My Minutia

Wrapping up this year

Before I put 2011 to sleep for good, I just had to share what landed on my door step yesterday. I recently participated in a fun Stocking Swap with several talented ladies, hostessed by Carrie Harney. She went to a lot of work..there was a large group of girls in this swap.

My sweet swap partner had to back out at the last minute, so Carrie stepped in and treated me to all of this. So sweet!

 

She made the journal (so great), and I gotta say I love the goodies she added. Thanks Carrie!! Here is a photo of the stocking I did for my partner, Carrie Harney.

She wanted a white Christmas...so I made her stocking with vintage Irish linens and doilies.

I hope you have a very Happy New Year and enjoy the merriment of the season! I got my Copic fix this morning and lettered then colored this New Year's wish for you...

 

Catching Up

Where did the week go? I feel like I've neglected my blog this week. My only excuse is that I was busy finishing up the 12 Days E-Workshop, and then my daugher came home from school..yay!

I thought I'd post a few art journal pages. I haven't done that in a while. I'm still in love love love with Copics, so I've been using them quite a bit. For me it's all about mixing those colors and creating cool combinations, of course. Had a fun time putting these  colors together. Pretty much my go-to colors I think.

 

Ugh, this one looks a little blurry.  The painted backgrounds were done in a long time ago. I like to paint randomly and then figure out a way to make it work and pull it all together.

 

This page was just started...it's still in the works. It'll be fun to see how it turns out.

I hope you have a great week! Are you ready for Christmas? I'm so not...I am an overachiever, so I will just keep on going until the 25th. Yup, can pretty much count on that. I hope you have a wonderful week!

Prismacolor Pencils Tutorial

Hey guys! If you have wondered how to get great color from colored pencils I've got a video tutorial that breaks it down for you. It was so much fun working with colored pencils to create this video.

I've been pretty much a Copic girl when it comes to coloring, so this was a fun switch-it-up! I love to blend different colors, which is so easy to do with Prismacolors.

I didn't take a photo, but there's a cute card at the end of the video. :)

 

 

Here is the newest PDF set of Bellas. This is the couple used in the video:

 

Find them on my website (with their other Bella pals) here!

 

A Bella to Color

There's another doodle girl to create and doodle with!

 

Here is this new Bella PDF:

I added "happy birthday" to this PDF because birthday cards are a favorite to create, right? I just cut that phrase into a rectangle and mount it to a patterned paper slightly larger...like I did with the Today is a Good Day phrase on the card above.

Hey, do you think this Bella looks like anyone I know? Hmmm...

Here is a video tutorial about the coloring process and making of the card.

 

 

Click subscribe to the TMcFab channel, then you will be in the know when new videos are posted.

You can find the new Good Day PDF right here: Good Day.

P.S. That Bella "Good Day" girl is on a plane flying to Cross Country Nationals in Washington right now! Can you beleive it? So proud of her! She is a very nervous flier...hope her teammates can keep her calm!

 

Color and Light

Hello to a new week! Thought I'd show a peek at this sketch featured in my Color As A Verb E-Workshop today. Just cuz I'm loving the colors...

 

 

There is always something to learn, isn't there? Even when I am up to my eyeballs in workshop lesson making and prep work, I almost always learn something myself. I certainly get inspired. This color class has taken me in many new directions, which is sooo great.

One blast of inspiration has been color. Well, that should be obvious because it's a class about colors and Copics...but I didn't anticipate this much inspiration when I started formulating the Workshop!

As in...new colorways and how they start a riot together...within themselves. One example of this is purple/lavender. I've never really been drawn to purples. When mixed with the sky blues, mustards, grays though...ack...love it.

 

And I think my little girly girl is looking pretty cute as a red head. So, yeah, totally lovin' the colors and lovin' the light! Hope you are having a great day!

 

Pretty Pinteresting

Hello there, you! It's been a busy week over here, with little to show and tell of my own. But take a look at some of this Pinterest goodness. These things make me smile every time I go to my boards.

 

Source: etsy.com via Teresa on Pinterest

 

 I have a "thing" for pitchers. A weakness of mine...

 

Source: anthropologie.com via Teresa on Pinterest

 

Another weakness: pillows. Probably because they are like a mini canvas.

 

Source: larkcrafts.com via Teresa on Pinterest

 

Would you ever paint your front door this color? I would. Husband has been warned that it could happen.

 

Source: bohemianhellhole.com via Teresa on Pinterest

 

Oh looky there, another amazing pitcher...

 

Source: shop.canvashomestore.com via Teresa on Pinterest

 

This warms my heart and stirs up that DIY instinct I have:

 

Source: meohmymama.blogspot.com via Teresa on Pinterest

 

Okay, that's all for now. Well, okay one more. That's how it is with Pinterest, right? It's hard to walk away from that site!  

Source: woodwoolstool.blogspot.com via Teresa on Pinterest

Colorfulness

Bright colors are making me happy today. If I had to pick a favorite photo here, I don't think I could!

 

1. Sisters Outdoor Quilt Festival 2010, 2. Sisters Outdoor Quilt Festival 2010, 3. rainbow, 4. Fuscia, 5. 50s nostalgia, 6. Sampler...work in progress, 7. the reasons why, 8. some Ribbon & some Flowers, 9. chair, 10. Mexicana Dress - improved old photo, 11. Pillow detail, 12. anthropologie2, 13. Down my street - stitched canvas print, 14. Girly - Pink Ninja GDT, 15. It's Time To Go - Original Mixed Media, 16. Kitchen Art Accessories

Color thirsty

Exploring and experimenting digi style lately. This is the kind of creating you can do while sitting on the sofa and with no mess whatsoever. Gotta love that!

 

Here's what the above image started out as:

 

  

Here's another one. I like this one even more.

 

 

I'm thinking about getting one of these made into a canvas and putting it in our living room. Maybe. Hmmm. How about another Lilly puppy photo? You know you want one...

 

 Hey, have a good weekend!! See you next week! 

 

 

P.S. I Love You: Color Punch

a/k/a How I process a photo in Photoshop.

This will be the 4th Photoshop Elements tutorial we have done so far (the first 3 are offered on the left sidebar). By the way, I'm using Photoshop Elements 5.

Another thing before we get started...a reminder that there are so many ways to edit photos and get the look that you want, and everyone probably has their own favorite techniques and processes. I'm just showing you how I do it. So, here we go...

Here is a photo right out of the camera, unedited. And we're going to make it go places.

  1. Crop it. Oh please! All I want is those two snowbaby faces, and I know I will see their details hiding in there if I crop it. So I click on the "T-square" icon on left sidebar. Then a new top menu appears, and I set the dimensions to 3" wide and 3 " tall. Go to the photo now and click the mouse on the photo where you want to begin cropping, drag photo across photo to crop.

There they are. Now I can see them better!

2. Auto Contrast. This was discussed in the Gray Be Gone Tutorial. Quick refresher though, go to Enhance then scroll down to Auto Contrast. Sit back and watch the magic.

2. Let's punch that color. On your keyboard, select Control J. This creates a new layer over your existing photo. Go to the right bottom menu now, and find where is says LAYERS. Scroll down that menu and click SOFT LIGHT. Punch! Here comes more color! But wait, there's a good chance is way-hay-hay too much color. This all depends on the colors and lighting in the photo. Next to the LAYERS menu on bottom right, you will see OPACITY 100%. Click on the 100% and move that number down down down, to about 25-40%. This one was at 28%.

Also, you now need to flatten those layers. Do this by going back up to the top tool bar, and you will see LAYERS. Scroll down to the bottom where you will see FLATTEN IMAGE. Click that and all will be well again.

3. Now if you want a bit more color, just go to ENHANCE (top tool bar), and scroll down to ADJUST COLOR. From there you will see a menu with a few choices, but scroll down to HUE/SATURATION. From there (this good stuff hides doesn't it?) scroll down to SATURATION, and click on the arrow and move to the right to increase the saturation. You can watch the color change while you do this, so when it looks good to you, click OK.  The saturation was increased to 11% on this photo.

Also, be sure that Color Adjustment Menu is set to MASTER. This means it will increase the saturation of all of the colors in the photo. You can scroll down that menu (below Master) and see the other color choices. If you want to increase the saturation of any one of those colors, just click on that color and increase move the saturation to the right. Try it once and see what happens? If you end up not liking it, just move them back down to "0" or don't click save.

Here is a before/after comparison:

  P.S., I love you.