Color Inspiration Challenge

Here's something a little different -


As some of you may know I'm a pretty avid scrapbooker/papercrafter person. It's my release - something fun and relaxing over which I have complete and total control (unlike most everything else in my life!). I visit tons of crafty related blogs on a regular basis (I probably I spend more time being inspired by others than actually creating things myself). So I thought I would share a new find with everyone today.


This blog is authored by Kristina Werner and I'm not even sure how I originally found it. She works for Stampin' Up (a company I seem to be developing a new obsession for - I think it has to do with all the matchy stuff they make - nothing makes me happier than perfectly coordinated supplies). She posts a weekly color inspiration and matches Stampin' Up colors to the piece.


I'm going to try and make a card each week based on the challenge - my goal is to buy zero greeting cards in 2009. It's ridiculous considering the supplies I have on hand to spend a cent on a premade card!


So here is this weeks inspiration:





And my card (sorry the scanned colors are a little off - it's brighter IRL):

A Little Christmas Preview

There's been lots of talk on the RettNet (our online link to other families touched by Rett Syndrome) about Christmas. Mostly about how difficult it can be since our girls don't typically find the same joys in the holiday as other kids their age. There have been some great discussions about helping them find their own kind of joy. One of my favorite quotes is from a dad named Scott:

"Maybe the girls are still pure to the real meaning of Christmas and have not been corrupted by the commercialization of it."

As soon as I read "pure to the real meaning of Christmas" it made me think of this picture (one of many I took in my annual "attempt-at-the-perfect-Christmas-card" photo shoot. Although it didn't end up the final winner, I think it embodies that quote perfectly.

Anyway - I've really wanted to start learning how to make my photos look a little more artsy fartsy (but I'm too cheap to buy the actions to do it for me). So here I am up way past midnight playing around with this wonderful shot - enjoy!

This is the original photo:


These have what I guess is referred to as a little color pop - I just added the dark edges on the second one:


These are supposed to look vintage (again with the dark edges on #2):


So I guess I'm pretty happy with the outcome.

The tutorials for the original effects I found on this blog:

http://jessicabell-tutorials.blogspot.com/

The tuorials for the dark edge effect was from 2peas:

http://twopeasinabucket.kaboose.com/cg_display.asp?g=4&seed_id=21818