Playing With Textures in PSE8

Jerry, over at Shadowhouse Creations, uploaded some new textures today, and I thought I'd play around a bit. I took this picture of a yellow swallowtail butterfly last week when I was working on my headboard:

We had a family party in Windham this past Sunday, and I got some great shots of Kathleen that I've been playing with too:

This is a hens 'n chick pic from a couple of years ago, with one of Jerry's aged photo textures:

...and some pansies

...and a hosta flower

What kills me, is that I've been adding textures on TOP of my photos, with the photo as the background layer, and then using different blending modes to get a certain look. Well, Jerry posted some examples today and said that he used the texture as the background, then added the photos on top, using the Overlay layer style. Genius! Why hadn't I tried that before? It's the simple things, sometimes, that thrill me!

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In other news, I have finished "Running with Scissors", by Augusten Burroughs, and oh my, what a life that guy has led! The story was a bit of a surprise, after having read his brother's book "Look Me in the Eye" a few weeks ago. The brothers have very different writing styles, and I guess I was thinking that "Running" was going to be a little lighter for some reason, but I found that it was really quite dark and disturbing at times. I loved it, though, and followed it up with "Magical Thinking", which is a collection of stories mostly from his adulthood. I've got the "Running with Scissors" movie in my Netflix cue...in fact, it may be coming tomorrow...not sure. I've also got "Dry" and "A Wolf at the Table" (both books by Augusten Burroughs) on order at the library. I'll be all Burroughs'd out by the time I'm done reading everything he's written! :)

I've been a reading fiend this summer. I've read "The Girl Who Played with Fire" and "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" after seeing the first in the trio ("The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo") at the movies. They're great action/adventure/intrigue reads, and the next movie is coming out this week, and I'm seeing it Thursday with the girls.

I've also read "Island Beneath the Sea" which follows a slave's life from Haiti to New Orleans over a span of 40 years. It's beautifully written, and if you're a fan of historical novels, it's a real winner. I also finally read "To Kill a Mockingbird" at the age of 44. Pathetic, I know. Especially for an English major. Whatever. Better late than never, right? "The Help" was an earlier read, which I think I may have mentioned here, but it's in the same genre of race relations as the two above, so I thought it was worth another mention. It was one of the more beautifully written books I've read in a while.

Rose, I just finished a book that I think you should read! (I'm hoping you made it this far in my blabbery post to see this! LOL!) It's "My Stroke of Insight" by Jill Bolte Taylor. She's a neuroanatomist who had a stroke at the age of 37, and it's the story of her experience during the actual stroke, and of her recovery over a span of I think seven years, and her discovery of her right brain's capacity for nirvana, when unencumbered by her left brain's linear, more logical thought. I just kept thinking of you and how you seem to have found a way around your left brain that brings you very close to what Jill Bolte Taylor is describing as her newfound way of looking at the world. It's very interesting, and I'm strongly suggesting that you grab it from the library and tell me what you think! I would also like to thank my invisible friend for the unwitting recommendation. You know who you are.

Ok, that's it for my book recommendations for now. It's funny. I feel like I'm definitely making up for lost time with all this reading I've been doing this year. The only TV I've been indulging in is The Bachelorette (Frank! I miss you! And Ali was in love with you, you idiot!) and Design Star, which has been a HUGE let-down this season. I don't even know why I'm bothering. The challenges are lame, and the execution and judging even moreso. I think I'll just go read a book.