3/52 - White Space

So week three of the Let's Do 52 photography challenge has come and gone and here I am only just getting my photo up.  To be fair, I took it on Saturday, but have only just managed to find time to sit and edit (and see if I could snap one that I liked better - it's a constant issue... ;-))

The theme I chose this week (of the two available) was White Space, which means empty space, not necessarily coloured white and here is my contribution to the theme...

My big girl had a birthday party on the weekend, which left the small one and I to our own devices, so we headed over to Nanny and Poppop's for a swim.  On the way, I spied a big sign in the carpark of their local Bunnings store, announcing to the passing public that there was a bit of a fun weekend organised with a bouncy castle, baby animal farm and all the other stuff that gets the little ones all jumpy and excitable.

We quickly did a drive by to pick up Nanny and headed back to Bunnings, only to discover that the baby animal farm was scheduled for the following day, and the bouncy castle shenanigans weren't due to kick off for another hour...

Making the best of a less than ideal situation, we managed to scout out a face painter who had set up shop near the workshop area, so we jumped in line and waited our turn, only to be showered with gifts while we waited - a lolly bag and a t-shirt in the small girl's size proclaiming (truthfully or otherwise..) "My Dad's a Tradie".  Bonus!

Turns out that Lindy (ask for her by name ;-)) was the most awesome face painter in the known universe, and the resulting (politely requested) "rainbow butterfly" is what you can see in the picture above.  I positioned Soph in the stairwell of what seemed to be the staff room, judging by the handful of green-shirted folk that clambered past as I was snapping merrily away ;-)  A nice expanse of rustic white space was provided by the worn treads...

Just for fun, here is a progress pic...

..and another back in the cool shade of Nanny's back patio...

Next This week's choices of theme are Sparkle and Unexpected Perspective, and I may already have one under my belt for the second choice, will just have to see if I can manage one I like better... ;-)

Dabbling in digi...

Ever since I discovered Photoshop a good many years ago now, I have been on a constant, occasionally frustrating but mostly enjoyable learning curve.

Having never completed any formal courses on how to use it, I have muddled my way through, likely taking the long way 'round in many cases and figuring out how to do thing as I've needed to.  It's safe to say my Google search bar has seen more than its fair share of "Photoshop x/y/z tutorial" searches in its time...

If I could turn back the clock, I would very possibly pursue something along the lines of graphic design and with less than a year until both my poppets are at school full time, I may still head down that path, but for now I am content to faff about in front of my computer with my outdated, e-bay acquired version of Photoshop and create things like my blog banner up there ^ and a couple of other bits and pieces that I'm going to show you now...

My delightful and delicious five month old nephew Maxwell was baptised a couple of weeks back and on the same day his sister - my sweet and spirited niece Ivy - celebrated with a party for her third birthday which had been a couple of days prior.  My sis-in-law Janny asked if I wouldn't mind putting together some invitations that she could quickly send out, so always up for a challenge and an excuse to play in Photoshop, I readily agreed!

Being rather a fan of my Canon 500D digital SLR and taking every opportunity to bust it out,  I also took the photo on Max's invitation, his adorable expression  being helped along by uncle Tim getting right in his face and being a doofus.  He loves his uncle Tim :-)

In addition to being my source of tutorials, Google is also my friend when searching for various brushes and patterns to use, but by far one of the best discoveries has been Lettering Delights, which is where I got the cute red decorative elements on Ivy's invitation.

It's also where I happen to get a good many other bits and pieces in the way of graphics and fonts, especially since they're so adorably cute and a mere few dollars at most, or even less when there's a sale :-)

Better still, you can get a bunch of freebies just by creating a free member account, which also gives you the option of signing up for the Lettering Delights newsletter so that you're among the first to know when there are new things available or stuff is on sale.

Click the banner below to head there now and sign yourself up!

Just be warned that cuteness abounds, so if you're anything like me, you'll spend ages putting search terms in trying to find an excuse to purchase and use the hundreds of delightful graphics and fonts that you'll find...

Just so you know...