At long last! I was finally able to finish these parts of the new kit, “Spring is in the Air”. You won’t believe all that tried to get in the way. Well, for one, my daughter was home yesterday afternoon. I started talking to her about ‘things’ since I am growing more and more concerned for her and her actions. It went very well! Turns out, she wants help. It’s hard as a parent because, too often, we sound like parents! But, we were able to connect for a few hours yesterday and, folks, the news is hopeful! She all but asked for help. I’m really pleased that she is able to reach that first step. She loves her babies. She has, and will get more, help just by asking for it – from other family members to professional help. I don’t mean to go all personal on ya’ll, but, those who read this blog regularly, kind of know what is happening. I wear my heart on my sleeve! Though there is a time an a a place, I think everyone understands. We’re human! So, thanks for being like that, ya’!! I feel so much better! The hard part is ahead of us, but, I am hopeful!
Anyway, I took time for that, then, when I went to package up the kit parts, for some reason, I couldn’t create a “New Folder”! I clicked on the little button. Nothing! I was getting scared! I thought maybe it was because my drives are getting close to maximum capacity! I only have around 100 gigs left on both EHD’s. Once, when they got real full, folders disappeared! They didn’t go anywhere, but, they didn’t show up when I opened a window. There was just the file name and an empty spot! I Googled it and found it was due to my drives being so full! I chunked some stuff and they returned!
Thinking this may be the problem this time, I went in search of some files I knew I could stand to toss out. When I first started with the digital design, I was careless and downloaded any and every thing I found online. Now, as part of my regular maintenance, I have been going through and deleting stuff. As I was scrolling through some files, I came upon a folder that said it held 3.25 gigs. Three gigs is a huge folder! I looked at it and found it was a folder of images from the “Library of Congress”(LOC). But, why would it be so large? I started looking through the folder and, lo and behold, the better part of the images were ‘.TIFF’ files! .TIFFs are the largest of all the file types! They are the most resolute and therefore the best to maintain an image’s resolution and purity. But, they is humongous! LOL
I used Photoshop to change them all to .JPGS. (There were probably 200 of these TIFF files!) It was really easy! What I did was to create an action. I clicked on ‘Create New Action’ and went through the steps to save one of the images to a .JPG, then, closed it. Then, I stopped recording the action. After that, it was just a matter of opening a .TIFF, then, running the action on it. It automatically changed the files to .JPG’s, saved them and closed them, too! There is a way to do this as a ‘batch’, but, it requires creating a ‘new folder’ of those files first. I couldn’t open a New Folder! So, I would open a group at a time of a bout 20 – 25. It took me about 10 minutes to change and save, then, delete all the .TIFFs.
The lesson here is look at file types when downloading! Though .TIFFS are the best quality all around, for my use, .JPGs work as well as take up less than half the space! After I converted the .TIFFS to .JPGS, the file size was just a little over a gig! So, I saved about 2 gigs’ space! Whee! If anyone wants the specifics on the action, leave me a comment and I will post a “how-to” for ya! M’kay?
In spite of all the interference, I like the way this kit turned out. It isn’t done completely in the ‘artsy’ style, but, I did do some things that way. I hope you like! Here are the next two(2) parts, Pt-3 and Pt-4. Click on the links below to download. I know you have already been to Miss Edna’s Place, already, by now, but, just in case, I have included her preview. Click on it to go to her blog for her parts.
“Spring is in the Air”
Part 3 – http://suruha.com/download/su_april13/su_SITA_Pt-3.zip
Part 4 – http://suruha.com/download/su_april13/su_SITA_Pt-4.zip
Miss Edna’s Preview
(click on image to go to blog)
You know, I had this image, in my mind, of me in ‘retirement’. Though I have never had a lot of money, I found a way to budget to where I have what I need and can still ‘play’ a little bit. But, having the grandchildren and my daughter live with me just happened. It just happened that things weren’t all that great for my daughter as a mom. It just happened that I had to step into the role of ‘mother-figure’. Things just happened! But, I wouldn’t have it any other way! I think of my own grandmother. She lived in another town, with my aunt. She came to visit several times a year and we went to see her about as many times. We weren’t real close, but, she was grandma! I look back now and realize, it is what you make it. I’m a much more active granny to my g-children, but, that is only due to circumstances. I just want my g-children to know me while they are growing up. My other g-children and I don’t see each other as often, but, I speak to them on the phone and make all my time for them when they are here. It’s all in what you have going on. Maybe my retirement doesn’t have me traveling or hanging out in the hammock reading a good book, but, that’s okay. I know some little children, running around these parts, growing up and becoming decent adults. And, they know me!
Until next Monday, or sooner,
Hugs,
Su