Experimentation.......

It all started when I had an idea?!
I'll let you in on a little secret, I really suck at properly utilizing Photoshop.
That is until I get it in my head that I need to learn how to do ______.

View Large On White
*I thought I had this done so that the white border wouldn't show, I'll fix that as soon as I figure out how!!!

This is a package that is long overdue for some mention.
I received it in April before we left to go on vacation.
Johanna sent some of the most wonderful bits for collage and other 'mixed media fun'.

Last week, I pulled out a piece of paper to make a new Artcard (I'll post it this week).
Although I couldn't bare to cut away at the original piece of paper, so I scanned it in & printed a copy of it. As I made the card, the words on the page cried out to become more.






I thought, wouldn't it be great if I could incorporate these words into a photo?
And I know that layers exist, and I know that there are a lot of talented people who know how to use them. But I simply wasn't one of them.
I guess I just never really had the desire to learn - until now.
It was positively maddening for me to figure out how to do what I envisioned.
I googled, and googled......and after a few hours finally found a tutorial that I could wrap my head around.


I rushed over to photoshop, and proceeded to try out what I learned.
In the end I was satisfied with the finished project. Now, this is not the first picture from that night of discovery. I plan to post that one with the Artcard. However, this is my second experiment with layers, which included another photoshop trick I painstakingly had to figure out. I googled, and googled........but failed to find anything! I was very frustrated.....



(Original Shot)


I finally figured it out for myself.
But that was only after I had a headache and a huge knot in my right shoulder.
Otherwise, I was still beaming at what I accomplished.
What really surprises me is, that I stuck through long enough to learn what I needed.

It also reminds me: I have a lot to learn!

Kicking & Screaming

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!




Here we are in Atlanta, Ga. safe and sound to spend Christmas with Cody's family. The drive went fairly well, thankfully we didn't hit traffic until the last 30 minutes of our ride. The weather was damp and dreary the entire time and looks as though it will remain this way according to the forecast. There aren't any strict plans we are to adhere to while in town so we'll be playing it by ear. I do know that I really want to see Sweeney Todd while we're here since being the lame town that we are, it won't be shown in Boone!?

I'm sure that you can tell that I've been sorting through some of my old baby photos* passed down to me from my mom. This one is particularly funny, aside from the obvious facts that a) I'm screaming bloody murder and b) the 'fake' Santa holding me can't wait for my parents to take me back so the screams aren't bursting his eardrums any further; what's even funnier is that another photo found of me sitting on Santa's lap is ALSO of me red faced, mouth wide open, with a full on scowl. There are only two that I've found so far but who knows what others are floating around in the land of forgotten photos that my mom still has!

*See a few posts back, entitled 1984.