PHOTOS TODAY

GIMP, ANYONE????

Soon after convincing my husband that I absolutely needed to upgrade from my Powershot SD1100 to a Canon digital SLR, I discovered the world of "post processing". I've been struggling for months with GIMP, but to no avail. Online tutorials, trial and error..... very little progress. Then, I happened upon a bargain priced copy of COREL Paint Shop Pro X and it all suddenly came together! The photo on the top is unedited. In only moments after loading the software, I was able to fix a few flaws and brighten up the image. I was rather pleased with the "after" result (see bottom photo). Pretty good, I think! I will still try to work with GIMP. I do plan to learn Photoshop someday. However, I think the COREL software is so much easier to use for a photo newbie like myself.

"TWILIGHT" PROJECT

I admit I'm a bit late in joining the whole "Twilight" craze. Although I am a huge fan of the vampire genre (for example, Anne Rice's "Vampire Chronicles"), I have been resistant for the following reasons:
1. It's a teen thing. I don't know why that was so off-putting for me, but it was.
2. I have three young children, leaving not much time to read books for pleasure.

Then, I found the paperback version (super cheap!) at a local discount store and I couldn't resist. I initiated daily silent D.E.A.R. ( "Drop Everything and Read" ) time for my 7 and 5 year olds. It was a huge success! I was immediately smitten with the story, and I finished the book in about a week.

Then, while searching the pages of Ravelry, I discovered this fabulous pattern by "subliminalrabbit" - a replica of Bella's mittens from the movie. I'm completely inspired. I will be rummaging through my yarn stash today for grey wool...wish me luck!

here's a link link to this fabulous pattern:
subliminalrabbit: bella's mittens - updated pattern!