14/365

Before I tortured myself worked out with Jillian Michaels' DVD this morning I was playing with my camera, thinking about my Project 365, and snapping some pix. I decided to put the camera on the floor and take a photo of me in my shoes ...

I ran the Color Mix Urban Cool Action from Maggie Holmes, then ran the Coffeeshop Give it Texture action using the retro action from Skeletal Mess/Shadowhouse Creations ( ♥ those free textures!)

11/365 ... I'm going to shoot you!

Today was a dreary day. When we arrived home from church we promptly got into our PJs and laid around all afternoon. Of course, I wanted to take some pix and see if I could get one that I wanted to use for my Project 365. But like I said, it was a lazy kind of day. So I took some photos while I was lying in the bed. I took some of my PJs that I ♥, I took some of my girls. But my favorite was this one:

Brandon was looking at something on one of his many guns. As I was shooting him he said, "I'm going to shoot you!" I thought it best at that point to put the camera down ;-)

6/365 and another question ... what do you see??

We stopped by the library today to drop of a book and pick up a few others. While grace was browsing around I took a few pictures. I like this one of several new books on the shelves just waiting to be loved:


So here's my question. I want to know what you see? Is this picture VERY yellow? Or does it just look a little faded, a little vintage? Do what used to be whites (the labels on the books for instance) took cream or yellow to you? I just ordered some test prints from the lab that I thought I might try and they came back so yellow with very blown out B&Ws. I know I need to calibrate my monitor with a device like i1 Display, blah blah blah (although never had a problem with my current lab) ... but in the meantime I am wondering what you see ...

I can't seem to stay away from ...

this lovely action! It's over at Coffeeshop and it's Johanna's Tea Party. This is the picture that was on our family Christmas cards this year. It's hard to get a good one at the last minute with the camera on a timer. I really need to think ahead next year. ANyway, I was playing around with it today and came up with this:

and I also played with it in black and white:

but I just keep going back to that tea party action. It makes me smile :)

OK .... so I really should be doing something more productive these days. Perhaps I need to start a 365 project (although at this point I think it would be a 358 'cause I'd want to end on December 31st. It's not too late ... I think I shall start now ....

play time

I haven't had a lot of time to play with Photoshop in the past few months because I have been so busy with the new business (which is a good thing!!). But we're in the middle of the winter slump and so over the past week or so I have been wanting to just play play play. Here is a recent photo I took of my brother's family:

I did a few things to this one:
First, I ran Coffeeshop's Give it Texture action and I used one of Skeletal Mess's free textures (thanks!!). Then I ran Coffeeshop's Teeny Tiny World action, then Johanna's Tea Party action. All the actions can be found at Coffeeshop.

If you have some free time and want to learn a little about playing around in Photoshop, visit Coffeeshop and have fun!

PSE Play

I use Photoshop Elements 8. It does just about everything that I need and you can't beat the price! I have been playing this morning with textures and actions.

Here's what I did:
Opened the photo and did the basic adjustments (lighten shadows, adjust levels) then I did this:

I ran the Coffeeshop Give it Texture action (Rita is THE BEST!!!!)

I used this texture and desaturated it. I also erased the texture from Charis so she didn't look dirty.

Then I ran the Johanna's Tea Party action (my newest favorite .... ♥ this action!!!), also found on Coffeshop.

Then I put my little watermark on it and viola! Playing is fun :) ... now I need to run because my little girlies new new shoes!