My Weblog

Permission to play... {and free image, laptop repair...and...}

You gotta LOVE the bloggy world...I think....anyway....LOL!

Whining about my "must do" lists was met with.............go play...go play........only boring women live in immaculate houses..............ha ha ha! So with your royal permission[s] {or is it a co-dependency, enabler kind of permission?!!! Naw...couldn't be THAT...}  

I played some more...

If you're signed up to receive Kim Klassen's texture freebies, her latest, featured in my digital creation, are words from a song by Celine Dion. The birdie I snagged from a newly discovered freebie site called Vintage Printable. 

Here's a copy of the birdie if you'd like to save him in your files and use him some day when you too are trying to ditch some housework....

Not long ago, Terri shared one of her beautiful backgrounds that I placed in my files. And just for more fun, I added it as a layer and then bumped down the opacity...loved the effect! Thank you, Terri! You can grab your own copy here. She and her friend Roc have been putting together some fun videos on different artsy techniques as well....check 'em out!   

 
Didn't it add a fun dash of color-drama?

And speaking of color............and DRAMA...............and more excuses to ignore my must do lists....and more reasons to PLAY! Scream with delight......

 

The Mister of the house {who is sooooo organized, think: opposites attract} for no reason whatsoever, surprised me with a new IPAD! This is the coolest...........and I haven't even bought any of the zillions of apps you can add.............

And to make it even sweeter, he wrapped the gifts himself....with paper he purchased...in colors I adore...and even added bows!  Seriously sweet.

In my book, the thoughtfulness of his actions were as delightful as the gift itself. Took me completely by surprise...He does a lot of thoughtful things for me, but we don't usually get this extravagant...

So much for that TO DO list anytime soon...

But as I'm busy playing, I'll be doing this....

tee hee....{these are actually kitchen matches}

switching gears completely...

And to make this rambling post even longer, stay tuned if you have a laptop that got dropped or the screen got stepped on OR hit by a basketball. {All three have happened at our house!}

DID YOU KNOW that many times you can still access the info, or even work off the laptop still by plugging it into a computer monitor? Simply unplug the monitor's USB cable from your tower and plug it into your laptop's USB port. This is also a great way to enlarge your viewing size even on a functioning laptop. 

Here's looking forward to another week of creative fun {and a bit of housework perhaps!}

xo, sue

Searching...

...found that quote in some free publication that was in our mailbox...thought it spoke volumes...

...meanwhile, instead of knocking off important stuff on my to do list, {which will soon turn into a list renamed as "it's now on fire!" if I don't get busy soon} I keep playing with my camera and textures and pse...

...but I will keep searching for that girl who is organized, on time, and strikes a healthy balance between "should do" and "want to do"....

Xo, Sue

credits: textures by Kim Klassen

Online Photoshop Elements Course {& a free image!}

 

My latest little play time creation in Photoshop Elements {PSE}...

Long ago I purchased a very old children's picture book...a bit ratty, missing pages, but the lithographs that were left......just beautiful.

Cropped it down to just the little yellow bird...{please feel free to save it for your own personal use}...and employing some of the new "moves" I'm learning in Kim Klassen's online course for PSE...

 
...the ingredients that went into my creation shown in the first photo...1. my image 2. my image 3. flickr-free texture  4. flickr-free texture  5. flickr-free texture

Even though I've barely begun working my way through Kim's class, I am learning a lot about PSE. I am taking her "skinny" ecourse. Here's a quote from the class description:

if you do not understand photoshop, it's brand new to you, you are just getting started, or find it completely TOO MUCH...

 first.gear photoshop - the "skinny" eCourse is for you!

A perfect description of me and my competency level with PSE. If this sounds like you too, and you've been wanting to learn Photoshop Elements, I highly recommend her skinny course. It is self-paced and is basically taught using videos. Step by baby step she shows you where to click, how to adjust this, how to change that...what this tool is for, how to add layers, etc. etc. In other words, THE BASICS!

Click on the "skinny" ecourse link above for a complete description of the class and how to sign up! In my estimation, bargain-priced at $29!

Maybe I'll see you in e-class soon?

Xo, Sue

Never forget...

Weekends rock at our place. College kids, their friends, their friends' dog, high school boy and his friends often fill the house with constant motion on a Saturday. But I wanted to sneak away for a quick minute as I remembered I had made this digital collage earlier this week to commemorate the 9th anniversary of 9-11 here in the states.

Starting with my own photo of fresh baby's breath I added a texture from Kim Klassen's collection, a time piece that was a freebie from Cathe Holden, and a free image from Suzee Que off of Flickr. 

And sadly enough, today, 1200 miles from where I live funeral services were held for a childhood friend of mine. Would have really liked to have been there...

He flew for one of the major airlines and I had spoken with him by phone only a few days before 9-11 back in 2001. When the awful news of what was transpiring began to hit the airwaves, how well I remember being sick with worry that he was aboard one of those aircrafts...wracking my brain trying to remember if he mentioned where he was flying next. And now today, on another 9-11, he's gone.

These sad times always drive home for me how precious is our time with those we love and for whom we care so deeply. And my heart and prayers go out to all those who are still struggling with the aftermath and loss of 9-11.

Another digital image from this week {kim klassen texture used} ...

May we all find peace for those harder questions in life.

xo, sue

Buying time... {Mentionable Giveaways & Free Image}

...does anybody know where I can buy more time?

Oh, if only it were that easy. No doubt the line would be long and the scuffles in the store would make for some great comedy show episodes.

Well, sometimes TIME is for sale...and these are two of my most recent "time" purchases. I found them both at the Scott Antique Market this month. 

And speaking of good finds...

Look what I dragged home from an antique store. It's not antique...and it's not in any color {lemon yellow} that matches my decor...but look at all those yummy curves, details, and frenchy-style to this piece. And the best parts? It is in mint, like-new condition...a high end piece of furniture with a low end price tag on it. Pennies on the dollar for what it originally cost...my kind of deal.

Love the hardware...a creamy white distressed finish...Which is exactly the type of paint job that will eventually be given to this piece...............

I think I mentioned that we are going to "re-fluff" the nest a bit. Partly because it needs some updating and also to FINALLY repair/replace furniture that our 22 month old Lab chewed to pieces during her puppy months. GRRRRRR....

Not sure if I'll tackle this one myself or pay someone to do it. Time will tell...

And while we are on the topic of TIME, there's still time to enter these two wonderful giveaways by two darling bloggers. 

Patty at THE MAGPIE'S NEST is a Virginia cutie-pie who is celebrating having posted in excess of one thousand two hundred posts..........whew. That girl has her fingers in every sort of artful adventure known to man and has such a creative spirit! {and a sweetheart of a person to boot!} She's offering up three of her beautiful wool felted heart pendants. Click here to enter the drawing! I've thoroughly enjoyed having met Patty through blogging many months ago.

Linda at Linda Jo's Obsessions is a Texas cutie-pie who is celebrating 500 posts! As we all know, everything is bigger in Texas so she's stretching her party over five days. Each day this week she'll be showcasing yet another giveaway! So far there's a copy of Tracie Lynn Huskamp's beautiful book NATURE INSPIRED, a darling little embellished notepad and a gorgeous lace heart. I've recently become familiar with Linda Jo's blog and she has the most deeee-lightful sense of humor and has lots of artsy adventures going on as well.

Go visit both for the prizes but stay for the inspiration....

Here's a photo of my large clock face I'll share with those of you who collect old images for your artwork. Please feel free to save it to your computer for your own personal use. This girl was way too big for the scanner bed...

The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen all at once.  ~Albert Einstein {What? My life feels like living proof that it can all happen at once...I see you nodding your head in agreement!}

Xo, Sue 

 Credits: Textured onlays from Kim Klassen's collection
 

With a cherry on top...

Had such big plans to spend most of the day catching up on domestic chores. Started out well and then I made the mistake of hopping on the computer.

 And playing with my photos.

Watching a few more tutorials on Photoshop Elements...

...willing my brain to absorb the materials! Such a steep learning curve, but I'm determined...

Like anything in life, if you want to be good at it, practice. practice. practice.

 

Notice the two variations using this same photo? These are some of my newly acquired Florabella actions and textures. Once I FINALLY figured out how to get them into my PSE files, they work like a charm. Don't ask me how I did it, because even I don't know...These are bit more pricey but they are wonderful!!! Check out their site and link to their blog link as well...beautiful, beautiful.

Textures on this photo are from Kim Klassen.

Another version of this same photo using a FREE texture from Flickr (compliments of username Rubyblossom). If you type "free texture" into the flickr search engine there are over 50,000 items in that category.

Patti Brown photography offers several free video tutorials on using textures in PSE. She also sells packages of textures to download that looked very interesting as well.

However, if PSE and textures aren't your thing, go to your local's farmer market (or supermarket) and grab some of these...

 They are so delicious right now....
 

Recent finds...a fun giveaway...free images, and what not!

Whew! That's a lot for one title...buy hey, I'm trying to cover a lot of bases in one post. So many fun things going on in the blogosphere (and atmosphere).

Here's another little treasure I dragged home from our recent trip to Florida. And despite the unrelenting heat for months here in Georgia, my flowers survived my absence.

But the cloud formations lately have been so thrilling... (me thinks mr. sky is trying to apologize or compensate for his friend mr. air who has been scorching this part of the world)

And if you love sky scenes, check out these moon beam pictures my friend, Patty has captured in the skies of Virginia. She has a way of zeroing in on anything that shines...I loved these photos!

Despite the fact that mother nature is more than capable of doing her own decorating, I added a little tree beauty to her world in order to showcase another little treasure from my Florida trip...

I merely took advantage of those little branches that pop up randomly where they're not supposed to be on mature trees and "tied" my new tray to the tree.

While my usage of the outside layer to this photo does not due this artists' creations justice I did want to share with any photoshop veiwers a gorgeous blog offering fabulous textures. I am still learning photoshop where these textures will rock when applied properly...my rendition is a cheap version (strong emphasis on cheap) of just layering and using a transparency brush to reveal my photo. The "real thing" is beyond dreamy...

Check out Kim's blog and her beautiful photos! Her prices for these textures are so reasonable and she even offers up free ones if you sign up to receive her newsletter.

And speaking of free stuff...

Terri has recently posted a couple of wonderful digital image freebies here and here. Go grab 'em! I had the pleasure of meeting Terri and her FUN ART when she won one of my giveaways.

So guess where that leads me to next. Yep! A giveaway... Connie is offering up a couple of yummy things...

Here's one of them! Isn't she a beautiful seamstress? Yes, indeed! She also has two adorable grandbabies...one is brand new. Check out those precious photos when you visit as well!

Now that we're talking about giveaways, I just realized that this is my 100th post since moving my blog to Typepad. Time to pull together a giveaway of my own...hmmmm... so many possibilities. Stay tuned....

Warm hugs to all the fabulous souls in the blogosphere...you all fill my world with so much inspiration!

xo, sue

Digital Collage and Free Images

Playing around in my photos again...I could get lost for hours manipulating photos. The inspiration began as I walked along the beach and spotted these sorts of shells everywhere. Don't they look like little wings?

I thought so and decided to digitally extract them. Here's a copy if you'd like them for your own personal use as well.

As long as we're sharing, here's the little girl I borrowed from here...

Starting with a background of clouds from my own photos I began adding and adding layer after layer. Many thanks and credit given to Karen at the Graphics Fairy for the use of the dove {extracted from a postcard she shared} as well as using the vintage ledger page from her collection.

Peace... xo, Sue

 
  One of several old blue canning jars I picked up recently stuffed with a few hydrangea from my garden. The sustained heat in this region fried a lot of my moppy head friends and cut short their season of gracefully showing off their beautiful colors.

 Some little creepy bug has invaded my being and I'm not enjoying its presence one little bit. Can't decide if it's a sinus infection or one of those viruses that have been going around. All I know, is that it is winning...

 
It chooses to visit me right in the middle of my "busy-as-a-bee" season....! Have lots of irons in the fire, many that are time sensitive so resting yesterday was not an option. Spent hours on the phone coordinating utility hook-ups for daughter's new rental. Seems they like to have parents on the hook for those bills instead of college-aged students. Hmmm...wonder why?

And while I was tucked away handling all those calls...

 ...this little family member with the white fur coat was busy in the kitchen eating the leftover pizza oldest son forgot to put away. Naturally, it was one of those mega-sized take and bake pizzas. And even more naturally, oldest son ate only a few slices so Miss Sophie (the one in the white fur coat) had herself quite a feast! But the revenge of such an over-indulgence was swift and severe...and was all mine to handle, each episode... for several hours.

All other family members were out and about...DH had a business dinner, the boys had soccer and what-not...just us two sick girls left to man the fort. One rested, and the other did not.

The one who didn't rest was originally planning to share some recent finds on her blog.

 DH and I have decided that we will plow ahead with having the house spruced up a bit and I've got a budget to work with for decorating and such. To that end, I've been hitting lots of antique shops...made some really fun scores at fabulous prices. The photo above is one of MANY of these late 1800's lithographs I made an offer on to a dealer and he accepted my offer. They are each 11 x 14...this larger format is harder to find and even more difficult to find at the bargain price for which I obtained them.

Hopefully this cruddy crud cold/virus will decide to release its grip on me and I'll have a chance to soon show you some other fun stuff in their "potential" state and what I hope to do with them...

Meanwhile, here's a scan from my personal collection you digital manipulators might enjoy having in your stash for your personal use...

In "real life" this is a four page, handwritten  French deed on that old yummy cotton type paper I just adore.

Hope everyone had a safe and memory-filled long weekend!

Xo, Sue

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness

a scan from my own collection...please feel free to copy for your own personal use

Most Americans recognize the familiar words of:

 "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."

  These are words that appear in our Declaration of Independence. Beyond that, I'm not sure how much of this document, I, or others could recite if asked to do so. But in honor of this much celebrated holiday here in America I grabbed an enhanced copy of The Declaration of Independence from www.ushistory.org.

The original, measuring 29 3/4" x 24 1/2" is now very faded according to this same source as a result of not being properly stored for so many years. Obviously, this copy that has been digitally enhanced isn't exactly legible either. However, if you would like to read this document in its entirety, click here.

Rebecca Ersfeld for Vintage Living has a wonderful post for the Fourth of July! If you have a minute it is worth the read. It talks about the price of freedom... It begins with the words: Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?

Personally, I find these types of trivia/info to be very enlightening. Speaking of which, I also thought this fact copied from the ushistory site noted above to be quite interesting...

"In a remarkable series of coincidences, both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, two founding fathers of the United States and the only two men who signed the Declaration of Independence to become president, died on the same day: July 4, 1826, which was the United States' 50th anniversary."

And if you have even more time, and would like to see another creative take on the Fourth of July click here.

Here's wishing all you American bloggers a delightful Fourth of July weekend; but to all of mankind, regardless of nationality, may you enjoy life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness!

Xo, Sue