28 March 2011

Dabbling in digi...

Ever since I discovered Photoshop a good many years ago now, I have been on a constant, occasionally frustrating but mostly enjoyable learning curve.

Having never completed any formal courses on how to use it, I have muddled my way through, likely taking the long way 'round in many cases and figuring out how to do thing as I've needed to.  It's safe to say my Google search bar has seen more than its fair share of "Photoshop x/y/z tutorial" searches in its time...

If I could turn back the clock, I would very possibly pursue something along the lines of graphic design and with less than a year until both my poppets are at school full time, I may still head down that path, but for now I am content to faff about in front of my computer with my outdated, e-bay acquired version of Photoshop and create things like my blog banner up there ^ and a couple of other bits and pieces that I'm going to show you now...

My delightful and delicious five month old nephew Maxwell was baptised a couple of weeks back and on the same day his sister - my sweet and spirited niece Ivy - celebrated with a party for her third birthday which had been a couple of days prior.  My sis-in-law Janny asked if I wouldn't mind putting together some invitations that she could quickly send out, so always up for a challenge and an excuse to play in Photoshop, I readily agreed!

Being rather a fan of my Canon 500D digital SLR and taking every opportunity to bust it out,  I also took the photo on Max's invitation, his adorable expression  being helped along by uncle Tim getting right in his face and being a doofus.  He loves his uncle Tim :-)

In addition to being my source of tutorials, Google is also my friend when searching for various brushes and patterns to use, but by far one of the best discoveries has been Lettering Delights, which is where I got the cute red decorative elements on Ivy's invitation.

It's also where I happen to get a good many other bits and pieces in the way of graphics and fonts, especially since they're so adorably cute and a mere few dollars at most, or even less when there's a sale :-)

Better still, you can get a bunch of freebies just by creating a free member account, which also gives you the option of signing up for the Lettering Delights newsletter so that you're among the first to know when there are new things available or stuff is on sale.

Click the banner below to head there now and sign yourself up!


Just be warned that cuteness abounds, so if you're anything like me, you'll spend ages putting search terms in trying to find an excuse to purchase and use the hundreds of delightful graphics and fonts that you'll find...
Just so you know...

03 March 2011

Out of the mouths of babes #1

If you're a parent, I'm guessing that you could just about write a book on this topic the same as I could.  Kids can say the funniest things and my small one has me in stitches frequently with her four-year-old observations and mispronunciations, so I thought it would be fun to dedicate a whole category to it, thereby keeping a record for my own enjoyment and their mortification in years to come.

THE SCENE:  Saturday morning at home, with the promise of a swim at Mama and Bunts' (my in-laws) house with their cousins later in the afternoon, I advised the girls that they might want to have a look at the bomb site they'd created in the toy room and start work on cleaning it up if they planned on togging up later that afternoon.

SOPHIE (all attitude with jutting hip and rolling eyes):





Indeed.