crafts: recent finished (bébé) objects

I'm gonna be an aunt really soon (what do y'all think of Auntie Nicki?), so I spent a few months making loads of baby stuff for little Sofie. I finally gave (most of) it to Trevor & Jenna, so I feel like I can post it. One item has not been given but I don't think either of them read my blog so... I don't like this is going to spoil anything :)

Snug booties


Vanille slippers (named because I was watching kyle play FFXIII while I made them and the colour matches her hair - "her" being a character in the game, not Sofie!)


Backstrap sandals


Periwinkle Kimono

I'm also going to make some Japanese style booties/baby slippers to go with this... soon... when I have time...

First (and last?) raggy quilt (also for Sofie)


Stuff that isn't for Sofie...
Flame Sandals (not sure who these are for yet...)


And my first tunisian project, a square for a swap I'm doing.

photos: gritty dramatic tutorial

Kyle and I have decided to try out at least one Photoshop tutorial per week in the hopes that it'll teach us new skills and potentially generate some neat results.

Today's tutorial was Dramatic Gritty Effect. Kyle chose a photo I took at the Toronto Zoo, and I chose a photo I took from the train in Cuzco, Peru. I like Kyle's result, but not mine! I tried again on my own, using a second photo of Cuzco. I think I like the second one better.

Before: Just a bit of my normal photo-enhancing techniques (contrast, levels, etc)


After: My dramatic gritty effect.


Before: No treatment.


After: Kyle's dramatic gritty effect.


Before: Some of my basic photo-enhancing techniques.


After: My second attempt at dramatic gritty effect.