Her Eyes Just Sparkle!

Lately, I've fallen in love with Adobe Photoshop all over again. I've been using that program for about twenty years, but I am learning ALL sorts of new, cool, crazy and exciting things....and I'm having a blast!

This week, I've been going crazy with brushes. Last week, it was Styles, but this week it is definitely brushes. Who knew so many existed??? Who knew they came in so many funny, funky, cool and unusual shapes??? Well, now I know, that's for sure!

Over the weekend, I downloaded some brushes from deviantart.com. I kept hearing this site mentioned in some of my Photoshop groups, so I finally checked it out. What FUN I've been having with the brushes I found there!

Last night, I played around with an eyelash brush.....and sparkles. Look at the results! I know I went a little overboard, but it's hard to believe that the "After" was achieved in about five minutes. And with brushes....[okay, okay, and a little dodging, too].

Fun With Photoshop & Filters

I'm a Photoshop JUNKIE, that's for sure. I love that program. You can take away most of my software, and I wouldn't complain. Try to take away Photoshop [notice I say TRY], and get ready for a big ole bruhaha.

In addition to being a PS addict, I am also into filters. You can use filters to get some COOL and amazing effects. Or combine multiple filters on layers. The possibilities are endless, and the results can be spectacular.

Lately, I've been having a BLAST with Filter Forge. I have been getting exciting results! Some of the images look like they were drawn or painted. So, I thought I would share a little slide show of my latest work [not everything was done with Filter Forge....some is just good, old fashioned Photoshop editing!]....

Wild for Widgets!

Yesterday, I discovered widgets. I was reading an article in one of the many SEO/techie e-mail newsletters I get, and I clicked on the link to this widget Web site. Oh my GOD, they are SO cool. I really get excited by wickedly cool technology.....

My first widget was for my blog. It lists my recents posts. I added it to my got baby! Web site as a way to link to my blog. I was just going to do some boring [yawn!] graphical link, but this is SO much cooler.....

Anyway, it got me thinking......which can be a scary thing at times......but I put my Marketing guru hat on and thought, "Now, is there some way to use widgets to sell my stuff on Cafepress???" And the answer was YES!

I got busy creating a widget to link to my maternity items. In the middle of it, the site went down for some sort of maintenance, so that was a pain. But I finally got it all done.....and here is the REALLY cool thing about it....if you are a Cafepress Affiliate, then you can enter your PID into the widget. It will automatically be added to the link URL, and you will earn commission off the sales I make. How cool is THAT?

And if you aren't an affiliate, then sign up using the link above and start earning moolah by doing NOTHING. You can earn several dollars per sale, and all you need to do is add some code to your Web site. It's pretty easy money, if you ask me.....not that you did ask me, but I still had my Marketing guru hat on......

I can be SUCH a geek about this stuff......I feel like a kid on Christmas morning! I used to get this excited in my early days of Web designing......some little snippet of code would have me dancing in my cube.....

Okay, shameless self-promotion moment here before I toss the Marketing guru cap into the closet!

You can get my widgets here:

Widget to the got baby! Blog:


Widget to Sell Maternity Items:


Widget to Sell Baby Items:


We got a lot of snow yesterday.....something like 6-7". It was rather pretty, and I quite enjoyed it....especially since Nicholas and I were warm and cozy inside the house. My poor husband didn't fare so well. He missed his flight to Baltimore and ended up driving around for something like seven hours when it was all said and done! Thankfully, he got home safely.....