Frying Friday Fish

Fried Fish, originally uploaded by collectiveelements.

Dinner for Friday, January 25, 2008. I think this is the best fried fish I made without using my deep fryer.

Prepping the roast potatoes

Roasted potatoes, originally uploaded by collectiveelements.

Dinner for Friday, January 25, 2008

I Want To Die While You Love Me - Georgia Douglas Johnson

I want to die while you love me,
While yet you hold me fair,
While laughter lies upon my lips
And lights are in my hair.

I want to die while you love me,
And bear to that still bed,
Your kisses turbulent, unspent,
To warm me when I'm dead.

I want to die while you love me,
Oh, who would care to live
Till love has nothing more to ask
And nothing more to give!

I want to die while you love me
And never, never see
The glory of this perfect day
Grow dim or cease to be.

Crochet Sites

Mk Carroll
Donut Pincushion
Fruit Tarts
Crocheted Cupcake
Coffee and a Donut
Crochet Garden
Crochet and Other Stuff
Skater Hat
Gourmet Crochet
Roman Sock
My Picot
Octopus Revolution
Bittersweet
Ana Paula's Amigurumi Patterns & Random Cuteness
Gleeful Things
CrochetRoo
Nimoe's Blog
Free Cupcake Pattern
Crochet Cupcakes
Free Little Fried Egg Pattern
Monster Crochet
Blah, Blah, Blahhg
The A Team
Cake Sachets
Create!
Dayna's Crochet
Strawberry Swirl Cupcake
Crocheted Sushi

Crochet Cupcake Side View

Crochet Cupcake, originally uploaded by collectiveelements.

Crochet Cupcake

Crochet Cupcake, originally uploaded by collectiveelements.

My daughter is forever promising something to one of her little girlfriends. This is the crocheted cupcake she promised her classmate I would make for her for Christmas.

Personalized Altered Journal for my daughter

Personalized Altered Journal for my daughter, originally uploaded by collectiveelements.

I made this journal as a present for my daughter when she started kindergarten this past September.

Halloween 2006 Pumpkin

Halloween 2006, originally uploaded by collectiveelements.

My daughter's handpainted pumpkin. I painted the pumpkin using acrylic paint.

Moss Medley Gift Tags

Moss Medley Gift Tags, originally uploaded by collectiveelements.

Fab Fifties Handcrafted Card

Fab Fifties Handcrafted Card, originally uploaded by collectiveelements.

Butterflies are free!

Butterflies are free!, originally uploaded by collectiveelements.

This is my first attempt at DS. I used PS. My background was made by using green (#A5A661) as a foreground color and brown (#B8693E) as a background color and the gradient tool. I pulled the two colors from the colors in my nephew's wings. The font used for the titles is called Girls are Weird and the font for the journaling is Tahoma. The butterflies were found on The Big Box of Art CDRom. They were very lifelike so I used a PS filter called Poster Edges to make them more graphic. I know there are alot of photos but I wanted to highlight how much fun they were having.

Stepping Out

Stepping Out, originally uploaded by collectiveelements.

Another old pic of my parents. I used JACCarney's June 17 2005 Mini Kit Sample Freebie for the paper and the photo slide. The matting is done by me using colors from the background paper. The font is Bickley Script.

The hard thing about using color photos from this time period is that the colors have warped so its hard to find exact matches. I try to look for the dominant colors in the pictures. Even though my mom is wearing navy and white and my dad is wearing brown and white, the background colors popped more to me.

2005

Danielle Who? Age 32

Danielle Who? Age 32, originally uploaded by collectiveelements.

I created this layout in 2005 after I found this quiz online and thought it would be perfect for an about me page.

Uses: Living Simply Kit by Scrap Kitchen
Fonts: Ruling and Perpetua

Here are the questions and answers:
10 Random Things About Me
Favorite color:red Favorite flower: Gerbera Daisy Favorite movie: Trading Places Favorite book: Charlotte’s Web
Hobbies: Singing, reading, writing, and design I crochet and papercraft I don’t drink or smoke I volunteer with kids I
am a shameless flirt I’m incredibly fresh-mouthed and sarcastic

9 Places I Have Been in no particular order
New York, NY Virginia Beach, VA Washington D.C Hyannis Port, MA Philadelphia, PA Jacksonville, FL
Boston, MA Fayetteville, NC Delaware

8 Things I Want To Do Before I Die
Find true love Get married Own my own home Watch my daughter become a woman Watch my nephews
become men Record an independent R&B record Work for myself full-time Become a mentor

7 Ways To Win My Heart
Be honest Be tender Be thoughtful Be ambitious Be passionate Be kind Be respectful.

6 Things I Believe In
A higher power Karma(What goes around comes around) My mom My family Love Myself

5 Things I Am Afraid Of
The dark Spiders Fire Being lost Losing control

4 Of my favorite recipes
My Carrot cake Grandma’s Corn Pudding Mom’s Lemon chicken Auntie’s Sweet Potato Pie

3 Things I Do Everyday
Tell my daughter "I love you" Count my blessings Talk to my mom

2 Things I Am Trying Not To Do Right Now
Drink soda Be catty

1 Person I Want To Meet
Billie Holiday...my musical idol

October 2005

Portraits of A Lady

Portraits of A Lady, originally uploaded by collectiveelements.

This layout was made with the Nantucket Cottage Kit from Scrap Kitchen!

My great aunt passed away July 17, 2005 and I wanted to do something special to honor her. She was always a classy lady. She was fiesty but always carried herself well. I always said she reminded me of Lena Horne.

These photos are from the 1940s and 1950s so I wanted papers and elements with a retro feel.

Journaling on the ribbon: On the morning of July 17, 2005, my Great Aunt Kitty passed away. She was classy...she was sassy...but always a lady.

I used CAC Champagne for the font. I thought she'd get a kick out of that.

July 2005

Lady Giggles

Lady Giggles, originally uploaded by collectiveelements.

My daughter is the subject of many of my photographs. I like this photo because she's being girly as usual by wearing my hat. She's usually so serious about fashion but I caught her in a moment of laughter.

This page was created in Adobe Photoshop CS. I created the background using a burgundy (#411F2D) base color and created the polka dots with the elliptical marquee tool using the following colors (#8E234F, #BB4180, #DA84A0). I made one row of polka dots and then used the define pattern option to copy and paste the polka dot pattern.

The title was made using Kunstler Script which I applied a 7 px stroke border of #DA84A0. The journaling is made with Perpetua font in #411F2D.

April 2005

Flowers In My Garden

Flowers In My Garden, originally uploaded by collectiveelements.

I took my daughter and my nephew to an Indian Pow-Wow in our town. On the way home, my nephew noticed this large sunflower. He was so impressed it was real. LOL. I wish I got a picture of this house. The garden was very immaculate.

Kit: Autumn Bliss (Scrap Kitchen)
Fonts: Bell MT (title) and FG Elgin

October 2005

Babyface

Babyface, originally uploaded by collectiveelements.

What an adventure to get a squirming 10 month old still to take pictures of her new teeth. They took forever to come in!

Kit: Daddy Rocks (Scrap Kitchen)
Font: FG William, 1 Beansprout DNA

2005

After Hours

After Hours, originally uploaded by collectiveelements.

Wow! What a great kit! Margaritaville by Angi Jones. (Freebie) Great colors and elements. These old pictures went perfectly. I was done in minutes.

July 2005

Nana's Little Puppy

Nana's Little Puppy, originally uploaded by collectiveelements.

I designed the dalmation background, dog tag, and borders.

The text reads:
"I admit I wasn't always the most well prepared new mother. There were plenty of times I left your diaper bag sorely lacking. You were staying with your Nana Linda on a bright sunny June day and though I packed extra clothing for you, I neglected to add any long pants. As the night grew chilly, your little limbs started to get cold.

Your Nana being the resourceful lady that she is checked around her house to see if there were any baby clothes left behind by your cousins. Alas, there were no clothes but Nana did find something she could work with...your cousin, Solomon's old Halloween costume!

I don't know who was more tickled...Me...You...or Nana!"

Designed 2005

A Good Name

A Good Name, originally uploaded by collectiveelements.

This is an about me page. I used the freebie from Cashew Style called Guaranteed Fresh. I added my own mat behind the picture. Also I added a pink translucent layer over my picture to soften the glare from the flash. I am the oily face queen. LOL

Designed 2005

Hot Chick, Cool Dude

Hot Chick, Cool Dude, originally uploaded by collectiveelements.

I'm experimenting with working with old family photos. These photos of my parents have alot of wear and tear. There are tape marks and damage from the passage of time.

I decided to use one of Lyndsay Riches' Sassy Orange pages because it had a scratchy texture I thought would work well with the flaws in the photos. I also used the eraser tool around the edges of the photos to rough them up a bit more and hide the tape marks.

I used Trebuchet for the description text and Nora Casual for the title text. The matting behind the title is just a transparent layer with a drop shadow. All the font has drop shadow and beveling attached.

Because of the multicolored outfit my mother is wearing and the busy paper I decided to focus on the pictures and not add more to the layout.

Designed 2005

Danielle, Age 27

Danielle, Age 27, originally uploaded by collectiveelements.

This LO was made using the "Alive" Freebie by Amy Jo Smith. I duplicated the flower element to make a more detailed flower and created my own matting using the texturizer in Photoshop. The font used is called CAC Camelot

Designed 2005

Evie's 5th Birthday Cake

Evie's 5th Birthday Cake, originally uploaded by collectiveelements.

Last year's attempt to make a pocketbook cake. I made a 9 inch round cake with two layers. The cake was rainbow sprinkle vanilla cake.Then cut 1/4 of the cake to make a flat edge.

Because I decorated the cake the same day as the party, I didn't have time to refrigerate the cakes to set up. After frosting the cake with vanilla frosting, I added rainbow star sprinkles, then piped pink frosting around the edges to simulate ruffles. The handle was made with Twizzlers.

Man In The Moon Magnets

Man In The Moon Magnets
Originally uploaded by collectiveelements

Magnets made using Button Maker, decorative paper and stickers

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

What Danielle Means

You are balanced, orderly, and organized. You like your ducks in a row. You are powerful and competent, especially in the workplace. People can see you as stubborn and headstrong. You definitely have a dominant personality. You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality. You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people. You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts. You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals. You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing. You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long. You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start. You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone. You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together. At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together. You are relaxed, chill, and very likely to go with the flow. You are light hearted and accepting. You don't get worked up easily. Well adjusted and incredibly happy, many people wonder what your secret to life is.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?