Fun with Photoshop Part 2 (or is it 7? whatever.)

Ok, well, this first pic is just Kathleen with her new bangs. I cut 'em. She loves 'em. :) I think they make her look older, which makes me a little crazy inside, but I try not to let it show. :-/

This is a straight out of the camera shot that Kathleen took of Madeline. Madeline is wearing one of Kathleen's dresses, because they were shooting a video that day. Let me tell you, I think my kid has a future in film production. Or singing. Whichever.

So...I cropped the heck out of that dress, added a bunch of film grain, linear light, and other stuff, and voila! Isn't she precious?

Yesterday, on my way home from an appointment, I took a picture of this barn, which is right down the road from me. I've always loved it, and have been meaning to take a picture of it at some point. Yesterday was the day! This is SOOC (straight out of camera):

And here it is with some color, depth, and mood:

This old house is also on one of my alternate routes home, and I finally got some pictures of it yesterday, right from the driver's seat of my car. This is the SOOC shot, which isn't bad at all:

...but I wanted it to look older and vintagy-er (nice word, eh?), so I added a bunch of stuff and tweaked some more, and burned a little here and there, and this is what I ended up with:

There you have it! Some day I'm going to figure out a way to make money with all of this stuff.

In other news, I'll be playing in the pit band for Kathleen's school play this year (The Wizard of Oz). Our first practice is Tuesday afternoon. I haven't played my flute in public since my flute quartet class in college, and I'm not telling you how many years THAT has been! Yowsa!

Breaking News!

Hee! My "First Snow" sunrise picture made it to the Pioneer Woman's finals in her sunrise/sunset photo contest! I swear, she is my new hero--I've been cooking her recipes, reading all of her photography and Photoshop tutorials, and admiring her AMAZING horse/ranch photos for a few weeks now, and just on a whim the other day, thought I'd enter her "contest." I don't think it's so much a contest, as a "share-your-best-photo" thing, but I'm honored that she chose my photo from the dizzying array she had to choose from! (At last count, I think there were about 2,000 entries!) You can go look at the group HERE. And you can see my awesome photo (for the second time...lol) at The Pioneer Woman's blog HERE. (Mine's at the bottom--she calls it "magical"! I can't tell you how excited I am to have been included! Yay, me!

Another Solo for Kathleen

How indulgent is it that all I do is post pictures and videos of my kid? Oh well. Some day I'll get a life. Like maybe when she moves out. Heh. Maybe.

P.S. Kathleen is the second solo. A bunch of my friends had a hard time finding her last night until she stepped forward for the solo--they hadn't seen her new stylin' bangs!

Well Hello There, Bambi!

Now if this isn't the cutest thing you've seen all week, I expect a link to whatever it is that was cuter! These pictures are the reason I take the roads less traveled when I'm out and about. This little fella' (or is it a girl?) was all alone in this field....just staring at me before he ran away. I have pictures of more deer in the next field over (which I saw first), who were probably his parents. Just LOOK at that face!

...and those awkward little baby giraffe legs...hee!

This is exactly how I came upon him...just standing there, staring at me in my car:

...and when I didn't leave right away...

...he turned slowly...

...and made a dash to safety.

...and just stood there staring at me from the edge of the woods for a while.

Down the road a piece were these adorable guinea hens in front of a farmer's barn....at least that's what I think they are. I didn't Google them, so if I'm wrong, feel free to call me on it.

I wanted to pluck some of those feathers, they were so pretty!

And last but not least, a side trip down to my uncle's place on the river, just in time to see a barge go by. It was chomping its way through the ice, no problem at all.

Anybody else take any side trips lately that landed you someplace interesting? (I could go back and make that sentence more grammatically sound....in fact, I could do that with my entire post, but I don't feel like it. You guys can handle it, right?) :)

Party Invitation

Click to enlarge for detail:

My niece Madeline will be turning 12 in a couple of weeks, and she's having a party where they will be sledding for a couple of hours, then heading to a local hotel with an indoor swimming pool for pizza and swimming and a sleepover. Fun, right? Well, as is the case almost every year, I was enlisted by my sister to create an invitation for the event. Forty Photoshop layers and many hours later, and the above is what I ended up with. I don't know the details as yet, so I'm going to have to redo the date/time info, but this was my mock-up for them to see. I think I used every Photoshop trick I've learned in the past few months with layer masks, adjustment layers, painting, shadows, etc. I'm pretty pleased!

Kathleen has had a couple of friends over all day and they produced a music video for her friend Shannon's brother's birthday. It is hilarious. It took them 5.5 hours to do, but it really is great. Kathleen is really getting the most out of the new camera my father got her for Christmas! (Thanks, Dad!) When I figure out how to upload the video here, I will. I think they put it on YouTube.

For now, I'm heading off to cuddle up under the covers and watch Saturday Night Live after the game. Go Eagles! :)

Road Trips and Photoshop

I was out driving the other day, camera in tow, and came across these beautiful work horses. I did a little research, and I think they are Suffolk Draft horses. I love their blonde manes.

That one in the middle was looking right at me! This grazing field is right in front of a GE or Corning plant, so I took some liberties with the background to morph it right out of there, and make it look pastoral instead. Not bad, eh? I love photographing horses.

...and maybe some day I'll be a little less heavy-handed with the Photoshop. You'll just have to bear with me as I experiment, OK?

You'll all be happy to hear that I accomplished yesterday's goals of showering (!) and making the cranberry upside-down cake to bring to BF's mother's house. It was SO yummy! I also managed to get three estimates and one bill out yesterday as well. The biggest job is a "go" as of this morning, so I can breathe a sigh of relief for January. :) I just love it when that whole "working" thing pays off!

Next on my list is a huge window seat cushion and two chair cushions that I need to cover. I need to get on that, and get that cushion OUT of my sewing room.

Fait Accompli!

I made my pillows!

I'm thinking I should post MORE of my goals on my blog!
Then some stuff might actually get done around here!

I'm very happy with them. I even washed my slipcover
so they'd look purty! Of course, BF and Kathleen are already sitting on it,
wrinkling it, and otherwise LIVING on the couch. The nerve.
It WAS pretty funny when I made them get up so I could fluff and puff for photos.
I got some "looks" if you know what I mean.
Some people just don't understand blogging. :)

My goal for today is to shower (!) and make a cranberry upside down cake for dinner at BF's mother's house. It's Christmas there today.

2010 Goal #1: Sew These Pillows!

I bought this fabric MONTHS ago, and today is the day I'm going to sew up some pillows for my couch. I figure since I put this all "out there" on the web 'n stuff, I'll have to follow through,
or I'll look like a lazykins! :)

It's a velvet flocked linen, and I love it!

I think I'm just going to do some simple self-flanged pillows. Trim would get wrecked in this house, what with the cats, and my train wreck of a boyfriend.

So...hold me to it, y'all! If I'm not back with pictures of these pillows tomorrow,
somebody needs to slap me.

There Is a Season

As always, click to enlarge the photos for your viewing pleasure.

Winter (Jan '09)

Spring (May '09)

Summer (June '09)

Fall (October '09)

Winter (December '09)

Not only is it from Pete Seger, but the Bible too! What do you know? ;)

3:1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
3:2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
3:3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
3:4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
3:5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
3:6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
3:7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
3:8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

My 2009 was filled with all of the above (except maybe the "hate" part--I've never been good at hate) and I'm betting that 2010 will be filled with more of the same. The world keeps spinning, and I keep spinning with it! Funny how that works.

Above is my year in pictures, with much artistic liberty taken with Photoshop. :) I wish you all a very Happy New Year, and as Oprah said: "Cheers to a new year, and another chance for us to get it right."