Fear and Loathing

Is there a skill that you envy in others and so desperately want to try? If you remember my post A lesson in recovery, you might have caught onto one of my fears.   There are actually 2 things that scare the crap out of me…sewing and blog design.  The funny thing is I’m too cheap and stubborn to pay for either one.  So what do I do, PROCRASTINATE, like you wouldn’t believe.  I have piles of projects on my list that I just need to jump on and try it.

Thanks to Donna at Funky Junk Interiors she’s having a “one scary thing challenge” that I’ve decided to jump on.  I think she says it best by posting

I’m putting it out there.  I envy people who can sew.  I actually accepted this challenge a few months ago all on my own.  I sucked it up and called a friend to help me start on my big scary project.  Turns out, it was like a walk down memory lane and I totally am excited about trying a few more things.  It helps to have people in blog world (who scare the crap out of me) that are kind enough to share some tips and tutorials along the way such as Ashley, Beth, and Mandy.

Stay tuned, you’ll see my big scary reveal for my first challenge on Sunday! I have to do some research yet on my next “Big scary thing.”

Advertisements

May Review

Since there is 17 minutes left to May 2012 (it will actually be June by the time I post this) I thought I’d blog-lift an idea from Maryann @ Domestically Speaking who did a month in review.  While I didn’t feel overly productive this month, I realized that there were several tutorials and a few fun project this month.  By the way, if you don’t follow or haven’t checked out Maryann’s work…you are going to want to hop over there.  She’s my burlap inspiration, and I’ve peppered my pinterest with many of her projects 🙂  I digress.  So, May 2012 looked a bit like this at Fostering a Creative Life…

We kicked off the month with a tulle flower tutorial

which might be the easiest accessory I’ve ever made.  You might see some versions of this in future posts, just sayin’ is all!
Then there was the tissue paper wall art which utilized a long lost technique that I have since remembered.

Grateful to finally have something on the walls in my bathroom!
It helps if you hang them straight…thanks to 3M for this handy trick to take care of this problem every time the closet door opens.

Getting back to some fun infant girl accessories.  One of my more popular posts was when  I repurposed a white t-shirt to make this headband with a little help from Ashley @ Make it & Love it (The goddess of all things sewing and fabric. I loathe and envy sewing, yet she makes it look so dang easy- no pun intended).

and finally a few tips on how to clean and preserve your wedding gown.  We pay enough for the wedding, no need to spend a fortune on cleaning your gown.

You will learn the motivation behind why I cleaned my gown on Sunday as I unveil one of my scariest projects yet. You can also expect a tutorial for this summer essential

Hope to see you around.

Featured

I just wanted to share that Maryann has featured my son’s Big Boy Dresser over at Power of Paint.

Head over and check it out, and gather up some inspiration to paint 🙂

For a complete list of where my projects are featured, see the “Where I’m Featured” tab at the top of my blog!

Break-up {Picnik}

Ever have one of those tools that just makes your heart skip a beat.  You can’t imagine life without it!  As a photographer, Picnik has been my little heart-throb for some time.  We became friends a little over a year ago, when she took my photo-editing woes and transformed them into a spotlight feature, making life more beautiful, simplified and meaningful.  I may have invested a whole $24.98 into her magical-ness, but to me it was worth every cent of photo-editing genious-ness. Imagine my despair when I received the email straight from Picnik that they were closing.  Seriously?!?!  (by the way- who breaks up with their crush in an email!!?!?!?)

Official Announcement: Picnik is closing
Since joining Google in 2010, we have been creating editing magic in Google products while continuing to keep Picnik awesome. But now we get to focus on even awesomer things. Picnik will be closing on April 19, 2012

I fell like my life as a blogger and photo-editing whiz has been crushed to the ground.  Okay maybe not, but literally, I love picnik so much.  Look at all the easy and beautiful things they’ve helped me create…

For homemade Christmas 2011 I created a 4×6 photo print book of all the things my son and his cousins were grateful to my parents for.  Here’s a sneak peek at a few pages.  Seriously this was 100% Picnik elements compiled into an amazingly easy and fabulous project!

And then there are all the super simple blog buttons that I’ve created through Picnik {Sigh…rather Gasp of panic}

Not to mention the special edition buttons that I’ve made to coordinate with blog projects…
 

And even a few headers…(Hmm, look familiar?)

I even designed my own Photo Christmas Card with Picnik this year!

Ah, the memories.  All I have to say is “Google, you better have something truly amazing up your sleeve.  You have sent me into a very sad and lonely place.”

On the bright side, Picnik is offering EVERYONE the benefits of a Premium membership until they close on April 19th, and have created some pretty fabulous tools to download all of your amazing works very easily.  So go to Picnik NOW. Slurp up all the amazing features you can.  So what are my top 10 favorite Premium features that you MUST try between now and April 19th.  Here you go (in no particular order)!

1. Vibrance (under Edit-Effects) complete color amazing-ness.  Almost always a first step!

2. Clone (under touch up) Have something really distracting in your background? Clone a different part of your picture and paint over the distraction.  Can’t tell you how many times this has saved me!

3. Airbrush (under touch up) not that I want everyone to look like a model, but funky lighting can make your image look funny, even gritty somethings.  Airbrush makes everything looks smoother.  For a stronger version use the wrinkle remover.  You’ll never need to iron again (or at least until April 19th).

4.  Sunless Tan/ Blush (under touch up) does you subject need a little color.  Add the perfect hues to your washed out subject without completely making them look fake!

5. Curves – Beyond all the other amazing pre-made effects for you, Curves lets you customize your effects by playing with the RGB format of your picture.  No worries, it’s safe to play…there is always an undo and cancel button that is just one-click away.

6. Stickers – pretty much the whole tab offers about 760,000 opportunities for creativity.  Most of my Thank You album was made using stickers.  A few of my favorites are in the sketchy themes and occasionally a few of the holidays.

7. Text – okay it never was a premium feature, but you still need to check out just HOW easy it is to add text to your photos or works of art.

8. SEASONAL TAB! Yes, I’m yelling….there are so many features that are not found anywhere else.  It’s like their little secret magical treasure that you just got the key to.  Go play.

9 & 10.  I just gave you a few assignment, in the unlikely event that you are still reading this message, a few others that I like (that are necessary Premium features) are Cross Process, and most of the collage features. Note: To create a collage you need to choose collage before you edit your picture, go to the home page/start to find it!

If you are experiencing a similar response to the Picnik announcement, OR if you know of other tools like Picnik that aren’t breaking up with us on April 19th that are cheap and easy to fall in love with…comment below.  Perhaps we can start a support group.  In the meantime, hold your head high.  You still create beauty in all that you do 🙂

How to Create a Blog Button or Header in Picnik

As a thrifty Do-it-Yourself blogger I knew I needed a button, but often am too stubborn to pay for what I want.  I really enjoy learning all this techy-stuff, while it’s not my specialty I feel really smart when I get the results that I was hoping for.  I had heard through the grapevine that you could create buttons in picnik- which might be my biggest blog crush EVER.  If you didn’t realize I am a professional photographer who has divorced Adobe Photoshop for Picnik.  I do spend the $2.08 a month to become a premium member because to me it’s worth it!

To begin the process of creating a blog button, you need a few design elements that you like.  A few great resources are 2 Peas in a Bucket, Designer Digitals, Shabby Princess.  To start upload the papers or elements to your library that you might want to include in your button.  Then to start choose what you would like for a background.  I’ll choose this dark paper. I should note that I tend to work actual dimensions immediately, so for a header I crop the background to the actual pixel size that’s required before adding pretty elements to it! This background is an exact square which is what I want for a blog button so no need to crop to start the process.

In the bottom left there is a “Photo Bucket” if you click on the arrows all of your uploads.  Simply drag and drop any elements you’d like on top of your background.

Then to add text click on the “Create” tab.  Click on text, choose your font, your color, and I like to test some of the fun “advanced modes” to see the dramatics effects it provides.

You also can add a frame or sticker which add to the personality of your blog…something to play with.

Before you save it go back to the “Edit” tab and click on “Resize”  and change the size to 125 x 125 (blog headers vary in size, it’s best to check what the custom size is for your blog, etsy shop, etc.)

Then make sure to save it in the highest quality.  I tend to save it to my computer before I upload to a  photo host.  Since I am a pro-photographer I use SmugMug, but Photobucket works too. You’ll need to upload it to a site so that when it comes time to add to your blog you have an image url.  And that’s it.  Hopefully this was helpful!

I have another Tutorial to help you with inserting the html code into your blog Here.

As you might notice, I’m hoping to be kicking off Thrifty Thursday Linky parties in 2012, I’m working through a few technical things yet…no worries, it’ll be here soon.  Start thinking of what you might be interested in linking up!

Yay, we’re back!

Whew! I had a crazy week. In an attempt to upgrade my blog and make things pretty- I redirected somewhere and couldn’t even log in to do anything. Lesson learned.
Happy to get back to some regularly scheduled blogging 🙂 Now…so much to catch up on!

We interupt this blog…

to share with you that this momma got a brand new toy.

Yes, that’d be a Silhouette Cameo that arrived on my doorstep on Thursday.  Please forgive me that I’ve been away.  I’ve been slightly distracted if you know what I mean.  So many more fun posts to come 🙂