New sketch for Bird is the Word Challenge Blog - SPARKLE -

When designing the Sparkle sketch I wanted my curled ribbon to curl around
the flat ribbon I placed under it. This is how I did it.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 5 Tutorial using “Marching ants” to help you erase parts of a layer.
1. Open a new file
2. Place the two ribbons onto the file. I used a flatter laying one and a curled one.

3. Put the curled ribbon on top.

4. Click the curled ribbon so it is highlighted in your layers pallet.

5. Then hold the Ctrl key down while clicking on the flat ribbon in the layer pallet.
You will now see “marching ants” around your flat ribbon.
6. Click on your eraser in the tool bar and erase the parts of the curled ribbon
that would be under the flat ribbon.
*The only parts of the curled ribbon that will erase is the parts that
overlap the flat ribbon.

7. Push your Esc key to turn off the “marching ants”.

our world a year ago

I was looking through some of our trail camera pictures from last year. It took tell April 12 before the ground was clear of snow in the woods.
This picture was taken last year on March 20 2011. Look at all the snow and the temperature is 36.

This one was taken March 27 with a temperature of 10 degrees.

What a difference in a year. It is March 23, 2012 at 7am and it is 51 degrees out.

First Robin

What a gorgeous day yesterday was! It was 66 degrees around noon. I was lucky enough to have the day off so I spent allot of time out in the yard. I saw my first Robin of the year in the morning. Last year the first one I seen was March 18, so they are not much earlier this year although last year they came back to a snow covered world. I like this world much better!

Piano makeover

After bringing our new couch home it was clear our very old (1890 something) upright piano needed to be spruced up a bit- no allot.
So I tried a great tip I found on Pinterest.com. I polished it with a mixture of oil and vinegar, ¾ cup vegetable oil and ¼ cup vinegar. No excessive rubbing I just rubbed it on as I would any furniture polish.
Halfway done, wow what a difference!

It put a great shine on it, darkened the dark in the wood and brought out gold highlights I didn’t even know were there. I was worried that it might dry sticky and all the dust would stick to it but it didn’t. It’s 4 days later and it is still all shiny and beautiful.

The blog I found it linked to on Pinterest.com is
http://missmustardseed.com/2010/06/oil-vinegar-not-just-for-salads/

New Sketch for Bird is the Word Challenge Blog - CHARM

I made this digital wallpaper for my computer desktop with this sketch.

To create circular text in Adobe Photoshop Elements like the “You’re my lucky charm” on this lo.
1.Open a new page, click file, click new then click blank file. In the pop up window select the size you want, I used 12 x 12 inches, then click OK
2. Select the Text tool from the tool menu. Select the Font and Size. Click about half way down on your page. Type the sentiment you want, space it so it so it goes all the way across your page.

3. Select the text layer in the layer pallet. Click Image; rotate then 180 to flip the text upside down.

4. Drag the handles to make your text about twice the height. Select the check to accept.

5. With the text layer selected in the layer pallet, click on Filter, click Distort then click Polar Coordinates. Be sure the circle next to Rectangular to polar is selected. Click OK. Select the check to accept.

St. Patrick's Day Computer Wallpaper

I made this Digital scrapbook page for Tim's computer desktop background.