07.11.09
Practise, practise, practise!
Better, I think.
But wait. There’s more!
Mr 5 has had 2 textures, a clipping mask, brush, word art and a frame applied. Yeah, ok, so this one might have gone a little over the top with pretty much everything except the kitchen sink thrown at it, but it is so much fun to do! For printing, I think I’d do away with the frame on this one and just re-jig the size of the brush.
07.10.09
Playing Digi Style
This week Jessica Sprague has been running a free digital course to show how to manipulate photos. Having had a go at digi-scrapping, I was feeling a little let down with my Photoshop abilities to actually have good photos to use. This course is a basic one, but she is teaching us So.Many.Seriously.Cool techniques. I’ve done just a couple of photos from earlier in the year, and I’m impressed.
Of course, it goes without saying I still need to learn to take better photos to begin with (actually, I’m almost certain I just need a great camera…. *wink*).
So here is an example after Day 3’s lesson. I’ve applied a frame, created a vintage tint and tried a little hand tinting.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
Personally, I’d probably apply a little more tinting to Mr 8’s eyes before I get this printed. I definitely wanted a natural, vintage look; but his eyes are so blue, I think it could stand a little more “popping”. What do you think?
07.07.09
July so far
As always, it’s been a busy time around this place. I’m quickly coming to the conclusion that life might not actually ever slow down!
With the last week of school for Term two upon us, we had Parent-Teacher interviews. Both Mr’s are doing very well and the teachers’ seemed very pleased with them. As Mr 5 has only had one full term at school, it was very pleasing to hear that he delights his teacher so much. Mr 8 seems to leave his more challenging behaviour for his mother to deal with and is much more focussed on his work at school. I won’t complain too much 
This year Mr 7 morphed into Mr 8 during term time. I think this is the first time it’s happened since he has been at school. We had a birthday dinner on Thursday night and he was given a couple of items which he was thrilled with:
Yes indeed. The boy still loves Star Wars. A lot!!
The next birthday item I set about working on was Donna’s. I had the brilliant idea of surprising her and had the other two cohorts all primed and good to go. Then one of the clever girls actually thought about things for more than two seconds. I needed to tell Donna not to eat dinner on the Friday night, because the surprise would be somewhat foiled otherwise! Vicky has the bright ideas!! LOL
Then the weekend brought not only the holidays and a birthday activity for Mr 8, but also my niece; flying all the way on her own from Christchurch for the first time. I thought she did very well to arrive with her pink jacket on just like her dad told her and a huge smile as she got off the plane. Even more so once we had lunch and headed out to Laser Strike. I mean… all those boys!! I am pleased to say that S held her own among them and got some very good scores. Wooohooo for the girls!!!
Mind you, I think we all did well to survive the event: would you look at how the drinks arrived!!!!
Before all the birthday happenings came about, I did have the chance for a very relaxing day on Wednesday. I got to spend it with Janine, Sarah and Beverley and we had lunch in Sarah’s new abode. It’s an awesome wee place and so cosy. Perfect for working on various crafty projects. I thought I might have gotten a tea-cosy finished before I needed to pack up and head home. I was oh so close… but still needed to finish off the details at home. The finished product is already in use!
I used a pattern from the very cool tea-cosy book I picked up back in May from Minerva Books. Watch for more additions as I intend to have a collection of cosys!!
Sarah was also teaching – or re-teaching as the case may be – crochet stitches. I am not very happy with my attempts at pretty flowers – I will be doing some homework on those. But what I did manage to do in just a couple of days was this little guy:
A second little fella has been completed – with eyes! – at hubby’s request for a colleague’s new baby boy. I have a ton of wool from my MIL and I have a feeling there may well be some more creatures appearing as a result of this new – or re-found – ability! This first little guy is awaiting some eyes and a card and he’s going over the road to our newest little neighbour.
