gimp girl tutorial: rounded photo corners

Happy Thursday, lovely Marigoldlets! 

Here's a simple way to add vintage flair to your photos: round the corners.

Takes less than 30 seconds, once you get the gist.

Ready, go.

{new to gimp? it's like photoshop, only free. start here and here.}

First, open an image using Gimp.

Next, Select > Rounded Rectangle.

The Rounded Rectangle dialogue box will appear.

You can play with the radius percentage {how curvy your curve will be}. 

I set mine to 25%.

After hitting OK, you'll notice that part of your image {the larger part} is selected.

We want to get rid of those tiny triangles in the corners, so we'll invert the selection.

So, Select > Invert.

Edit > Clear and say goodbye to those triangles.

Now Select > None...

...now you're ready to add some deco tape and call it a day.

{you know the only reason I do this is to subject you to otherwise irrelevant but crazy cute pictures of my offspring... right?}

valentine's with the kidlets: graphing conversation hearts

Little-known fact: 

I am the {extremely} math-challenged daughter of a professional {and extremely gifted} math teacher.

So I think my mom will be very excited to see me {me!} teaching my offspring to graph stuff at such a tender age. 

Lizzy jumped on it and rocked the graphing. Maren, well, takes more after me.

Once the graphing was done, there was that terrible yearly disappointment when you eat that first conversation heart and you remember how horrible they really taste...

26 praises

{ink and watercolor}

I loved Daisy Yellow's creative experiment earlier this month: 

pick a word, any word, and write it 25 different ways.

I picked my word for the year {praise}.

To be honest, I wasn't feeling very praise-full at the time,

and began with a grudging heart.

But the challenge was too much to pass up, and after getting over the hump of praise 15 or so,

I suddenly saw how many ways there are to see praise.

Everywhere! Everything!

Suddenly the least object or idea was a potential subject of praise.

"It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name..."

{psalm 92:1}

dancing days

These girls are about 45% dress-up, 25% dancing, 25% coloring, and 5% chasing the cat.

I like the view from here.

Most-requested dancing tunes: Kingdom Dance from the Tangled soundtrack, the overture from Le Nozze di Figaro, The Nutcracker Suite (aka "Clara music"), God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen by the MoTab, and Almost There from the Princess and the Frog soundtrack. 

{We have been listening to God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen every. single. day. since. July.}

Happy Friday, friends. We're looking forward to pizza night, windowsill painting, drywall finishing, church going, and some good ole r&r. Amazing weekend ahead, yes?

valentine's merrymaking

I promised myself that this year I'd be better about decorating for the smaller holidays.

I've made 4 garlands {and a bloggy banner! click over, Google Reader peeps!} for Valentine's Day so far, and you know what?

It makes the holiday so much more exciting to have cute little decorations up.

The girls are so excited about Valentine's Day, even though they don't really know what it's all about,

except they think that "Mommy, can we get these blueberries for Valentine's Day??" might just work.

{it didn't.}

So it's time to seize the day and craft it up, right? What am I missing?

Valentine's Day votives via Homemade Serenity

Valentine's Day embroidery hoops via Mod Podge Rocks!

Valentine's Rice Krispie Treats via Babies, Paper and Song

Love {Yarn} Letters via My Sister's Suitcase

Valentine's Printable via Lolly Jane Boutique

Yarn Wreath via Me Oh My

Kid's Valentine's Menu via E is for Explore

Fabric Valentine's Heart Garland via How About Orange

I have the tissue all cut up to make those votives but just haven't gotten around to doing it yet. And I am totally stealing that entire V-day menu... the girls are going to flip.

whatever the weather...

Remember, dear ones, that it is always better to look up.

I hope you find some peace tucked away in your sabbath day, whomever and wherever you might be.

process: gesso and glitter

All this discovering and experimenting with new forms and mediums and ideas is so idiotically exciting. 

speedball? gesso? india ink? brayer? huh??

Every time I hear about some new thing my heart beats a little faster, like the wind that
speaks to Vianne "of towns yet to be visited, friends in need yet to be discovered, battles yet to be fought..."
only about art supplies.
Ok bad comparison.

I did make a fabulous discovery regarding glitter that I hope to translate into a tutorial very soon.