NOT MUCH GOING ON IN BLOGGING!!

Getting ready for the holidays so I haven't been doing updates to my blog lately! I will be posting some great spring ideas in January! Wishing everyone safe Happy Holidays and a fantastic New Year!! :)
Here is the newest and last on this years images! More to come in the new year!

DAY INTO NIGHT!! (Before and After)

I just wanted to share this cool effect with you that I found in one of my plug-ins that work with Photoshop CS5!
I'm sure there is a way to do this with just PS but this way is a lot quicker.
It's Perfect Effects 3 from onOne Software. It's a great tool for creating special effects for you images:
onOne Software.com
First, here is a Before and After of the image:

Here is the image in Photo Effects. It's in effects/ movie looks/ day for night. You then can make a few adjustments for a lighter or darker effect!

I then brought the image back to Photoshop for the last tweaking. I drew some small windows, duplicated them 5x in different sizes then cut & pasted  a Christmas tree. I also darkened the tree for a night effect.
For another fun effect I put what looks like tiny lights in the foreground tree into a blending layer mode of "Color Dodge".
Finally, I added a layer of snow to the whole image for a final snowing scene and that's it!! :)

A VINTAGE CHRISTMAS!

There are some images that can make a great Vintage image! You just know when you see them. Even with bright
and vibrant colors I know when an image can be turned into something with a vintage feeling and look.
Here are some images with a before and after vintage look:

I achieve this look with some actions I have in Photoshop but mostly with filters and textures, some I've created and some I've purchased. Try a few of your own images, it's lots of fun!! :)

CHRISTMAS COMPOSITE/RECYCLING IMAGES!

I recently did an image for this year's Christmas season that is soon approaching. After uploading it I realized it could have another life or two left in it to create something new!  Here is the original image:

It's nice as it is but I found this image different and fun to do and this is how I created  image no.2.
I masked out the background and enlarged the height of the image to accommodate the new background.

I added an image of red curtains and duplicated the layer for more of a curtain feeling. In the last back layer I then added a red bokeh background and added some sparkle brushes in a separate layer and set the layer to "Color Dodge". That's it and here is the finished Image!! :)

Images are available for download at Shutterstock.com, Fotolia.com and Dreamstime.com.
There are more links located on left side.