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.





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THIS FREEBIE NO LONGER AVAILABLE





Squared centers











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








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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.





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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."