A CREATIVE SPIRIT RETREAT
Posted by mountaintopquilting on Saturday, March 21st, 2009
Click HERE to enlarge.
I'm very guilty of bringing the concept of multitasking to a whole new level. That can be a good thing and it can also be a bad thing. In a communications class I took once the instructor reminded us that most of the time "our greatest strengths can also be our greatest weaknesses." With all my multi-tasking I can get myself going in so many different directions I loose my sense of purpose and my creative direction. And so, I took myself on a journey following my artist's path wherever it might lead.
So, inquiring minds want to know ... where have I gone and what have I been doing...
I joined a journal quilt group ... and ...
I've been reading every book I can get my hands on regarding embellishing, surface design techniques, all that stuff is so very non-traditional - which has been a stretch for the VERY traditional me. But don't worry, I found a way to keep my February journal quilt quite traditional and still innovative ... more about that in a future post.
I also discovered digitized scrapbooking. Now this is my kind of hobby. Way back in the 70's a friend and I were avid rubber stampers. In fact, I still have very early issues of RubberStamp Madness magazines stashed away somewhere. However, when scrapbooking became all the rage, I knew that there just wasn't enough room in my house or my life for all of those supplies in addition to my quilting stash and stuff. A girl has to make choices and quilting won hands down. But in reading all the books (see above paragraph) I learned about digiscrapping. Oh my ... all I need is a computer with lots of memory and speed. (Kind of like my brain/body these days. VBG) And this brings me to the next topic ...
I have been wanting to upgrade my photo editing program which is from way back in the dark ages so with all of the above info in my head, I have been going non-stop daily with Photoshop Elements 7. Oh my what a difference in the editing capabilities. Plus, because of the DigiScrapping (DSB) I'm learning all kinds of things about layers, brushes, styles and all these different ways to maniupulate our art.
Oh no!!!! I now have an external hard drive (EHD) filling with DGB supplies all willy-nilly in big piles scattered here and there ... who would know if I had an element or kit ... or was I buying the same thing twice. I figure out some way to get all of this stuff organized. After reading several forum posts and doing some internet research I found a program called ACDSee. I studied the on-line tutorials and decided it would work for me. I can set my category/subcategory tags as suits me ... however I want to organize them - keyword here being ORGANIZE. This, I think to myself, is a good thing, and so I set to work. And after about 15 hours of sifting my fingers through my stash of virtual DSB elements, papers, ribbons, clips, brads, alphas (and we won't even talk about years of photos) ... oh my, there's a whole new vocabulary to learn ... the light bulb went off and on like a major power surge blowing the circuts for New York City.
THIS PROGRAM ACDSEE WOULD WORK FOR ORGANIZING MY STATLER LIBRARY OF PATTERNS!!!!
I did some preliminary workups to test the program, did some thinking about what the data tree should look like and ended up giving a short demonstration to those Statler Sibs who came to our Pacific Northwest Statler Quilters group at my studio on the 14th.
And you want to know the best part about this program ... they had a "two-fer sale" when I bought my copy which meant it only cost $24.99! You'll want to be sure and hurry over to the site and check it out to see if it might work for you. Find a friend and take advantage of a great price.
I'll tell you more about how I've been using the program in future posts.
A little about the opening photo ... the best way to learn a program is to put it to use right away and that is what I did by entering some of the challenges on the different DSB sites. Early Morning Sunrise was a my entry for the following challenge prompt:
Mesmerizing, hypnotic, charming, spellbinding... These are all words that can be used to describe things we might take photos of or do scrapbook pages about, from a mountain vista to a new baby’s face
This is the original photo before doctoring with cropping, exploring the filters and playing with repetition and resizing just like we do with our quilting patterns. We use these art concepts in our quilting decisions all the time, but sometimes, it's good to practice those skills in a new way.
I also wanted to play with the best way to set the mood using color and the filters effects. The worst of all of this ... I touched so many keys until I found the look I liked that I'm not sure which filter I ended up with.
Anyway, I've rattled on and on enough for one post catching you up about the goings-on here in the studio. I encourage you to treat yourself time and permission to connect with your personal muse and experience rejuvenation in a personal
CREATIVE SPIRIT RETREAT
... and if you're still reading, you deserve a treat. Click here to get a new free pattern for your Statler ... or ... Intequiltler quilting system
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