"In the Pink!" A November Freebie for You~

Wow, It has certainly been a long while since I have last posted. To be honest, a lot has happened. We have had a death in the family and then a birth. What a complex set of emotions between the two of these events.

The death was my Husbands cousin. Very sad, he died very young and unexpectedly. I wont go into detail here about things but it was a very unexpected death. It really took a toll emotionally on the family as he was only 35 yrs old.

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The birth, was our new granddaughter. She is two weeks old now and how sweet and cute she is! Sadly my son lives across the US from where my husband and I live, and we have not yet seen her but hope to soon when they are all planning to bring her for a holiday visit. We are very happy about that!

To celebrate our sweet new granddaughters birth, I have created a treat to share with everyone. It is called "In the Pink!", a quick page made up of things I have been busy hand drawing and making digi elements out of. In the Pink! has a 'crochet' look to the background that I created with a brush I made and the border as well. I handdrew and then scanned in the heart, scrollwork design, and floral design. The frames I created totally out of digital effects. I hope you enjoy the quickpage.

If I get enough response on it, I will offer for a special time, a kit of my doodles, scrolls, hearts and more. Its a pretty large assortment that gets bigger all the time.

Just because I have not been posting here, does not mean I havent been busy working on lots of digital scrap projects. I am still working away on my paisley designs. Thinking about offering a kit of 'build your own paisley!'.

What do you think? Leave a comment! Encouragement is a wonderful motivator!

Grab and go and never leaving thoughts is not much to encourage a digital creator to offer their designs for free. Feedback is really a nice thing that helps others to put up for free, what they have spent literally tons of hours on.

The quickpage I am offering today is available in two zip files. One is strictly the corel psp format, the others are .png and .psd available in a zip together.

If you need another format, let me know, I will be happy to try to oblige.

In the Pink! quickpage psp format

http://www.mediafire.com/?0o5xynge2rk

In the Pink! quickpage png and psd formats

http://www.mediafire.com/?6isq19cuwxz

September Mystique quickpage Gift (FREEBIE)

The newest creation I am offering to my blog readers today is my Mystique quickpage. It came about by accident, while I was busy creating something else, this background came up in the patterns as I was processing things along and I just fell in love with the look. I put it through a few more filters and thought I would make a quickpage out of it. Added to the Mystique paper are my own hand drawn leaf fronds. These I did in pastels. You'll be seeing more of these fronds in other creations as I have them in many colorations and I really loved the texture of them.

I love to hand draw things in my watercolor pencils, pastels and LaPlume Drawing markers. I even blend the three of these to get fabulous color, textures and depth.

I hope you enjoy the Mystique quick page, as it was really fun to create. Initally I thought to offer the flowers cut out as frames, but they looked so neat as they were, I thought, if the user wished to cut out the opening it would be more up to individual taste.

I have made Mystique available in all the popular formats.

First download is strictly pspimage

http://www.mediafire.com/?2bxg9taqkbm

Next download is jpeg, png and psd

http://www.mediafire.com/?7w9lbg9dzf1

As always, it is lovely to hear your commentary on my creations. Thanks in advance to all who take the time to leave their thoughts. It means a lot~

The Redhead~

Wings Available in new formats as per request~ (freebies)

First, Many thank yous to the kind comments about the angel wings. These angel wings come from photos I took from statues in my own memorial gardens, tributes to my own mother. I reworked the wings to give them more depth and feathers.

Due to the request I have had for other formats I decided to make those available to you all. I have created a new zip with these formats in it .png, .jpeg and .psd formats. I hope those of you who didnt get the chance to enjoy the wings will now do so.

I want to say, that in my creations, I never expect that each thing I create and offer will hit the taste palate of 'everyone'. I am not attempting to do that actually. My intentions are creating what would appeal to me personally, what I would be looking for from someone else and what I personally enjoy. In that, I hope that others will find appeal in that. But there will definately be the types who will have no use for what I create and might find it not to their liking at all. Hey its ok. Its not like there are not plenty of other designers out there with their own styles.
I am a big girl and can accept that there will be 'differences' of taste. :O)

Download the new formats of Redhead pixels Angel wings set here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?0nimm8zehmo

Stay tuned today for more freebies announced. I am working on a new posting.
The Redhead~

September Angel Wings Gift (freebies)

What a beautiful day~ It is gorgeous outside. I love this cooled down weather and we have had a lovely weekend here. We have had a few crisp evenings to enjoy the hot tub and that has been so nice!

Today's offering for you is a project I have been working on for a few days. They are 'stone' angel wings in 2 styles. These are offered to you in 2 different sizes as well.

I hope you enjoy them. As always, it is wonderful to hear the comments from those of you who are enjoying my creations. I wish more would take a moment to leave their thoughts on them as it really helps me to decide what is worth creating and what is not. Mostly I am just 'winging it' and creating things that appeal to me personally.

On the 'down low' I am busy these days creating more in the Paisley line. I have been busy drawing these paisley designs and scanning them in. Keep your eyes peeled to the blog for future Paisley offerings as I am as I said before, a Paisley addict!

But for today here is your Angelic wings. I hope you have someone special in mind to dress up with these wings~ I'd love to see your LO creations~

Download Redhead Pixels Angel Wings here:

http://www.mediafire.com/?7x2ndd19xv4

Floral Celebration~ Textured Papers and a quickpage freebie

NOTE:
DOWNLOAD LINKS HAVE BEEN REPAIRED!! IF YOU TRIED TO DOWNLOAD THESE PREVIOUSLY AND HAD TROUBLE, PLEASE DO TRY AGAIN, AS I HAVE SWITCHED HOSTS, THE PREVIOUS ONE HAVING SOME KIND OF 'GROWING PAINS'!

New gift offering (aka Freebie!) for you all today: Floral Celebration textured papers and a quickpage made with the series. I just loved the texture and clarity of the pages so much. I created them a while back and they were for my own private use but I decided to share them.

The glow of the texture is lost again in jpeg above but the originals in zip for you are in glorious color of pspimage file. (again, if someone needs another format, let me know, I only tend to put the format up I use). These papers and quickpages are in 3600x3600. I am wondering if this size is a good size to continue to make my pages in. I think I will do a poll. I hope you let me know what you would like to see here.

Today I worked on angel wings with turned out rather well. I have a bit of spiffing up to do on them yet. Do you like angel wings too? I would love to create some 'fairie' wings some time and I think that may well be on the agenda on down the line.

On with todays goodies....

These are rather large and so are in individual zips. I chose to not put these in jpeg, but to leave them in psp image format because the textures and colors were changed so much that it effected the quality to do so.

You can download just the ones you wish or all of them.

DOWNLOAD LINKS HAVE BEEN REPAIRED (I had to put them on another file hosting service as Divshare is having some kind of growing pains and will not connect at all)

FLORAL CELEBRATION PAPER : GREEN

http://www.mediafire.com/?4s9tzl4stdg

FLORAL CELEBRATION PAPER: MIDNIGHT BLUE

http://www.mediafire.com/?bqsjxnfktud

FLORAL CELEBRATION PAPER: LITE AQUA BLUE

http://www.mediafire.com/?7ebjtgenob2

FLORAL CELEBRATION QUICKPAGE

http://www.mediafire.com/?6zmszddzzzb

On the Edge of Paisley (2 new freebies w/ more to come~)

I am hopelessly addicted to Paisley~ I love it in all its many forms and use it in decorating around the house, my own clothing and creating things. So it has been an ongoing challenge for me to create my own paisley patterns in digi-scrap.

Part of the challenge has been the hand drawing of my own patterns, then scanning them in and of course getting creative with them in PSP XI. I have been having a lot of fun with Paisley and the first offerings are in a set I call "On the Edge of Paisley".

There will be much more to come in this series but for now the first two parts are a quick page and a photo collage.

If I would get a response thats receptive I was thinking about offering a 'build your own' Paisley and having a little bit of fun challenge with it, seeing what everyone can come up with. But as it is, very few people respond at all, although the downloads are going very well.

Above the sample picture of the two Paisley freebies~, below will be the download links. Please note: I am no longer offering freebies without a download password. Make sure you write it down, it will just be for the initial download and you will not need it to open the zip. This is for security issues.

PASSWORD FOR DOWNLOAD: merci

DivShare File - RHP On the Edge of Paisley qp.zip

DivShare File - RHP Paisley photo collage.zip

In Memory of those who fell 9/11 and Since~

While I know that 9/11 has not fell from our memories for hardly a moment since it happened, today's anniversary of the horrific events that befell the United States on that date should give us special reflection on those who gave their lives that day and since.

I want to as well give special tribute to those special heroes whose lives have been effected by the cleanup of ground zero and their families who are forever changed by what they have endured.

Whatever your beliefs today...Light a candle, say a prayer, offer your thoughts for some moments of reflection.

Justin Timberlake / What Goes Around Live

Making you think~

A must read "The Law Required it" at MSNBC

Have you ever read the book 1984 by George Orwell? It was written in 1949. For it to be written so much in the past, it is our wake up call to be read NOW.

With more information coming out all the time about how the US Administration under the Bush Presidency has 'fumbled' the ball I found this article at MSNBC very enlightening. I'm sharing it here.
To quote from the MSNBC site : "Former Justice Department lawyer Jack Goldsmith explains why he fought the White House’s aggressive legal maneuvers in the fight against terror."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20659806/site/newsweek/

There is a lot of apathy in the United States about voting. Few do it. Responsibly if you don't vote, you don't really have a whole lot of excuse for griping about whats going wrong. Now I say that because before the past few elections, in my earlier years, I was as well apathetic about government and did not vote. I as well felt I didn't have a right to gripe since I did not do so, even though I did not like what was going on in previous administrations (like Iran/Contra).
I have learned as I have aged to step up to the bat and take an active role in keeping myself informed. We are doomed to repeat our mistakes if we do not remember our History. For that I am assured. That is on every level. Personal and Government.
I feel it is every Americans personal responsibility to be informed about what is going on in their government and not to 'just take for granted' that our government is going to 'do what is right' for us. When I was in school I well remember discussions in History classes on issues of 'propaganda' but it was NEVER discussed in any way that reflected that the US ever 'used it' itself. I have learned as an adult that propaganda is used by ALL GOVERNMENTS, media, lobbyists, etc. Government uses media to get its messages out to the masses. That does NOT assure TRUTH in its message! It reminds me of several movies that have came out over the years about people being led by propaganda virtually the 'walking asleep'. We have had the fine ability to open our mouths and question authority since this country was founded. We do NOT want to lose that unalienable right set forth in the Bill of Rights.
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My personal views on what has been happening in our Government and the upcoming elections in 2008.
Personally an Independent voter, as well as is my husband, we look to Candidates who possess the history of voting and ideology that as closely relates to our own core values as is possible. There is no 'perfect' candidate out there who agrees with what we value other than Dennis Kucinich which we feel sadly does not have much of a chance of being elected simply because he is not a 'media darling', tied to big corps or lobbyists like the others in various degrees.
One thing is for sure, Health care, Poverty levels in OUR own country, Food and product safety issues, The UNENDING War in Iraq (DESPITE THE MAJORITY OF AMERICANS WHO WANT OUR SOLDIERS HOME), Securing our Borders & immigration, Securing and protecting the Bill of Rights to not ERODE further under any other administration and so much more need refocus and positive attention in a New Administration and Congress.
It is important that we all take note of our local elections as well as State and National to get the final results we wish. We have to become United again in this country and stop allowing Big Media, Corporations and even RELIGION and POLITICAL parties to cause us to 'hate our neighbor'.

My point I guess today is, I wish more people would do research, not be spoon fed every detail of their news from television, mass media and would dig deeper to find the heart of the truth of these difficult matters before us before our Rights, Freedoms and our very lives are forever changed by Big Brother overstepping its bounds.

Do you want a United North America? Canada, Mexico and the United States government officials have been meeting to accomplish this goal for many years now. Are you aware of that?
See Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_american_union

NAFTA SUPERHIGHWAY: This idea was put into place without congressional approval and is taking place without Americans being asked or consenting. Read more about this here:
http://http//www.house.gov/paul/tst/tst2006/tst103006.htm

September "This is Us" Freebie

This is us Freebie and Your Chance to Win another Freebie too! (details below)

*the photo above does not do justice to the quickpage, the vibrancy, 3 d effects of the lo etc are totally lost in jpeg and this page will look much better when you get it on your screen downloaded! It does not look 'muddy' or unclear like it does above.

It has been a really rough week grieving for Pedro and adjusting to life without his little trot across the scene of things. To keep my mind occupied and off my sorrows I have thrown myself into being creative.

One of my favorite creations a while back was my 'Tropicana' series papers. They are a series of papers I did with orange sherbert colors, very soft and reminded me a lot of the movie Moulin Rouge, just the 'era' and vibrancy of color. So since I love them so much, you'll be seeing me upon occasion offering digiscraps I have created with them. Today is one such day.

Out of this series came "This is Us" a quick page. This quick page was A lot of hard work..I mean it..there were a lot of hours put in to the individual creation of the elements and putting it all together. May not seem like it to you, but it was. One of the most frustrating things to me is JPEG does not show you the beauty of the colors that are really there in psp format. Once you convert, the lushness and clarity changes and you lose so much out of a creation. Just posting things here for you to preview is such a hard thing to do because I feel so disappointed that my hard work is lost in the translation. I guess you'll have to trust me that the preview is of much lesser quality than the actual final product you will download in zip format which is in great clarity and quality.
The bow used is real yarn, hand tied into the bow and scanned. I had a lot of issues trying to get it to 'look right' and finally got it to scan how I wanted, then just cleaning it up was a nightmare in and of itself. It was real learning experience, but I really wanted that look. For one, I have created both scanned and digitally created bows and I prefer the look of 'reality' to digitally created anything. There is more depth and shadow, more 3d look to anything that I scan in and then manipulate afterwards to get my own look. I can slice and dice and colorize. It's a lot of fun and I am really glad to have the scanner.

The green background paper is a digitally created 'vellum' layered over itself and is very textured in this way, almost like 'tissue paper' in effect. Again, you cannot even see it in this jpeg version, much less the subtle colorization of it, which is totally lost in the translation.

The other thing that I did that took the most time was the digitally created photograph frames. These were individual frames which I first created, then colorized and enhanced, hooked together and then laid on the tropicana paper background. Cutting out the background was not fun, even with the tools I had to use to make it 'easier'. But the final result is one I enjoyed. Looking at the picture above you just cannot even get a clue about the depth of the quickpage. It was very disappointing for me to have to see because I know how 'first impressions' are.

I hope you enjoy "This is Us" quick page ... If you download it, I doubt you will be disapointed.

To download "This is Us" quickpage Freebie Gift of the Day (time limited so please hurry and get this one!)

http://www.mediafire.com/?ebdbqedyndz WAIT THERES MORE!

SPECIAL CONTEST: SUBMIT YOUR LAYOUT TO ME WITH 'THIS IS US' USED AND GET MY NEW EXCLUSIVE QUICKPAGE 'IN MY MOTHERS GARDEN' AS A GIFT~

EXCLUSIVE ONLY AVAILABLE TO THOSE WHO PARTICIPATE.

EMAIL your This is Us LO TO: viccid at gmail.com

(take out spaces I am avoiding spiderbots)

Please feel free to use other embellishments and whatever you wish in your lo of "This is us" when you submit it to me, just provide all information credits so that I can provide those for publishing here on the blog.

In my mothers garden preview: *my kitty Charlie and photo of me not included lol)

In My Mothers garden was created from photographs of flowers of my mothers 'Memorial' Garden in my yard. It has a special angel statue I have in her honor as well. I dont like going to the cemetery and so I created a special place in my yard to provide me solace, comfort and a special closeness to my Mom. I even have a limestone bench to sit on under a maple tree too. I thought I would create a special quick page of these things so you could create your own special place.

To those who have offered comment on Pedro...

To those few who have been so kind of enough to leave private comment on Pedro and the quick page I created for him, I appreciate your empathy and kindness. It has been a rough few days of grieving for the little guy. My husband and I miss him very much. He slept every night on a little footstool by my side of the bed and its just really sad when you look over and see that empty spot every night.

To anyone else who comes here and wants to download "Delicate", it would be nice to have his memory acknowledged, if not the dl in thanks for his memory's sake. I dont need accolades. I am not doing this to make money, these are free. But a kind word spoken at the proper time, as the 'good book' says is balm to the soul. Remember, some day YOU might need that balm.
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Recommended Film of the day: "Pay it Forward". Gives new perspective to ones life and how to appreciate other human beings.

In Honor of Pedro. A gift in his memory (freebie)

Monday when I came home from work we came into the kitchen to discover one of our beloved yorkies had died. I cannot even explain the sorrow we have felt since that day. We loved him so much.

He was 14 years old. Pedro was a rescue Yorkshire Terrier. He had came into our lives about 7 years before that as a rescue situation. He had been a puppymill dog, was still intact, had a broken jaw (it was literally sideways) and his teeth were rotten so bad that he stunk across the room. He was in sad, sad shape. We took him to the vet, got him fixed up as best as we could. My husband and I took turns handfeeding him every day for those seven years. He slept by my side of the bed on a little covered footstool all curled up, sometimes he'd jump up and cuddle if he got cold and climb under the covers. He LOVED to be touched but never got over being 'shy' and fidgity.

I have sobbed my eyes out for this little guy for days now..I'll always miss him and though I know he has gone on to rainbow bridge to be with my other furrbabies who have passed and I know my dear friend Terri is watching over him for she loved Yorkies so much, it doesnt stop my heart aching.

In his honor today I created a very special quick page I called "Delicate". He was so very delicate you see...so very sweet and precious. Rest in peace Pedro. You were my very special 'little old man'.

Delicate quick page NO LONGER AVAILABLE, TIME LIMITED GIFT

MONDAY FREEBIE! Shine on U Crazy Daisy pack

Mondays, they can be such a drag eh? Whether you work outside the home or are able to SAH its back to the grindstone! So...I decided, I'd continue this 'freebie trend' for three days in a row!

Its always nice to get an unexpected gift.

Well, yesterday I was so busy with PSPxi that I created this new paper and quick page set out of it and my hubby said it was very pretty, he liked it. So, I decided to share it as the next freebie for you all. Please note in order to put up the new freebies at DIV share I had to delete some of the older freebies, I have attained the limit so I will need to be deleting freebies as I upload new ones, if you have not already gotten them, get while the getting is available...coz when they are gone they are poof~

Back to today:

It's called "Shine on U Crazy Daisy". Theres the original bordered paper I made and then I created 2 quick pages out of it.

One quick page has 2 of my metalic shine frames inserted as well as papers that include a different daisy notepad paper and gold paper. The other has the gold papers and 2 crazy daisies.
In any case you have three looks for pages~. Njoy them.
Download here:
http://www.divshare.com/download/1745353-bf1
http://www.divshare.com/download/1745354-f59
http://www.divshare.com/download/1745355-15b

Sunday Freebies! Wow 2 days in a row!

I've been up since 4am, could not sleep. So, sitting here at the computer being creative. My lack of sleep is your Sunday Freebie 'gain'. :O)

I hope you enjoy the creations~.As you will see, again, I love the use of color and splash it as much as possible. I hate the mundane. Give me vibrant!

Above is a quick page made out of a background paper I made from handdrawn flowers, frames I scanned and processed in PSPxi, and digi photos of the angels in my gardens. I hope you enjoy it..it is called "Someone 2 Watch Over U qp".

Download it here:

http://www.divshare.com/download/1740839-19a

Next is a wonderful textured set of Raspberry colors with Sunflowers in various colors, a solid paper and a vellum to match. The textures on the raspberry set remind me of Aida clothe when you get up close. I didnt want to lose the brilliant color or texture by putting these in jpeg so they are in psp format. If you need these in another format you can let me know and I will try to oblige.

Here is Raspberry Sunflower paper pack:

Download these lovely papers here in 2 parts:


http://www.divshare.com/download/1740567-dda
http://www.divshare.com/download/1740568-7da

Have a Happy Sunday~

Saturday Freebies 4 U~

I've been working on these freebies for you all for a few days. But in between have still been dealing with these tomatoes out the waaazooo. Made homemade bbq sauce this past week with half a bushel and used Pommegranate molasses and fresh oranges to flavor it as well. YUM! Its awesome! It surely has been a banner year for our tomatoes. I will probably have to do more picking Sunday.

On top of this, a few weeks ago, I started a new parttime job so that takes up three days of my week as well. (the puppy dogs are vengeful, they dont like mom gone from home after all these months of having me here).

For your enjoyment today I have uploaded two sets of bows and a very large paperpack. I hope you love color because today is all about the use of it. One of the things I love to do while creating my digi crafts is to expand the colorizations of things beyond the 'norm'. Todays paper pack offering shows I was a child of the 70's hehehehe.

Well, without further ado...here you go....


In the sample photo you can see the first set of 4 bows are Plaid crumpled paper, the second set of four are wire edged stripes. You can download each pack separate.

No longer available~ make sure you download your freebies promptly~

Next up a huge paper pack of color explosion. RHP's Crystal Flowers Paper pack set of 12 papers.

Have a great weekend!

MOTHER LOSS

I chose this topic today in honor of my Mother, Connie Lee, who has been gone since 1967 from this earth. I'm writing about Mom and life without her in the hopes that it will help others out there who have encountered the same issues as I have. I run several Yahoo Groups discussion lists for Mother Loss since 1998. My Mother, Connie Lee, is the reason 'why'. I want to offer hope, comfort, empathy and understanding to others who have dealt with the loss of their Moms so that they know they are not alone in the many issues, experiences and feelings that they undergo.

Mom: She passed away when I was five years old from injuries she sustained when she was in a car wreck. She left behind three little kids, I was the eldest. Mom was a month shy of her 23rd birthday. She had left my abusive father after five years of marriage and the day she was in the car wreck she was due in court to divorce him. He got the news at the courthouse. She lived 14 hours after the wreck. When I say my father was abusive, I mean, he had gone so far as to put her in the hospital with a broken arm before. He beat her when she was pregnant with me. I heard these things as I got older from other relatives and friends of the family. He really thought he could hide that past from his children after she died by cutting us off from information but it didnt work.

It was very hard growing up without her. Sure, my Dad remarried a scant four months after her death and 'provided' what he considered to be a fascimile replacement. (she came complete with two kids of her own) and then they had a son together one year later. She never replaced my Mom, she was a cold fish woman who didnt have understanding, empathy or compassion for the three little kids she had taken up in a package deal when she married my Dad. (who were only five, three and two). They were married for 17 years. My father gave this step mother my own mothers wedding ring to wear and she wore it until they divorced. I didnt get my mothers wedding ring until I was 24 years old at the birth of my third child, my only daughter. That ring is with me now until I die. Its all I have of my Mom other than a few photos and some costume jewelry and a few scant fleeting memories that a five year old holds on to of her mother.

In any case, we were raised in a household pretty much devoid of real love. The adults simply went through the motions on a daily basis. As children, we bonded together, full blood siblings to step and all to our half brother. We tried to protect one another. It was the adults that were nuts.

I never forgot my Mom, as hard as my Dad and step mother tried to make her memory go away. They packed up her pictures, got rid of her belongings and kept most of her relatives, OUR relatives away from us so that we could not know about her.

Teenage years were very tough without a Mom to talk to, certainly I could not talk to my step mother about any of the normal girl things one needs to talk to a Mom about. I was very isolated in my concerns and had to read books to find out information. I became an avid reader. My step mother hated it because she was really not very intelligent and didnt like to read. Every time I came back from the library she would go over my books, reading the backs of them to see if they were 'appropriate' and if the word 'love' or some other word she didnt approve of was there, she made me march back to the library and take back the book. (we are talking the 70's here). I learned to get books that didnt have jackets and relied upon the head librarian to help direct me to good books as I began reading at an adult level way beyond what a lot of kids were doing. The library was my santuary.

The Step mother used her religion to try to control us for a period of time. My Dad, an abusive, alcoholic let her use her religion and force us to go to those meetings etc, because it allowed him to keep us all in control while it allowed him to do what he wanted to do, as he was not in it. In our teenage years we rebelled highly and they gave up trying to force it. It was frustrating to us to watch the step mother lead one life when she was at her religious meetings and another when she was with Dad. It was like leading a double life constantly. As children, it put us in the untenable position of being outsiders no matter how it got sliced. We werent good enough for the church crowd kids even though we were forced to go and werent allowed to have worldly friends because it was against the religion. It really isolated us.

But getting back to my Mom.
The way we were raised we were not allowed to grieve. My Dad didnt let us go to the funeral for Mom nor did he allow for counseling or explaination of death, grieving etc.
We were told to 'dry it up'. Crying was something my father detested. He wanted us 'tough'.
I sobbed into my pillow when I was alone. I wanted my Mom. I couldnt stand my step mother and really began to detest both my father and my step mother.

I left home at just turned 17 and got married, had my first son, quit school in my junior year to escape the bad home life. Ten years of that marriage, three children born to it and it became abusive after six years or so. We were divorced.

Grieving for my Mother hit me into my thirties. Depression and anxiety. I didnt really understand. I have suffered from severe migraines ever since I was 22 years old. (strikingly the age my Mom died at). Two of my three children also suffer from migraines.

In any case, one day when I was in a bookstore with my husband, (a favorite thing for us to do), perusing the bookshelfs. I was in the self help section and there on the shelf was a book whose title blazed out at me "Motherless Daughters: A legacy of Loss by Hope Edelman".
I felt the breathe drain out of me...omg..
In all my days, I had never met anyone who had ever been through childhood mother loss. Everyone had moms growing up. I was the isolated one, the unusual one. But everyone assumed we had a Mom because we had the step mother and trust me, she didnt ever take the place of my mom. I picked up this book and started to flip through it and read the stories of mother loss. Suddenly I felt an overwhelming panic settle on me of grief. I was totally unprepared for it. Here I was in the middle of a bookstore for goodness sakes and I was crying and losing it. I felt an overwhelming desire to get out of that store. I knew something was going on emotionally that I had not ever dealt with before.
I have a wonderful husband, and thankfully when I found him he got me out of there and I explained what was going on he was very comforting.
A few weeks later I went to the library and got that book. I tried to read it, but every time I did I got so emotional I had to put it down. I tried this for a month.
Finally I had to take the book back. I never got it read totally. It is ironic that I never even thought as I was growing up that anyone else was going through what I was going through. I was raised in a very small town in Southern Indiana. We walked to school and everybody knew everybody else and their business. We just didnt know anybody else who had gone through the loss of the Mother. Divorces, yes. But not motherloss.
Here I was at the realization for the first time in my life .....that I was not alone. That very realization was a comfort to me.
I thought about how I could find other women/girls who had or were going through this. I wanted to connect, to be able to talk about the experiences life had put me through, put them through.
It was then I thought of the Internet and I had already had one discussion list that I was running for yorkie owners. (we have three). So I began the first Motherless list which was for women/girls only (back when onelist and then egroups before yahoogroups had control) and that list blossomed into several other lists for motherloss, motherless2 a list for women/girls who have lost their moms in the past two years who are more raw to the emotion of loss, motherless3 a discussion list for women/girls who have lost their moms to abandonment, adoption, estrangement (through religion or other issues and moms can be alive or passed for this list), motherlesscoed, a list for men and women, motherless4 which is my baby a list for women/girls who lost their moms when they were children or teens, and a peer list for twentysomethings and under to discuss motherloss with each other called motherless5. Recently I just started Motherless6 after many requests from men to join the motherless lists who wish to help their children after the loss of their wives.

These discussion lists began their life with that first list in 1998 and have been going strong ever since offering a supportive environment to those who have experienced motherloss.

This I have done in honor of my Mom, Connie Lee ...may flights of angels sing her to her rest.
I love and miss you always Mom~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

August

I've got some goodies for you. I hope you enjoy. Dont have much to say today, just have been too busy to really post. Still dont have the appliance situation resolved from the lightening strike and that looks like it will take quite a bit longer to resolve, which is frustrating. I've been busy with all those garden tomatoes and have more to do today.

I started a new part time job working with the hubby and so that will help out a bit.

Let me know what you think of the digi gifts I am offering if you have a moment.

Offerings today: (check out the sampler pictures)

Med Dreams Quick Page



Reflective Puddle paper pack



Mod Flowers pack



Affections of the Heart paper pack



Affections of the Heart Frame and Mat pack



Spring Fling Quick Page









Spring Fling quick page




THESE FREEBIES NO LONER AVAILABLE~ REMEMBER TO DOWNLOAD FREEBIES QUICKLY AS THEY ARE TIME LIMITED ~

Lightening Strikes...life is busy .....and some freebies for You.

Yes, Lightening struck a week ago this past Saturday and I had Internet withdrawal as it effected a lot of appliances in our home as well as the wireless router. Took days to figure out the issue. Lightening had actually struck the transformer on the pole, then the overload came back to the house and fried out the meter. We were continually then hit with an overload of power in flashes which fried out electronics on my washer, dryer, fridge, and other appliances. Lovely.


Thankfully it didn't take out the computer. So while I couldn't get online, I could still be creative on the computer with my Paint shop pro xi. Therefore, you get the benefits of days of no Internet service eh? Well, I created a lot more than these but this is a start.

I love real looking textures used in digi scrap. The idea of being able to be creative in this forum offers up a host of avenues I just cannot draw. Take for instance, the creations I am offering to you today are in brick and concrete 'look'. I hope you enjoy using these in your digi scrap as much as I had fun making them. I'd love to see a layout done with them.




I am offering pink brick for the girls and concrete for the guys. Feel free to change the colors on the bricks for personal use only if you would like to have them for a guys layout.



Please read Redhead Pixels Terms of Use on each item you download.


First up:

Frame Trio in Pink Bricks with circular centers for your photos. I made all of these frames very large and you can resize them down. I did this offer you all a clearer brick pattern as well as more options of sizes.





Download here:
THIS FREEBIE NO LONGER AVAILABLE





Squared centers











Download here:
THIS FREEBIE NO LONGER AVAILABLE





Then we have: Frame Brick wall w/ six spots for photos








Download here:
THIS FREEBIE NO LONGER AVAILABLE



Then my Concrete blocks frame. I really liked doing this one because its offset and a great look for guys too. I think this would look great with some denim myself.





Download here:

THIS FREEBIE NO LONGER AVAILABLE




Also offered today is my Frame creation of tape with a gold eroded spray paint look. Like I said, I love textures and this frame offers a very realistic look to it. (dog not included lol)

Download here:

THIS FREEBIE NO LONGER AVAILABLE

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Life is Busy

Garden is putting out tomatoes faster than we can eat them so of course this is the time of year I have to figure out what to do with the excess. I have made two huge pots of spaghetti sauce and put them up in the freezer in the past few days. We have been getting about a bushel every day or so of tomatoes. Keeps me hopping! I have been keeping three dehydrators going because I really didn't want to have to can them this year.

I love creating things homemade. I have always tried to do as much as possible that I could. Two years ago I learned how to make homemade lye soap and ever since then I have made my own homemade soaps for my family and friends.

Two days last week I made homemade lye soap. Omg they smell wonderful. I made three different blend scents; Chocolate/Mint which looks like fudge but please don't eat it~, then I made a Blend with Cucumber Melon, rosewood and lemongrass, smells so fresh and wonderful! Then I made a batch scented with Vanilla Absolute, Rosewood, and almond that smells awesome out of this world. I have made my own homemade soaps now for two years using my own recipes after much research online. My soaps tend to have 8 to 12 different oils in them. They are rich with all kinds of good properties for the skin. My skin used to be broke out in bumps all my life on my arms. That is totally gone now because my pores are not clogged up or perhaps I was even allergic to something in store bought soaps. I don't know. My skin feels better as well as does my husbands because over the counter soaps are really mostly detergents, not soaps and the glycerin has been taken out of the soaps which leaves your skin feeling dry. With my skin (I am no spring pup) I need all the extra moisturizing properties I can get and so I add the oils that offer the best properties for healing, moisturizing, and elasticity (very important to my aging skin). We have seen a huge difference for ourselves. I highly recommend homemade soap over store bought if its made properly. I have to add, homemade does not mean cheaper. I do not make my own soap because I want a cheaper bar of soap. I make my own soap because I want a better quality of soap for my skin that I cannot find in stores. I also then know and can control the quality of whats going in the soap.

With so much going wrong in today's world as far as recalls of products, at least I know that my own soap has excellent quality, because I did it myself and I assured the quality of each bar.

For those of you who are interested in trying this out yourself, there are lots of great discussion lists out there as well as websites to learn more about soap making. There are safety issues you must be aware of but if you take precautions and NEVER make soap around children nearly everyone should be able to do it.

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and finally....the smattering of my viewpoint......its highly personal.

Questioning Authority (my political rant for the day)

I am as patriotic as most Americans. I pay my taxes, I abide the laws of the land. So it really is irritating to me when I hear the crud about how some who support this war and this President will go on attack if you are 'against' the war and its reasons for existing. Dissent and a will to have Freedom is what created this country. Why would we want to silence the differences in people to make them cookie cutter versions of what is running this country right now?

My father served in his young years in the National Guard (back before they sent them overseas), my brother was a Marine back when the barracks in Lebanon were bombed (thank god he was not there at the time but we didn't know where he was then, bless the soldiers whose lives were lost during that horrible time and whose families were effected forever), my second husband was a Marine and my grandfather served in WWII in the Army. My nephew now is in training in the National guard in Georgia. I pray they do not end up sending him to Iraq. But I fear they will. He has one baby and one on the way. We have a former Navy Seal in the family and his son is currently serving in the services as well.

I am however, disturbed by the current discussion of the Iraq war czar to reinstate the draft. Here is the reason why. Our young men and women should be serving OUR country and if they die, they do so fighting FOR our country and not for oil or to create a base in the middle east to protect that oil which protects the profits of the huge oil corporations while we STILL pay the huge prices for gas and oil and they walk away with HUGE PROFITS. (and government backing and tax breaks and you name it!). Our Government cannot continue to be tied to these oil companies as well as pharmaceutical companies etc.

I pray for the safety of all the Brave service people putting their lives on the line. It sorrows me to see many every day who will not make it home to their families. Lives gone forever. What for? Enduring freedom for Iraq? It will not happen. They are a nation at war with themselves as well as us. It boggles the mind that we are handing them guns that are used against our men and women trying to keep peace. Our own government is subverting the process. Money, oil, and guns are missing that cannot be accounted by the Pentagon. Yet they hand more guns out.

I don't understand why they are not taking guns away instead of handing them out!
But I do feel that they should come home and let the Middle east sort out their issues on their own. I don't feel we should have ever involved our country in Iraq. I understand Afghanistan. But not Iraq. It is astounding that after all these years the one person they started this war far is still on the loose and never has been found. I don't believe for one iota of a second that the upper echelons of our government does not know where he is or what has happened to him.

I did not vote for this President and I will not vote for his party in the future. I want and seek change. It is my fervent wish that he and his cronies be impeached.

Its astounding to me that America, considered to be 'the Greatest Nation' for taking care of its people etc, has no national health care for its people, yet other countries do. It astounds me that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer and find it harder and harder to get out of poverty. Huge companies are allowed to let their CE Os to profit when they go out of business (even at their own failures) and the people who end up losing their retirement pension plans and health benefits are not the CEO figureheads who walk away with astronomical figure package deals but the people who did the REAL WORK.

Congress votes themselves pay raises regularly but how often does the cost of living increases go up and how high for Social Security and Minimum Wage? Its ridiculous!

Katrina and New Orleans, two years later, a National Disgrace. What of the people put into trailers with formaldehyde permeated interiors?
Nothing being done for their health issues? New Orleans crime is ungodly and why isn't the government calling in special help for that crime torn area to get things back into control??

The infrastructure of our country is collapsing faster than it can be rebuilt. Look at the pipe burst in New York City and the people it harmed, then the bridge collapse in Minneapolis. This is a harbinger we should be paying attention to. For years utilities and oil companies have all these profits and they say they are going to be putting money back into infrastructure. If that is the case, there would be a better handle on the situation. But this is a case of greed. Speaking of greed....

The price of gas fluctuates to the breeze of the Oil companies whims. Now ethanol is supposed to help save us? Yes? No! Because now, these huge farming companies are planting corn to make ethanol and the price of corn is going up, therefore its competition for FOOD products. Note how much your milk and dairy products, and all corn made products go up over the next few years.

Why aren't we focusing on Wind and Solar? Why do we have to keep focusing as a nation on things that give these big companies profits? Our government should be offering grants to solar and wind creation so that we can get out of the mess we are in. Instead corporate lobbying is forcing us down the pathways of greed. But not all nations are following this path. Lots of other nations are focusing on Wind, Solar and even Steam from the earths interior as well as finding new ways to recycle methane etc to create energy. There are OTHER ways and we just need to focus on them.

Until we as a Nation of People stand up together UNITED (any party, all parties) AGAINST tyranny in the areas of business, government and justice too, we will continue to have these horrible issues plague our society to the core.

Margaret Mead said " A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."

End of July Gifts Digi Gifts Extravaganza!

Today is Extravaganza day! Lots of freebies for u! I am excited to be able to offer my creations that I have been busy making. It would be very nice to hear some feedback on what those who take the time to download think of them. Please DO leave comments, if you download.

First up, is a handdrawn crown. This crown was drawn by me in pastel water color pencil, then scanned in and digitized. I hope you enjoy it. I am showing it here used in a layout with my daughter. I think it has a unisex look so you should be able to use it for anybody. The background I used in this layout is my own creation and is part of a collection I call "Affections of the Heart". The font used is called pea stacy's doodle script.

Get the crown for your own prince or princess

I'M SORRY THIS FREEBIE NO LONGER AVAILABLE

IN ORDER TO MAKE ROOM FOR NEW FREEBIES.

Next up in Line in Julys Extravaganza at RedHead Pixels is a collection of Buttons/medalions I have been working on. These are high resolution and you should be able to use these in multiple ways.

Here is a photo of them. (background is not included)

You can download the button Collection of 9 here:

THIS FREEBIE NO LONGER AVAILABLE IN ORDER TO MAKE ROOM FOR NEW
FREEBIES

Last but not least for the Extravaganza is a Background quickpage I call "Beautiful".

This is a preview of the Beautiful LO quickpage

I hope you think it is too.

It can be downloaded here

THIS FREEBIE NO LONGER AVAILABLE IN ORDER TO MAKE ROOM FOR NEW

FREEBIES~

Please do leave comments for the July Extravaganza. Believe it or not, I have a lot more offerings to be made and would love to post a lot more, but no comments leave me feeling very empty like they are not worth your time or effort. Please let me know how you like them. (or not)
Thank You Much.
Enjoy.
Vicci~
The Redhead Pixelated~

Finally, a new gift to offer~ In the Spotlight

This blog doesnt do justice to those photo colors or the crispness of the whole textural glowy effect. How frustrating! It really looks so much more glowing when you get it on your own screen in all those glorious colors and shadows.

After many days of working hard on PSPXI digital creations, I have some gifts to offer. But first let me say I have had a blast creating things. My offerings today are about 'less is more'. I dont necessarily always like all the clutter of a ton of elements and jigabobs cluttering up a scrappage. Sometimes I think it detracts from the photo totally. The quick page I created over the past few days is called "In the Spotlight" and it is all about putting the subject of the photo 'in the spotlight' which is all about the premise of less is more.

In fact I have done two photos of my own family in them to show you how they look as samples.

Have faith that it will look so much better when you get it on your own screen. The delicate textures come through and it is really so much different than how this blog makes it look all ruddy. The papers are very vellum like and you can make them darker to suit your needs.

One is my husband and the other my daughter. Let me know what you think of them please.

Remember, comments are what inspire me to offer more to u, and really, I have a ton of things ready to go.

If you would like to have these quick pages, they are 3600x 3600 and can be downloaded here:

THESE FREEBIES NO LONGER AVAILABLE IN ORDER TO MAKE ROOM FOR NEW FREEBIES!

Please do leave a comment. NJoy~

If you make a layout with this, I'd love to see it!

Working Hard

Though silent the past few days online I have been very busy off creatively.
I noted although there were downloads of the wallpapers not one comment, which saddened me, so it has left me feeling a little hesitant to upload my other things just yet.
I really dont need much, but it would be nice to hear a few thoughts on what people thought of them that did take the time to download.

The creation of these things, are pure joy to me, and I would do it on my own without posting anything here at all. Although some of the things I do take a lot of time and those things I am very hesitant to let go of to just post here I guess because they are my babies, I'd like to be able to offer my things to others to pass on seeing them used creatively. My feeling on that is however, that if I am going to offer my babies, I would like some feedback in return and I think thats a small price to pay for 'free'. A comment takes a small amount of time and is something I see so rarely done on these digi scrap blogs where freebies are offered in relation to amount downloaded of items and comments made in return for that offering.
Remember that it really is true, the lovely incentive for people doing the creating of these items is the feedback they get after it is offered. We'd love to hear what our items are used for, or what you'd like to see or even a layout after the fact. That is very inspiring to our creativity.

Today I created some rich colored luscious buttons. I am going to work on getting them ready for posting soon, but wanted to have a good sized collection of them so it would be well worth a nice download. I didnt want to make a bunch of the same type all in different colors, but wanted to make different styles. It was so much fun creating them all. I am looking forward to getting them up and hope that they will be enjoyed. Give me a speck of time and I'll have them here.

First RedHead Pixelated Gifts

My first offerings, these first few gifts to give you, which I have worked very hard on and have took me longer than I wanted due to some illness. Finally are here!!!
I have struggled for over a week with a series of serious migraines that have came and gone for every six hours or so for over that week and it has all but drove me batty. The distractions of the creation process has helped sometimes to not focus on the pain.
Well, Let us get down to the nitty gritty though.

The first offerings are from my Pink Tapestry Backgrounds. So you can see what they look like here are so you can preview. They are 12x12 or 3600x3600 pixels. I hope you enjoy them.

Terms of Use are included within the zips.
If I have set up the downloads properly, there IS a password involved, which is simply redhead. If its not set up properly well then forgetaboutit. ha!
That is simply to keep people coming to this site to get the downloads hopefully. You have no idea how long it took me to get those uploaded on that site, omg. I about gave up they kept giving me error after error!

I have created much much more and ALL I have created has been from photos "I" have taken, items I have scanned and manipulated with my own purchased copy of Corel PSP XI. I am self taught at this, so no expert, and just enjoying learning at my own pace. My reasons for offering the creations I make are simple: I want to 'pass it forward' so to speak. So enjoy and if you dont mind, a comment on what you think of how I am doing would be 'nice' upon occasion.

Each day I will try to upload new things I have done, which I have created on my own, there are many new things I have to offer, ribbons of various types, glass looking flowers, paper looking flowers, frames that look like ohhhhhh got to keep some secrets! Lots of backgrounds too! I will be putting things together in sets as time allows.
But we all have to start with a first and my first is this little offering of Pink Tapestry. download here:

THESE FREEBIES NO LONGER AVAILABLE, TO MAKE ROOM FOR NEW FREEBIES!

Re: Best version I have ever heard

A really great version of Back to black

Amy Winehouse Back to Black

give her a listen~

Stronger than me (live@Jools Holland)

Amy Winehouse. Dare U not to MOVE to this.

The Red Heads Pixelated Thoughts: "an alter ego"


Ta Da~
~First post on a new blog, how intimidating is that! This is my 'alter ego' web blog for my pixelated creations, digital scrapbooking and more. I'm afraid I'm a bit of a complicated, creative creature. I have a lot of diverse interests. That in and of itself is going to come out in this blog, and in my creations.

Eventually, in the next few days hopefully, you'll be offered as gifts, some of the hard work I have been busy creating. You see, digiscrap is my newest infatuation. After years of playing with trial versions of Jasc paint shop pro, I finally got Corel PSP XI for my 45th birthday present. Now THAT was an awesome present~.
I have been playing with its features, learning new things ever since. I bought a scanner and I have a digital camera. I've been busy transferring what I guess you'd call 'hybrid' designs to digi.

My creations are a blend of handdrawn, scanned, and digital photos. For the creative process, I have been keeping scraps of paper with ideas for creations as they come to me, stuffed in a notebook. Sometimes that hits me right when I am ready to go to sleep. I thought of a really good idea last night and was too tired to write it down and was kicking myself in the BEEhind all morning trying to remember what the idea was! SO, I really need to put pen and paper by the bed for those late night thoughts. Thankfully, I remembered the idea late this afternoon, it was for a phrase to make a sticker out of.


More thoughts on my pixelated idea process:

Get a great graphics program. I use Corel PSP XI. There are several out there. I know Adobe PS is popular but expensive. In my opinion, you can't go wrong downloading a free trial of PSP anytime it is available. It is a great way to get a taste for digital graphic manipulations. Everyone pretty much starts out fixing their photos and then jumps into other areas.Keep fresh batteries in your digital camera and a package of extras handy for those spur of the moment photo revelations.

Get a good pad of Sketchbook paper and Le Plume brand pens. They are great~ They have a brush tip at one end and a fine tip at the other and come in fabulous colors. Great for creating doodles, scrolls, leaf designs and so much more.

Next a good set of Watercolor pencils, you can achieve so much with these with regarding to blended colors. Don't forget to use your imagination~

Grab everything you have been using for regular scrapbooking and look at it in a new way~! Look at whats around you. I take photos of everything~. I am looking for textures, colors, shapes, and I think about how it can be 'changed' to be something totally different looking after it has been put through the processes of the digital manipulations. It's like working with clay really. You take your lump and make it something unexpected.

Color and the lack of it can say loads~.One of the things I love to do is to take a photo and put it through all the processes of hyping color and stripping it away to minimums. Highlighting shadows, minimizing flaws, giving glow to areas you never noticed before. These are all possible with graphics programs and can really change your photos into spectacular results that you had to rely upon professional photographers before. Now all this is available to the home user at minimal cost



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POLITICAL RANT
the red heads viewpoint on newest political issues

Scooter Libby gets sentence commuted. Karl Rove has still not had to answer for what he has done. A. Gonzales is still at the Justice Dept.
What is WRONG with our Upper Government sense of justice? Why am I surprised after all these years. Trust me, not surprise, it's disgust.
I will be GLAD to see a new election. Can't come too soon. I still cannot believe that Clinton can be brought up on impeachment for his lie, but this administration gets by with far, far worse.At this point I don't know who I'd vote for. I don't know that any of the candidates from either party have the core values I believe in.

Color me disillusioned.

bitchy sigh.........

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