...we have feet to climb and scale

...some more tinkering after completing Lesson 3 of Jessica's Photoshop Top 5 course.

I saw the skin specialist last night and he agreed with me... NO more cream! My reaction was excessive...I wasn't just imagining it. I am on an antibiotic cream to try and clean up the mess now. Fun times.

Blogged to: MasterChef Australia 2012.

Still Laying Low...

Hey there Bloggies!

Been a bit quiet in here hasn't it? I am still hiding out with my sore, festy face. Thanks for all your lovely comments and messages of support. Your thoughts are much appreciated! I did venture out in public on Sunday, to take Miss 8 to see the Imperial Ice Starts perform the Nutcracker on Ice at the Canberra Theatre. The show was absolutely fabulous, but I didn't feel very comfortable until the house lights dimmed and no-one could see me ;-).

There is no sign of my face healing yet. This course of medication is supposed to carry on for six weeks, but today I am going to tell the skin specialist that I am just not up to it. Two weeks shattered me, six weeks is not in my skill set! I'm thinking I'll just have to go back to the knife wielding surgeon instead. In addition to the four large, ugly, weeping lesions on my face I have had headaches, tiredness, mouth ulcers, weight loss (yeah, that one's not so bad ;-) and general discomfort. All of this on top of preparing to move house/life...like I said, not in my skill set. And when there is an alternative...well, you do what you can.

I was very fortunate to have been alerted to a fun online course on the weekend, by one of my buddies, Patrice. She emailed me the deets of Jessica Sprague's fabulous FREE Photoshop Top 5 course. So I started that last night and I am learning lots of great tips and tricks along the way.

This is the photo I edited from colour to black and white for Lesson 1...

It's no masterpiece, but I love the bright light reflected in my wee Thumper's eye as he stares out the window. What is he thinking?

More baby photo tinkering, because it is sooooo much fun...

Well, we're getting low on food here and I don't feel like taking my travelling sideshow down to the shops, so I think I'll go make a cake for the kids to have for afternoon tea. That'll have the extra benefit of warming up the house at the same time. It's very chilly here today!

ETA: My quick page from Lesson 2 of Jessica's fab course...

Thanks for visiting...

Blogged to: When Smokey Sings - ABC, I Feel the Earth Move - Martika, Rapture - Blondie and Around the World - Daft Punk.

Sunny Days...

All the digital components for this 12 x 12 scrapbook layout are from the gorgeous Sunny Days Digital Scrapbook Kit by Tracy Ann Digital Art on Etsy (except the snaps of my little cuties of course ;-), and were compiled by me in Photoshop.

The 'brads' don't come with the kit (they are just simple circles with drop shadows and bevelling/embossing), but the digi papers that they are decorated with come in Tracy Ann's kit! The pathway is just a curved cut-out made using the pen tool, with some digi-paper behind it.

I may have gone just a little over the top with adding stuff on. I was having such a good time plonking things left, right and centre that I didn't know when to stop.

Hope you are enjoying your Friday,

Blogged to: Don't Bring Me Down - Electric Light Orchestra, What Kind of Love Are You On - Aerosmith and Good Thing - Fine Young Cannibals.

A blog make-over...

I had some Photoshop fun last night and again today playing with some new digital goodies that I got from Tracy Ann Digital Art on Etsy (one of my favourite places to go for digital scrapbooking papers and clip art). I have also used a free fancy label shape from Kerri Bradford.

Apart from a new signature image, some buttons and section headers, I also made a new Blog Header:

 ...and a new Watermark too:

I am very happy with how they all turned out. I think it feels all bright and breezy in here now :-). What do you think?

Have a good weekend,

Blogged to: Born Slippy - Underworld, Whatcha Say - Jason Derulo and Bizarre Love Triangle - New Order.

Party Fun

I mean't to explain the lack of papercrafting that's been going on in this neck of the woods. Well...the lack of blogged papercrafting, at any rate. I've had a lot on recently, but there has been some crafting going on in the background, just no time to blog it!

April/May is party central around here, and I've been dabbling with pretty clip art, digital scrapbook papers and Photoshop. I made some party place-name cards and party bag toppers with some beautiful goodies from Stockberry Studio on Etsy, and using a groovy new curves template by Rita of The Coffeeshop Blog (thanks so much Rita - you rock!!!)...

 I also managed to squeeze in a little birthday cake. Not one of my finer creations, but fun to make and well-received by the requester/birthday girl nonetheless...

Waaaaaay past my bedtime now, and tomorrow is another big day.

Blogged to: Hungry Town - Big Pig, Eagle Rock - Daddy Cool and True Faith 94 - New Order.

Dusting off the Epson...

We recently dug out our old Epson Photo printer, dusted it off, inked it up and took it for a spin. So, being all print-enabled I have been having some fun playing with Photoshop and printing off some cards and little doo-dahs!

The groovy Delia Red and Teal digi-paper is by moo & puppy on Etsy...you can check it out here.

And while I was having fun playing with iPhoto and Photoshop (did I mention that my awesome hubby recently upgraded the RAM on this 'puter which means it no longer has a terminal seizure whenever I have Safari, Photoshop and iPhoto open at the same time :-)...I also played with some more of our holiday snaps...

Coral in the lagoon at Lady Musgrave Island, Queensland.

Looking from atop Lindeman Island, across to Shaw Island, Whitsunday Islands, Queensland.

Hope you've had a great week!

JAI #103 Just Add Red and White

I managed to grab a few quiet minutes earlier this morning to make a card for the latest Just Add Ink challenge, JAI #103 - Just Add Red and White...

Let me tell you, it was no easy thing using just red and white. I have several false-start focal 'bits' scattered across my desk, and I almost binned the whole lot in frustration at one point, but after fiddling for so long, I wasn't going to let it beat me.

You may have noticed that I have not been putting up recipes for my projects of late. I have got to the stage where I don't remember what most of the SU products are called anymore, and can't be bothered looking them all up, especially when it is not apparent to me that anyone actually read that stuff! If anyone ever does want to know what I've used, please feel free to leave a comment or send an email and as long as I have some way of contacting you back (and can work out what it was that I used etc)...I'll reply asap.

I also have another of Thumper's birthday photos that I was playing with recently. I have run a whole bunch of Pioneerwoman actions over this shot, and I liked the end result.

See ya!

Thank you Susy and Rita...

...for inspiring me to create my new Christmas blog header!

I was blog surfing tonight and came across Susy's post about her new blog banner. I thought hers looks so fabulous that I wanted to make one too!

So, using Rita's CoffeeShop post for the 10 pic blog banner here... I did! The text that I have used is Scrap Twiggy, which I got from MyFonts.

I was surprised at how easy it was to make this banner, seriously, it took about 10 minutes (and that was only because I was being daft with Photoshop...it should have only taken 5!!)...I could make a new one every week...wouldn't that be exciting for you...NOT ;-).

Ciao ciao bloggers, thank you for visiting,
Sam.

CoffeeShop Blogspot...

Just a quick post this morning, about the fabulous CoffeeShop Blogspot.

This awesome site run by Rita is also listed on my sidebar... because it (and Rita) ROCK! Rita gives away all sorts of free actions, templates, storyboards and tutorials for Photoshop, Photoshop Elements and Lightroom on her blog.

At the moment Rita has a blog competition running where she is giving away one of the CoffeeShop Watermarking Action Kits...and I'd really likey-like to win this!

If you like tinkering with your photos, and getting the very best out of them...you really should take a trip to the CoffeeShop blog...you KNOW you want to!

You can see some of the things I have done with my photos using CoffeeShop actions and templates here and here.

...and after a quick play this morning, I have turned this photo (a pic from the restaurant looking out over the pool towards the lagoon at the Musket Cove Resort, Malolo Lailai, Fiji) from a modern day holiday snap:

...into something that reminds me of the movie South Pacific...

I have used the CoffeeShop Butterscotch Vintage Action, followed by the CoffeeShop Rounded Corners 2 Action. I can just imagine the groovy vintage scrap layout that I could make using these actions on a bunch of my photos. So much fun!

Thanks for visiting my blog today!
Sam.

ETA: ...after more tinkering

A Picture Perfect Day in Canberra

As the title says, today is a picture perfect day in our Nation's Capital. The sky is blue, the temperature is mild (23 degrees celcius), the birds are singing, the bees are buzzing. I have a cold...still, but it'll go away...eventually.

I should be hanging washing, but I'm not (yesterday I had an email from a friend who told me she was doing the ironing...to which I thought, I wonder if we still have one of those here? ;-). I am being a bit of a slacker, but you know what? I don't care. I've been inspired to do a CASE of a scrapbook page. My inspiration was the layout on page 4 of the current Stampin' Up! Spring Mini Catalogue. I have been meaning to make this page for a while now, but after recently seeing more lovely renditions of it, on Rachel Capps' blog here, and by Keryn Campbell on the NZSUblog here....finally last night I got to it.

and so....I have just finished, and now I have craft STUFF littered from one end of the house to the other. My efforts are often a bit uncoordinated. I kind of start in one place, run out of room, move to another...decide I need to do some printing...move there, shuffle different types of glossy paper all over the place, decide I need some thread so rather than bringing it to my work...I take the work to the thread...I have opened packets of rub-ons scattered here and there, unrolled rolls of ribbon adorning the dining table, my camera is on the bedroom floor, my house is CHAOS! But I'm pretty darn chuffed with the way the page turned out:

List of Ingredients (all from Stampin' Up!):

Cardstock: Baja Breeze and Basic Gray Textured, Whisper White plain
Stamps: Great Friend
Ink: Baja Breeze Classic Ink
Accessories: Walk in the Park DSP, Summer Love Rub-ons, Baja Breeze Corduroy Buttons, Baja Breeze 1 Inch Double-Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon, White Taffeta Ribbon, Eyelet Border Punch, Large Oval Punch, Scallop Oval Punch, Sanding Block, White Thread, Mini Glue Dots, Sticky Strip and SNAIL Adhesive.

While I was trimming the photo down to size I accidently managed to scratch some of the ink off the edges....never one to waste the glossy photo paper (it costs a bomb) I pulled out my Stampin' Up! Sanding Block and scratched up all the edges for a purposeful-looking distressed look. Obviously, I mean't to do that!

Guess I'd better go do some tidying up now.....SIGH!
Have a wonderful day :-)
Sam.

PS. Thanks for the lovely comments on my busy bee photos. I can't take all the credit for those. My macro lens is the true champion. It is a beauty. I started out with a tripod and remote shutter release, but those little bees are very, very tricksy and tres quick, and the tripod was just slowing me down...so I lay down on the ground and basically climbed on into the lavender bush and started shooting. I might add that for the handful of decent shots I got, I have about 40 near useless ones. What on earth did I ever do without a digital camera and super huge compact flash card? Frankly, I am amazed I even managed to get out of bed in the morning ;-).

PPS. I thought you might like to see the photo that I used in the above page, before, during and after my tinkering with Pioneerwoman Photoshop Actions:

This is it in the beginning, I have cropped it a little, and cloned out some stray hair across the face...it was annoying me.

...with Pioneerwoman Boost and Define and Sharpen actions applied (sounds like a new bra!)

...with Pioneerwoman Seventies action applied

...with a Pioneerwoman B & W Beauty action applied, then erased out the eyes so that the colour could show through from the background layer.

I love them all, but thought that the black and white worked best with the colours on the layout.

PPPS. More gardeny goodness:

A Postcard from Floriade...

Earlier this week I took the kids to Floriade. It was a simply glorious day, and we had a lovely time. We smelt and admired the beautiful flowers, rode on the ferris wheel, browsed the market stalls and indulged in ice blocks. C'est la vie!

I also made you a little postcard, so you could check out some of the beautiful floral action for yourselves...I love poppies!

I have used a Storyboard Template and a Painted Border action, both by Rita of Coffeeshop Photography. The font is called 'Little Star', and is from scrapNfonts.

I also played around and made this little pic:

I have run Pioneer Woman's 'Colorized' action, followed by her 'Boost' action...and I liked the end result.

Gotta go now, Dan Brown is waiting for me. Yes I am supposed to be doing the washing, but you know what? It will still be there tomorrow...and by then there will be another two more loads to do too! Have a wonderful day :-).

Sam.

PS. My apologies for the lack of papercrafting going on around here...I just have not felt like stamping at all.

Great Watermark Tutorial

Hello! I just wanted to point out to you an awesome tutorial on making your own watermark! You can find it on Rita's fabulous blog Coffee Shop.

I just had a quick play, and made this watermark:


The main font is called 'The Blue Cabin' and is a fantastic free font from Kevin and Amanda's Free Scrapbooking Fonts. The ant is from the DB Animal Occasion font from scrapNfonts.

Rita's tutorial goes on to show you how you can load your watermark up into Photoshop as a brush, so it is available to be used at any size, colour, and opacity on all your edited photos. Groovy.

In my watermark above, I decreased the opacity of the ant layer slightly before I merged the visible layers, so that he will appear lighter than the text when I place him onto my photos..e.g:


Have fun watermarking kiddos!
Sam.

Some Pioneer Woman Photoshopping

I think I've mentioned Ree Drummond's fabulous website before, and her wonderful Photoshop Actions. You really should check them out, they are great, and they are FREE!

Last week, in the course of designing my scrap page for this weekend's workshop (there are still spaces if you are keen), I decided I needed a special photo to go with the page (which I'll show you after the workshop ;-).

This is the photo I chose:


This version is straight out of the camera, which is a Sony Alpha 100, and I was using a Minolta 28 - 75 mm lens. All I have done to it so far is cropped it to centre Miss (then) 3 in the frame.

The colours did not match the DSP that I wanted to use on the page (isn't it always the way?), so I decided to try it in black and white. I used Ree's 'PW B&W' from action set 1, and this is what I got:


I might mention here that I can't remember if the entire action ran correctly...I am only using Photoshop 7.0 for Mac here, and it says that Ree's actions are for CS3 or CS4. Some of the steps don't run and I get an error message, at which point I usually just skip to the next step and restart the action (Ree would possibly groan in horror, but I am usually at the outer limits of my photoshop savy, just trying to get the action to run in the first place.....I am not quite up to manually getting through the steps...yet)!

I have lightened the eyes a bit by copying the layer, and lightening it, then putting it at the back, and erasing over the dark eyes, so the lighter eyes showed through. I will eventually try Ree's latest tutorial though, where you use a layer mask to do this instead, so that you can go back and make changes.

You will also note that I have removed the white clip and the little white star from the upper right-hand side of her head (wardrobe malfunctions...Janet is not the only one with problems you see).

Ok, so I spent a while on this little number, printed it out, held it up to the scrap page and DOH! It still wasn't what the page needed. It needed SEPIA!

Back to Ree's actions, and the first Sepia-ish one I see is 'Heartland', from action set 2. This is what came out:


I think it is a stunning effect! So pretty, and 'ye-olde-photo found in the bottom of great grannies sea-going trunk in the attic' IYKWIM? I have printed this one out, and have it by my bed. I've been looking at it and thinking Miss (then) 3 wouldn't look out of place in a European royal family! Maybe just a tad too happy looking for royalty ;-).

I also tried the straight 'Sepia Tone' action, also from action set 2, and this is the result:


This is the version that I ended up using on my page. Nice as Heartland was, vintage wasn't quite what the page called for (IMO). This said, a vintage page is now on my list of things to do....and I can't wait to play with Heartland some more!

When I grow up, I want to take photos like the Pioneer Woman, she is my hero :-). Thanks for your fabulous photoshop resources Ree.

Have a great day,
Sam.