10 things on the 10th (July 2011)

Last month I made a list  and have been busy working my way through: 

Organising my photos - this is started and work in progress.  There was rather a lot of catching up to do, you see! 

Project 365   Finally added to my Flickr album here.

Start an Art Journal  more about that here.

Finish knitting a bollero.    That's here:

Finish my 'Journal Your Christmas album'.  I just need to put the pages together.  

Use my Wii fit. 

Not done.... 

but only because I have been doing a lot of physical work this month.
I also bought 2 fitness DVD's that were recommended by my daughter.  She has only used them 3 times and has noticed a big difference in her muscle tone.  I've used it once so there is hope for me yet!  And I will get the Wii out sometime as it is a lot of fun.

Birthday Blog.   A blog hop to celebrate my first year. A HUGE thank you to the very special people who helped me with this, and to everyone who took part. 

Plan holiday or a break. I'm looking forward to visiting the 'Bloomsbury Set House' and Lewes in Sussex, with friends very soon.  We are also in the process of buying a campervan, and have joined the Camping & Caravan club.  The site directory has just been delivered and I'm looking forward to a cut of tea and more making more plans to get away.

Organise my work space.  Unfortuantly it is taking longer than hoped as there have been unwanted delays, then yesterday I experienced vertigo every time I looked up.  This is not a good experience when perched on a ladder, so again I did not achieve as much as I hoped.  But I did make a difference and today I will buy more paint and start on the interior.  So, good progress is being made even if it is slower than I wanted.

Add a texture to a photo.

This was not the photo I wanted to post but for some reason Blogger is being picky.  This shows the before and after, and this can be quite fun as well as creating age or different effects.  Kim Klassen is offering a free mini-course on how to add textures.  It starts today, so head straight over if you are interested in finding out more.

So, this time I shall be continuing with organising my photos and workspace.  And I plan to carry on with the painting because I have some chairs and a lovely little table I want togive new life to.

I wonder what plans you have or what you are working on right now?  Have fun what ever you are doing.

This post is part of Shimelle's 10 things on the 10th. 

ADDING TEXTURE TO PHOTOS

ADDING TEXTURES TO PHOTOS

Yesterday I went out with my camera and took photos of different textures. I then used Photoshop to overlay a photo previously taken at a cemetry, and added the woodgrain layer with reduced opacity. I may try out other textures on the same photo to compare effects. It's a good way of experimenting with Photoshop and learning how to use it.

Unfortuantly Monday is the last day of 'Love your Picture, Love your Page' e-course. I thought it was tomorrow, but have been told there will be a final posting on Monday with one or two surprises added. Look foreward to those!

As I've really enjoyed taking part in recent e-courses I have signed up for 'The August Break' run by Susannah Conway. This is an invitation to post photos , without prompts or goals, just a sharing with others. It will be nice to relax for a while and hopefully enjoy more of this lovely summer, while still having a community of friends to share my photos and ideas with.

This week I have a few days planned with friends for creating, and next Saturday my monthly Eclectic Keepsakes Group where Karen Cole will be showing us how to make a mini album. That's right up my street so very much looking forward to that! I'll be posting my finished piece when it is done. Have a good weekend.

OUT WITH MY CAMERA

After a stonking headache, and a duvet day to recover, I am taking it easy today. The sun is shining and inviting me to go outdoors so I plan to take a walk with my camera. This is something I often do, but today I will be on the look out for textures. I am trying to create different techniques using Photoshop and I have lots of ideas but little skill. The only way I can grow comfortable and confident is by jumping in... sometimes I sink, sometimes I swim, but it's the only way to learn.
Some of my ideas have been inspired by Shimelle's 'Love your Picture, Love your Page' e-course. Sadly this is in it's fourth and final week, but fortuantly it does not end as I can continue to post photos and take part in discussions. I recommend this course to anyone interested in photography and scrapbooking. I have lots of new ideas to try, and ways of taking these a stage further. So while I'm sad I will not be receiving the daily download, I also need time to try out those I have!

The course gave me reasons and opportunity to try out Photoshop, which was great as I need a prod. I find it so overwhelming! Two books I bought have also been a great help and source of inspiration:

'Digital Expressions.. creating digital art with Adobe Photoshop Elements' by Susan Tuttle (published by North Light Books) .

'The Photoshop Elements 7 book for digital photographers' by Scott Kelby & Matt Kloskowski (Published by New Riders).

You need a basic skill of Photoshop to use the first book, so if like me you need some help with this, I have the second book invaluable. Both talk you through techniques stage by stage and I am amazed how easy some of these are, once you know how.

You can download textures from the web, while 'Digital Expressions' includes a CD with brushes , photos and textures for you to experiment with. However, I think it will be fun to create a texture collection using my own photos and techniques. So I will share some of these later. Meanwhile, the sun and camera are calling!