The Times They Are A Changing....

I have not posted to this blog for ages! My creativity has made a right hand turn and gone in a new and exciting direction. I still love all things digital, but I'm tired of creating layouts with Other Peoples Product ..... I want to create from scratch. Be the street planner, not just the guy driving the car.
Obviously this is going to take time, and skills. I have just finished a nine week 1 day a wk course on Photoshop. Very intensive, and I absolutely loved it. So much actually that I have decided to continue this path and I have applied to complete a Diploma of Graphic Design next year at Ithica Tafe. Talk about diving in the deep end!!

Here are a couple of my creations from my PhotoShop course. We were given a starting point (like create a book cover, create a poster using this tin, etc) and the rest was up to us. The thumbnails are the starting images I used in production.
I had a great time creating them, I would love to hear your feedback on them.

Cheers all,

Double Trouble

Here are two layouts I created using the 'Terrific Twins' Word Art Pack from Jen at Word Art World (available now at her Gotta Pixel store). As the only one on Jen's Creative Team with twins I did offer the other lovely ladies my boys for a while - just so they could get some inspiration, but funnily enough I have had no takers ....can't think why ?

I've been having a great time learning all about PhotoShop at TAFE on Saturdays. It's great to legitimise the excess amount of time I spend on my laptop by saying that I am 'practising' what I have learnt or doing my homework. That's my story and I am sticking to it ;).

Created.... but not yet printed...

Following on from my previous post Playing With Typography here is my piece of wall art for my sons bedroom. I took ages looking through all the wonderful letters available (see my previous post re great resources). Initially I was going for a 'grungy' worn look, but then reconsidered my colour scheme as it is for my 10 year old son .... and not me.... after all. Aside from his name, I included his date of birth and during my web trawling I even found a vintage stamp showing the hospital of his birth !! Pretty cool huh?

I am intending to print it out 9"x9" and mat it in a 12"sq frame. I have a couple left over from my paper scrapping days. Goodness knows when I'll get that done though, so here is my creation so far.....

A Place I Was Dying to Visit ....

On Sunday my partner and I had a lovely day at the Toowong Cemetery. This historical site in the heart of Brisbane has some of the oldest grave sites in Queensland. We were lucky enough to join a tour which happened to be on that morning (and is a regular '1st Sunday of the month' event so we discovered) and actually be shown the last resting place of a number of famous/infamous locals with a knowledgeable guide filling in the details.

Our main reason in visiting the cemetery was to take photos! I just love the variety of memorials that are there. Cherubs, angels, plinths and even statues of pets adorn the sites. Unfortunately, due to age - and sadly vandalism- a large number of the headstones and grave sites are in disrepair, making it a very sombre and moving environment to wander.

Here are a few photos we took. I can't wait to 'manipulate' them into some of my Digi Art.

Playing with Typography...

I have just discovered an amazing guy on flickr called Leo Reynolds. I thought I was photo mad..but this guy has photo's of everything you can imagine (and so much more!!). Mr. Reynolds has taken several thousand photos of typography and signage (and other interesting things) and he allows anyone to use them under a creative commons license with very few restrictions.

This journey started for me over at Amy Gregson's - My 3 Monsters Blog. Amy has used random letters to create this individual piece of wall art for her house.

Being the little ferret that I am, I just had to follow Amy's link back to where she sourced her images .... and thus my infatuation with Mr Leo Reynolds began!!
Last night I played around with creating my own wall art using an amazing array of letters and numbers ....I haven't finished quite yet, but I will upload as soon as I do.