New Classes at Jessica Sprague

I'm really excited about the new classes at Jessica Sprague! After taking my last class, I got a 20% off coupon that I put toward two more classes. In the first class, we'll finish a 20 page digital album in 20 days. I have an album I've been wanting to work on. This will be a great way for me to get a start on it! I was hoping to finish it before Christmas!

This class is all about digital brushes. I'm actually pretty good with brushes, so I was going to give this class a miss. But, since I had the 20% off coupon, I decided to go for it. The last class was so much FUN! I'm in the mood for more and don't want to wait until the end of August for the other class to start. The brush class starts in just one more week!

Happy Monday!

And what a beautiful Monday it was! Sunny, HOT, and just an all around good day :)

And it was a good day for changes, hehehe... Chris says that bleached blond is so LAST YEAR! The new color is ORANGE, LOL! Jim stayed home from work today. He worked on Chris's hair, after Chris got home from summer school. (BTW, Chris is getting an A in geometry! Way to go Chris!)

Chris LOVES his hair! He wants to get it done again before school pictures so that his hair will be orange on his ID card... well, that will liven up his portrait, that's for sure!

Photoshop Class Day 13

Yesterday's class was an extension of Friday's class. Instead of a three photo storyboard, it's a nine photo layout. The size of this one is 8"x8", at least this one will print on our printer. I don't know where to get Thursday's 7"x14" storyboard printed.

These photos are from our trip to Hawaii last summer. I'm working on a photo book of our 2008 trips. This will be one of the pages in the book.

This is our last day of instruction. The very last class (which is today) is just another test. I haven't logged onto the site yet to take it.

Registration for Jessica's new classes starts tomorrow. I'll post again tomorrow to remind you! If this class was any indication, the new classes will be GREAT!

Friday-5... 5K Mud Run!!!

Here are promised photos for the mud run. It was less than exciting... I mean the mud run AND the photos. I didn't marry my husband for his photography skills, that's for sure, lol!

It was HOT, it was CROWDED, it was CRAZY! Every time we got to an obstacle, there was a huge backup of people. I ran with Cheryl, and Chris took off with the front pack... there's no holding that guy back. He even admitted that he's too competitive. It drives him crazy to have anyone pass him.

Here we are before the race. We couldn't find the staging area, so we waited at the starting line.

Here's Chris going by. You can see one of the mud pits behind him.

Here's me... or at least half of me.

Here's Cheryl. She ran the entire way (except of course where the group came to a dead stop.)

Here's our after photo. You might be wondering why Chris isn't muddy... well, he fell in crossing the lake.

There were photographers on the course so maybe they'll post some photos of the race. If I find some good ones of us, I'll post them later.

Maybe I'll feel different about it in a week or so, but to sum it up in a nutshell, "That was kind of FUN, let's NOT do it again..."

I hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Photoshop Class Day 12

No Friday-5 today... I'll post my 5 photos from the mud run tomorrow!

The class is almost over, BooHoo! I'm really enjoying this class. I read on Jessica's blog that the next class will be a 20-paged digital book completed in 20 days. I'm definitely going to take that one! It's supposed to start at the end of summer. I'll keep an eye out for the registration and let you all know.

Today's lesson is on storyboards. I loved the clean professional look! Can you just image these printed out and framed?




Note: FONT - Renaissance

Photoshop Class Day 11

Today we learned how to use layer masks to mask off colored areas of a photo. I've done this before, but I used a duplicate layer and erased the areas I wanted colored. The teacher said that this works much better because it's easier to fix mistakes. I don't think that's true... with the undo key, I can fix ANYTHING! LOL!

I took this photo of my daughter and my niece last summer. They are showing off a few mountain apples that grow in Kauai.

NOTE:
Hue/Saturation layer - hue:35 saturation:5
Paint black on the Hue/Saturation layer to show the color underneath.
Add punch to a B&W photo - Add a levels adjustment layer and move sliders. move left slider to right, move center slider to left, move right slider to left.

This is your chance to go to Mars!

How fun is this?!!!
Enter your name, and it will be included with others on a microchip on the Mars Science Laboratory rover heading to Mars in 2011!

Photoshop Class Day 10

Is it day 10 all ready? I've learned so much! Textures, clipping masks, frames, brushes, text, adjustment layers... Here it is all put together in one lesson!

This is a photo that we took on our cruise to Ensenada. It's such a grey photo (it was a grey day). But look how beautiful it is now!

NOTE:
Create clipping mask using the rounded rectangle tool.
Font: Adler, Porcelain
Textures: Brown-paper-Texture, grungepaper2_by_fudgegraphics
Remember you can set blending modes to brushes: soft light, overlay, multiply

Photoshop Class Day 9

This is a cool technique! It's a way to darken the edges of a photo, leaving the center bright. That way any distracting backgrounds can be muted, bringing your eye to the main subject of the photo.

Here is the before photo:

And here is the after photo:

The look is very subtle, but it does make a difference. The background of the photo drops further into the background. I tried this on a bright, colorful background and it didn't work as well. It's much better with a background that will wash out by darkening it.

NOTE: Edge Burn
Create levels adjustment layer. Move middle slidger to .62 (right).
Black shows what is beneath. White hides what is beneath.
Use gradient tool. FG:black, BG:white. Selcect feathered circle.
Set GRADIENT mode (not layer mode) to Multiply. Click on center and drag to outside.
Use brush tool to color black on the adjustment layer to brighten areas.
(increase/decrease effect by changing level layer adjustment or changing opacity of the layer.)

Photoshop Class Day 8

What happened to Day 7, you ask? Well, Day 7 was test day... and I scored a 100%! YAHOO! Today's lesson was on Typography. Using type on PSE is just like my old PS7 program, so I took my spare time today and added: a clipping mask, an adjustment layer, a texture layer, and text...

This is a photo from Chris's 2009 track season. This quote by Steve Prefontaine is one of his favorites:

The only race pace is suicide pace and today is a good day to die.

NTOE: Font KarbinE

Photoshop Class Day 6

Today's class was on replicating a TTV look. She never did say what TTV stands for but it's a worn, faded look. Photographers will actually take photographs (often using a macro lens and a light blocking device) through the viewfinder of an old camera. The result is a photo with blackened edges, distortion, scuffs and scratches and marks - pretty much what we've been looking for all our lives, right? ;o)

Here is a beautiful photo of my mom that I scanned into the computer. Why anyone would want to grunge up a beautiful photo is a total mystery to me.

Here is the image after applying the TTV filter and some brushes... I have to admit that I like the look!



NOTE: Adding TTV Texture
Most old cameras took photos as squares, so we'll be cropping square for authenticity. :)
Now add either a vintage desaturated look, OR a sepia-tone look using the instructions in Day 3's lesson.
Open and add your TTV texture to your image, resize as needed so the black edges go all the way to the edge of the image.
Set your TTV layer to Multiply.

Friday-5 (on Saturday)

Well, I just finished going for a run. WHEW! It's 96F out today, hot, Hot, HOT! Here is my promised Friday-5. I'm so proud of myself! I even edited the photos using my new Photoshop Elements program, YIPEE!

Here they are... the promised photos of our trip! It was hard to limit myself to just five. I have a TON of photos! LOL!

Here we are still in Long Beach, exploring the ship, getting ready to leave. Look at my hair! I'm so in need of a haircut!

Here is the ship, Carnival Paradise. It seems small when we're on it, but standing next to it at dock like this, it's like standing next to a huge condo complex!

Snorkeling in the Catalina Marine Preserve... There were SO MANY FISH! No colorful tropicals (except the Garibaldi). The water was FREEZING! Brrrr.....

Now this is the life, kayaking! I LOVE kayaking! We took a bus to Bufadora, rented a kayak and paddled to the Bufadora Blow Hole. Look at the water BLOW! I think it's bigger than the Poipu Spouting Horn, but it's hard to tell. I've only seen the Spouting Horn from the top of the cliff.

I had to put this one in! This is the first time that I've dance with my husband since our wedding! I dragged him out of his seat during the dinner show. I knew he wouldn't refuse with all the other people at the table watching him, hehehe...

It was so nice to get away, even for just a short while. I paid for it this week though... it was insanely busy at work! I'm so glad it's weekend!

Photoshop Class Day 5

I had such a busy day yesterday! I spent over 11 hours at work and was wiped out when I got home. So, I took yesterday's photoshop class this morning. (Aren't online self-paced classes great? :o)

Today's class is on textures. This is a totally new technique for me! It's a beautiful look for the right photo. I can't see using this technique on anything except landscapes.

This is a scan of a photo that we took on our honeymoon in New Zealand. The road was completely clogged with sheep, lol!

Well, I missed my Friday-5 for the second week in a row... bad me... I'm going to go through my cruise photos and make it a Saturday-5... Maybe.

NOTE: Adding Texture
Make photo black and white
Open texture 2, brown-paper-texture, subtlegrunge5
(Best blending layers to use soft light, overlay or multiply)
Soft light is lightest.
Overlay is medium.
Multiply is darkest.
Group with photo and set all texture layers to soft light.

Photoshop Class Day 4

Today's lesson is on clipping masks. I'm so glad that this was covered because I use this all the time in my old Photoshop program! Using a clipping mask you can reroute the edge of a photo. In this case, we used a grungy edge:

I took this photo on our trip to the Catalina Botanical Gardens. I didn't know if my friend Mary had ever seen a prickly pear cactus. I love how beautiful and lacy they are! They have beautiful yellow flowers too... these are just ready to burst into bloom!

NOTE: Clipping Mask
Mask layer goes under the photo layer.
Hold ALT key and click on line between the two layers. Right click to group.

Copic Candy

I wanted to share about a blog giving away some stamps and copics. This lady is a great copic artist and I've been stalking her blog for a few weeks now. Go check it out and become a blog follower!

Chrissy's Art and Heart

Photoshop Class Day 3

Today's lesson was on adjustment layers and blending modes. We used them to create a vintage look photo. Here is my original photo.

Here is my photo after it was adjusted, blended, cropped, and embellished with a frame and some brushes. I think the reason I didn't get a real good washed out vintage look because the colors on this photo are too bright, but I think the look is interesting. What I was really anxious to use was the red-eye fixer! It was so easy! I don't know how I lived without out it!



NOTE: Vintage Hand Tinted Look
Use Hue/Saturation layer (1) (half white/black circle). Set saturation to 50-60.

Use Hue/Saturation layer (2) again. Click colorize checkbox. Set hue to 35. Set saturation 20.

Set blending mode to Hue/Saturation layer (2) to soft light.

Hand tint photo, add rose on cheeks. Add a new layer. Select a soft edge brush. Select pink cd5a5a. Paint. Set blending mode to soft light. Reduce opacity to 45.

Photoshop Class Day 2

It's day 2 of my two week Photoshop class. Today's lesson was on how to use brushes (which means I can do frames and word art in the color of my chosing). Here is my homework for the day!

This class is perfect for my busy life... Watching the video and finishing up my homework took me less than half and hour. It's FUN too!!!

Photoshop Class Day 1

I signed up for that free Photoshop Class that I posted about HERE. I have Photoshop Elements (PSE), but I don't use it because it's just different enough from Photoshop 7.0 to frustrate me! I'm hoping that this class will get me up and using PSE in a couple weeks.

I just finished my first class today and here is my homework from Lesson 1: A photo with a frame and word art!

This is a photo from Kona a couple of summers ago:

Weekend Sports report

This is the last game of Chris's soccer career. The game has gotten rougher and rougher as he's gotten older... checkout out a snip of the game this weekend by clicking on the image below:

He hurts where landed on his hip, and I'm sure he's going to be sore tomorrow. That's the hardest take down I've seen him take.

He came out of the game right after that. I wanted to check on him. But, Cheryl said it's uncool to have your mommy checking on you. Jim and Papa checked if he was okay. He was... in fact he was okay enough to go back in after a short rest. The tournament this weekend was a disaster... Three losses this weekend, 0-1, 0-5, and 0-1. With the red card in the first game, that left the team with -3 points as their weekend total.

As I said, that was Chris's last game. He's decided to give up AYSO to concentrate on his running. He wants an alternate Varsity spot at CIF this year (assuming that the school makes CIF again this year)... Good luck with the running training, Chris!

Friday-5

It's a wonderful Friday! The start of a week of vacation. We leave for Mexico on Monday for FIVE days of fun in the sun! Can you guess what next week's Friday-5 will be on? hehehe....

Today's FIVE are five photos of flowers growing in my yard:

This first one is the hanging pot in my front yard. YES, I finally replanted that pot (to the neighbor's relief, lol!), and it's coming in nicely!

The day lilies that I transplanted last fall are blooming GREAT!

I love the hyacinths this time of year! All winter they look like dead sticks, but they really put on a show in the spring and all through summer.

Not the greatest photo. I love the colors in these columbine!

Look Mom! The orchid you gave me is blooming! The first orchid that I didn't kill. Mom was right, they are indestructible!

Thanks for checking out my FIVE!
Have a great weekend!

PTI June Blog Hop

Welcome Blog Hoppers! The engineering company that I work for has contracts with most of the world's airline companies. As a result our building is decorated with airline travel posters. This is a United Airline poster for Hawaii. The unusual color combo always catches my eye when I walk by it.

I just knew I wanted to try and use those colors together! Here is a Father's Day card that I created using Fancy pants patterned paper and the Star Prints stamp set from PTI.

Put it together with a pretty homemade box and it made a very nice gift for my dad... Happy Papa Day!

A little Father's Day fun

Not only was it Father's Day today, but we also celebrated my niece's birthday and her 8th grade graduation. She's getting old so fast! She's starting high school in the fall at the same school that I went to for high school. Yep, the old alma mater is still standing... I think it should have reached historical building status by now. LOL!




Here is the promised video of my nephew taking a dip in the pool. Click on the image below to bring up the video.

As you can see he had a little help from his dad and his uncle. He's such a good sport!

Happy Father's Day everyone!

Happy Father's Day!

I want to wish a Happy Father's day to the special dads in my life...

my dad:


and my kids' dad:



Happy Father's day to all the special Dads out there!!!