Rene Marker

Something that I always do to make black text darker is always select bold on the text tool bar. The other thing that I do that is actually against everything everyone says about text and drop shadows is to add a very small drop shadow to my text after I rasterize it. I use the settings: 01-01-50-05. Horizontal/Vertical offset being the 01. Opacity is 50 and Blur is 05. I only use these settings for black text but I do usually use black text anyways. I want the text readable which is also why I very rarely use a patterned background for my text. I know if I can read it, anyone can!

I also do it in October.... to document the colors of fall!

I've met people from all over the country through these retreats. The ones I went to were all organized by different people that were members of a scrapping forum. It sort of started when people in the same area would get together and evolved into much larger gatherings. I was a paper scrapper when I first went but became digital not long after. I've been to retreats in several different states along with the one in Ingersoll. A lot of the ScrapShare (the forum that is now defunct) retreats are no longer being held but some still are on a smaller scale. One of my friends from there still goes to retreats several times a year. In fact, she was at one 9 days ago when her husband passed away unexpectedly.

It also is a way to just document my daily life even though it is boring! But it also kind of forces me to not wallow in the depression but to get out and do things if weather is OK and to think outside the box about the photos I take each day. It has been interesting to look back and see how different each December has been since 2017. I've included screen shots of news headlines some years as well, especially in 2020. I first learned about it at The Lily Pad. Their designers design kits around a theme every year and they have a sub-forum with different challenges and tips on completing the project. Some people only do 25 days ending with Christmas. Some people do 6x8 layouts, some do full 12x12 layouts, others do Project Life type of layouts. Some people do something like the Project 52 some of you are completing here this year, with just 1 photo to reference each day.

Thanks Julie. It will never get easier since both my parents are gone and I have no spouse or children of my own. The last 6 weeks of the year has been hard for the family since 1971 when my mom's mother (the glue in her family) passed away the day after Thanksgiving (Nov 26). Three years before Mom passed, my dad's mother passed away the Monday before Thanksgiving and we buried her the day after Thanksgiving, Two years later my mom's father died the beginning of December then Mom the next year. Too much death in my family during that time period. I have found ways to keep the depression away during the month. I keep busy by scrapping or working on jigsaw puzzles. I've also done a project since 2017 called "Document Your December". I take photos every day and do 31 layouts of what my month was like. Yep, even got a photo of me in a hospital bed in last year's layouts!

I've been to Canada using both the bridge and the tunnel. And, I've also crossed at Sarnia. On one of my trips, I was a passenger and was able to get a photo of the US and Canadian flags that were displayed right next to each other. I think it was when we were coming off the bridge on the Canadian side. Two of my friends and I were on our way to a scrapbooking retreat at the Elm Hurst Inn in Ingersoll, Ontario. Beautiful place! I went to a retreat there 3 different years (2007 - 2009).

I'm also not a fan but my cousin's daughter/granddaughter are huge fans. Allison and Caroline flew to Los Angles (from Orlando) to see her in August 2023. Then in June of 2024, Allison, her husband (Dennis), son (Luke) and Caroline saw her in Lyon, France. They did make a vacation out of that trip going to Chamonix and then some time in the Swiss Alps as well (they had been in Paris and Nice the summer before). Then apparently Allison and Caroline saw her again in Miami last month. I just can't see spending that kind of money on any concert. But if it makes them happy...

Christmas has been hard for me since Mom passed away in 1996 on December 26th. I've gone through phases where I decorate a lot or don't decorate at all. Most people get their seasonal depression in January... not me, it starts right after Thanksgiving. On January 1st, I'm a whole new person! The last couple of years I haven't done much decorating at all. Last year was very little because of everything going on and having surgery on the 18th. I just didn't have the energy to do it. I hope to do more this year to celebrate my health being much better! For a few years, Christmas music was a trigger for me and I couldn't listen to it. Still can't listen to certain songs as they were favorites of Mom. I have some Christmas music of artists (mainly country) that I do enjoy listening to. But what turns me off the most is the constant Christmas movies on all the different Hallmark channels starting in late October (and can't forget the whole month of July). I used to enjoy them but not anymore.

Listening to him singing Back Home in Indiana at the Indianapolis 500 every year was such a treat. It just isn't the same these days.

None of the trees in our yard were that close to the house at the time Dad had his accident. We still got leaves in the gutters.

In October I bring in the cushions from the patio furniture and put them in the basement and put the lawn chairs/table on the front porch away in the garage. I have a wind chime that was given to me when my father passed away that I only have out from April to October. It still looks like new since it hasn't endured the harsh winter weather (unlike my other wind chimes that end up falling apart). I also have 2 garden hose reels that are stored in the garage during the winter. That gets done in October before the temps hit freezing at night. Within the next couple of weeks, my neighbor will put the snow poles along the driveway that will guide him when he plows my drive when we have snow. I don't do holiday decorations outside, heck, I don't do much inside either! As far the your story about your husband and cleaning the gutters in the newsletter, I have never had to do that. Many years ago my father had gutter guards put on the gutters when he fell off the ladder and broke his wrist or elbow (don't remember which) while cleaning them out. Thankfully this is a one-story house so the fall wasn't that far. After putting on the guards he never had to clean them out again so it isn't something I've had to have done either.

We do all have our own preferences. Mine is to have total control over the merge of each group.

Yes, you do have to run the script for each group. But that is what I like about it since it gives me the control. I also like that as long as the highlighted layer is the layer with the photo when you run the script, it renames the merged layer to the name of the photo. In my case, the image number from my camera. If I ever want to see what photo I actually used in the layout when I have multiple images taken at the same time, the image number is right there in the layers palette.

I merge groups all the time using the Merge-Group-Rename script after using the Raster To Mask script for my photos. Merge-Group-Rename gives me total control over each group which is my preferred method. I certainly wouldn't want all groups to be merged into one layer but each group should still have their own layer. If the script could do that, it might be something I would consider. I've been known to move a photo placement after the group merge so having them all on one layer would defeat that purpose.

The cemetery my parents are buried in is right here in town. I've gone there for many years multiple times during the year. For quite a few years I would go 3 times in May -- Mother's Day, May 20 which was my mother's birthday and Memorial Day. Then I would go on Dec 26 which was her date of death. After Dad passed away 8 years ago, I would go once in May, June 14 (his date of death), Oct 15 (their anniversary), Dec 1 (his birthday) and Dec 26. So I pretty much saw all the seasons of the trees in the cemetery. I always take photos when I go. Since a couple of the dates fall in the months that I do a layout for each day of the month, I have scrapped a lot of layouts of the cemetery. I will share a few. My October layout in 2023 was a few days late because I wasn't feeling good after my surgery. In December 2020 we had a snowstorm on the 1st so I went on the 2nd. The last layout is one I did in 2012.

I've never done a calendar but I've used Shutterfly for books and I believe they have calendars as well. Then I use Persnickety Prints for my 12x12 prints and they also have calendars available in various sizes. Both Shutterfly and Persnickety Prints print from jpg files (never tried png) and I can't complain about the quality. Both are great in my opinion. One thing about Shutterfly, if you get on their email list, they send out coupon codes all the time for various things, some as high as 50% off. Like others I create everything I do in 300dpi.

We have early voting in Ohio and I went today to cast my ballot. I had to give them my ID, they verified that all information was still the same which I had to sign that it was on an electronic tablet. Then my ballot was sent to be printed on a printer across the room. I went there and was given my ballot to fill out (both sides). When done I was to put it in the counting machine where it showed on screen that my vote was counted. There was no line to sign in and several people were at the voting tables when I got there. I had 19 positions to vote for which included the 3 federal level government. The rest were state and county level positions. 12 of the state positions had no opponent, made it easy to choose! I also had a couple of local tax levies. It didn't take me long to make these choices. There was one state issue to make a change to the state constitution that I read through very carefully before making my choice. It took me maybe 10 minutes for the whole process. Glad I went when I did, there were people coming in the door when I left and a line was starting. Then I came home and got my mail which was election propaganda... which is every day! My recycle bin is getting full. I have voted early for quite a few years. The County Board of Elections is in my town and about a 5 minute drive to get there. Since I'm retired I can go anytime during the day and avoid the rush. I always hated standing in line on election day. At one time the election place for my precinct was in a township building which didn't have a large area for the poll workers and the line was always outside. Miserable if the weather was bad. It has been moved to another location which has more space but I've never voted there since I do the early voting. I honestly don't know how the signing in works on election day anymore. They used to have a great big book with computer printouts that they would mark your name off. You also had to go to a specific table (my township had several different precincts at that time, now it is 2) where they would have the specific ballot you needed.

I haven't scrapped for over a month. Got deep into my genealogy and counted cross stitch then was on vacation for 8 days. There were some awesome photos posted on FB of the northern lights in Ohio (which I missed again!) so I borrowed them and made a layout. It will be inserted in my vacation album since I reference missing them again! I did note that the photos were not mine on the layout. Template is Photo Palooza #430 by Cindy Schneider and the kit used was Stargazer Aurora by Meagan's Creations both available at Sweet Shoppe Designs. The font is Freehand591 BT. The word art was actually a sticker in the kit that I used a bevel on it.

I missed the aurora on Thursday night! All my friends in Ohio were posting photos they took but I was in Massachusetts on Cape Cod with lots of light pollution. My friend and I decided not to go outside and see if we could see anything. We were both tired from our sightseeing that day on Martha's Vineyard. The museum here in town got some awesome shots with it in the background. And, the NWS (national weather service) office in Wilmington, Ohio (located not too far from Cincinnati) got some awesome shots as well. I follow a guy that does the weather on a Dayton TV station (will graduate with a degree in meteorology in December) on Facebook and he always lets people know when they might be viewable in our area. Hopefully there will be another time when I'm home that it happens! Trip was a great time and I have lots of photos to scrap!

Mom did the same with dad's worn t-shirts. Most were stained because he worked construction so when the holes got too big, they became rags. I have in my stack of rags, washcloths that no longer have towels to go with them. I have flat sheets that no longer have fitted mates that I will put in the dog crate or even cover my bedspread (dog sleeps on the bed). My former employer supplied several small hospitals with linen items like bedsheets and blankets. They were taken out of inventory when they got ragged edges. I grabbed a bunch of them for my first 2 dogs. I still have them and again use them in the dog crates. I also have several old blankets in the pile of stuff to use for the dog. If they get ruined, they then get tossed. My city has had a recycling program since the 1980's. We have bins provided by the city that we can put some plastics and cardboard/paper in to sit out for pickup on garbage day. Years ago they also collected aluminum and tin cans curbside but no longer do that. However, there are big bins located in town where people can drop those items off. Dad actually made a can crusher that he put on the wall in the garage to crush the beer and pop cans before putting them in the bin. It is still on the wall but I no longer drink out of cans so it doesn't get used.

In 2013 I took a 2 week vacation where I spent a week in North Carolina with my dad then went to Orlando and spent a week with a cousin's family. It was a driving trip. On my way from NC to FL, I took a side trip to see the Old Sheldon Church in Yemassee, South Carolina. I found out about it on a website dedicated to lesser known tourist attractions. Edit to add my journaling: I took a short detour on my trip from NC to FL. Less than 15 minutes from I-95 at Yemassee, South Carolina are the ruins of the Church of Prince Williams Parish. The church has quite a history and is in a gorgeous location. There was a couple having engagement pictures taken when I was there! Very serene location!

Well, it does look like the center of circulation is now moving east and the rain is moving that direction as well. Eastern Ohio is getting the rain now.

Are you waterlogged yet? Radar now show all the rain bands in Ohio but the center of circulation is still over Kentucky.

I just looked at the radar again and the "eye" is pretty much still sitting and spinning in the same area as this morning. After no rain earlier today, I'm at 90% chance for the rest of the day but it does seem to be light rains and not heavy downpours.

What a difference a few days and the remnants of a hurricane can make! My grass is a lot greener than it was due to the rain we've gotten in the last 36 hours. Rain is still forecast off and on throughout Monday. We are not out of drought conditions though, we didn't get enough rain for that. The "eye" of the hurricane is settled over western Kentucky and the outer bands to the northeast are over southwestern Ohio sometimes coming as far north as me. I know it is not as bad as those who have suffered much worse in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, eastern Tennessee and North Carolina but southeastern Ohio had extremely high winds yesterday and a lot of power outages. Over 320,000 last night is down to around 200,000 today. A lot of power companies in Ohio actually sent units to FL to help (we had one go from my town), never expecting that there would be outages here from the storm! Most of the outages are because of trees coming down from the winds. But, some areas in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee are actually cut off from the rest of the world. Roads have caved and floods have wiped out whole towns. The town of Ashville NC can only be reached by air, no roads are passable to get in or out. Mother Nature must have really been upset about something!