The Land of Lost Luggage

The eggs have spoken.

That's right. Friends, today is the 28th anniversary of my birth! (At least that's the number my friends and I are sticking to....)

Long time Lost Luggage readers will remember my 80's flashback segments. Today is special- I'm going to take you on a little trip deep into the 70's! When I was born:

Representatives of 23 western oil companies begin negotiations with OPEC in Tehran to stabilize oil prices. February 14 they sign a treaty with 6 Persian Gulf countries. (Obviously that didn't work.)

In Los Angeles, Charles Manson and three female "Family" members are found guilty of the 1969 Tate-LaBianca murders.

A new stock market index called the Nasdaq debuts.

May 12 - An earthquake in Turkey destroys most of the city of Burdur

Apollo 15 astronauts David Scott and James Irwin become the first to ride in a lunar rover, a day after landing on the Moon.

Walt Disney World opens in Florida

Richard Nixon is President

The top songs of 1971:

You’ve Got a Friend – James Taylor

Joy To The World – Three Dog Night

Brown Sugar – Rolling Stones

Stairway to Heaven – Led Zeppelin

Imagine – John Lennon

Behind Blue Eyes – the Who

What’s Going On – Marvin Gaye

Proud Mary – Ike and Tina Turner

Friends – Elton John

Maggie May – Rod Stewart

Thank you all so much for your friendship! I love seeing that you come to visit. No big plans today...just taking it easy. See you tomorrow!

( PS- The title of this post refers to this post here. )

Come on...have some fun!

after photoshop

before photoshop

I've been on a photoshop detour the last few days...won't you join me? I'd love to see what you can do to alter the before photo.. You can click the photograph to enlarge and save yourself a copy. Post a link to your fountain in the comments when you're finished!

When Butterflies Attack

There are so many things to learn about in order to cruise around Photoshop. Once you have a general idea about what the program can do, negotiating around the software gets easier and easier. I have a fun time playing with saturation levels and colors...I can sit for a long time going back and forth with either...then add in some layers? Julie fun time.

(Special photo credit to my good friend Anna P. who took this shot while on her honeymoon in Spain.)

What do you think?

Before Photoshop

 

After Photoshop

How do you like my new look? I actually got a haircut this morning (just a trim and root touch up- the grays are at bay...and oh...can you please tell high school students and 20 year olds to take a look around before they start talking about how old they are? Sheeesh....it hit me that I am turning 37 in a few weeks pretty hard today..) and since the weather is taking a break today, I thought I would do some spring blog cleaning too.

I actually made the first banner and scanned it into the computer...I am proud to say my new banner is 100% digital. I am moving around CS3 pretty easily now...experimentation paid off (finally).

Thank you for all of your support during the last few days regarding my "no tag" notice up there.... I appreciate all of the times I have been tagged, but the truth is, I always feel like someone's feelings will get hurt on the return tag. This way, we can all be happy! See you soon!

Family History

This is a picture I found while importing images into the computer the other day. The woman in the center of the picture is my great grandmother, which leads me to believe that one of the small children is my grandfather. While working on this picture, I have imagined what it would have been like that day...did we sell wine? My grandfather labeled this picture "Vineyard 1920". I'll ask my grandmother if she remembers any other details and let you know! I also want to find out if this was taken on our local property in Southern California....so many questions!

CS3 and me.

Behold my first digital collage. I know, I know...her feet are messed up and there is a chunk out of her coat, (don't we all have hurt feet and torn coats?) but besides that, I like her!

Did you buy it yet? It only comes out once a year...don't miss out!

I've been tinkering with my new CS3 for a month and a half now. Before that, I had PS Elements. I have been trying this and that, but never fully got a grasp of what was happening with that program until today. I know there are plenty of tutorials, but I need to have a book....and not a book written by rocket scientists to understand what is happening here. When I can see examples (and really great ones at that!) of art I like, and see how each artist applied these tools I have been stockpiling (brushes, backgrounds, free images, catalogue scans) it just clicks!

So there you have it. No formal training, I just read my new favorite magazine cover to cover and got to tinkering. By the way, that quote is from Yves Saint Laurent. Don't you love it?