Learning Photoshop

I've been working through an old Creative Suite Bible that I picked up used on Amazon. Finally I'm beginning to learn how to use the programs (slowly-I'm still in the early chapters). I'm gaining a lot of respect for the power of photoshop. I don't find it to be an intuitive program at all, although my son differs with me on that. I'm having to go through each of the tools, one at a time and try to figure out what they really do and how the different programs in the suite work together. (My CS program is the first rendition-and an educational release at that. No way could I afford the real thing, unless I learn to use it and can justify to myself that it's a reasonable expense.) Anyway, here's that tall ship pic I took in San Francisco,manipulated a bit with Photoshop.

Cool Giveaway at Art Bead Scene Blog

Practice really DOES improve performance

HOW IT LOOKS NOW (YARN ON MY SPINDLES)




HOW IT LOOKED A COUPLE OF MONTHS AGO






ABOUT SIX MONTHS AGO



LAST YEAR'S MESS


For the past year or so, I've been attempting to learn how to spin yarn on a drop spindle. My first attempts were so pathetic that I put my spindles away for months at a time before attempting the process again. This past winter, I decided to really give it a try and ended up making many balls of lumpy, misshapen messes-decidedly NOT yarn. This spring and summer I started to improve a bit, and after some youTube searches, and watching several different gals spinning with different methods, I decided to try again and to work at it for at least twenty minutes a day. Sometime this summer everything seemed to snap into place, and my hands began to know what do when the wool was too thick or too thin, and how to draft out long light strands of stuff that really does look like yarn. This winter, I'm going to take all my different grades of "yarn" and make myself some sort of knitted, or maybe crocheted scarf that shows off the progress of the process. I love spinning now, and intend to keep going until I'm really good at it.

Miscellaneous beadwork being done!

In honor of the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, I've been making all sorts of dangly, shiny things. Charm bracelets, cell phone charms, beaded collars for DOGS! Having been around in those days (no, I didn't make it to woodstock, I was most likely 'on the road' when it happened, but I do remember seeing Jimi Hendrix in Denver-that concert happened a bit before Woodstock, and I remember the Denver police coming at the crowds of us hippies who had come for the music, with riot gear and tear-gas). Anyway, I find I've never really given up the habit of attaching beads to all sorts of my gear, and love that the trend seems to be resurging. Also, loomwork has begun to find popularity again, and I'm happy enough about that, especially since I have a Versa loom and don't have to worry about all those pesky warp threads. I've added a few pics of my latest dabblings here, but will put most of them up on my Flickr site. The cell phone charms and charm bracelets are a great way to use up the many odd beads I've collected over the years. The earrings on chain are easy and fun to make (I scored about 2 feet of lovely sterling chain from Madeline at Beauty and the Beads during her closing sale). The loomed dog collars seem to be pretty popular with the middle aged dog lovers.

Test for facebook page

I'm trying to see if this new app will post my blog post to my facebook page. Will upload a gratuitous vacation picture to see if pics go through, too. So here's a lovely tall ship in San Francisco Bay.

RIP Ronald!

The major trauma room in our ER after we coded Ronald McDonald. Well, not really, but that's what it looked like after a minor food explosion occurred. Guess the guy didn't WANT a hamburger.....

Sonia Sotomayor Commemorative Tarot Card!

My BFF Mary made this cool commemorative tarot card to celebrate this auspicious occasion. She said feel free to share, so I'm hoping she meant the image could be reproduced on other blogs, etc. (I'll check with her when I see her, hopefully, today).
With all the craziness happening in our country right now, at least we have this one little island of progress.