More amazing free textures from SkeletalMess.

You have probably heard me mention the incredible free textures of SkeletalMess (formerly Ghostbones) from Flickr a few times. Ok, many times. I have been following his photostream for years (when I first became a member on Flickr) and I am in awe of his artistry and generosity. He is one of my Flickr "crushes". ;-)

Well today I was looking at the new images on his stream and found his Shadowhouse Creations site with this amazing free set of textures. Click on the image below to go to his post.



Oh, I love this texture. I need to find some time to play with all of these.

If you are new to using textures in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements, check out my many texture tutorials.

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My Nephew and Our New Car!

Here is my little sis Heather and my newest little nephew. Isn't he the cutest? And did I mention my sister is a tall natural blond who has run marathons? Thank goodness I met my husband when she was 13 and going through her gawky years... Heather is a stay-at-home mom to her little girl and little boy and an avid photographer. Recently she started working with me as a logo/button designer for CoffeeShop. It gives me a reason to talk to her more. I help her out with her Photoshop Elements' questions! :-)



Here is our "new" car! It is an old Corolla that has been completely rebuilt/redone by my brother-in-law. Isn't it cool looking? You should see the engine, you could eat off of it. And it has some thingie in there that makes that little engine roar. Look at those cool rims and roof scoop. And the hood is some special custom order job that has this 3D like paint effect. You can tell that I am a expert on cars, right? ;-)

You can see my husband on the left (well, maybe not his best side), my brother-in-law on the right (he is tough ex-Army), and my little sis holding a cute little doll. Wait, that is my nephew! :-)

I am putting the final touches on some new free actions and such so keep on visiting! Hope you are having a great week. We are about to head out to the neighborhood park, it is a lovely day.

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CoffeeShop Tutorial: Polaroid in Picture!

You might have noticed that I updated my blog yesterday. At one point it was a complete mess and I was a bit freaked out! I didn't just add a new background and header, but I changed out my template (the new one is a Blogger template I tweaked), and now I have a drop-down menubar. I will be working on updating it during the week, but so far so good.

I also noticed that Blogger now offers "Read More" on your posts. Just click on the "Read More" link at the bottom of my posts and the entire post will load up. I will use this on my loooooong posts so that my blog will load up faster. I don't think I will do when I first post, but after the posts have been up for a few days. Now if Blogger would only add static pages...

On to my tutorial.



You have all probably seen this effect around Flickr[...]

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Catching Dragonflies

Processed with Golden Vintage.

He convinces his little brother they are going to catch dragonflies with old torn fishing nets they found in the barn. They are going to catch them because they have never touched a live dragonfly. He tells me they will capture four and put them in glass jars. We will put them in our bedrooms so we can look at them and enjoy their beauty.

After some time he comes running up to me. Mom, he says with disappointment in his voice, I didn't know dragonflies were so fast.

Another bittersweet moment and I suddenly stop and really listen to my son.

I know all about fast, little one. Those dragonflies have nothing on the speed of the days and months and years that are slipping by. My little babies are suddenly little boys. Another day, another gray hair, another realization that these are the memories I will put away in my mind and dust off in the later years when the house is quiet, clean, and sometimes a bit lonely.

The computer is calling, laundry is piling up, the dishwasher needs to be unloaded, bills need to be paid, the news drones on in the background and it seems mostly bad.

But wait. Perhaps I will grab a chair, sit down, and enjoy watching two little boys chasing their dreams of beautiful dragonflies in glass jars softly beating their wings. Just breathe.

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Prayers for Fort Hood

Sometimes you find yourself in a situation where you can't "post as normal". My Army brother-in-law (who did two tours in Iraq), little sis, niece and nephew just moved from Fort Hood to north Texas a few months ago. I am horrified about what happened in Fort Hood today, and I just wanted to send my prayers to the brave soldiers, civilians, and their families there. Rita

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