My World - Watercolor Photo Technique

I've resigned myself to the fact that I'm just not going to finish any challenges for this month. Call it a lack of mojo or something, but I can't seem to light a fire to get the challenges completed. However, there was one challenge that I had started earlier in the month that was bugging me since it involved a technique that I couldn't quite get, even with the tutorial that was provided. The challenge was to turn a photograph into a watercolor photo that was incorporated in your layout, so that it looked like a drawing/watercolor in progress. This was the best I could do - and that was even after seeking out video tutorials on YouTube:

CREDITS:

Papers: Explore Learn Grow (Sahlin Studio)

Elements: @ the office – file folder frames (Splendid Fiins); School Zone (Kim Jensen); Dayplanner (Paislee Press); You Got Mail (Pink Reptile Designs); Mash Up 3 (Gina Miller); Social Butterfly (Allison Pennington); Very Merry Month Misc (Amy Wolff)

I do like the end result, but I wouldn't say I was entirely successful with the watercolor technique. Oh well, keep trying, I guess!

Pinterest: Secret Boards

I received an email from Pinterest this morning that I normally would have just ignored. I was drawn in by the personal anecdote in the email. The gist of the email: Pinterest's owner, Ben (?), was surprised at how much his wife knew about being a first-time parent. She said she learned by reading (and pinning) other people's Pinterest boards. :D

Sometimes the answers to things are right in front of us. And Ben was so used to Pinterest as an informational vehicle for other people, he didn't even think of using it for his personal life. Anyway, Pinterest is now offering "secret" Pinterest boards. Everyone gets 3 of them. (According to the email, they are at the bottom of the page.) These boards can be used to pin items for things that you are planning that you don't wish to make public - new job, surprise birthday, new baby... I think, however, that I may use my secret boards in another way - pages that I want to pin that I don't want anyone to know about, lol! 

Flashback and Fries

There were a couple of digital scrapping items that caught my attention this weekend. They aren't necessarily new, but they are new to me and finally hit my radar.  :)

Courtesy of The Lilypad

Remember Atari? I'm talking about "classic" Atari. If you're in my age group (or generation), you'll think PacMan, Centipede, Asteroids, Super Breakout. That's the Atari that I'm talking about, with the super simple joystick. Well, if you have pictures featuring those classic Atari moments, there is a cool digi kit just for that: Way Rad from Micheline Martin & Laura Banasiak.

But there's more than just the Atari mementos. Think cassette tapes, boom boxes, Rubik's cube. Just looking at the goodies in this kit makes me wish I had more pictures of me in the late 70's-early 80's, when I spent my free time playing miniature golf, arcade games, and going to the movies with my friends. Unfortunately (and fortunately in some cases!), I don't think I have many photos of all those times. I'll have to go back into my photo archives.

Courtesy of Sweet Shoppe Designs

Now, about those fries... Fast food was another thing that started ramping up in the 1970s. First, it was just hamburgers and fries. Then pizza and fried chicken came along. Today, fast food has expanded into burritos, Chinese takeout, Thai, and sushi. So, to document those moments, pick up Fries With That?, a collaboration between Traci Reed and Jady Day Studio. There are even sub sandwiches and drinks/coffee that remind one of Starbucks - without actually having their logo. And I know there are lots of people out there who take photos of Starbucks goodies with their iPhones!

Enough reminiscing for now. Going off to create - and try to do some laundry, lol! Have a great Sunday!

Athlete

Today, I completed another layout for a challenge at Designer Digitals. I think this is my first layout for myself that has to do with sports. Way back when, I did a baseball layout for my friend Sally when we traded pictures and completed layouts for each other - a very fun swap, especially since we were online friends and hadn't met yet.

To get back to the challenge, a few years back, I completed my first (and probably only) marathon. The layout I created today doesn't tell the whole story - I'll have to do another layout journaling all the hardships of training for the big event. Luckily, I did make a photo book just to capture the event.

I had lots of fun with this layout, using masks and reducing the opacity on the layered paper. I have to admit these challenges help me think outside the box a little, which is why I love doing them.

Supplies Used:
Papers: Game Day Paper, La Cremerie Myrtille (Katie Pertiet)

Embellishments: Flagged Sentiments No. 1, Journaling StripMasks, Word Strip Labels, Taped Photo Masks No. 2, La Cremerie Myrtille (Katie Pertiet)

Font: Miserably Lose

Because I was feeling a little nostalgic about that day, I took my old friends out for a walk this afternoon. I didn't even realize my Team In Training tag was still on my shoes, lol. Ahhh...my very first pair of running shoes, and the shoes I used to complete the marathon! They felt comfortable, although they did rub my left heel a little. Note: must wear higher socks next time!

Bring on the Wordplay

I'm such a geek. I love dictionaries and words. One of my favorite all-time gifts was a paperback thesaurus from a high school boyfriend. The thesaurus went off to college with me and was overused (this is the life of a thesaurus with an English major) so much that the edges were dog-eared and the spine cracked. Even though I have replaced the paperback copy I received as a gift, I still have it somewhere...So, imagine how excited I was when I realized I could have a dictionary at my fingertips when I was online! Dictionary.com has got to be one of my favorite Internet destinations! It has all sorts of cool info. For instance, today there was an interesting question, certainly one I've never thought about: What sequence of letters has the most different pronunciations? I had no idea, so I clicked. (I'll let you click through for yourself to see the answer.) Who knew???
Anyway, I know I stopped by the site several times in the last week, looking up words that I might have heard of, but didn't really know what they meant, like febrile or bilious. (I was reading the side of a natural supplement box.) Today, I ended up on the site since my friend Linden asked me about the term postmodern. Here's what the dictionary.com search uncovered...

post·modern
–adjective
1. noting or pertaining to architecture of the late 20th century, appearing in the 1960s, that consciously uses complex forms, fantasy, and allusions to historic styles, in contrast to the austere forms and emphasis on utility of standard modern architecture.
2. extremely modern; cutting-edge: postmodern kids who grew up on MTV.

Um, ok. So I went on to another favorite source: Wikipedia. And, of course, Wikipedia provides the complete history as well as a definition of what postmodern means - definitely way more info than I ever wanted. I read the top-half of the page then scrolled down to see what else was on the bottom. In short, postmodern appears to refer to works of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. There was also a comparison:
Whereas Modernism is often associated with identity, unity, authority, and certainty, Postmodernism is often associated with difference, plurality, alterity, and skepticism.

I couldn't have said it better myself...