Edit Me: Week 26

Edit Me:

Another week, another edit.
I so look forward to these weekly edits and love a piccie that challenges me so I was quite pleased with this weeks submission from Alita of 'Alita jewel's treasure'

Here's the SOOC

and here's my edit:

Opened the image is CS5 and after spending a good hour wasting time by getting everything wrong I decided I was being too technical so started over and kept it simple.
Opened HDR toning in image adjustments and moved the multitude of sliders until I got a half decent image.
opened curves and created a loose 'S' curve.
Created a white border by changing canvas size and that was it!

Hope y'all head on over to the 'Edit Me' challenge, take a look at the other cool edits and maybe have a go yourself.

Edit me: Week 20

Ouch! This one hurt. The picture is so darn cute to start with and as with all baby / children photographs I am acutely aware that this is someones adored child and that my idea of a good edit may be their idea of an insult. Eek!

Luckily I have been stuck in doors all day waiting for a delivery - you know the kind, anytime between 12pm & 6pm and we'll phone when on the way! - so I'd been grumpily patiently waiting for said delivery to arrive when I happened across this weeks edit.

Once again I just couldn't decide what to do with it so I googled ideas - as you do - and if I wanted to turn this adorable baby into Shrek, or give her google eyes or even wanted to plant her in a barrel I had a plethora of tutorials before my eyes.
Not gonna happen though.

So I guess you wanna see this adorable cutie courtesy of Kala at 'The Wishful Lamb' - here you go then.

This is the SOOC

Told ya, little cutie pie ain't she!

And here is my edit

Now I know I should have catalogued the steps I took for this but believe me I have done so many different things and started over that I have completely lost track of what I did.
I opened it in CS5 though - I know that much! As for the rest of the edit well it's vague but I cropped the image a tad, boosted the colours before then desaturating it (actually don't know why I did that but it seemed to help).
I then played around with the tones somewhere (sorry don't remember where) until I got a Sepia type look and then messed with the highlights, shadows etc until I got what I wanted.
Next I added a 5 pixel border in Black ( I tried a multitude of different colours for that before deciding on Black - how original)
Then I added the text 'twinkle, twinkle little star' and then finally I used the colour fill tool to add colour back to the flower.

Like I said there were many many steps to this edit, many of them deleted and I could have used shorter and easier paths along the way but this edit was basically playing and deleting until I got what I wanted.

I also need to thank Branson from 'My Reflection of Something' for not only hosting these edits but for hosting a gorgeous blog too.



Linked to

Edit Me - week 19

Yet another cool image to get to grips with.
This weeks image was submitted by our guest judge this week, Deb from 'Deb Duty Photography', please take a couple of minutes to check out her blog and awesome images.

So without further ado here's the original image

and this is my Edit

I must be remembering how to use Creative Suite (finally) as this was a fairly quick one.
I opened the image in CS2 and created a new 'channel mixer' adjustment layer.
I then messed with the setting until I got the vibrant punchy tones I wanted. The first 2 setting were about +200 and +100 and the final two settings were approx -75 and -79.
Next I created a new text layer and added the text 'Autumn, the year's last, lovliest smile' and added a drop shadow via 'Blending options'. I also played with the drop shadow settings and distance until I got the effect I was after.
Finally I cropped the image to make the leaf less central and voila! Edited!

I have to thank the guest judge for this image. I usually like more active images as my imagination can be limited but I loved working with this one.
I did attempt a frosty ground and crispy leaf number but kinda didn't work out and so I had to rein myself back in - I get a tad too enthusiastic sometimes and go overboard.
So thank you to Deb and to Branson from 'My Reflection of Something' for co hosting these challenges.

Furniture makeover - Computer desk to Dressing table

It's no big secret that I love furniture makeovers. I'm relatively new to it - well VERY new actually! - but I'm addicted already.
That 'makeover' mindset is now well and truly ingrained and I see every piece of furniture as a potential for creativity - whether it be a bland boring piece needing some funk or an old piece needing some TLC! and funk! lol.

This makeover came about because I needed a dressing table for my new bedroom and being the thrifty crafter I am I just couldn't bring myself to buy one - at £200 for something half nice I figured nah! - enter this old computer desk that was just plain awful......

See, awful isn't it! Almost as bad as my work area I hear you scream! Well in my defence I have a builder for a husband and so I have to take whatever inch of space I manage to pilfer in his workshops. Though you would think a 60ft workshop would leave little ole me just a teeny bit clear huh!
Anyway, a cheap and tacky bit of furniture is never going to be transformed into a stunningly marvelous piece of kit is it, I mean chipboard covered veneer is not Oak no matter how much you may wish it!
So here is what I managed to turn it into:

And I love it, despite it looking a bit like dolls house furniture.

So how did I do it?

Well first I scrabbled about for a bit of space to work in, then I took it all apart and left just the sides, the top and a panel across the back.

I then added an internal partition as I was aiming to put some drawers in it from an old small chest of drawers I've saved.
It was then sanded, sanded and sanded again.
I filled every hole (and there were plenty) with a good filler - well whatever filler I could find actually - and then left it to dry for 24hrs. It was then sanded again and filled again and left to dry again and then finally sanded again - phew!

All ready now for the best part - painting.
Normally I would use a brush however I've decided I don't like the brush stroke effect and I don't want to lather the layers on. Several thin layers would be better than a couple of thick marshmallowy layers.
Not having a sponge brush to hand I dived under the sink and came out victoriously waving a Jumbo size car washing sponge to the befuddled, confused looks of my non crafty family.
I cut the sponge up and painted. You know what a child looks like after finger painting, well I had it everywhere but the effect on the table was much better than a brush so alls good!
Each coat was left to dry and then I gave it several coats of Satin floor varnish, again with the sponge, it's a much better finish. I guess Floor varnish may not be every crafters choice of sealant but I figured if it's good enough for floors then it's good enough for this.
I then positioned and secured the drawer runners taken from the old chest of drawers I mentioned before and quickly decided that it's not something I'll ever be in a hurry to try again. This piece of work came veeeery close to being hammered, kicked and all other manner of not nice things!
Those plastic runners were a nightmare! But I soldiered on and prevailed. yay!
Next I had to decide what drawer handles to use:

Which to use, which to use?
I opted for the flower pulls. Obviously they looked a bit ropey and needed some work  so I primed, sprayed and laquered them with ........ car spray paint. Yup, car spray paint!
My car happens to be an off white colour and I'd purchased primer, paint and laquer for a rear wheel arch, which never got done so I figured why not!
Waste not, want not! As my mum used to say!

Just a wee note: Spray painting is addictive - you were warned!

The drawer fronts were painted the same plum colour as I used on a cabinet for the end of my bed, check it out 'here' and then sprayed with the laquer purely because I was getting too impatient to wait for varnish to dry. (Do many of you find that you get a bit impatient and dare I say it - lackadaisical - toward the end? You just want that piece finished).
The finished effect is pretty darned good anyway!  BTW the drawer front s look blotchy on the photo but they're really not, it's just the flash bounce.

That done it was all put together.
But a dressing table without a mirror is not much good really is it so I spray painted my wooden mirror with the car sprays and then attached it to the table with a couple of lengths of 2x1 attached to the back of the dresser and bolted through the mirror.

Ta da!

The vase and the basket on my Dressing table were a real find. Usually i won't buy such things and I've been dabbling with the idea of making a fabric basket however a recent trip to 'Homebase' revealed these bargains - £3 for the basket - a bit bigger than I would have liked but good quality and a lovely lining.
£2 for the vase - what else can I say, Bargain!! Maybe needs a single stem flower added to it though.

So there you have it. A crabby old computer desk that would have hit the fire heap morphed into a Dressing table.

This blog is linked to:-

'Lil' Luna - All things Good'

'Gingersnaps' wow me Wednesday








'Miss Mustard Seed'
'The shabby Nest' 
'It's a Hodgepodge life'

COMING SOON.

A stool to match the dressing table. Made from the chest of drawers that I salvaged the drawers from for the above dressing table.

And a relic of a wardrobe gets a revamp.

Oooooh something completely new today

I've not been able to get on with my craft projects over the last couple of days, mainly because I've become addicted to reading blogs belonging to my friends on Blogfrog etc.
However, I came across an 'edit me' submission on 'My Reflection of Something' Blog and just had to give it a go because I loved the photograph so much.
The guest judge for this 'edit me' is Stephanie from 'Behind the camera and dreaming', so why not pop on over and take a look at some adorable, classy and downright fabulous work.
This is my first ever submission and from what I can gather the idea is to take the original photo and adapt it using Photo editing software in whatever way you feel.
So here's the original:

See what I mean about it being a gorgeous picture!

This is what I did to it

I struggled with this one, not just because it's my first, nor because it's a photo of someones else's child and I'm very aware that my interpretation may not be her parents' but mainly because I liked the original so much it seemed such a shame to alter it.

First I opened it in Photoshop CS2 and diddled with the exposure to make a base for the warmth I wanted to create.
Then I added a Warm filter to the image and adjusted the settings until I got the 'feeling' I was after - I wanted to create a warm, early evening feel.
I then added a Glass filter and adjusted the settings until I got the effect I have here, this took a suprisingly long time and found me also experimenting with a load of other filters.
Originally I wanted a pencil effect but I loved the Glass effect and seeing as the child is on sand - ironic!
In a separate layer I added the words 'Discovery in a grain of sand' as that is what the image says to me.

Voila! My 'edit me' submission.

UPDATE:

The winner of week 16 'Edit me' is - drum roll - Deb from 'Debduty Photgraphy'. Well done!