - NDISB. It's my digi getaway home, so I'm biased, but I think it's the best home in cyberspace.

This announcement was created with "Through The Looking Glass" the June NDISB Customer Appreciation Kit. You can grab it free for two weeks with an $8.00 purchase from 15 Jun 2011. Just click the link in the title. You can, of course, purchase it, too after 1 July!

Site CT Requirements:
- You'll be randomly matched with 2-3 designers each month.
- Create at least 1 layout for each designer and post at NDISB and two other open galleries.
- You're welcome to create more layouts as long as you also complete layouts for your assigned designers.
- Be active in the forums and/or host a monthly challenge.

Interested in joining our team? Send me an email (s3js9938@gmail.com) or PM before 24 June 2011 with the following:
- A link to your primary gallery.
- A link to your favorite layout you've made and tell me why it's your favorite.
-A short bio and why you want to CT for NDISB.
- Your user name at DST and/or NDISB

Not Again!

2010-06-13T17:57:00.003-05:00

Yeah - again! It's been a whole year since I've been here. And I couldn't tell you where it's all gone. Well, yeah, I can. Some of it at any rate. I started a full-time job at Murray State University last fall and it's really taken it's toll. I just can't quite get in the swing of it. I'm good at finance and accounting, but my brain aches by the time I get home. My brain, not my head, and it just wipes me out! Still, I am grateful and more for a decent job in this tiny town. So I smile every day and thank God for his goodness and providential care!

I think I'm going to take a different direction with my blog posts, too. There will still be scrapbooking here, but there will be a lot more genealogy - and there will be a marriage of the two. So, if you're a heritage scrapper, stay tuned. If you're a genealogist or family historian, stay tuned. If you want an interesting and beautiful way to present and publish your genealogy come in and set a spell. My Scrapbook Genealogy classes will be going back up at NDISB in the near future. Some of them will be revised. I've found some better ways to handle some really boring, grunt work kind of record keeping. There will be new classes coming along in the not too distant future, too. If you're a digital scrapper, register at NDISB and start an album in the gallery for your heritage book. If you complete the challenges, there will be gifts that will increase your stash for heritage layouts. If you're a paper scrapper, join the site and open a gallery. You can take photos of the pages you complete. Many of the kits we use in digi can be printed and used for paper and hybrid, too. And maybe I can convert you! Digital supplies can be reused and you're not out $20 for a page if you make a goof - or find new information that cause you to change your genealogy! Plus, I hope you'll learn to conduct your research the right way and fall in love with the two together. There's nothing worse than reading the begats unless, of course, you want
to fall asleep. So come learn how to make a treasured chronicle from your precious and treasured research!

While we're talking about heritage scrapbooking, let me introduce you to a kit I am just going to HAVE to get. It is so perfect, I don't even know where to start. Many of you know I write the monthly column LifeLines for The Artisan Notebook, the monthly publication of The Digital Scrapbook Artisan's Guild. If you've read LifeLines, you'll know I believe firmly the elements on a heritage page should reflect the times and life of the people being chronicled. Doing this helps others understand our ancestors and know a little more about them - it helps make them real, but without words. The human brain is amazing and automatically makes those conenctions, so be careful what you scrap! How many times have I wanted one or more of the elements in this kit to do just that only to find NO ONE had them? I can't begin to count. So I made some of my own and, I assure you, I am no designer. Good enough for my own book, but not good enough to give to others.

So without further ado, here is Olde Tyme Junque from Cari Cruse, owner of Cari Created Designs.
The kit is available form Sunshine Studio Scraps.

NDISB

2009-06-21T13:30:00.005-05:00

If you've been to NDISB recently, you'll know there have been some problems in the gallery and the forum. There are some awfully mean, destructive people in this world - people who hurt other people just because they can. You'd think their parents might have taught them better! Anyway, some of those unscrupulous people - or maybe it was just one - got hold of NDISB again. First they hacked the gallery like they did during the ADSR, then they hit the forums. I guess maybe it makes them feel powerful. Maybe makes them feel intelligent that they can do this. I have news for them - it makes them look ignorant, small-minded and petty. I hope Ernie and Theresa will take some legal action and turn it over to the state attorney general. Hackers think no one can catch them, but guess what? They're wrong. It might take awhile, but they'll get caught. Then I hope someone jerks their heads bald!

So don't lose faith. T & E are working hard to get the site restored and onto a new version that isn't vulnerable to this kind of attack. While you're waiting, why not have a look at the store? That's operating properly and man do we have a LOAD of new designers. It seems like I counted 18 new friends and family from all around the globe. And their designs are to die for! Here's a sneak peek:

NDISB June Blog Train

2009-06-15T00:00:00.004-05:00

Oh, I did it AGAIN! But at least I've only been gone a few weeks, not months - or years! I've been on a real life roller coaster ride that's kind of had me tied up in knots - my father-in-law was diagnosed with lung cancer and we've been a little scattered. Things are looking pretty good for him right now, the chemo has shrunk the tumor, but he will be 80 next year and you just never know what variables age will introduce. Still we love him and are all hanging in there with him.

Now for the fun stuff! Natural Designs in Scrapbooking is having another BLOG TRAIN! The last one was so much fun! The kit was great, all the quick pages and word art were fun and loads of people had a great time. I hope you'll join us again this month.

This is another really fun kit. Many of us that scrapbook have children - most are human, but many of us also have fur babies that are as precious to us a human child! This kit is just for you. Entitled Child's Play, it is chock-a-block FULL of fun goodies. It's HUGE, it's fun - it's FREE!

You can find out all about it at the NDISB Blog.

And here's my little freebie for you:

I'm sorry - it's gone. Thanks for looking!

Make sure you visit Karen for the next stop: Fortlady http://grandma-k.blogspot.com/

Now if you happen to get lost, here's the entire schedule:

starting point NDISB Blog http://www.ndisb.com/blog
1- Blind Sight Designs http://blind-sight.org/blog
2- BGDesmet http://bgdesmet.blogspot.com/
3- Barb Speck http://www.barbspeck.blogspot.com/
4- s3js http://underthemulberrytree.blogspot.com/
5- Fortlady http://grandma-k.blogspot.com/
6- Tahera http://scrapbookartstudio.wordpress.com/
7- wvsandy http://msm-mysweetmemories.blogspot.com/
8- Design Dispositions http://mkostoff.squarespace.com/
9- Nadine http://nadineswordartscraps.blogspot.com/
10- Maz - http://www.nowthenhabibi.com/scrapping-stuff/
11- Little Dragon Designs http://littledragondesigns.blogspot.com/ Look for more than one here!12- Mom_of_5 http://koppelkreations.blogspot.com/
13- Hot Flash Designs http://p-u-s-h.typepad.com/
14- Maggie - Sandersmr http://sandersmr.blogspot.com/
15- Cre8tvlyYrs Designz by Gina Arzaga http://www.cre8tvlyyrs.blogspot.com/
16- AmySueWho http://amysuewho.blogspot.com/
17- Heather Manning http://digiscrapping.net/blog
18- Crecia27 http://gray-daze.blogspot.com/
19- Samceline http://www.samceline.de/
20- Bunnynose http://bunnynose-aboxofchocolates.blogspot.com/
21- Charlize Creation http://www.beautyframe.blogspot.com/
22- Phil4v4 http://www.otterandcrabapple.blogspot.com/
23- Little Bit's Dzynz/Laura Mundy http://lilbitsd-zynz.blogspot.com/
24- Bebimora http://bebimora.blogspot.com/
25- NDISB Blog http://www.ndisb.com/blog

Most of all - HAVE FUN!

Dawn Inskip

2009-05-03T23:27:00.009-05:00

I'm sad. Dawn Inskip will be closing her shop at Natural Designs in Scrapbooking on the 20th of this month. I've really only just gotten comfortable working with her kits. And that's not because of the kits. They are absolutely wonderful and I have admired them for a long time - and the layouts others have done with them. It's just I'm not very good with the quirky, fun, hand-drawn art and not very good with fantasy and storybook type layouts. I've had to learn some new things and it's way outside my comfort zone. But I learned and they are SO FUN! So I am sad that Dawn is leaving NDISB. Now, if you're a fan don't panic. You will still be able to get her work at The Digi Chick and Pickleberry Pop, just not as NDISB. Sniff! Sniff! But, do hurry over and grab some of her sale items. There are loads of them (about 40) on sale for half price. So get 'em while you can.

Here's a page I did with A Brand New Day

Click HERE to go to Dawn's store.

(Inter) National Scrapbook Day is tomorrow

2009-05-01T08:11:00.010-05:00

Wow! This has grown into such a huge celebration! And from National to International by acclamation. I just love it. Here's some of what's going on.

My good friend Bonnie Van Esch is having a 50% off sale. Bonnie has beautiful kits - some very realistic, some whimsical, all great to work with and just plain fun! This includes all of the regular kits but not her Commercial Use products. Here's the newest of her products

There's more to see at Bonnie's store.

Remember: All products EXCEPT Bonnie's Cu products are 50% off 1 May until the 4th May. Please make a note that all discounts will be taken off at check out.

Date Extended For NDISB Blog Train Pages

2009-04-30T12:35:00.002-05:00

Just a quick update. Due to the popularity of the blog train, some of you have not been able to get onto the store site to get all the pieces/parts (remember that movie?). Because of this, I have provided a new link in the original post to get my Quick Pages. There are two sets of pages so make sure you click both buttons. I will leave these up until the 3rd, so grab them while you can. I can't guarantee that everyone else will leave them up, but do check with any site you haven't yet downloaded to see if they have been able to do the same.

NDISB April 2009 Blog Train

2009-04-13T18:03:00.032-05:00

I know, I know! I really AM a terrible blogger. Real life gets in the way and bam! I just don't get anything up. Not today, though. Today, Under The Mulberry Tree is a stop on the NDISB April Blog Train featuring the marvelous, wonderful and fabulously beautiful "A Natural Earth" collab kit by the NDISB design team. Chuga-chuga-toot-toot!

You can find out more about it here on the NDISB BLOG (You can find directions to the blog train stops, too, if you get derailed along the way. That usually happens to me, so I need a road map!) If you find some of the stops aren't active yet, please do check back. Our stops literally circle the globe and time zones make a huge difference!

and get it here

While you're in the store, have a good look around. We have some fantastic new kits and loads of designers. There is something sure to suit you. No matter your tastes or style - from funky and fun to Victorian and stately and all points in between - it's there. And visit the forum too. We have a range of fun challenges and classes available, all for free.

And just for coming to look, I have a couple of little goodies for you.

And this is the second set of pages

Sorry, they'e gone.

Ailsa is waiting to say hello to you, so make sure you go on to the next stop

Little Dragon Designs

While you're there, make sure to tell Ailsa thanks - she's the one who has coordinated the whole blog train for you. She has been simply amazing and absolutely the best! Thanks, Ailsa!

And thanks to all of you, too. I hope you enjoy all the beautiful goodies we have for you today.

Blessings,

Susan

Check Out Digiscrap 101

2009-03-06T21:51:00.001-06:00

My personal page isn't active yet, but the site's great!

I've Been a Bad Blogger - Check This Out!

2009-03-06T21:36:00.003-06:00

I have been so bad. I admit it. I'm a terrible blogger. But I'll try again!

I've been over at Digital Scrapbooking 101 and they're having a great giveaway - a Wacom Bamboo Craft tablet. I'd love to have one. I haven't personally used a Wacom, but from what I know from friends who have them, they're to die for. Easy to use, fast learning curve, versatile - you can use it like a mouse - what's not to like about a design tool and toy like that? I have a very old low-end tablet and it's a lot of fun. I would love to find out what I could do with it.
Anyway, you can check out the Bamboo here: http://www.wacom.com/bamboocraft/index.php
and you can check out the giveaway here: http://www.digiscrap101.com/profiles/blogs/giveaway-one-of-my-favorite-1

Lost and Found

2007-07-12T12:16:00.000-05:00

I didn't realize I'd been away so long. I'm a woman with a mission and completely lost track of time and place. I'm working on a genealogy project for an on-line acquaintance. She lost her mother last fall, and her father has been diagnosed as terminal with cancer. She's trying to find as much information as she can for him in the time he has left and trying to capture as many of his stories and memories as she possibly can. It's good for both of them. And it gave me the kind of mystery I can't refuse.

I hope, someday, to be accredited as a genealogist and have been working on a large project toward that end. I'll probably never work at it for pay - that would take all the fun out of it - but it's a personal goal. For my friend, it has had an immediate and very satisfactory outcome. Her family lines are included in this massive Cherokee family I have been researching. I have loads of information for her, all documented, nicely packaged, ready to go. The sad part about Native American research is this - unless you descend from one of the "famous" Cherokee like Attakullakulla, Ostenaco, The Ridge, etc., you won't find any information prior to about 1800. Maybe a little earlier, but not much more than 1780 or so. Even for the "famous" Native Americans, the line ends not long before the Revolution. The reason? There were no written Native American languages prior to the Cherokee syllabary's development by Sequoyah in the early 1800's. His was the first. Within 3 years of publishing the syllabary, the Cherokee Nation was mostly literate. Unlike most European languages, once the symbols, and the syllable sounds each of the 80 odd symbols stands for were memorized, Cherokee was completely readable and instantly understandable. It doesn't depend on spelling, but upon phonetics. Very clever. Most Cherokee learned the symbols and sounds in a month or less. Would that English were that easy! But for all that, Cherokee history was all oral, passed down generation to generation by the storytellers. They all died out at about the same time and, except for bits and pieces here and there, the oral histories have been lost, and the ancestors that went with them. And then there is the problem of lack of documentation. Proper genealogy demands a paper trail and "proof" of each event. Oral histories can't provide that. For most people, oral history is fine for our family history. I don't need a piece of paper to tell me who my Grandpa was, I have my father's word for it and I knew him personally. While my heart is happy and I KNOW the truth, it won't stand up in court.

My genealogy friend had little to go on, but in the space of a few hours with the help of some wonderful on-line resources and books I have at home, we were able to open her whole family up back to the beginning of recorded Cherokee history, with several hundred ancestors and collateral kinfolk, things her father never knew because the information just wasn't available - and for much of his life, it wasn't cool to be Cherokee, or any other Native American for that matter, so the information was suppressed. It's been so satisfying to watch the story unfold and help people connect. The next step will be to scrapbook some of it. She hails from a rich and interesting cultural background and it will make some wonderful layouts.

Speaking of layouts, I'm working on some military layouts. We have an unbroken line (that includes me) of military service in every generation and every war from the Revolution - and probably before - to today. I have 9 Revolutionary ancestors. I haven't counted my husband's yet. It's a proud tradition. Sadly, it's a necessary tradition. Maybe one of these days....In the meantime, there's still something about a man in uniform that really grabs my attention. Be on the look out for a series of layouts from all branches here soon. And while you're waiting, here's a layout I did using Bonnie Van Esch's wonderful Princess of Rock kit. I've always wished I'd been born during the Renaissance. I love the clothes, the culture, the knights and ladies. Alas, I can only live it in my dreams - or on a scrapbook page. You just never know where your face will show up!

Visit Bonnie at her blog from here or the sidebar. It's amazing, beautiful, fun - and includes freebies. You should also visit the Snap and Scrap blog. Not only are there some beautiful freebies, but you'll find all kinds of wonderful treats - yummy recipes, Bonnie's wonderful altered art crafts, tutorials and challenges. It's great fun!

Blessings!

Are Boys Ever Quiet?

2007-07-05T21:35:00.000-05:00

I don't think so. Mine don't seem to be. Well, that's not entirely true. Justin never made much noise when he was little. Even when he cried as a baby, there wasn't much volume to it. And he hardly ever had to be told to use his inside voice in preschool because he always did. Then Jason was born. Jason came into this world at full volume and he will exit this world at full volume. Soon after, Justin discovered, in self-defense, he had a voice and the volume has not decreased since. It was kind of like when Dill came home from the hospital and Tommy discovered what being a big brother was on Rugrats. I miss seeing that show every day. I like it - it's fun, funny, and really true to life in a quirky kind of way. But my boys will no longer admit they like the Rugrats. But just watch them when they don't think anyone's looking. They lap it up.

So it's been very loud around here. The 4th of July just made it worse. But I love my dear mother-in-law. She gave me a little peace in the midst of the storm. She made breakfast for the whole family yesterday. Yum - eggs, bacon, sausage, sausage gravy, homemade biscuits. All I had to do was sit down and enjoy it. John's brother, sister-in-law and their grown kids were there. It was so fun. We usually do this once a month, but it was extra fun because it was mid-week and out of the ordinary. After that, we just sort of hung around at home, took naps - or tried to. Mine disappeared when my parents called, but that's okay. And we did fireworks for the third time in as many days. Cool. It reminded me of when I was little in Orange County, California. We lived about a mile from Disneyland and there were fireworks every night of the week in the summer and almost an hours' worth on Independence Day. It was magical then - it's magical now. That's a part of my childhood I never outgrew. Pyrotechnics still fascinate and thrill me.

I got to do a little genealogy last night, but I didn't get to do any scrapping. Good thing I got a double dose the day before. This is one of those layouts that will be welcomed with joy long after I'm gone. A pure genealogy layout about a VERY distant cousin by marriage. Walter deserves to be chronicled and remembered. He made the ultimate sacrifice that others might be free of tyranny.

Brenda Kempf has allowed me the great privilege of being on her creative team and made the design templates for this layout. They are from her Template Time 1 Series available from Scrapbook Bytes. And two wonderful ladies, Anita of Anita Designs at Nana's Attic and Jannidee of JanniScrap Designs created the incredible Old Glory kit I used. It's available on their blogs for free, so go visit them. You'll have a great time and they have loads of freebies that are still up. I love to go see what they've been doing.

Brenda is also the owner of Addicted to Digital . She has some great freebies up there and previews of all my favorites kits - which is most of her kits - they are SOOO gorgeous!

Brenda hosts an AWESOME monthly members' sketch challenge at Scrapbook Bytes. You have to be a member to join this 4 part monthly challenge, but the cost is small and it is soooo worth it.

Hmmmm, there's no noise coming from the other room and we're having a little sleepover tonight. This cannot be a good thing. Keep your fingers crossed they've only finally gone to sleep and the house isn't burning!

Have a great tomorrow!

True Confession

2007-07-02T03:13:00.000-05:00

I must make a confession - I am totally incapable of posting naked, unadorned pictures. Digi Scrap addicts just can't, you see. The pictures pout and brood and are, well, offended that they're about to be sent out starkers. So, I turned to another talented and wonderful friend, Nina of Ninascraps, who designed most of the beautiful elements in my blog picture layout. The beautiful papers are from her gorgeous Simple Pleasures kit and the template is from Unique Collection 3 which are both by Nina and the top ribbon border is from a most wonderful kit named Pink Lemonade by the NDISB design team. The proceeds of Pink Lemonade go to support Alex's Lemonade Stand which funds research into cures for childhood cancer. Nina has a super freebie called Wish Wash Paper Pack. You can grab it here.

Okay, now I've GOT to go feed my addiction and scrap something before I go into withdrawal. After all it's been at least 15 minutes! Have a wonderful day!

Welcome to the shade under the mulberry tree

2007-07-01T03:38:00.000-05:00

I did it. I finally took the plunge and set up a blog. I can't really say why, but blogging intimidates me. Maybe it's because I don't do html. Maybe it's because I'm afraid I won't have a beautiful site. Mostly it's because I haven't a clue what I'm doing. But I'll learn. So bear with me while I get it all set the way I want it. It will get there although it may take some time. In the meantime, this will be my digiscrap and genealogy home. It will be the place where my friends can come play or just "set a spell" in the shade. I'm glad to count as friends some wonderful and talented digital scrapbook designers and I will share their work here. I'll also share their promotions and freebie information (although you will have to go to their sites to get the freebies, no hot-linking from here!) And I will be more than happy to share my layouts made from their beautiful kits.

First order of business - Thank you to Anita Stergiou of Natural Designs in Scrapbooking for the beautiful blog header and page element you see here. I am privileged to be on the Creative Team at NDISB and Anita was willing for me to use her banner and other goodies from the beautiful Floriade Collection - Blog Banner & Virtuals Pack and Floriade Collection Embellishment Pack. You can grab her Floriade Sampler here. And while you're at NDISB, check out The Amazing Digiscrapping Race, Round 2. The first round, which began in January 2007 was an absolute blast. Wonderful sponsors, wonderful prizes, super grand prize and loads of fun getting your scrapbook pages done and making new friends. Warning: the ADSR is totally, completely, unabashedly addictive. Just ask Bob.