It's not what you know - it's who you know

I'm so very lucky to know a whole slew of talented friends and I'm going to be indulgent and share the skills of one of them. Avery kind gentleman, Justie.

I could embarrass him by telling you all how charming, delightful and easy going he is but I won't. Instead, I'll let his work say it all for him.

First, a little back story. A while ago, my Pater uncovered a rare photo of himself. Now I thought I'd gathered all our family photos and scanned them all in but no, the odd one still pops up. And the reason this particular picture is a rare find, is because, like me, when we were younger, we were stick thin. Scrawny even. Okay, these days, we've both filled out but let's gloss over that.

However, he was also very ill and spent a chunk of his early youth in and out of hospital. There was a brief moment in this time of his life, when the many pills he took caused him to bloat out. And this is the only photo that bears witness to that.

And this is what I sent to Justie. He laboured hard over the weekend and this morning, in my email box was an attached file...

What a brilliant repair job. Especially when you consider how bad the original was. And in my gratitude, I want to show his work off. If you have any photos you'd like repairing, take a look at his portfolio. And if you think it would cost too much, think again. Your jaw would hit the floor if I told you his rates. I was expecting eight times the amount.  I'm not going to say what they are here but do ask for a quote, you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Thanks Justie :)

Pxx

October 2012 sees me take on a New Challenge

There's an annual challenge over at The Nester, where hundreds of bloggers commit to writing a post for 31 days for 31 Dayers 2012. Now this isn't a crafter's site as such but I do like the idea of disciplining myself to do something everyday.

I only discovered this on Saturday, so I haven't had a lot of time to prepare. I'd thought about doing a creative project like draw everyday, or making a card/art journal page/tag each day but that relies on my having heaps of time throughout the whole of October. To be realistic, it had to be an idea which I could do which wouldn't take up too much time. I needed to factor in for the days when I have the least amount of time.

So I've decided I would photograph something different from around my house and say a little something about it. Perhaps I'll learn something about myself. Perhaps not. Maybe it will give people an insight into my life. Most probably, it won't. It will, however, give me plenty of excuses to pick up my camera and take random photos of any item within these four walls.

So I'm calling my particular theme...

...and I will endeavour to take a photo and write a paragraph or two about an object in my house, for every day in October. Well, it's a bit like scrapbooking just on a smaller scale. 

So enough of the waffle. To begin...

...My Op-Art cube.  I have a friend who has one of these, except his depicts paintings by Rembrandt. Maddeningly  I can't help but to fiddle with it every single time I visit. It's such a perfect 'coffee table' object. Which is where he keeps his. I don't have a coffee table, so mine sits on a fireplace ledge.

I picked this up in France this year, whilst on holiday, from a gift shop when visiting a sculpture park. There were several different cubes, all focusing on a particular artist and their work. This caught my eye because it doesn't look like pictures unnecessarily chopped up each time into four. It actually feels like it's a piece of art itself. If you haven't seen one of these, the idea is that it unfolds and restructures itself into another cube with different images turning up on the outside. You can just roll it around in your hands, and change it. What can I say? I'm an ex-smoker and biter of nails. I love to unconsciously keep my hands busy. It's deeply wired into my system. If you have one in your house, and I come and visit, I promise you, I'll be kept amused for hours. :)

Until tomorrow....

Pxx

Outings & Photoshop

It's been a celebratory time of a low-key nature this weekend. I'm another year older without managing to be any wiser. And, unusually, I haven't sat myself down and crafted for over a week. My free time has been taken up with other activities so no cards, tags, journals or their ilk to show. However, I have been mucking around on photoshop with the pics I took over the last few days, giving them an arty, textural makeover. So I have been creative in other fields.

To begin, with a sunny day forecast, Nick & I headed for a hike in the hills of the Peak District, near Bakewell. The views were spectacular, the atmosphere serene and we sat on grassy banks, munching on egg & cress sandwiches, staring out at the beautiful landscape and lapping up the sun on our faces.

Along the way, I took photographs of the weeds plant-life that we came across in the fields which were quite dull and unassuming in their original format. But with a few photoshopped filters, textures, and blends, I managed to "arty" them up.

On day two, we took a trip out to Speke Hall, near Runcorn, for no reason other than we've never been there before. And, in truth, though it was a pleasant enough excursion, it didn't really wow the socks off me. But you try these things out, sometimes they work out, other times they don't.

However, it was an opportunity to take some more photos for playing around with.

In an age of instagram and instant retro effects at the push of a button, I'm really pleased with how I manually manipulated these photographs on Photoshop. I think I'd like to practice a bit more and see if I can try to add more subtle effects next time. But that's the joys of doing and learning.

Hope you all had a great weekend. I'm off to slump on the sofa and await the roast dinner being cooked for me. The diet, as always, can start tomorrow (again)

Pxx