Hobby Story

Paper, Ink, Stamps

The first craft hobby I fell in love with happened back in 2003. A friend of mine introduced me to rubber stamping, and since then I have not stopped inking, stamping and creating cards.

Do you want to learn to rubber stamp? Here are a few of my favorite, most visited sites:

• Stampin’ Up!
• SplitCoastStampers
• CardMaps (by PageMaps)
• Sunny Stampin’
• Scraptitude (color chart)
• KWerner Design Blog
• Taylored Expressions
• Thinking Inking
• Capture the Moment
• Blockheads Rubber Stamps & Stamping Products
• Jayne Mercer
• InkGenious

Digital Delights & Scrapbooking

Long, long ago, in a land far across the ocean (interpretation: years ago in Hawaii), I made a scrapbook. I didn’t enjoy it and vowed to never make one again. Many years later, in a different land, I began my wedding scrapbook. It’s not done…yet. So, with the help of a friend I converted to digital scrapbooking.

• Scrapping With Ikea Goddess: freebie links to kits, templates embellishments and more!
• Two Peas in a Bucket: great gallery of traditional and digital pages AND the freebies are great!
• Scrapbook.com: you can find anything here.
• DigiShopTalk: nice layout ideas for traditional or digital
• Digital Scrapbook Place: want to learn digital scrapping on PSE? This is the place for you.
• Sweet Shoppe Designs: quite a ‘yummy’ site.
• Shabby Princess: the freebie kits are amazing!
• DaFont.com: don’t even think of paying for your fonts. Download them for FREE.
• Color Scheme Generator: this is a great tool, especially if you are designing in Photoshop.

Awesome Amateur Photographer Wannabe

I *heart* my camera, and I *heart* the man who gave it to me . My small, but powerful camera is a Canon PowerShot SD110IS and it’s the best thing that ever happened to me. Before using this little bundle of picture power I was hooked the the Canon Rebel (and still like it).  If you are looking for a point and shoot that will do a wide variety of amazing things then I recommend investing in the PowerShot. You won’t be disappointed.

Photography Books for Beginners

• The Digital Photography Book, Volume 1, 2 and 3 – by Scott Kelby. See all this books here.
  
• The Photoshop Elements 7 Book for Digital Photographers – Scott Kelby (why I recommend this book is because of that you are going to read next).
  

Photo Editing Software

Adobe Photoshop Elements: I highly recommend a photo editing software if you want to be a serious amateur (?) photographer. Photoshop Elements (PSE) is a great program if all you do is edit photos and do some digital scrapbooking. The full version of  Photoshop is NOT necessary unless you are getting into major graphic design, so don’t waste your money just to look impressive