Karen's Muse and Musings

Every Inchie Monday — Fancy

Fancy schmancy! That's the phrase that came to mind when I read the theme of this week at Every Inchie Monday. (Yes, I know it's Tuesday. I'm a day late — what can I say?) I chose this image from one of my vintage cabinet cards. This little girl was definitely dressed in some fancy finery. And it is only 1 inch square. I just didn't think you could see it at that size!

Every Inchie Monday — Peace

I thought long and hard on this topic until finally I settled on the place I am most relaxed and at peace — the beach on St. George Island. Be sure to check out the other entries at Every Inchie Monday.

Sunday Postcard Art — Dance

It's time to dance at Sunday Postcard Art! Deciding to go digital with my postcard art this week, I chose one of the flower girls from stepdaughter Maggie's wedding as my subject. I worked in Photoshop CS4, using a combination of the artistic and brush strokes filters.

Sunday Postcard Art — Mothers

I'm a day late with this one, but I did not want to miss this theme on Sunday Postcard Art. The beautiful woman and girl in the photo are my husband's grandmother and great grandmother. The photo frame and moth are from the Auntie Em collection at Deviant Scrap. I placed some pieces from my collection of ephemera on the scanner and used that image in the bottom corner.

Every Inchie Monday — Sing!

For all you opera lovers out there!

So It's Spring?

March is going out like a lion. I don't know what happened to the lamb. Although my town of Marietta is in full bloom, it just doesn't feel much like spring. It was downright windy and chilly today when I went out for my walk. However, that doesn't seem to affect the dogwoods, and I took a photo of a single blossom on my phone. Phone photos leave a lot to be desired, so I played around with it in Photoshop. I like the results. Now if only I could Photoshop the weather to my liking!

Photoshopping Grandchildren

Today I've been playing around with photos of our grandchildren in Photoshop.

Kathleen, 26 months

 

Leighton, 4 months

 

Bobby, 2-1/2 years

 

And this is our newest, Patrick. He was 8 days old yesterday when this photo was taken.

 

One more photo of Bobby. I love this expression on his face.

I was playing with the edges of the photos. Years ago I bought Auto FX Software's Photographic Edges, but that version no longer works with my latest Mac or with Photoshop CS4. So I was looking for a way to get interesting edges without spending any money on software. I found this cool tutorial here.

Got envelopes?

This is the story of how I thought I had wasted a couple of perfectly good hours on a perfectly beautiful day. I could have been outside soaking in the spring sun and well, the pollen, but I had this desire to play in my studio. I took an envelope, stained it with coffee and blew it dry. Then I cut out 4 egg shapes and laid them down on the envelope so I could rub ink over the top for a reverse stencil. Unfortunately it just did not have the impact I wanted. So I thought I'll stamp some script over the eggs. Still not enough. Then I thought, why not use one of the birds I've painted this past week? Now the problem was how to get the bird onto the envelope. I thought about painting it again, but I'd already done that, and I am trying to find ways to reuse the paintings. So I scanned the coffee-stained, stenciled envelope. My new plan was to position my bird on the envelope in Photoshop, then put it in the printer and print the bird right on the spot I had chosen. Easy, right? Well, it would have been except I had the image of the envelope on one layer and the bird on another layer in Photoshop. When I put my envelope into the printer, I forgot to remove the bottom layer, so it printed like a double exposure. I tore it up and threw it away!

Feeling disgusted with myself for wasting this time, I wondered if I could make something out of my scans. I decided to print the envelope - really just a rectangular image - and then use the paper around it to create an envelope.

You might want to try this too if you want to reuse some art you've created in the past. After you've digitally or manually arranged your art in the middle of a sheet of paper, just open up an envelope to use as a template, place it on top of your art, trace the edges, cut it out, fold and glue. Unique envelopes ready to go!

A New Look

I was tired of my old banner at the top of my blog and decided it was time for a fresh look. I recently changed the fonts I used, but I still wanted a new banner. This morning I painted the Carolina Chickadee and thought I would like to use it. So I painted the tree branch on a vintage French document and Photoshopped them together. I hope you like the new look.

Every Inchie Monday

Frolic!

Another digital inchie this week. The little girl is one of the flowergirls that was in stepdaughter Maggie's wedding a few years ago. The photographer captured some great shots of the girls twirling and dancing just before the wedding. I worked in Photoshop, "cutting" out the girl, placing her on my background I created by using a Photoshop brush in blue over the green background. Added the word frolic in the font Zapfino, and I was done!