I like to think of New Year’s Resolutions as more like a plan than a list of solid goals.  The goal is, as always, to be the best mom, wife and artist I can be.  I figure if i get around to most of these, I’ll be okay this year.

TEN:  Quality reading for you and for your little ones. I know you are busy, but nothing fills the creative well AND gives you a little escape from your busy day like curling up with a book, even if it is just for fifteen minutes before you head to bed, while you wait for your kids or during lunch at work.  This lucky Creative Mom got a Kindle for Christmas! And for the little ones, make it easy and check out the book “Honey for a Child’s Heart.” You’ll find great reading lists for all ages.  This helps with that overwhelmed feeling you get at the library.  This year introduce your kids to the classics: Pooh, Peter Rabbit, Little Sal, Max and the Wildthings, Narnia… and on and on!

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NINE:  Exercise. I’m not talking about training for a marathon, although major kudos if you are! Just head out for a walk, take the kids or use it to de-stress from your day.

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EIGHT:  Eat Real Food. Less fast food, more fresh food.  Cut out products that come in a box with powder or are neon blue.  Avoid foods with high fructose corn syrup. Always have options like fruit and whole wheat crackers available for hungry kiddos.

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SEVEN:  Do Worthwhile Stuff. Take the time to find out about the cool things in your area AND DO THEM.  Find activities that teach your kids about nature, about doing good and helping others, about staying healthy, about history and geography and art. You might just find yourself inspired along the way.

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SIX:  Stay updated. Keep an eye on what is new and exciting in your creative field.  Get inspired by others who do what you do.  Join a critique group, go to a conference, take a class… and save up to upgrade your Adobe software (:

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FIVE:  Simplify. De-clutter your life a little and breath a bit easier.  No Mom does this better than the Simple Mom.  If you haven’t checked her out, you should!

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FOUR:  Find your Balance with Chaos. No one can win the war against chaos.  My husband, the physics expert, says it is impossible.  He even had an equation to prove it.  So, your house cannot be perfect, your kids cannot always be predictable and your hair will not always do as you wish.  Find your balance between laundry and playtime, between TV and sleep, between work and home.  And if you lose a tough battle one day, don’t worry, chaos will always be around to battle with tomorrow.

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THREE:  Stay Connected. This does not mean spend an hour a day on facebook.  Call  your mom.  Send photos of your kids to your grandparents.  Check on your little brother.  Send birthday cards.  Have coffee and playdates and cultivate friendships with people worth being in your life.  Find good professional relationships with those who make you a better creative person.

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TWO:  Fill the Well. Inspiration can be illusive.  You have to get inspired.  Every creative soul needs different things.  Mine likes antique stores, nature walks, used bookstores, quirky movies and art galleries. Seek out your muse, and don’t be afraid to have your kids help you find it.  Seeing things through their eyes can be the greatest inspiration you will find.

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ONE:  Quality Time. As a military family, we know all about quality time. This is the most important item on this list, and it can be forgotten, put off or faked too easy.  Turn off the TV and play a game.  Have a conversation, read a book and talk about it, go on a walk together, really pay attention to your kids one on one with no distractions.  You might be with your kids all day, but even on the busiest days try and take some time to let them be your sole focus.  Because you’ll blink and another year will go by.

A couple of weeks ago Heidi Klum laughed at one of the southern contestants on Project Runway for saying, “y’all”.  I don’t blame her. Being a military wife, I’ve lived all over the country and had friends from almost every state.  I might not have my husband’s Texas drawl, or my mother-in-law’s southern lilt in my voice, but I have been accused of overusing the “y’all.”  My Minnesota friends giggle and my New York friends roll their eyes, but I just can’t give it up.  I even use it in email.  That is why this week’s Why-Not of the Week is, give “y’all” a try!

First of all, I’d like to point out that y’all is a perfectly good contraction.  It is a combination of “you” and “all” put together with an apostrophe, just like “don’t”, “haven’t”, etc.  I believe “y’all” gets a bad grammar rap because it is used incorrectly as the singular second person when making fun of uneducated southerners.  No one really refers to one person as “y’all”.

Second, it is a better alternative than other second person plural options.  While “you” is most acceptable as a second person plural, it is confusing since it is more often singular.  “You” can easily be mistaken for one of your friends instead of all.  “You guys” is not gender neutral and it makes me think of Goonies….. “Heeeey you guyyyys!”  I’ve had friends from rural Missouri say “Y’uns” (not sure at all about that spelling).  While unique, it’s just a little out there for widespread use.

And finally, “y’all” just rolls off your tongue.  Go ahead, give it a try……… see, it feels good!  Kind of like linguistic lemonade on a hot Southern afternoon.

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November is National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo for short). You, along with tons of other enthusiastic and over-caffeinated amateur novelists will be challenged to write a 50k novel in one month.  This means that there is no room for editing, rereading or dilly dallying. You have to kick your internal editor out of your head entirely for thirty days and just write. Join the forums on www.nanowrimo.org and commiserate with fellow nanowrimos, join local groups and get together to commiserate in person and have a great excuse to lock yourself away and finally sit down to create your masterpiece!  I’ve participated for the last several years, and every year I think I at least learn something about myself or improve my writing skills infinitesimally.  I also end up with a big hot mess of a story, which then takes 11 months to edit.

You know you’re interested, just take a look at the Nanowrimo site and see what all the fuss is about.  You just might get hooked!

www.nanowrimo.org

Stay tuned for more National Novel Writing Month Enthusiasum!

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Let’s face it.  Life with young children in the house can run at a frantic pace. As a work at home mom with a husband in the military I know mine sure does.  I can usually keep up the pace and get everything done with regular exercise, a daily schedule, morning coffee and occasional lifesaving visits from Nana or Grandma.  But some weeks just don’t get their share of mom-motivation.  It is a tough job, and sometimes your body needs a break, especially during those times when your little one isn’t sleeping as well as usual.  That’s why this week’s why-not is a simple one.  Nap with your little one for a week.  Give your body an extra dose of sleep for a week.  Take some time to relax during the afternoon, even if it is for just part of your baby’s nap time.  You may have to cut something out of your day, if you spend more than an hour watching TV or web surfing, this is a good thing to try and cut out.  I usually cut out laundry, but that usually backfires on me.  When I did this last, I had to cut down on my work since nap time is usually Mommy work time. Fortunately working freelance is feast or famine.  And I picked a slow week.

Taking a nap week is also a good way to help your little one get adjusted to a new nap schedule.  Dr. Sears* (without whom my child might be living wild in the backyard) recommends sharing sleep with your baby. If your little one is having trouble sleeping, sick, or just in an extra mommy-clingy stage take your naps snuggled up together. This can be especially helpful to breast feeding mommies trying to increase their milk.  Just nap after feeding using the side-laying position.  That being said, sharing sleep isn’t possible or ideal for some parents, and that is okay.  Just set up your baby monitor, put your little one down, and take a siesta of your own.

Try this why-not when your body is telling you that more rest and less chaos is needed.  Your baby will benefit from a happy, sane and well rested Mommy. Why not?

*Need some sleep advice? The Creative Mom loves Dr. Sears.  Check out The Baby Sleep Book

Need a great little book to read at bedtime?  Check out The Bedtime Book.

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This very first why-not is for the shoe lover in us all.  You know you’ve got that fabulous pair of heels tucked away in the closet.  You look at them every now and then and sigh, “I wish I had a place to wear you.”  Well, now you do.  Take those fancy shoes out, put on a cute skirt or even just a nice pair of jeans and head to…. the grocery store!  You’ll love being 3 inches (or more!) taller as you saunter through the cereal aisle. Make it a special occasion and let your little ones pick out their favorite princess slippers, cowboy boots or galoshes.  It will take a little of the hum drum out of a regular visit to the grocery store, and if you do get blisters, at least you can take them right off when you get home.  Why Not?

Learn more about the Creative Mom’s Why-Nots and learn how to submit your own!

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Some why-nots will be right up your alley, and some will be way far away in someone else’s alley.  But, don’t discount them right away.  Think about how you can make it work, or change it to inspire or give a giggle to your family.  Most of my why-nots are especially for moms, moms working at home, military families or anyone who loves to create (anything!). But, the great thing about why-nots is that anyone can try them, you just have to ask, “Why not?”

I know you’ve got great ideas, and I want to hear them! Submit your why-not idea by posting it here.  If I use it as a why-not of the week then I’ll send you a free goodie from LittonArt.com.

Check out our previous Why-Nots here.

This is a barebones example of a super easy, super fast method of producing a scrapbook page.  I’m using Adobe Photoshop CS3 on a Mac, but this tutorial is good with past versions of the software and is PC friendly as well.  You can make it from scratch in no time, or you can upload my template, complete with “beach” font and background photo. 

For this page you will create five elements: a background, photos, title, captions and simple embellishments.

I like to make these quick pages to be printed on borderless 8×10 photo paper. Then I can just slip them into albums, mail them to Grandma or pin them to my bulletin board. But, if your printer doesn’t do this format, just use a regular letter size and give it a trim when you are finished.  So, your first step is…

1. Open a new document:  Make your dimensions 8 inches by 10 inches and your resolution 300 (this is for print so we want a good resolution).

2. Add your background: Simple photos work best (like my photo of the beach), but you can also use another copy of one of your three main photos. Open your background photo and click and drag it into your new document. Using the Free Transform Command (detailed below) enlarge your photo until it fills the document.  You may need to zoom out to do this.  Then with your background photo layer selected in your layer pallet (usually in the bottom right) change the opacity from 100% to between 15 and 30.  Very nice. 

3. Add your three photos.  I used three we recently took at the beach.  Open each photo and then using your move tool (the dark arrow) drag them to your new document. I recommend cropping them first using the crop tool, but make sure you leave a tiny bit of space for us to turn into our photo effect border later on.

Select each one in turn and using  the Free Transform Command (see below for details) resize each one so that you have one large and two small.  Keep your large photo centered and straight, and move your smaller ones to the top and bottom and rotate them slightly.

• The Free Transform Command:  This is one of my most used commands in Photoshop.  If you have mastered this skill, skip down to the next step.  If not, read on and become a Free Transform Master!
  Select the layer in your layer pallet containing the first photo you want to resize.  Make sure your Move Tool (the black arrow at the top of your tool bar) is active.  Then go to Edit–>Free Transform.  Or if you want to be really cool, just hit Command T on a Mac or Control T on a PC.  You now have a box around your photo! Hold down the shift key and drag a corner of that box in or out.  Holding down the shift key insures that your proportions will be constant.  You don’t want to squish your baby’s head or make your husband look like a reflection in a silly mirror.  You can also rotate the image by hovering your move tool near a corner and dragging when you see the circular rotate arrow appear.  You do not need to hold down the shift key when rotating to constrain proportions.  When your image is the way you like it, don’t forget to hit Return/Enter to exit the Free Transform mode.  You can always hit escape to exit the Free Transform Mode.

4. Arrange your photos.  I recommend placing your big photo right in the center so that is is your main focal point.  Leaving some room for a title and some text place the two smaller photos above and below your big one.

Now for the nifty photo effect with drop shadow! (I know this is what you were waiting for.)  In the layers menu select your large photo and open up the layer style menu by double clicking to the right of the layer title.  On the left of this menu box check the boxes for Drop Shadow and Stroke. Let’s start with stroke.

Photo border effect: Click the word Stroke on the left column of your layer style menu.  Increase the size to between 20 and 50, whatever you like best with your photo.  Set your Position to Inside from the drop down menu.  This makes your corners square instead of round. Then skip down to the bottom and select a nice white color for your stroke.  I like to use an off white, but bright white works great too for extra pop. 

Drop Shadow effect: Click the Drop Shadow on the left column of your layer style menu.  Set your opacity to around 75%.  I like an angle of around 120 degrees.  For distance, size and spread you can experiment with these for a shadow that you like (make sure your Preview box is selected so you can see what you are doing.)  I like a distance of around 15, a spread of 5 and a size of 40.

Now you can go in to your other photos and do the same thing, or you can use this short cut.  Hold down your ALT key then click and drag the little fx symbol in the layer of the photo you just altered. Drag it up or down to one of your other photo layers to copy the effect to that layer as well. 

5. Make your title:  Choose a good bold font. (I chose, appropriately enough, the Beach font). For the color I used a color from one of my photos, an ocean blue.  Experiment with different sizes and placements to find something you like.  Don’t forget you can use the Free Transform Command on text as well.

 If you downloaded my template and you don’t have the “Beach”  font you can simply choose another from what you have, or you can put the included font file into your font folder.   

6. Fill in your text:  Give your page a little content in a simple and smaller font.  I like handwriting fonts like Handwriting-Dakota.  You can place a couple simple paragraphs or you can place captions near each photo.  I wasn’t able to include the font I used in my template file, but any font of that style will work.

7. Embellishments: I like to have a little something extra.  For this page I added two “ribbons”.  Select your Rectangle tool and draw your two ribbons.  Fill it with the color you used for your title (double click the little square of color on your shape layer you just made to change the color).  Now draw the two inner rectangles and fill them with a complementary color, I chose a sand color to go with my ocean blue.  Move your ribbon layers up or down your list of layers to have them overlap your photos or go underneath them.

And voila! You have a pretty cute scrapbook page.  You can go on from here and do so many more things, but this tutorial is just to get you started.  I hope it helped.  Let me know if you followed it and how it turned out!

Don’t get me wrong, Goodnight Moon is a fine book.  I just wanted something a little more… pretty. And, perhaps something that could help me wind down from a stressful day as well. 

One of the most common questions I get asked when I tell people that I am an illustrator is, “Oh, do you do children’s books?”  In the past my response involved a detailed description of medical and scientific illustration, visual communications, logo creation, layout design and perhaps a bit about Norman Rockwell.  Some lucky people even got to learn about the evils of stock illustration and the orphan copyright bill.  Nowadays, I just smile and say, “Yes!”

The Bedtime Book is now available on Amazon.com in paperback form, and hopefully soon in hardback as well.  The words to the book are a poem (an Elizabethan sonnet written in iambic pentameter, to be exact.)  I chose this form because I specifically like the way a sonnet sounds as you read it aloud. The rhythm is soothing but not forced, and the rhyme scheme is subtle. I chose images that my then 10 month old daughter could recognize: the sun, the moon, flowers, our cat, the bathtub, her books and toys, etc. And, I chose words that calmed me down as well.  It is almost an evening mantra for mothers and fathers.  And, I’d much rather be reminded that another evening has come and the world is calming down, than to say goodnight to that bowl of mush one more time.

Available now on Amazon.com