♥ Inkscape!!

So yesterday I was lamenting that I would love to have Adobe Illustrator, but the cost is quite prohibitive. I enjoy doing graphic design and have been doing a bit more of it lately for work. This morning I was thinking about open source and GNU and wondered if there was anything good out there in open source land that compared with Illustrator.  I decided to Google "open source illustrator". The first thing (and several things) that popped up was Inkscape. Well, I already have Inkscape and I use it very limitedly (is that a word?) to transform graphic files into svg files so that Sure Cuts A Lot (used with my Cricut … have I lost you yet?!) can use them.

I think I am in ♥ … again. I'm always falling in ♥ with new discoveries. Let me just say that Inkscape does not disappoint.  it is quite powerful! Here's a screenshot … I have been following tutorials and I have drawn a sequin (my first drawing with Inkscape) and now I am learning how to draw and embellish a paisley:

I ♥ Inkscape!  And … it's free!! I'm never going to get anything done today …

53/365 … not much to say

9/365

This is what I usually see when I am sitting here ... Paul Frank PJs ( ♥ ) and all :)



1/200
f/5.0
50mm

I'm thinking that I might add more details and write about what I do to my pictures. So here's what I did ...

1. Take the picture with the correct exposure - very important! I ♥♥♥ my new (to me) camera because it forces me to do a better job at this! If you need/want to learn more Bryan Peterson's Understanding Exposure is the best book on the subject :-)

2. Minor tweaking of shadows and levels

3. Coffeeshop's Vivid No Wait action - vivid and removed the vignette

4. Coffeeshop's Rounded Corners action

That's it ... pretty simple :)

where have you been all my life?

that was my thought/question last night at about 1 a.m. when I was still up and playing with my new toy ... an iMac!!






Can I just tell you that I ♥ it?! We decided to buy one last week and finally purchased it Wednesday night. We had been saving money for new furniture and such. But one day when my hubby was in the office while I was editing photos he couldn't believe how long it was taking. I was working with a dinosaur of a computer that had been upgraded so many times that I couldn't even tell you the specs on it. It was incredibly conflicted to the point that it shut down on me constantly. I really needed a new computer and we vowed to never buy another pc again. So ...

We bought one. And I am pleased. Seriously ... I just took it out of the box, plugged it in, turned it on and it works. Everything works. I'll have to put off the new furniture for a while, but I think I can wait ...