Lusting for Le Creuset

With the weather warming up, I am once again finding the desire to be domestic. I wandered onto the Sur la Table website today looking for a cover for the fancy knife I got for Christmas. Much to my disappointment, I did not find the knife cover, but was welcomed by something beautiful on the main page.

I have been in love with Le Creuset ever since the first time I laid eyes on one of their pieces. The enameled finish, the steel, the stoneware. In all forms, it is beautiful. To cook with Le Creuset, is to cook with a high quality product that just makes you smile while using it. Or at least that's what I imagine it would be like because I don't yet own one.....*sigh*

However, after spotting this stockpot for a mere $39.95, I think it might be time for me and Le Creuset to unite in cooking harmony :)

Le Creuset Enameled Steel Stockpot - $39.95 at Sur la Table

photo: Sur La Table Website

Oh, and of course I also spotted another Le Creuset gem I've got my eye on. It's an adorable little spice jar that I'm thinking I could use for sea salt. Because it's so pretty, I can leave it out on the counter where it would be most useful, and not have to worry about trying to hide it.

Le Creuset Spice Jar - $17.95 at Sur la Table
photo: Sur La Table Website

Now, I just need to decide on a color. I'm debating between cobalt and caribbean blue. But I also really like the red.....

i am a posting MACHINE

Ok, so I CANNOT stop playing with these Photoshop actions. I had this picture, also taken at Houston Zoo, and decided to try applying some actions to it. After trying a few different things, I came up with the two options below, which are just the beginning of endless possibilities. I mentioned before how easy actions are, but something else really cool about the actions is that you can modify the layers once the action has been applied. Soooooo, even though these are Ree's actions, they are mine, too because I modified the layers to give them the effect I wanted.

I think either modified option below could look really cool in a black wooden frame with a cream photo mat. I also really like the SOOC shot, but I think it's harder to put full-color photos on the wall and make them look right. But that just might be me.....

Thoughts?!?!

ORIGINAL: Straight-out-of-Camera (but cropped)

ACTION: Soft & Faded
ACTION: Sepia

Looking a Little Jaundice?

So when I was happily applying actions to my photo from yesterday, I thought I had enhanced it by applying both the Fresh & Colorful and Warmer actions. However, the more I look at the final photo, the less I like it. I think it looks like I accidentally gave my poor little niece Jaundice. But I also don't know if I like the original photo either - it seems to be a bit on the reddish side. I think I'm going to rework the photo, maybe only trying the Fresh and Colorful action and see what I come up with...

I might even try some other actions as well, probably just one at a time for now though. I think I was getting a little ahead of myself with this layering business.

Anyway, stay tuned for what I come up with next. And even though I only have one follower (thanks, Kelly) and one other reader (thanks, Caili), if you have any tips, suggestions, etc. let me know. I would loooooooooooooooove some feedback because sometimes I am my own worst enemy and look at my work with a more critical/ judgmental eye than other people do. So tell me, what do you think??????

I looooooove me some Photoshop actions!

As much as I like to think I can "design" and am "creative", I always seem to struggle with one of the best design programs out there. Photoshop. It might be all of the different options and me never having taken a class or reading the manual, but I'm just not the biggest fan. I MUCH prefer working in Illustrator and InDesign. HOWEVER, as I mentioned in my last post, PW's Actions are the GREATEST! And even to someone who is not the most well-aquainted with Photoshop, the actions are E-A-S-Y, which is the best part. You can apply an action to a photo just by pressing the 'play' button. And Ree has even made it easy to remove an action if you don't like the effect by pressing the play button on another action that's sole purpose is to undo already applied actions. Genius. I've been spending a lot of my free time lately playing around with all of the different actions on all different kinds of photos. I've even LAYERED actions. Ohhh. Ahhh. I know. Crazy.

I've also been working on cropping my photos, trying to create the most eye-pleasing composition. I don't know if this is the best crop for this photo, but I really liked it and didn't know what else to do with it because of the white column in the way.....

ORIGINAL: Straight-out-of-Camera (SOOC)

ORIGINAL: Crop

CROP with ACTIONS: Sunshine, Fresh & Colorful, & Bring out those eyes! (at least I think those were the three actions I used....)

What do you think????? How would you have cropped the picture? Oh, and that's my niece. Isn't she just the CUTEST?!?!?!

Bloggers Block

Every time I think about my blog, which happens to be EVERY day when I catch up on all of the wonderful blogs I follow, I want to post. However, it all seems good in theory, but when I sit down to write, I've got nothing. Part of my problem is that I come up with ideas, but usually decide people will think they are stupid posts, so I ditch the idea, thinking I will come up with something better later. Well, I've decided that I have to stop being so judgemental of myself and just post when/what I want to without worrying whether people will find it interesting or not. I realize that not every post will appeal to all people, but you can't live to please everyone, everyday.

While I don't post on my own blog very often, I read a number of blogs on a daily (well, almost daily...) basis. One of my FAVORITE blogs is The Pioneer Woman. Ree Drummond, the woman behind the fantastic blog is probably the epitome of who I hope to be someday. She is a witty and well-composed writer who is also a fantastic cook, AWESOME photographer and creative. I am so lucky to have been pointed in the direction of her blog because she often posts photography and Photoshop tips. One of the GREATEST things she has done was to create different Photoshop actions and post them on her blog....FOR FREE! It makes it so easy to take your photos and quickly apply different affects to them.

I've been doing a little playing around with the actions on some of the billions of pictures I took while in Houston a little over a month ago. I had some shots from the Houston Zoo that I was really proud of and although I liked them straight out of the camera, I wanted to see what Ree's actions could do for them.

Here is just a sampling of what I've been up to.

ORIGINAL: Straight out of the Camera

ACTION: Fresh and Colorful

What do you think??? Pretty sweet, huh?!?!?!?!?