September 13, 2011

Playing with Textures

Whew!

Can you feel the stress floating away?  The kids are officially back in school and for the first time in 11 years I have two FULL DAYS a week in which I have the house completely to myself!!!!!!  Oh the plans I have for my free time!

Once the kids started back to school, I jumped right into Operation Clean-Up.  You know, undoing all the stuff a busy summer at home with kids, countless camping trips and general laziness on my part - - it all adds up to a dirty, cluttered, unorangaized mess.   Decluttering, purging closets, sorting through piles I've stashed and deep cleaning the entire house has taken the better part of a week.  I still have the laundry room and master closet to finish.  But that can wait.  I'm itching to get back to blogging.

It seems like forever since I've had the opportunity catch up with all of you and I'm looking forward to it.  I hope you can all forget my sporadic blogging.   I promise, I'm back for real this time and am looking forward to showing off a few projects I've done over the summer and checking in on all of you.

Today I'd like to share a few photos I've been playing with on Picnik.  I use it to tweak all of my photos since I use a very old point and click type camera.  Your all probably familiar with this site, but if not, it's great for people like me who are Photo Shop challenged.  Normally I'll crop, brighten, and boost the color a little.  But then I discovered textures.  It is only available with the Premium package which is a bumber, but if your already a member go check it out.

I wish each texture had a name so I could tell you exactly which one I used - sorry about that.  But basically I opened a photo, clicked on the Texture tab, and then selected a texture.  If I like the selection I then played with it a little by adjusting either the mode in the drop down box, or the intensity using the slider.

The first photo below is a favorite from this past spring.

Before:

 After adding a texture and fading it out I like the photo even more.  The texture gave the photo an almost hand painted effect.


The next photo I played with is also a favorite - ok they are all favorites.  Here's the before - perfectly acceptable and pretty.

But after adding a cracked and flaking texture it's even better.  Now that I'm looking at it, maybe I should have changed it to black and white first - but then I love those green Zinnia's, not sure if I'm willing to give it up!

And finally, the last photo originally looked like this.


 First I added an texture with curled edges and then on top of that I applied an texture with script.


How easy is that!  I love the pop textures can add to photos.  I'm sure in the future I'll be using it all the time.

Hope you all are having a lovely week and I'll talk with you again soon,

Robin

6 comments:

  1. I love using Picnik since I am definitely one of those photoshop challenged people! After seeing the lovely textures, I may have to sign up for premium.

    It's good to see you back! Blogging has been difficult for me lately too. I've been subbing, the kids have had a lot of activities, we're finishing up the new bathroom, and I've been plagued with a nasty cold. Hopefully things will be changing soon!

    I'll be looking forward to your future posts! Enjoy those 2 days, you lucky duck! :)

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  2. Hey Robin!

    So glad to see a new post and to hear that you're doing well! I haven't posted on my blog since the end of July but am getting ready to get back in blogging mode very soon. My son's back in preschool three mornings a week, and this is his first full week, so that'll make a difference in creating some "me" time.

    Thanks for the tip about Picnik's textures. After you blogged about Kim Klassen's textures, I was hooked, but didn't realize textures were an option in Picnik. I use Picassa to edit my photos, but hadn't used Picnik within Picassa lately. Something to check out... :)

    Take care,
    Erin

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  3. Great edits!! Aren't textures fun! I am using Picnik as well, but am tempted to try Photoshop, but am afraid I won't understand a thing about it!! My hubby and I are getting used to the first few weeks of "empty nest"!! I don't know where the time has gone and I can't believe my birds are flying on their own!! Before you know it, your kids will be grown too!! Enjoy and thanks for sharing!

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  4. Glad you're back, Robin. Hope you had a good summer. How nice to have a few days alone for a change. I'll bet that feels wonderful.

    Your texturized photos look great. Don't you just love the way they can transform a photo?
    xo Tricia

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  5. Your photo's look amazing. You could easily turn them into cards. I love Picnik but haven't upgraded - I think you've just convinced me. x Sharon

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  6. What fun to play around with your pictures.
    I really like the effect of applying text on the last one.

    Anna

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