More pics from my little ‘photowalk’ to share – it’s just no fun if you can’t share your pics right?  So bare with me. I’ll have to do it again in a more interesting area of the city. LOL. There is soo much more to see and I could really use the practice. Any Torontonians (or nearby residents) out there with an interest in photography? Let me know – maybe we can organize our own little photowalk! What do ya think????

Getting to the pictures, here are my favourite shots.  I happen across this sign. Kind of random but I thought it was cool. Like a giant outdoor fortune cookie.

A distant view of the CN Tower.

These are some really cool apartments. You can see they are built like a staircase so that every unit has nobody above their balcony so they have full sun from above. Kinda neat!

There I am.

Mr. M and Chase.

Parking sign….$7 bucks! Yikes. That’s actually cheap for downtown.

Here’s that cool boat I mentioned in my last post. Gorgeous.

Love this shot.

Love the bright colors of the candy cart. YUMMY.

Taken right at the base of the CN Tower.

Again the CN Tower and SkyDome Rogers Centre.

Me again. Love this shot.

Thanks for looking!

I was thrilled and honoured to host the super fabulous and ultra stylish Flat Joscie at Mint headquarters here in Toronto earlier this month. Luckily I had a chance to take her out on the town a few days before I landed myself in the hospital. It was awesome! We went on a two hour walk all through downtown Toronto hunting for landmarks and fun photo ops. I think Flat Joscie had a good time. I did! Here are my favorite shots.

Here’s FJ posing on an outdoor map of Toronto.

In front of the famous CN Tower and the Rogers Centre
which used to be called the SkyDome.

Here we are right beside the CN Tower in front of a tourist sign.

Across the street from the Rogers Centre right before a Blue Jays baseball game.
The fans were just starting to go in.

Outside the Toronto Music Garden. I have no idea what that even is, I was just trying to find signs that said ‘Toronto’ on it. LOL.

I thought this was a cool building. Very vintage!

Here’s FJ sunbathing on the Spadina Quay Wetland sign. It’s a pretty area with a wooden dock going into Lake Ontario and there’s a nice old boat sitting in the water. (picture coming tomorrow)

FJ and I at the Spadina Quay Wetland. Just chillin’!

I think I have to take a picture of her in my office at the computer or something and then I’m all done. Thanks for visiting FJ! It was a blast to hang out with you. I have more generic Toronto pics from the photowalk that I will post over the weekend.

Enjoy everyone! Thanks for looking ;)

..on So You Think You Can Dance. Oh NO! Anyone watching this season? I had to ‘LOL’ when Sex’s dance-off partner said that a big part of his day job recovering lost computer data involved ‘grief counselling’ because losing computer data is (in his words) ‘a very traumatic experience’. ROFL. I don’t think Microsoft offers that service. (“for technical support, press 1, for emotional support, press 2″). Oh and was anyone else totally weirded out by the icky hand holding brother-sister duo?
Gew.

So I’m finally feeling MUCH better and am ready to get back to work! Yippeee! Are you feeling scraptastically inspired? Have you checked out the gallery lately? There are some AWESOME pages in there right now. Check it, check it out!

Have to post this cute video. I keep seeing it on TV. It’s an elderly couple (married 62 years) playing an impromptu recital together in the atrium of the Mayo Clinic. He turned 90 in February. I love when they switch spots and he pats her on the butt. LOL.

And my Mom just told me about this one…
A Swedish commercial..I won’t tell you what it’s for.

All for now! I have some fun pics to share tomorrow! Nighty night.

A Quick Tip from Tay:

In real life an element as thick and textured as the new Funktastic Frames would actually cast a double shadow, as light was blocked on both sides by the heavily raised designs in the frames. Here’s how to achieve the same look in Photoshop:

1. Open the frame element you wish to use.

2. SAVE this frame and add “_shadowed” to the end of the file name so you don’t accidentally write over the original. (If you save over the original, re-unzip the file to restore it.)

3. Now, working on just the open frame page, give the frame a drop shadow. I personally like to use:

• 50% opacity
•151° angle
• Uncheck “use Global Light”
• Distance: 6 / Spread: 0 / Size: 10

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4. Click ok to apply the drop shadow. Now hit Ctrl-J to duplicate the layer with the drop shadow.

5. Click on the new layer and change this layer’s drop shadow settings to an angle roughly 80° to 180° different than the first drop shadow settings and drop the opacity by 20. For reference, here are my second drop shadow settings:

• 30% opacity
• 65° angle
• Uncheck “use Global Light”
• Distance: 6 / Spread: 0 / Size: 10

 
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4. Click ok to apply these secondary drop shadow settings.

5. In your history palette (Window>History) make a snapshot of this working point by clicking the camera icon along the bottom left History palette tool bar.

 
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6. Hit Shift-Ctrl-E to merge all visible layers into one layer you can now drag & drop onto your layout.

7. Go back to your frame document and save the merged frame again using the “_shadowed” file name. If you’d like to save a PSD with editable layers, click in the history palette on Snapshot 1 to return to your un-merged working frame. Now save with the “_shadowed” file name as a PSD so you can return to it later to make adjustments as needed.

Tip: You can place your picture inside the frame and merge the frame and image before following these drop shadow steps if you wish.

Aloha Ladies, Joscie rhymes with Bossy here!

Today I’d like to share how easy it is to create custom cut cards with Tay’s Custom Cutter Shapes. I selected the A1-4Bar_BoutiqueFold.GSD file and opened it in my Craft Robo program that came with my Quickutz Silhouette Cutter. This is what it looks like:

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I chose a piece of 12×12 American Crafts double sided patterned cardstock and trimmed down to 9×12. I adhered it to the cutting mat and rolled over the top with a brayer to be sure the paper was adhered well to the mat.

I made sure I had the proper plunger tip (red 0.3mm) for my paper style and fed the mat into the cutter. I select Cut and make sure the paper type is selected and click cut.

   
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When the cutter stops, remove the cutting mat and remove your cut items.

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Fold in half and add your embellishments. For the fist card, I punched a large scalloped oval with my Marvy punch from the scrap piece of the AC Cardstock. I added yellow thicker letters to say hi! I and mounted these to the card front with foam dimensional adhesive.

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I layered two Making Memories flowers and mounted with a Stampin’ Up! Corduroy Brad and a foam adhesive.

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For the second card, I punched an oval and a scalloped oval with Stampin’ Up! Punches. I cut one out of the AC Cardstock and one out of a printed piece of Miss Mint’s Jingle Bell Rock Paper.

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I layered the pieces with foam tape and finished with Making Memories tiny alpha stickers to say Thanks.

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I hope you’ll try this out if you have a craft cutter!
Let me know if you have any questions and happy cutting!

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a comment so that you don’t get blocked by the spam filter!**

Cara and Bikini Girl….LMAO. Freakin’ CLASSIC. Cara rocks. Ryan was hilarious.
Doesn’t Lionel Ritchie do that medley EVERY finale?