What Have I Been Doing?

Since retiring I get asked that question a lot. Most of the time I don't really have a specific answer just "Busy!" Busy with parents, sisters, nieces, nephews, great-nieces and nephews, taking photos whenever possible, Amarillo CWC, yoga, Jazzercize, walking and blogging. I don't know how I ever had time to work. This week I have been busy learning how to edit photos I've taken with Photoshop. I asked for Photoshop two years ago for Christmas. It's a very complicated program but I love it. I would love to go to an Adobe Conference to learn more, but they are very costly and can't quite justify that expense just because I want to. The possibilities of things you can create with Photoshop are endless and it certainly fills my need to be creative. And the best thing about it . . . it's quick gratification. I told L*vonna I think I feel about my photos the way she feels about her paintings. They are never quiet good enough, or the color isn't exactly what I have in my mind, or if I could just tweak this background, or remove that blemish etc. etc. I usually just have to resign and say "Okay, done."  So that brings us back to this week. Last week I took photos of C*urtney's family and her friends family so I've been editing those. Then when C*urtney came over to preview them she said she wanted some of the photos I took of Brys*n at Three F*lls C*ve to use for Christmas presents. I quickly just showed her a couple of actions to tweak the photos and C*urtney decided she wanted to come back and try her hand at editing photos. That got me to thinking about trying some new edits, adding frames. Also H*ster had asked me if I could help her make a photo invitation for Ak*li's birthday party coming up soon. H*ster had exactly in her mind what she wanted the invitations to look like. We looked on line trying to find one to order, but you know how that goes . . . nothing quite matches the one in your minds eye. So what could I do???? I decided to try to create it with Photoshop. I had tried once before when I made the birth announcements for Brys*n. They turned out okay. I had to create it four times before I finally got it right and was able to upload it to The Photo Store here in Amarillo. It made me so nervous ordering prints of them without seeing it first. I was hopeful they would turn out. H*ster and I picked them up this afternoon and they were PERFECT if I say so myself! Take a look and tell me what you think about them. I must admit I'm trying not to break my arm patting myself on the back. I love learning new things though. Anybody need some Christmas, New Year, Hanukkah, or Birth Announcement cards? I'm up for the challenge.