A crime against all the man rules

[smittymike19]

Ok so i have been taking tons of digital pictures of my son since he was born. Problem is I havent really printed any of them out. So i ahve about 2500 pictures sitting on my hard drive, which my wife is constantly asking for printouts of. So, I recently sent a bunch over to walmart to get developed. The pics were done in an hour and to tell you the truth they came out looking pretty awesome. Feeling a bit motivated by the quality, I sent a bunch more over, with the intention of putting them in a nice album for my wife for a mothers day present. I got a bunch of 8x10's, 5x7s and 4x6s. They all came out really good.

Ok so here is where the man crime was committed. I went to an arts and crafts place and was planning on buying a nice album to put them all in. Well needless to say, I started talking to one of the salegirls there, and one thing led to another, and well lets just say i was up till 3:30 am putting together a scrap book. :oops: Man if teh guys on my hockey team knew why i couldnt go out with them for cinco de mayo and drink beer, theyd probably punch me in the face.:lol:

Is it ok for a man to scrap?:)

[ElleG83]

lmao. well.... it might be a little strange for a man to scrap... but i think your wife will be thrilled. so strange or not, it was probably the right thing to do. your wife is lucky to have such a nice husband. :)

[Belmondo]

It just depends on how you put it together. If you used lots of cutesie touches (i.e. lace, flowers, etc.), you're definitely suspect. If, on the other hand, there's lots of testosterone showing through in the finished product, you're okay.

[dewmuw]

"I started talking to one of the salegirls there, and one thing led to another, and well lets just say i was up till 3:30 am putting together a scrap book"

I thought this was a euphemism!! :D

[Belmondo]

I thought this was a euphemism!! :D


:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
I never thought of that. That is too funny. :lol: :lol:

I guess we don't have to worry about the testosterone, do we.

[mdm]

No! It is not acceptable. I would not be surprised if your membership is revoked. You see the problem is once you start to scrap it is expected from you in the future.

[smittymike19]

lmao. well.... it might be a little strange for a man to scrap... but i think your wife will be thrilled. so strange or not, it was probably the right thing to do. your wife is lucky to have such a nice husband. :)

thanks for the compliment. it seems that the small poll ive taken here at work has had the same concensus...starnge but "sweet'. but "sweet" to women is soemthing quite different to men.;) :D

[smittymike19]

It just depends on how you put it together. If you used lots of cutesie touches (i.e. lace, flowers, etc.), you're definitely suspect. If, on the other hand, there's lots of testosterone showing through in the finished product, you're okay.

lmao. i actually enliste dthe help of my neighbor and she wanted to use some cutesy stuff but i insisted on using only black, white gray and tan things. the letters i bought are all sllek stainless steel (looking) and there are no flowers (as it is for my son) or ribbons. Ill let her add taht stuff if she wants.

[smittymike19]

"I started talking to one of the salegirls there, and one thing led to another, and well lets just say i was up till 3:30 am putting together a scrap book"

I thought this was a euphemism!! :D
hey you wanna hear something funny? while i was wondering around helpless, i actually met 4 very nice looking girls. One of them actually gave me her number and told me that if i wanted i could come over and shed help me out... Even though she knew it was for a mothers day present. Now she may have had innocent intentions, but I like to believe she was interested in soemthing else.;) If i am ever single again, i will use this trick again, much better than trying to pick up women in a bar.:lol:

[mdm]

Well if it's used like that it's ok! Scrap away.....

[dispatchermike21]

Did you use any ductape if you did then you are OK if not you need to be decom'd ASAP or risk being femminized for life.:razz:

But seriously you enjoyed didn't you come on admit it you did din't you....;)

[smittymike19]

hey you dont know who i am so i dont ahve to face you face to face, so its a little easier to purge here. I had to tell someone. And it sure wasnt gonna be my guy friends. :)

[neil_r]

Just don't start hooking................. rugs :D


N

[rfreschner]

Is it ok for a man to scrap?:)

Only if you have to buy more equipment or another software program to do it. :D

Actually, FotoFusion works quite well for this if you want to print them at home.

[rdenney]

I bet you paid more for the scrapbook album than you did for the prints.

Rick "who thinks scrapbooking with the salesgirl at 3:30 AM is a detail you should probably not pass along to your wife, or you really will lose your manhood" Denney

[CyberDyneSystems]

Damn,. I'm heading to the Arts and Crafts store this weekend!

[Jemmind]

AAAWWWWW man that is so sweet. You better have your camera out and take a photo of her when she sees it. She'll probably cry. (I would, if my husband did something that sweet). Plus you can whip out the photo next time you get in a fight and remind her how sweet you are at heart.
Julie

[smittymike19]

I bet you paid more for the scrapbook album than you did for the prints.

Rick "who thinks scrapbooking with the salesgirl at 3:30 AM is a detail you should probably not pass along to your wife, or you really will lose your manhood" Denney

prints...cost $55.00
scrapbook and materials, and its probably about 60% done: $160.00
That hobby is absolutely no joke. you could easily dump $300.00 to 400 on a book and pictures. were talking "L" land or a scrapbook.

[smittymike19]

Damn,. I'm heading to the Arts and Crafts store this weekend!

ok so i had to go back again tonight to get a few more things to finish up, and guess what? a whole new slew of nice looking girls. Really, i think I amy be on to something here.

[smittymike19]

AAAWWWWW man that is so sweet. You better have your camera out and take a photo of her when she sees it. She'll probably cry. (I would, if my husband did something that sweet). Plus you can whip out the photo next time you get in a fight and remind her how sweet you are at heart.
Julie

EXCELLENT idea. The problem with doing stuff like this is taht I have to come up with better ideas every year. I will not move onto knitting, i promise. :)

[smittymike19]

Just don't start hooking................. rugs :D


N

uh if i have to do another book, i may have to start "hooking" to pay for it. wow is this stuff crazy expensive. and to think i was going to do the book becaus we agreed not to spend money on each other....hindsight is 20/20.:D

[Jemmind]

We want to see your excellent work you do; you should post a couple of shots of it.
What a guy.
Julie

[froman98]

Well, IMO it's okay for a guy to scrap as long as you don't refer to the color purple as "dark mauve" or whatever. I think if you are ever in doubt of your masculinity (I only say this because of the comment about your buddies), throw in a picture in the very back of the scrap book of you downing a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon with several empty cans surrounding you and the table/area that you usedto work on the book. Then on the back of the picture (even though it will be taped/glued to the book) right "I AM ALL THAT IS MAN" so if the photo ever comes out a few generations later or it falls off, it will be something to laugh at :).

Okay, maybe I went a bit overboard. I think it was a great idea to put together a scrap book. Your wife and daughter will love it for years and years to come. Plus, you can use it as leverage to get you out of situations or bail you out of trouble. ;)

[smittymike19]

We want to see your excellent work you do; you should post a couple of shots of it.
What a guy.
Julie

uh did i say it was excellent? god i hope not. its my attempt at a scrap book. Some of the pages are really good (imo) and some are not lol. When im done ill take some pics of it and let you see it. Like everyone is saying, my wife is gonna flip out when she sees it, poor or great quality, as she really is an amazing woman, and will make goo goo sounds just because she knows i tried. I am going to post teh last picture in the book, as i really feel like it is an amzing shot. it has such awesome symbolism, when i showed it to the girl at work and explained the story, she got all goosepimply and welled up with tears.

[smittymike19]

Well, IMO it's okay for a guy to scrap as long as you don't refer to the color purple as "dark mauve" or whatever. I think if you are ever in doubt of your masculinity (I only say this because of the comment about your buddies), throw in a picture in the very back of the scrap book of you downing a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon with several empty cans surrounding you and the table/area that you usedto work on the book. Then on the back of the picture (even though it will be taped/glued to the book) right "I AM ALL THAT IS MAN" so if the photo ever comes out a few generations later or it falls off, it will be something to laugh at :).

Okay, maybe I went a bit overboard. I think it was a great idea to put together a scrap book. Your wife and daughter will love it for years and years to come. Plus, you can use it as leverage to get you out of situations or bail you out of trouble. ;)

actually the cool thing about my friends is taht they would bust on me, but then they will ask me down the road to help them make one for their wives. as for the guys on my hockey team, well id rather run head first into the boards then let them know. second thought, theyd probably throw me into the boards head first. lol

[smittymike19]

I bet you paid more for the scrapbook album than you did for the prints.

Rick "who thinks scrapbooking with the salesgirl at 3:30 AM is a detail you should probably not pass along to your wife, or you really will lose your manhood" Denney
love the signature here. hilarious..lol

[Maureen Souza]

I think I love you.....................:o :o :o



Seriously, I think that you are creating a story and memories that will be looked at, enjoyed and cherished by many. I am a HUGE scrapbooker and I think it is awesome what you are doing. If you live close by, you can come scrap with me... I have as much invested in my scrapping supplies as I do in my camera:D :D

[LazyPhotographer]

You're doing a great thing, she'll love it. Plus you're pretty much guaranteeing your chances to practice at making more babies. ;-)

[smittymike19]

I think I love you.....................:o :o :o



Seriously, I think that you are creating a story and memories that will be looked at, enjoyed and cherished by many. I am a HUGE scrapbooker and I think it is awesome what you are doing. If you live close by, you can come scrap with me... I have as much invested in my scrapping supplies as I do in my camera:D :D

before i did this project i would have looked at your signature and said that you were crazy, that there is no way that you could have that much scrap book stuff......well i am a changed man. I am already 200+ in the hole here, and believe me my book is fairly simple. I talked to a lady at the store who was into competion scrapping (didnt even know there was such a thing??) and when i told her i spent over 200 she just looked at me with this odd look. WHen i asked her how much her books wre, she said " well lets just say i dont like to say those numbers out loud, it even makes me cringe" I am guessing it was alot more than 200 dollars.;) lol But to tell you the truth it was kinda fun and therapeutic.. if i did it again, i would definitely give myself more than 3 days to do it. ;)
Quick question, in your books are there pages that you cant stand, no matter how much you do to them. i ahve a few of those. but to tell the truth, i think it came out pretty awesome, for the most part. now the number of tears from my wife will be the real opinion. wish me luck :)

[smittymike19]

You're doing a great thing, she'll love it. Plus you're pretty much guaranteeing your chances to practice at making more babies. ;-)

no, no more babies!!! ha ha. but i guess practice makes perfect...lol

[Hydro]

Not to get off the subject of your manhood (anyway, if anyone says something you can just high stick 'em and slam them into the glass, right?) but I find myself heading in the same direction with photos stored on my hard drive and my wife asking for prints. I am pretty new at this, and most of the post processing learning curve has been concentraed on cleaning up the image and cropping it to where I like it. But I haven't sized any of them with prints in mind. Haven't tried printing at home because I haven't gotten to the color managment, monitor/printer profiling/calibration chapter yet. Would rather have them done on archival paper anyway if the photos are good.

My questions is: What file format did you take to the store, and did you size them for a specific print size before you delivered them?

[pcasciola]

Please tell me you didn't stop and ask for directions to the arts and crafts store too.

[Tom W]

Is it ok for a man to scrap?:)

Almost every woodworking project I've embarked upon has turned to "scrap". So yes, I would say it's OK for a man to scrap.

As for the images, you could beef up the album by getting a couple of shots of the youngster saying "Hemi"! (cheap reference to a Dodge truck commercial for you folks across the pond).

[smittymike19]

Not to get off the subject of your manhood (anyway, if anyone says something you can just high stick 'em and slam them into the glass, right?) but I find myself heading in the same direction with photos stored on my hard drive and my wife asking for prints. I am pretty new at this, and most of the post processing learning curve has been concentraed on cleaning up the image and cropping it to where I like it. But I haven't sized any of them with prints in mind. Haven't tried printing at home because I haven't gotten to the color managment, monitor/printer profiling/calibration chapter yet. Would rather have them done on archival paper anyway if the photos are good.

My questions is: What file format did you take to the store, and did you size them for a specific print size before you delivered them?

actually all i did was a small monitor calibration i found somewhere. i think it may have been the adobe calibration program. it is not deadly accurate but it is pretty darn close. Then i sent them to WALMART. I am telling you, the nice pictures i have (as some were not so great, as they were taken prior to me really getting into this stuff, and getting my new camera.) came out looking professional. Some peopel who saw the album asked me what photographer i used for soem of teh shots.. (cool compliment) i actually cleane dthem all up using the raw editor in photoshop. Then i save them in jpg format. you can just log into walmart.com and it has a drag and drop feature. When you are on the walmart site you can easily select the number and quanity of each pic you want to order and crop to size there.(they have a print preview option) You can even do 1 hour processing for a charge. For 4x6s it is like 2 cents extra. for the bigger guys (8x10) its almost double the price. the quality was very good. and the paper they use is fuji archival, which is supposed to be pretty durable. i thought it was alot better than my inkjet and its actually cheaper.
By the way, my wife opened the front page of the book and started crying. it took about 5 minutes just to turn the first page. Same thing with my MIL. Ill tell you, it was well worth the headache, as my wife was really happy ( as i thoiught she would be). it really is a great idea,as presents that have some sentimeantal value always win in my house. diamonds are a very very close second.:) If you are going to go that route i would recommend a few things.
1. set aside about 200$ for materials and printing costs. its pretty expensive.
2. give yourself adequate time (more than 3 days lol)
3. make friends with the women in the scrapping section. i even brought my book in and 2 women actually spent about 45 minutes helping me shop and gave me ideas for improvements. women eat this up, as they think it is a great idea. and sensitive.
pm me if you have any particular questions id be more than happy to help. it was a great day. My wife actually told me "this is the nicest, most thoughtful presnt i have ever gotten" and she meant ever, not just from me. that says alot since we have been together for 14 years, and she has seen her fair share of expensive gifts (diamonds...etc) from me as well as some great stuff from her family. cheers and happy mothers day to all!

[Hydro]

Thanks for the info---sounds like the way to go with the prints. I was in Costco today on another mission, and in a few weeks their photo dept will go online like the WalMart system you described. Sounds pretty straighforward.

Contratulations on the points you earned with the Missus.