Think Small . . .

That’s right, think small. What? Haven’t we always been told to think BIG and reach for the stars? I was reading Lee Cockerell’s blog the other day and was inspired by a statement that he made. “If we all would think small, then we would worry about one transaction at a time to make it special for our customers.” Boy is he right. I think we often get so busy trying to fit everything into each day that we don’t take the time to make someone feel special. When it comes to setting goals, think BIG, like Lee mentioned when you are performing your role, think small.

It’s Your Lucky Day

I dug down in my Pot o’ Gold and designed a freebie to share with all you leprechauns. If you want your digital designs to be wearing of the green then scurry on over and click on this link Lucky Me.zip be sure and kiss the blarney stone and leave me some love!

May the leprechauns be near you
To spread luck along your way.
And may all the Irish angels
Smile upon you St. Patrick's Day.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Grunging It Up

I have been working on this photo since January, well not really. Actually, I started this project when Kimi of http://kimikreations.blogspot.com posted her challenge on Photoshop Creative Elements forum, Homework #44 back in January. I jumped right in at knew the photo I wanted to use. It was a photo that I had taken this fall of my sister's Yellow Labrador puppy Ferguson Jane at 7 months old. Kimi provided us with a free grungy overlay and the directions, it was a personal choice on what I was going to erase and anything I might add to this project. When I started this project in January I went thru the motions and I was never really satisfied with the results, so I set it aside and today it hit me. Get back to work on this photo. I am all about accomplishments and what can I get off my plate, but I have to be totally happy with the end results or I just keep at it until I get there. Whew, I got there today! In the original photo there where a few distractions in the background, but by adding the texture and changing the opacity I basically made everything but Fergie disappear, I love it. Just for that extra touch I added some brushwork and Fergie's name and date. After I printed this photo I framed it and gave it to my sister; she was thrill and I am sure she will be gazing at it on her desk.

Gettin' Some Action

Yes, I have been gettin' some action, I really mean some Actions. There is just so much to learn in Photoshop and I guess I just never really devoted much to playing around with the Action function until the other day, now I'm hooked!

My niece Nicole http://www.nicolehaleyblog.com , sent me a link for her favorite Action website http://mcpactions.com/blog, check it out alot of cool actions and information. You can bet that I bookmarked this one and I will be following MCP Actions Blog from now on. I, of course had my own favorite Freebie Action website http://coffeeteaphotography.blogspot.com. Rita the owner of Coffeteaphotography creates all of the Actions and shares them with everyone for Free, of course donations are always welcome. I think Rita does a great job with her actions and the information on her site, be sure download some of her freebies.

This is one of Rita's actions, the Perfect Portrait. I think the name says it all. This photo is now brighter and Ryleigh is glowing. You know I'll be using this action again.

Here is another one of Rita's actions. I think is kind of gave this photo an Orton effect, by softening the photo. At the end of the action there were a few different glazes to choose from, I chose the Strawberry Glaze, doesn't it sound yummy!

Thanks Niki for getting me some Action, I'm hooked. Let me know what you think of these photos that I played around with.

52 Photo Heart Mask

I hope that you will have fun with my 52 photo heart mask. After going thru all of my photos for this past year I wasn't able to come up with 52 photos to fill this mask. I know that is hard to believe, but I was being kind of picky on what photos I picked. Then I thought why not fill the empty spaces with some papers. Once I completed filling in the mask I went ahead and made my own background paper to coordinate (not included), I hope that you have fun playing with this and find many other uses for it. I look forward to see what you can do with this mask!

iTTY 52 HeartMask.zip

Have a Happy Valentine's Day!

I saw the Doctor

Many thanks to the generous help of the BlogDoctor http://www.blogdoctor.me/ I was finally able to add a slideshow to my blog. It seems so easy to add a gadget, but there certainly are a few tricks to it. It took me four days to finally make it happen. Hope you enjoy some of my photography.

Catching up on Homework

I have to admit that I haven't been keeping up with my homework from Kimi Boo over at Photoshop Creative Elements http://www.photoshopcreativeelements.com/, hopefully Kimi doesn't see that I have been playing Webkinz with my daughter on and off for the last few weeks. Yes, I do have my own Webkinz account, but I just love buying gifts for Ryleigh's Webkinz and sending them to her, goofy I know but she seems to love it. Anyway, back to catching up on my homework I found this lesson to alter a photo using a filter and a blend mode. Here is mine, I used Bas Relief and then Luminosity. I love how edgy my thistle flower looks, I could frame this one.