One of my favorite features (so far) of Picasa 3 is the Effects tab where you can apply 12 different effects to your pictures, creating different color tones, shading, etc. You probably can't see it on these photo's because they're too small but you also have the capability to add text to pictures and you can position it any way you want, on a diagonal, vertical, etc. On my 6 photo's below, in the lower right hand corner, I labeled each pic with the effect I applied.
The first row going left to right are: the original pic; Sepia effect which is a certain color tone; and the saturation effect which is a real fun one to play around with.
The second row going left to right are: Focal B&W effect where you choose where on the picture you want the patch of color applied to a copy of the black and white pic, neat affect; the tint effect; and the graduated tint (feather and shade)effect, another neat affect.
So in my quest to figure out why my blog pics are posting differently, I was looking through Blogger Help and came across a new program I hadn't heard of called Picasa 3. It's a FREE Google photo/video program that is so much better and more versatile than Microsoft's Office Picture program.
Picasa 3 also has a Blogger button to upload pics directly onto my blog, how cool is that!!
I downloaded Picasa 3 and it prompted me to transfer my pictures and now I have alot of different editing tools to work with as well as the capability to make slide shows with captions, album titles, etc. Maybe the Microsoft program had those applications but in Picasa 3 it's accessible and right in-front of you to use.
I'm going to play around with it and see what creative things I can come up with. I'm excited and will post something on my blog soon.
So I don't know if Blogger changed certain features but things haven't been the same for me for the past few weeks. When drafting a post, the actual picture doesn't download like it used to, I get a code instead. I can't link websites anymore and now the clock I added last night doesn't show up.
I added the orange clock which is a fun one but not the one I wanted on my blog.
I'm a little frustrated right now but this too shall pass.
I saw that my friend Melanie had a clock on her blog so I did a Google search for free blog clocks and found this great website I wanted to share with everyone. I can't get the link to work here, the website is called Free Flash Clocks Blog, check them out.
I added the blue clock to my blog and I love it. Blue is a very soothing color.
Tonight is a VERY critical game for the San Jose Sharks. They finished #1 in the Western Division and #2 overall (30 teams). They are down 0 - 2 games to the Anaheim Ducks (#8 in the Western Division)in this first round of NHL playoffs. They have the best home record overall and yet lost both games. The next two games will be played in Anaheim.
If they don't win tonight the odds are pretty high they won't even make it to the second round. They have the talent to make it to the next round but I think they lack the confidence. The SJ Sharks veteran players who have been to the Stanley Cup Playoffs are not pulling their weight as they should be, the younger players are scoring the goals and making the hits.
I'm rooting for them all the way!! Let's Go Sharks!!
At the ReadFresno mentor training we also received a mentoring journal and the mentee's get the same journal as well. Our commitment as a volunteer is a minimum of 1 hour a week for one year so the journal is divided into 4 quarters. As you can see on the picture below for the 1st quarter, it's a pocket so you can put just about anything in there as a keepsake, even our collages folded up.
The pages within each quarter are basically the same, here are a few examples. The orange page is titled My Friendship Comic Strip which has boxes to write and draw in an it's another place to put keepsakes like ticket stubs, etc. The blue page is title Initial Impressions and is a place to express yourself about the mentee/mentor.
The orange page below is for the Weekly Activity Entry with My Friend and let's you rank the level of fun had for that particular activity. It also has questions to answer about the activity and plenty of room to write about it.
The journal also makes suggestions on various activities to do together and ReadFresno also get's ticket donations to various events. There are also empty pages in each section and our trainers said we can switch journals with the mentee and write in each others. I think that's a cool idea and it's a great keepsake, especially for the mentee.
One of the great things about this program is that the parents of the mentee's are the ones who request their children to be in the program. This will create less animosity between the parents and us as the volunteer mentors. I am very excited about being a part of this program!! The children are our future...
I volunteer at a non-profit organization called ReadFresno (http://www.readfresno.org/) and I went to training last week for their Mentor Program. It was a very informative training and one of the things they had us do is make a collage about ourselves to share with our mentee and our mentee's will be doing the same thing. They had magazines for us to look through at the training so I started mine there and brought it home to finish. When we have our first meeting at the end of the month we will use our collages as an ice breaker to start conversation and get to know each other. I think it's a great idea.
The piece of paper we had to work with is 14" x 11" and initially I wanted to cover the whole piece of paper but decided against it, I want to be able to see the pictures and read it. The collage was alot of fun to make.
Ellen had a card making class last night and it was alot of fun, we had 4 different projects!! My favorite project is the stair step card below. The first is the card closed, as it would come out of the envelope. The second picture is of the card open, there are hidden decorative pieces that can only be seen when it's opened up. This card has endless possibilities and I can't wait to make more.
The second project is the daisy card using the die cuts and layering the different size petals. We used a yellow corduroy button, love those buttons it's a nice way to add texture to a card.
The third project is using the Manhattan Flower Texture Die with blue and peach cs. Use cs weight vellum, put it between the embossing folder, run it through the Big Shot and you get a raised image. Using small scissors cut away the top right side of the vellum where there is no flower. Use Dotto 1/4" to 1/2" from the left side to adhere the vellum to the cs. Cover the Dotto with ribbon. Stamp the sentiment on contrasting cs and cut it out with the scallop punch. Adhere the sentiment to the upper right hand corner.
Notice how different the card looks using the blue versus peach cs.
The fourth project is a Note Card Box which holds the mini cards and envelopes. These note cards measure 2 3/4" by 2 3/4" and come with matching envelopes. I stamped butterflies or ladybugs in red ink on my cards along with a sentiment in black ink and tied black and white checkered ribbon around each note.
Hope you enjoy looking at these projects as much as I enjoyed making them!!
I have been a ice hockey fan of the San Jose Sharks since their inception. I learned about the game of ice hockey from my dad who grew up in Buffalo, New York, skating on ice ponds and learning how to play ice hockey with the neighborhood kids. He continued to play ice hockey through college and still skates at the tender age of 78. There are still some rules that I don't understand but I really enjoy the intensity and physical demands of the game and the players too. It's a grrrreat, exciting game to watch.
When you go to a game at "The Tank" in San Jose the picture below is what you see the Sharks players skate onto the rink through, it's an open sharks jaw. In this picture my favorite player of all time, number 12 Patrick Marleau, is skating through the sharks jaw.
The NHL playoffs begin today and the SJ Sharks first playoff game is tomorrow and I can't wait!! They have the team and the record to go all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals and I hope they'll do it. I am behind them all the way, a true teal fan!!
I was visiting Ellen at her consignment shop in Clovis and we played around with her Big Shot and the set of three double-sided texturz plates from SU. Here is Ellen’s pink Big Shot which I love of coarse because I’m still on my pink color craze.
The texturz plates create a similar design as dry embossing. I prefer using the Big Shot and texturz plates because there are fewer tools to use than with dry embossing. The different designs are great for all kinds of projects such as bookmarks, cards, mini-boxes and fun to use with punches too!
Here are pictures of the 2 different sides of the three texturz plates…
And this is how they look after the plates are put through the Big Shot…
The one example missing in the above picture is the small dots, which can be seen in my baby announcement blog post below. Pretty cool!!
Here are the two baby announcements I made for Darcy and Gary to choose for Ruby’s birth announcement.I really like the way both of them turned out, they’re very girlie.They liked both of them but picked the one with the feet :o)
I took a picture of the components laid out before I assembled each card.I thought it would be helpful to see how it looked.
Baby Carriage Card Ingredients:
Stamp: baby carriage from Fun & Fast Notes set
Ink: pretty in pink
CS: pretty in pink, whisper white & tea party ds paper
Punches:eyelet, ticket corner & horizontal slot
Accessories: dimensionals, pink duo beads, safety pin, white brads, dress up ribbon, big shot, small polka dot texture plate (dry embossed), pretty in pink ribbon, R cuttlebug die plate
A thank you to Ellen for letting me use her big shot and cuttlebug “R” tag die plate.
Baby Feet Card Ingredients:
Stamp: baby feet & baby word from I’m Here set
Ink: pretty in pink & chocolate chip
CS: pretty in pink, chocolate chip & whisper white
Punches: eyelet & ticket corner
Accessories: dimensionals, white brads, pretty in pink ribbon & white lace ribbon
For the first time in the three years I've lived in Clovis, I finally went to the Big Hat Days with my girlfriend Debbie. It's held every year around this time and is one of the largest craft shows in Central California. It's a two-day free event that includes 400 arts and crafts booths, family carnival, music and international food. The weekend event draws over 140,000 people and is held in Old Town Clovis.
I loved the vibrant colors of the tie dye booth so I took out my camera and started taking pictures. Now that I'm blogging I take my camera with me everywhere, you never know when an opportunity might present itself.
It was a beautiful day outside, the sun shining and a slight breeze. Debbie and I shared a warm pretzel with parmasian cheese, it was yummy. The kids seemed to be enjoying the various rides in the carnival.
This is a first for me, your eyes are not deceiving themselves that IS a dog not a child, in the "dog carriage"? I love the pink, that's still my favorite color.
It was a fun day had by all...next up on my To Do list for Clovis is the Rodeo at the end of April. And the Farmers Market too when that starts up.
I started rubber stamping about six years ago when I lived in the bay area. Through the years I continue to develop my own style making cards and other paper crafts. I recently moved to Coarsegold which is in the country. It's very peaceful and quiet here and I've seen all kinds of animals.
