I Heart Faces: Fix-It Friday #64

I love playing other photographers' pictures, especially when the subject is as beautiful as this one!

This is my basic workflow in CS4:

1. USM 20/60/0 to defog
2. Adjust Color Balance to taste
3. Duplicate layer, change to Soft Light and adjust opacity to desired contrast (I am usually around 65%) then flatten
4. Ctrl-L (in Windows) to open Levels and adjust middle slider to taste

From there I might play around Hue/Sat a bit, sharpen the eyes or warm up the picture a bit more, depending on what the picture needs. This week's edit took less than 2 minutes. I really like the warm, colorful and natural look.

Then I challenged myself to play a bit with a digital layout.

I'm very much a traditional paper and paste scrapbooker, needing to touch and push pieces around FOREVER until they finally look right to me. But hey, I can do that on my monitor, too...AND get in those FB breaks while I'm at it! Gotta love multi-tasking!
 

Template by Amy Martin, digital elements by Lauren Reid.

I Heart Faces: Fix-It Friday #63

Here is the original:

Here is my play in color:

And here is my play in B&W:

Don't these look perfectly cute set off by the free digital scrapbook kit downloaded from Lettering Delights?

There IS such a thing as a free lunch(pack)!

If you have kids in school, chances are you'll need a lunchbox.  These Arctic Zone insulated lunch packs are $3.00 at Wal-mart, with a $4.96 rebate offer (and a bunch of other coupons) inside, making this a very sweet deal indeed!

Look for the Parents magazine offer card inside the lunchbox, and (if you do not wish to receive the six-issue subscription to Parents) fill out the card, write "refund" on it, and send it with a copy of your receipt to the address indicated.  It states refund request must be received within 30 days of purchase, limit one per household.

My daughter loves it and can't wait to use it for first grade in the fall.  Also available in green and blue, and the rebate is also available at Target on their Embark brand lunch boxes (prices range from $3.99 - 12.99).

Hmm...after taxes and postage, I would have a profit of $1.26 and can get something from a dollar menu somewhere.  So hey, free lunch and then some!!

Holy (FREEBIE) Cuteness!

I about flipped with giddiness over this fun new collection from Lettering Delights, so just imagine the full-twisting double backflip (mental, of course) I pulled off when I saw these were FREE!  Just sign up for a free account at Lettering Delights to access and download this super cute Banner Day collection and more.

Includes an adorable alphabet set, 36 graphics, 30 clipart images, 7 papers, a printable card, scrapbook page templates, a candy bar wrapper AND an entire mini album...oh my!

Absolutely perfect for summer cards and layouts!  Have fun!