My First Photoshop Creations!

So, I have a confession to make. My husband bought me the very first edition of Photoshop back in 2003(?) because he had read what a great organizer it would be for all the then-new digital pictures I was taking. Apparently, it was beyond my comprehension at the time and things got deleted and removed and reentered and it was just a mess. Nonetheless, he purchased several other updates and new versions and even in the last year he's spent time reading books and learning how to use the darn thing! I did actually figure out how to use it semi-wisely to organize and tag my photos and even to fix them occassionaly. Generally, I don't have the patience to make them all as pretty as I want, because I just WANT them in my hot little hand!

Well, thank God for Cathy Zielske and her blog! (That's not hyperbole, I mean every word!) She's posted a couple of tutorials in the last week or so showing step by step how to do some fairly basic things in Photoshop. Yesterday, I learned how to make a photo overlay(above) and today I learned to make a photo collage! I am in love with this program now! Why they didn't make it more user friendly I will never know, but I am so glad I'm finally learning how to use it!!

So, here are my first Photoshop creations:

So, honey, aren't you glad you bought me that program 6 years and 2 houses ago? Look how far I've come!

Signed,

Kelli

Longtime Photoshop Newbie

P.S. On a completely unrelated subject, if laughter is the best medicine, every hospital in America should have an All Wipeout All the Time channel! THAT would lower health costs in this country better than any bill in Congress!

So much can happen in a MONTH!

So, Chet has a friend over tonight and says, "Hey, Mom, show him your blog with all my pictures on it!" So, I get it all up and guess what -- it's been exactly a month since I last posted! Oh the places I've been since then and things we've done since then! Here's a small recap:

I've been to a FOREIGN country!


That, folks, is the Persain Gulf, as seen from the city of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. For the uninitiated, it's the basically the financial center of the Middle East. Their version of New York City, but richer and with taller buildings. The building behind me is the Burg Al Arab (Arab Tower, we call it the Sail Hotel since it looks like a Sail.) It is the world's only 7 star hotel. You have to pay just to walk in to the lobby. Thankfully, we had a great view from the beach! Here's the tallest building in the world:

It's Burg Al Dubai and they're building an even taller one! The dustiness of the air makes everything look a little surreal and since it felt surreal to be over there at all it all seemed to fit.

Anyway, I went to Dubai to meet my hubby:

And celebrate my birthday!:

Then I got to bring him home with me!:

The boys had not seen him since April. So, we had some fun to catch up on:

We went to see Star Trek!

Ethan learned to ride his bike!

They all swam in our pond!

We all went to another foreign country:

Oh, wait, Arkansas only seems like a foreign country. Actually, I shouldn't crack on Arkansas. It was really pretty and we stayed at fantastic state park - Devil's Den. Lots of hiking and relaxing, just not enough of either one.

But, then Dad was on his way again, but we snuck in some last minute family pictures. One of them actually turned out! ;)

So, it's been a busy summer! (I haven't even posted any pics of our three week sojourn to California!) Today feels like it's back to reality. School starts in just over two weeks! Unbelievable! I am just going to enjoy the rest of summer as much as I can!