I was working on my never-ending decluttering project yesterday. I know these are inanimate objects, but I think they secretly breed. I am making progress. Getting rid of all the work-related stuff I had for my former part-time job helped a lot. I got a closet back for my own use.
Now for the point of this post...
I came across a hard copy of an old article, "Parents Have Homework, Too", written by Sybil Humphries. Ms. Humphries, a veteran teacher, emphasizes the important role that parents have in their children's education. It is still online at Teachnet. Even though the article is ten years old, her message is timeless. Parental participation in the education process is essential if children are to get the maximum value from their school years.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Giving My Hands a Rest
I've had a delay getting back to my blog due to a carpal tunnel problem aggravated by all the yard work I have been doing lately. Mowing is the biggest aggravation. The numbness spreads from my hand all the way up to the elbow. The right hand is worse because of holding the lever that keeps the power drive on the front wheels running. I finally resorted to holding it down with a velcro strip, but that defeats the automatic shutoff, which isn't really safe. It does, however, allow me to wear a brace on my wrist and keeps me mowing a bit longer.
Years ago I taught myself to mouse with my left hand by playing solitaire. I used to have a problem with my wrist every spring when I was trying to plant and finish up all the end of the year paper work at the same time. Simple websurfing can be done left-handed, but I can't do my graphics work. I am just not accurate enough.
I bought some newer braces for my wrists to wear at night. I was waking up with numb hands every morning before I started using them. The older brace allows more flexibility, so it works well when mowing. The newer ones have a larger hard piece that goes into the palm of the hand, so holding anything while wearing them is basically impossible.
The planting is done, and except for a couple of spots, the mulching is also. I need to do a bit a pruning this week. Then mowing, weeding, and deadheading will be the major things to do the rest of the summer. Anything else on my gardening want-to-do list can be done on a more leisurely basis. So I should be able to ease myself back into the graphics work and finish up the tutorial series I was working on.
Years ago I taught myself to mouse with my left hand by playing solitaire. I used to have a problem with my wrist every spring when I was trying to plant and finish up all the end of the year paper work at the same time. Simple websurfing can be done left-handed, but I can't do my graphics work. I am just not accurate enough.
I bought some newer braces for my wrists to wear at night. I was waking up with numb hands every morning before I started using them. The older brace allows more flexibility, so it works well when mowing. The newer ones have a larger hard piece that goes into the palm of the hand, so holding anything while wearing them is basically impossible.
The planting is done, and except for a couple of spots, the mulching is also. I need to do a bit a pruning this week. Then mowing, weeding, and deadheading will be the major things to do the rest of the summer. Anything else on my gardening want-to-do list can be done on a more leisurely basis. So I should be able to ease myself back into the graphics work and finish up the tutorial series I was working on.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Yeah, I know...
I have been neglecting my blog again. I intend to start posting more regularly soon. I have a half-finished tutorial to complete and post. But I have to finish planting my flowerbeds first.
I am woefully behind with my spring gardening. It has been raining frequently through the month of May and into June, leaving the soil very muddy. It is good that we are finally out of a drought and I don't have to worry about the well. But bedding plants don't do well if you plant them in mud. I have about finished the planting and mostly just need to mulch.
It is too wet to work in the beds this morning because of a thunderstorm last night. After really overdoing it the last couple of days, I was glad a wet morning allowed me to sleep late without guilt. I have been letting the inside cleaning go in order to work outside. So I have plenty to do inside.
It was funny yesterday afternoon when the thunder started in the distance. The cats couldn't decide which was worse: the thunder or the vacuum cleaner. Usually they want inside as soon as they hear any thunder, but yesterday they decided thunder was the lesser of two evils and stayed out on the porch.
I hope to have time for some photography soon. Early morning is my favorite time to take out the camera. Maybe a few pictures will be worthy of sharing. I saw a wonderful edging of dew on a plant a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, by the time I fetched the camera, the wind had gotten up enough to make the droplets of dew run together. Bummer!
Well, I am off to fight the dust bunnies. Yuck, I hate housework!
I am woefully behind with my spring gardening. It has been raining frequently through the month of May and into June, leaving the soil very muddy. It is good that we are finally out of a drought and I don't have to worry about the well. But bedding plants don't do well if you plant them in mud. I have about finished the planting and mostly just need to mulch.
It is too wet to work in the beds this morning because of a thunderstorm last night. After really overdoing it the last couple of days, I was glad a wet morning allowed me to sleep late without guilt. I have been letting the inside cleaning go in order to work outside. So I have plenty to do inside.
It was funny yesterday afternoon when the thunder started in the distance. The cats couldn't decide which was worse: the thunder or the vacuum cleaner. Usually they want inside as soon as they hear any thunder, but yesterday they decided thunder was the lesser of two evils and stayed out on the porch.
I hope to have time for some photography soon. Early morning is my favorite time to take out the camera. Maybe a few pictures will be worthy of sharing. I saw a wonderful edging of dew on a plant a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, by the time I fetched the camera, the wind had gotten up enough to make the droplets of dew run together. Bummer!
Well, I am off to fight the dust bunnies. Yuck, I hate housework!
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Interpreting PS for PSP Users: Inner Shadow
There are lots of digital scrapping tutorials on the web, but the majority of them are for Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. If you know Paint Shop Pro well, it is fairly easy to figure out how to create the same results in PSP.
But there are a few styles mentioned in the tutorials that are very subtle. I could never figure them out from looking at the pictures in the tutorials. Now that I have Photoshop, I easily see how these styles can be created in PSP. So I am writing some tutorials that will explain these PS styles and how they can be reproduced using the effects in PSP.
This is the first of a series of three tutorials on the “inner” styles or effects.
“Inner” means that the style occurs within the boundaries of the image. These styles use highlights and/or shadows to give the image a third dimension. Let’s start by looking at the three types of inner styles and what each one does.
Including all these styles/effects in one post would be much too long. So the tutorial will be divided into three parts. Part 1 will cover inner shadow and Part 2 the inner glow. Part 3 will look at the PSP inner bevel effect.
Part 1 - Inner Shadow
There is no effect in Paint Shop Pro called inner shadow. However, we can use the cutout effect to create the same results. Cutout is one of the 3D effects in the dropdown menu with the drop shadow.
The white image below is the default setting for the cutout. The original image was pink. As you can see, the original image disappears.
In the second image, the “fill interior with color” is unchecked. (See red circled area in the dialog box below.) This leaves you with an image that is transparent except for the shadow.
In the third image, the “fill interior with color” is checked and the color was changed to the original pink.
This last method will work if the original image is a solid color. You can increase the blur and lower the opacity to make it look more like a rounding shadow and less like a cutout. But it won’t work on a patterned image.
The offset in the default is set for a cutout with the light source coming from the top left. If you want your shadow in a different place, change the offset settings.
A Better Inner Shadow in PSP
Another way of using the cutout allows you more options with your inner shadow because the shadow will be on its own layer. I have used a textured image in this example to show you that it is possible to add the inner shadow to images that are not a plain solid color.
Below are inner shadows applied to images using different settings for the cutout effect. In each case, the shadow color is a darker version of the original color.
PDF Version
But there are a few styles mentioned in the tutorials that are very subtle. I could never figure them out from looking at the pictures in the tutorials. Now that I have Photoshop, I easily see how these styles can be created in PSP. So I am writing some tutorials that will explain these PS styles and how they can be reproduced using the effects in PSP.
This is the first of a series of three tutorials on the “inner” styles or effects.
“Inner” means that the style occurs within the boundaries of the image. These styles use highlights and/or shadows to give the image a third dimension. Let’s start by looking at the three types of inner styles and what each one does.
- The inner shadow uses a shadow to create roundness or to make the image appear to be under another object.
- The inner glow puts a highlight on the image.
- The inner bevel uses both a shadow and a highlight to create thickness for a flat object.
Including all these styles/effects in one post would be much too long. So the tutorial will be divided into three parts. Part 1 will cover inner shadow and Part 2 the inner glow. Part 3 will look at the PSP inner bevel effect.
Part 1 - Inner Shadow
There is no effect in Paint Shop Pro called inner shadow. However, we can use the cutout effect to create the same results. Cutout is one of the 3D effects in the dropdown menu with the drop shadow.
The white image below is the default setting for the cutout. The original image was pink. As you can see, the original image disappears.
In the second image, the “fill interior with color” is unchecked. (See red circled area in the dialog box below.) This leaves you with an image that is transparent except for the shadow.
In the third image, the “fill interior with color” is checked and the color was changed to the original pink.
This last method will work if the original image is a solid color. You can increase the blur and lower the opacity to make it look more like a rounding shadow and less like a cutout. But it won’t work on a patterned image.
The offset in the default is set for a cutout with the light source coming from the top left. If you want your shadow in a different place, change the offset settings.
A Better Inner Shadow in PSP
Another way of using the cutout allows you more options with your inner shadow because the shadow will be on its own layer. I have used a textured image in this example to show you that it is possible to add the inner shadow to images that are not a plain solid color.
- First, create your image. This image can have a texture or pattern if you want.
- Next, duplicate the image. (Layers, Duplicate or right-click on the layer and choose Duplicate.)
- Then, link the two layers so that if you move one layer, the other layer will go with it. Do this by clicking on the area circled in red on one layer to change it to a number. Then activate the other layer(s) to be linked and change “None” to the same number. You must use the move tool to move the layers. The pick tool (deform tool in earlier versions) will move them separately. The chain link will show beside layers that are linked. (See below.)
- With the copied layer as the active layer, apply the cutout effect.
- Be sure the “Fill interior with color” is unchecked.
- The shadow color in this image is a very dark version of the green of the star. Shadows are only black or gray if they are resting on white or gray surfaces.
- Both offsets are set to zero which makes the shadow go all around the star, giving it a puffy look.
- Because the inner shadow is on its own layer, you can change the opacity and/or the blend mode of the layer.
Below are inner shadows applied to images using different settings for the cutout effect. In each case, the shadow color is a darker version of the original color.
PDF Version
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Please have some patience!
Grr!!! I am so tired of reading complaints about what President Obama is doing. The man has been President for one month. It would take a miracle worker to fix everything people want fixed in such a short time. While President Obama is a very talented man, he is just one human being. It took years for our country to get into the mess it is in. How can anyone reasonably expect him to fix everything in a month?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
