Wallace the Pit Bull Website Redesign

As many of you already know, my brother is the human behind Wallace the Pit Bull. And he is also my biggest supporter. I do most, if not all, of his graphics and recently he let me test out my developing Web design skills on a site re-design. I was a big undertaking for me since I've only previously done simple Web pages and only 1 actual, full-blown site for a class. I learned a lot and there is still some tweaking to do as I learn more, but it's working and is getting some good reviews so far.

His original site was a bit dated and drab and did not reflect Wallace's or my brother's personality at all. And when the original Web site was created, I don't think anyone had a clue how popular Wallace would become.



Since Wallace has a documentary about his life and career coming out soon and is a bit of a rock star in the doggie world, I decided he needed a rock star Web site. He's also a very high energy dog, so we wanted a site that reflected his warmth, energy and athletic talent. And it needed a more modern look.



We chose warm colors, like yellow and orange and a grunge style for the graphics. And we are pretty happy with the results. So, stop by and say "hi" to Wallace and Roo. And leave a comment and let me know what you think of the new site.

My New Best Friend

I'm looking into a new camera. I'm almost embarrassed to admit this, but my digital photos are all shot with an advanced point-and-shoot. Almost 2 years ago I upgraded my Fuji Finepix A270 for a Fuji Finepix 5700. I wasn't really looking for a special camera. I didn't even know what a DSLR was at the time. I was just looking for camera that offered a little more creativity and had more memory than my old one for family pics and the 5700 offered me just that. It is a great little point-and-shoot with a few of the features of an SLR without the expense. When I took the camera with me on a field trip to the zoo with my daughter's class, I was really impressed with some of the photos I ended up with. They were very crisp and clear.








I posted a few of those photos online and was really surprised at the attention they got - seriously. I had people emailing me wanting to know the camera, lenses and settings I used. Well, all I had was my little Fuji, no special lens and the setting was auto. In fact most of the photos were completely accidental. But it got me curious and I marched off to the library and brought home a bunch of books on photography. I read them and started playing with the settings on my camera. I was hooked. I've even been experimenting with film. But before I traded in my Fuji for a real DSLR, I wanted to get really good at taking photos with it first, because I think the photographer makes the photo, not necessarily the camera. And if I could learn to take fabulous photos on a point-and-shoot, imagine what I could do with a DSLR.





The last 2 years have been a lot of fun. It has been such a wonderful hobby that has grown into a little business (and I do mean little, but right now I like it that way). But now I'm ready to upgrade. And I have a wonderfully generous friend who let me borrow her Canon Rebel with a 75-300 zoom lens. The camera was very user friendly. After a quick browse of the owner manual, I took a few test shots of the kids and our dog and headed out to the park near our house to shoot some nature photos.





I stuck with the programmed settings this trip. I used mainly the landscape setting and got some beautiful shots of turtles and geese and the fall foliage. Very little post-production was done on these - only a minor adjustment to the levels in Photoshop to bring out the colors.









I've heard mixed reviews about the Canon Rebel, so I have been apprehensive about actually buying one. But after giving it a test run, I am sold. It is easy to use. It took me very little time to figure out, even the manual settings which I have been experimenting with this week. This will probably be my next camera. Although, we're getting together to test out her Canon 40D next week, so I could change my mind after trying that one. Either way, I'm sold on Canon. Sorry my die-hard Nikon friends.

Buy-One-Get-One Sale in My Etsy Shop

To help you get a jump-start on your holiday shopping this year, I am offering a BOGO sale in my etsy shop. Buy any regular priced item and get a second one of equal or lesser value free! How it works - buy any two items in my shop and I will refund you the price of the lesser item via paypal once the transaction is complete. Or if you prefer a revised invoice just let me know in the notes to seller section at checkout and I will email you a new invoice that reflects the adjusted price of the free item.

Sale ends October 26, so don't wait too long.

Photoshop Those Photos into Works of Art

I took a few photos last year while hiking of the beautiful fall foliage on display at Bealle State Park in Southern Illinois. I used my vintage Canon t50, which is a nice little 35mm that used to be my dad's until I expressed an interest in it. After I had the film developed, my husband commented that a few of the photos looked like a Bob Ross painting.

For those of you who don't know who Bob Ross is, he had a show on PBS in the 1980's and early 1990's that taught people how to paint. I occasionally watched Bob Ross, but my husband is an avid fan and finds much relaxation in watching his show. As a result, I have been subjected to countless hours of Bob Ross re-runs. So, I thought it might be a good learning experience to actually attempt to recreate a Bob Ross effect in Photoshop with the photos my husband commented on. A year later, I finally got around to it. I stumbled upon this tutorial, which is actually about how to make over your photos into a watercolor, but with a few tweaks to some of the layers blending properties, I think I achieved a Bob Ross effect.

Here is the original photo.



And this is the "painting". You really need to see it at the original size to see all the details of the painting.



It also worked well with a photo I took of the kids at Potato Creek State Park over the summer on the same Canon t50. The original photo was a little fuzzy, but I liked the composition.



After adding the painting effect to it, I think it is worthy of wall-hanging.



And in fact, it now graces my dining room wall.



It took some practice, and in fact these examples are two of the later ones. I Photoshopped many a landscape before getting these to look half-way decent. I had the most trouble getting the brush strokes to look real. I have no background in painting (the last time I painted was as a kid with my Crayola watercolors), so I had to really work at that aspect. And I'm not entirely sure I have it down 100%, but I think with a little more practice I'll get the technique down.

I'm thinking Christmas gift ideas.....I like to have handmade holidays, so my friends and family are often the recipients of my latest creative endeavors. This year, there may be a lot of photoshopped works of art under the tree. I may need to learn how to frame my own artwork next.

Happy Accident

A few weeks ago I bought myself a Brownie Hawkeye Flash Model Camera from eBay. I took it apart and cleaned it up following this great advice from Matt's Cameras. I cleaned the lens and the shutter and all of the inside. There was some lens fungus on it, so I took a tissue paper, q-tip and some lens cleaner and tried to remove as much as I could. I got most of it off but when I was finished cleaning, I had rotated the lens back-and-forth so many times that I forgot which way was front and which way was back. So I guessed and put it back in the way that looked right to me. I loaded it with a spool of 120 film and was very happy to find out that despite the note on the side of the camera stating that it only accepts 620 film, the 120 roll fit just fine. With the film loaded, I set out to take a test roll at the state park up the road. I had wonderful time hiking and snapping pictures. After about 2 hours, I was out of film so I hiked back to the car and went straight to the camera shop to get them processed.

About 5 days later I went back to the camera shop to pick up my prints. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from an old, fungus-filled camera. But some of the photos turned out pretty nice if I do say so myself.









The colors were vibrant and I loved the blurred effect around the edges. I thought it gave the photos a soft, dreamy look. I know almost nothing about film photography, especially with vintage cameras. I've read a few things and I've played around with a couple of 35mm that I have. I also know which film is good for which sort of pictures, but beyond that I'm clueless. So I thought the blurry effect was just because I had an old camera infected with lens fungus. Little did I know that I had the lens flipped. And apparently people go through great lengths to get this effect with their cameras. (And it does kind of look like some of the Through-the-Viewfinder photos I've spent a considerable amount of time faking in Photoshop.) I learned this from my one of my favorite sites, flickr, where I met a few helpful people who had some advice on this topic.


After this little happy accident, I am going to search for another Brownie Hawkeye. This one I will put the lens in the correct way and then I can play with the two different styles of photos.




I am looking forward to more photos with my Brownie. And I'm also in the process of resurrecting my Kodak Vigilant Junior Six-20. Have you ever had a happy accident while creating your art or craft?

Out of My Comfort Zone

Lately, I've been feeling like I'm in a bit of a rut. I keep doing the same things, in the same style, over and over. It's not entirely all my fault. I've actually had a steady stream of work over the last two months, which I am very grateful for; and I enjoy what I do, but sometimes it's good to explore new avenues.

I had a break last week and decided to venture out of my comfort zone to see what new things I could learn in the process. So, I started stumbling around for some tutorials in styles I wouldn't normally work in - i.e., no grunge, no retro, no vintage and no line art. That is when I found this wonderful tutorial from Six Revisions. It shows you how to make a space scene from scratch in Photoshop. It was clearly written, easy to follow and the result was pretty cool. I even learned a few new tricks and reaquainted myself with some long-forgotten features in Photoshop that I rarely use in the process. And I kept it colorful, instead of going the retro route.








I liked my space scene, but it needed something. I thought I would add a rocket, or a satellite. But then I stumbled upon this Alien Eyes Tutorial from Abduzeedo. I probably could have figured out how to do the effect on my own, but it gave me an idea. I made my own alien self-portrait.









Then, I colored my skin, added my alien self to the scene, painted some highlights on my face, distorted it a bit, used some blending layers so it would match better, and here is the final result.







It's a little creepy, but this is the right time of year for creepy with Halloween right around the corner. I really need to break out of my comfort zone more often. I think everyone should now and then. It is a great way to learn new techniques and keep the ideas fresh.

Custom Orders

I just packaged up my first wholesale order today for Skip1.org. It's a wonderful charity fighting hunger around the world and I love that my little pendants are helping out. You should skip on over to their website and see how easy it is to help out.




And they are packaged in eco-friendly boxes and bows made from 100% recycled materials/90% post-consumer waste.

If you are interested in your own custom pendants, contact me through my etsy shop. The holidays are right around the corner and these make wonderful, unique, personalized gifts.