Free 8 x 10 customizable photo template to print!

I had this idea for a word search photo frame.  Initially my design contained the child’s name which I thought was kind of cool.  Then I thought it would be a little more difficult to customize with a child’s name especially for those that are unfamiliar with their text and format tools/layers/etc. in Photoshop and Elements.  With that said, I decided on this ‘Be ONE in a Million’ theme! 

With all my templates, this is a .psd file that can be opened in Photoshop or PSE.  It is an 8 x 10 customizable photo template and is very easy to use.  Once open, find the ‘Place Photo Here’ layer (highlighted in RED) and make sure it is selected with your mouse.  Now go to File / Place.  This will allow you to choose an image from your computer files.  Once you have placed your photo in the square, you may adjust its size to fit the frame. 

Just 1 picture of my baby!

I’m so excited!  She did pee pee in the potty yesterday!  She asked to sit on the potty which she’s done many times before.  Mostly she just sits on it and doesn’t go but I love the interest she’s been showing.  Yesterday, however, she was all business.  The minute she sat down I could hear her going.  I jumped for joy and smothered her with kisses!  Throughout the day I had randomly asked her if she’d like to try going on the potty again, but she didn’t seem too interested.  I explained to her that she went in the potty one time yesterday and that today it might be fun to try going two times (as I held up two fingers for her).  I figured once she went twice, than I would offer some type of reward.  I promised her a call to Santa and the Easter Bunny to make sure they knew how good she had been.  She loves to listen to me talking to Santa (yeah, it’s not my first time talking to Santa)!  My plan is to get her to go in the potty one more time than she did the day before until eventually she is only using the potty.  Not sure how it’s going to turn out, but I have high hopes and a lot of faith that she can do it.  We’ll see.  I’ll try to keep you posted and let you know if it works!

 

Make eyes pop in Photoshop! (video tutorial)

Are you looking for a quick and easy way to make eyes in your images pop?  If so, I have a great video tutorial for you today!

Duration: 11 minutes
Software: Photoshop CS6
Level: Beginner-Intermediate

Touches on the following topics:

- duplicating layers
- dodge/burn tool
- layer opacity changes
- using filters (unsharp mask)
- creating layer masks
- inverting masks (to reveal effects)
- brush tool (using white to reveal)

Dijon maple chicken anyone?

Can I get a “HELL YEAH”?

I have a little something different for you today.  I recently made a chicken recipe for the family this past week and it came out great!  After searching my Pinterest boards for the pin, I realized that apparently it didn’t come from there.  And the sad thing is, I have no idea of the source to give credit.  From my print out, however, it does read:

“I adapted this recipe from The I heart Trader Joe’s Cookbook”.  So, I guess that’s a little something.  Of course I don’t know who the original poster was.  It’s way too good not to share though, so here it is:

It’s not your birthday!

I was doing the laundry the other day and Livi happened to spot a hat on the shelf above my washing machine and dryer.  It was a hat shaped like a birthday cake with one candle sticking out of the top and read “fun to be 1”.  Yeah, I had bought this for Livi’s first birthday.  Of course, then, it was a tad BIG for her little noggin so she wasn’t really able to wear it.  Now at the age of 2 1/2, it fits perfectly.  Not even tight either.  She absolutely loved it!  When I tell you I couldn’t get her to take that hat off, that would be putting it mildly.  She didn’t even want me to touch it.  It didn’t matter if she had it on backwards or not.  She walked around the house singing birthday songs, telling me it was her birthday, and that we were going to a party!  That hat entertained her for the entire day.  I’m lucky I got it off before I put her down for the night.

The things they learn!

Take your time.  Concentrate.  Hit the ball.  This is what my tot says when we are bowling with her play set.  It’s a riot!  Just when I thought she learned these phrases from the hubby, Livi and I were watching an episode of Jake and the Neverland Pirates and sure enough I heard these same phrases from Jake.  Of course they were playing golf, hence the “hit the ball” instead of “hit the pins”.  I’ve been trying to teach her to say “hit the pins”.  Either that or “throw the ball”.  You know something that makes sense.  My little one is way too smart.  I just love how she uses her words in the correct context and she picks up on absolutely everything.  She is truly amazing and such a BIG girl!

Maybe I’m just happy

It was a good day today!  The hubby and I got Livi out of the house to see her cousins.  Apparently just in time too because it just started snowing and we are supposed to get around 6 inches of snow.  You will never hear me saying anything positive about snow.  I’m not really a Winter type girl.  I don’t like any snow sports, I hate scraping my car, I am petrified to drive in it, can’t stand to walk in it, and am freezing just thinking about it.  I will say this though…

This too shall pass

I’m loving tonight.  I finally got Alivia out of the house even if it was only for a couple of hours.  I think she’s been going a little stir crazy.  You’d never know it the way she keeps herself so busy and happy.  I’m lucky she is so independent especially these past few months I hadn’t been feeling well.  Unfortunately, I had been reduced to watching her from the couch.  While I rested, she would play.  It was getting a little depressing there for awhile having to watch and not being able to participate.  I’d find myself wiping tears from my eyes when she wasn’t looking.  I think I was a little sadder than I wanted to admit.  I guess that’s what illness will do to a person.  I just had to keep reminding myself that it was temporary. 

What type of edits do you prefer?

So here’s the deal.  The last time I posted I wrote of image insertion problems and that with my new blog design I was unable to post images larger than 700 px wide.  This has been very disappointing seeing as my new posting area is around 900 px wide.  I forgot to mention that I am using Windows Live Writer as my posting tool.  Since inserting pictures hasn’t been working out for me too well I decided to try and upload my images to Flickr to use HTML code instead.  If you are familiar with Flickr, you know that it allows you to share your images in various ways including URL links, HTML, BBCode, etc.  Sounds great right?  Well, hold on.  Apparently with free accounts you are limited to image size uploads.  So even though my image was sized at 850 px wide my free account was only creating html code for 283 px wide!  Really?  How freakin’ frustrating!  So what did I do?  I paid the $24.95 and upgraded to a pro account where I can upload my original high resolution images.  If the images in this post do not publish correctly, I’m considering giving up.  I’ll have to find a way to be satisfied with not being able to utilize my entire posting space.  So fingers crossed!

Not a care

I’m a little discouraged.  Since the blog change (I updated my blog design last week) I am having trouble posting images larger than 700 px wide which is very disappointing.  I was looking forward to utilizing the new wider posting space.  It’s weird but when I post an image larger than 700 px wide, it’s almost as if the image quality suffers even though the image has been resized and saved specifically for web viewing at 850 px.  It’s puzzling really and I guess I’m curious to find out if anyone else is having this problem?  I am currently using the SIMPLE theme template on Blogger if that helps. 

The other thing I’ve noticed is that my page is inserting shadow boxes/outlines around all of my images.  They are white so you have to look carefully.  Anyhow, it’s very frustrating!  Looks like I’m going to have to look up HTML code for removing this.  It never ends!

In the meantime, this little girl has NOT a care in the world.  It must be nice!

The day after the day after

Well I thought I wasn’t a big fan of Valentine’s Day until my little one changed my mind.  She absolutely loved this holiday!  It all started on Wednesday when my mom bought her a Happy Valentine’s Day balloon.  She walked around with it everywhere.  It’s been her best friend for two days now.  She even fell asleep with it in her hand while she napped on top of me today.  I wanted to snap a picture of her with my phone but it wasn’t within reach unfortunately.  As if the balloon wasn’t enough she received some Valentine Day cards in the mail too.  One from Nana & Papa and one from Grammy.  You would have thought she just discovered gold the way she lit up opening those envelopes.  Then yesterday, in addition to a card, I gave her a little stuffed monkey (see color picture below).  She was so excited!  Wait.  I’m not done.  Later that night the hubby gave her the cutest gorilla (see black & white picture below)!  It didn’t take long before she was off on her own with her new stuffed toys clutched under one arm while the other carried around my card and Nana’s balloon.  The best part, though, was listening to her say “It’s Valentine’s Day” about a hundred times!  And with such enthusiasm each and every time!  Even today, the day after the day after Valentine’s, she is still saying it!  

In short, I am now a Valentine’s Day enthusiast and I look forward to seeing her reaction next year!

The Missing Link – Week 25

Have you ever felt like something was missing from your life? Well, it could just be one of the links below. Hence my post title! You may ask yourself "Is she serious"? Well the answer is "No, I'm definitely NOT serious”. I'm just feeling silly. Seriously though, I thought I'd share some of my favorite links with you in an effort to spread the love. What's better is that I thought I'd make this post a weekly thang! No that isn't a typo. I told you I was feeling silly. So the links below may not complete your life, but I'm hoping they, in some way, add to it. I separated them into categories for easy navigation. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.

The Missing Link – Week 24

Have you ever felt like something was missing from your life? Well, it could just be one of the links below. Hence my post title! You may ask yourself "Is she serious"? Well the answer is "No, I'm definitely NOT serious”. I'm just feeling silly. Seriously though, I thought I'd share some of my favorite links with you in an effort to spread the love. What's better is that I thought I'd make this post a weekly thang! No that isn't a typo. I told you I was feeling silly. So the links below may not complete your life, but I'm hoping they, in some way, add to it. I separated them into categories for easy navigation. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.

The Missing Link – Week 23

Have you ever felt like something was missing from your life? Well, it could just be one of the links below. Hence my post title! You may ask yourself "Is she serious"? Well the answer is "No, I'm definitely NOT serious”. I'm just feeling silly. Seriously though, I thought I'd share some of my favorite links with you in an effort to spread the love. What's better is that I thought I'd make this post a weekly thang! No that isn't a typo. I told you I was feeling silly. So the links below may not complete your life, but I'm hoping they, in some way, add to it. I separated them into categories for easy navigation. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.

The Missing Link – Week 19

Have you ever felt like something was missing from your life? Well, it could just be one of the links below. Hence my post title! You may ask yourself "Is she serious"? Well the answer is "No, I'm definitely NOT serious”. I'm just feeling silly. Seriously though, I thought I'd share some of my favorite links with you in an effort to spread the love. What's better is that I thought I'd make this post a weekly thang! No that isn't a typo. I told you I was feeling silly. So the links below may not complete your life, but I'm hoping they, in some way, add to it. I separated them into categories for easy navigation. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.

The Missing Link – Week 15

Have you ever felt like something was missing from your life? Well, it could just be one of the links below. Hence my post title! You may ask yourself "Is she serious?" Well the answer is "No, I'm definitely NOT serious." I'm just feeling silly. Seriously though, I thought I'd share some of my favorite links with you in an effort to spread the love. What's better is that I thought I'd make this post a weekly thang! No that isn't a typo. I told you I was feeling silly. So the links below may not complete your life, but I'm hoping they, in some way, add to it. I separated them into categories for easy navigation. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.

The Missing Link – Week 14

Have you ever felt like something was missing from your life? Well, it could just be one of the links below. Hence my post title! You may ask yourself "Is she serious?" Well the answer is "No, I'm definitely NOT serious." I'm just feeling silly. Seriously though, I thought I'd share some of my favorite links with you in an effort to spread the love. What's better is that I thought I'd make this post a weekly thang! No that isn't a typo. I told you I was feeling silly. So the links below may not complete your life, but I'm hoping they, in some way, add to it. I separated them into categories for easy navigation. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.

The Missing Link – Week 13

Have you ever felt like something was missing from your life? Well, it could just be one of the links below. Hence my post title! You may ask yourself "Is she serious?" Well the answer is "No, I'm definitely NOT serious." I'm just feeling silly. Seriously though, I thought I'd share some of my favorite links with you in an effort to spread the love. What's better is that I thought I'd make this post a weekly thang! No that isn't a typo. I told you I was feeling silly. So the links below may not complete your life, but I'm hoping they, in some way, add to it. I separated them into categories for easy navigation. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.

The Missing Link – Week 12

Have you ever felt like something was missing from your life? Well, it could just be one of the links below. Hence my post title! You may ask yourself "Is she serious?" Well the answer is "No, I'm definitely NOT serious." I'm just feeling silly. Seriously though, I thought I'd share some of my favorite links with you in an effort to spread the love. What's better is that I thought I'd make this post a weekly thang! No that isn't a typo. I told you I was feeling silly. So the links below may not complete your life, but I'm hoping they, in some way, add to it. I separated them into categories for easy navigation. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.

The Missing Link – Week 10

Have you ever felt like something was missing from your life? Well, it could just be one of the links below. Hence my post title! You may ask yourself "Is she serious?" Well the answer is "No, I'm definitely NOT serious." I'm just feeling silly. Seriously though, I thought I'd share some of my favorite links with you in an effort to spread the love. What's better is that I thought I'd make this post a weekly thang! No that isn't a typo. I told you I was feeling silly. So the links below may not complete your life, but I'm hoping they, in some way, add to it. I separated them into categories for easy navigation. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.