Crop and Resize

A New Background

Day Two of PhotoShop was even better than Day One.

The hotel was better: a fully stocked kitchen [minus food] with microwave, fridge, and dish washer, a huge flat screen TV with free DVD "rentals," a couch, table, desk, free wifi and a view of Barnes and Noble. Many hotels offer a complimentary breakfast, this hotel (StayBridge in Oklahoma City) offers a free supper with free beer on tap. I don't drink beer but I'm sure some people would really enjoy that. I checked in and never left the room. When I woke up I wished I could stay till check-out time, but I didn't.

The workshop was really good too. Our teacher, Kathy, is so funny and makes learning this stuff easy. There were people working with five different versions of PhotoShop. Yikes! And Kathy can teach it all at the same time without going too crazy.

One thing we learned was how to put a different background behind your subject. Here's an example that I did from home this morning.

I'll get better with practice, and I will practice because this is so much fun! I hope my insurance covers carpel tunnel.

Photoshop Elements

I am leaving this afternoon for day two of an Intermediate Photoshop Elements workshop at the Oklahoma Department of Libraries in Oklahoma City. At this time when jobs are scarce, I have two of the best jobs ever. I'll use Photoshop at my school library job so they are glad to give me the time off and pay a sub while I'm gone. The workshop is offered through my public library job, so of course they are supportive of my trip north. And icing on the cake, ODL has grant money to pay for a hotel room for people who have to drive a long distance. That way people can get there on time and aren't so tired when they do arrive. My job is sending me on a mini-vacation. Did I say I have two of the best jobs ever?

Learning and using Photoshop Elements is so much fun. Here are examples of one thing I learned, recoloring: giving Mari purple eyes.

Regular Mari
Purple eyed Mari

Poppin' Purple Eyes

More examples to follow.

Crochet & Happy Labor Day

We said "Good-bye" to Mari and Shawn as they head back to Baton Rouge.

What to do with the day. Checking e-mail I linked to a comment on NaBloPoMo where Heather told me about ravelry, a website for knitters and crocheters. I checked it out and joined.

Back to email, I read the new A.Word.A.Day. This week's theme is all about yarn. "What's common among a disc jockey, a spider, a PR agent, and a cricket bowler? They all spin. But this week we are talking about a different kind of spinning, the original kind: the spinning of yarn." Today's word is "distaff." It originally meant a staff for holding flax, wool, etc. for spinning. It now has alternate meanings of relating to women, women considered collectively or woman's work or domain. Interesting. (Click the picture for information about it.)

I plan to spend some time today working on our "plarn" sleeping mat, a service project I'm doing with my pre-teaching class. Click here to view a video that inspired this project.

What fun things did you do on Labor Day?

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Owen is 6

Each year with Owen is better than the last. Here is a short slide show commemorating his birthday party 2010 at the YMCA. I wonder if there's a copyright free version of the song to add to the slide show. I'll look into that. For now, add your own music or watch in silence.