Jessica Sprague Class

Hello Hello Hello! I'll bet you thought this blog spot was going to be dormant forever, eh? It almost was! I came "this close" to giving it up. I went through a "spell" I guess. At any rate, I signed up for the most WONDERFUL digital scrapbooking techniques class at Jessica Sprague's website - here: http://www.jessicasprague.com/ and I've enjoyed it so much it broke my silence -- I just HAD to shout out how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE the class!!! If you ever get into digital scrapbooking, Jessica's website is a must-visit. And you know what? Even if you don't scrapbook digitally ... even if you are a traditional scrapper or even if you don't scrapbook but love photography, there are great classes t0 sign up for. They are worth every penny you spend. She has a wonderful way of explaining and teaching and you learn tons. And even better -- the class information is there for you FOREVER! If you ever get interested and want some info on how to sign up for a class, give me a holler -- I'll help you.

So the picture above is my latest attempt from the class (and it's FREE no less!): it's called "Frame-Ups and Special Effects." This is from lesson 6 -- I'm way behind. Ack! The class is only 2 weeks and they're already barreling ahead to lesson ... good grief, 11 or 12 I think. Still, I really loved how this picture turned out and wanted to share. You make your photo vintage-like and then you use a Photoshop technique that sort of fakes something that they say is becoming very popular among photographers: TTV ("Through The Viewfinder").

What do you think? Do you like it? I used two textures on it: "bus stop window" created by Steffen Jakob and offered here: http://steffen67.blogspot.com/2009/07/texture-bus-stop-window-fake-ttv.html and "texture 41 ttv" offered here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nasos3/3610200946/ (I can't figure out who created it but they did a great job).

The teepees are part of the Mountain Man Museum exhibit in Pinedale, Wyoming. That's where Ruth and I took the woof this 4th of July! (Man, it's really hard to reference just little Cowboy instead of both Brizzy and Cowboy. I sure miss the Briz.) We didn't go through the museum -- we just wandered around the outdoor exhibit which had life-style Native American teepees and mountain man bent-stick enclosures. They were really something. If you ever go through Pinedale, I recommend this museum. Even if it's just looking around outside. Just so you can see the difference with the technique, here's what my photo looks like "out-of-the-camera" ... hmmm ... drat. I can't move my picture down for some reason. It's at the top of this blog.

Okay, now that I've broken the ice again I'll have to post something else in a day or two, right? Next up: I've gotta tell you about a little amazing thing my co-workers Chad and Sara discovered at their cabin. Very cool! It deals with a tree and some initials carving. And after that -- guess I'd better step in where I started last year and talk about our 4th of July trip, yes?

Play Dead Dog - thank you David Letterman!

The Powers That Be say we need to laugh every day ... so here's a little sumpin-sumpin' to fulfill today's quota .......... I thought this was darn funny and I thank my friend, Wendy-Lady for passing it along to me (and for that matter, thank you to whoever posted it for the world to pass on). Enjoy!

Blogger musings ...

I've gotten into the habit of (every once in a while) clicking on the links of people making comments on blog entries I'm following. 90% of the time the blogs I'm reading are written by people I know and love, and I get curious about the other people who know and love them too. Sometimes I know most of the commenters ... many times I don't. Occasionally (in my wanderings) I stumble across someone who either delights or inspires me.

There are a few people I've read enough times I've added them to my Internet Favorites list. I've hesitated to add them to my blog "favorites" list -- what's the protocol on that anyways? I've always wondered if I should get permission, or at least know the individual personally ...?

Anyway, today during a very late lunch hour I followed just such a lazy, hazy path ... reading a few entries written by someone I don't know personally but I follow just because she has such interesting things to say. This time I got curious about her list of "people I follow" on the sidebar and I clicked on the first link there. I found myself on the page of a man who had just lost his best friend. His words touched me deeply, and he wrote so fetchingly I added him to my Favorites list on the spot (that's a fun phrase - where did that originate?). But the reason for this musing is that as touched as I was by his expression of loss (and the beautiful way he wrote), I was even more deeply touched by the 194 comments that followed ... 2/3 of them (it seemed) from people he didn't even know. I can say that because almost every one of them made mention of the fact that they were strangers to him, but felt compelled to offer their sympathy, their support, their hugs.

It made me emotional! It reminded me that this crazy "new" feature of 21st-century life (blogging) is valuable and worthwhile on so many levels - levels we maybe don't even realize. I love the idea that there is a community of complete strangers out there who don't even know each other but yet they do, or maybe they "meet" for the first time and immediately feel such a bond to the blogger that they are drawn to offer support, or commiseration, or kinship, or offer their own story, or just delight in the moment with the blogger.

It also reminds me that even if there are only a handful of people who follow my own occasional blog, what I have to say may be worthwhile to them and sometimes that can flow into the lives of people who know them, and to others who know those others and so on and on and on and on ... and who knows what may touch, uplift, assist, teach, inspire, chastise or brighten someone we don't even know ... yet. I'm really glad I stumbled upon this interesting man's blog. I'd link him here if I knew it was okay to do so without his permission ... is it?