Thoughtfully Blended Hearts

Friday, February 25, 2011

Thrifty Finds and Oatmeal Cookies

Michael asked me to make some oatmeal cookies for him last night.

He doesn’t ask for anything very often...so I baked cookies this morning.

His favorite oatmeal cookies with lots of raisins, cinnamon and chunks of walnuts are waiting for him now...

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

1 - 1/2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 -1/2 tsp. vanilla
1- 1/2 cups butter (I used a combination of butter and coconut oil)
Cream this mixture with your mixer
Combine the following and add to the creamed mixture
2 -1/3 c flour ( I used self rising because I was out of plain)
2 cups oatmeal
1 -1/2 c. raisins
1 or more cups of walnuts
Bake for about ten minutes being careful not to overbake and let cool on a wire rack...these freeze well

I thought I’d show you my little thrifted finds here...

I’ve enjoyed this little kitchen towel so much...it is cross stitched and has a little ruffle on the bottom...I think it cost $.99

My little heart goes pitter patter everytime I look at this vintage red aluminum pitcher...I love it and it was in mint condition...it cost $.50

I also purchased this cute little Pfaltzgraff honey jar recently (it was brand new)...it was pricey!!! about $5 Smile

My cute little bird plates came from TJ Maxx...I bought four of them...they were four dollars each ...

I had a tough time getting a good photo of these plates!!! sorry...

Have a beautiful weekend peeps!!!

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Linking up @ Bargain Hunting With Laurie

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

De-Wonkify Your Photo in Picasa

When I make photographs they are usually wonky...to the right...to the left...just wonky (not straight).

I think my brain has wonkified my eyes so that I hold my camera wonky (unlevel).

I usually have to straighten the wonky out on almost every photo I make.

I applaud you if you have that wonderful ability to make straight photos.

It must be one of those God-given talents that I missed though.

A perfect example of “Wonky”...

This little dish and crystal are perched on my windowsill...

Aren’t you glad my windows are not that crooked??? I am!!!

Open your photo in Picasa

Click on Basic Fixes

Click on your Straighten icon

A grid will overlay your photo

Now select a prominent line...like the windowsill line or if you have a landscape...click on the horizon line

Now my windowsill is straight...but the dish still looks crooked...that’s because of perspective...

I wasn’t perfectly in front of this shot...I was slightly to the right side so the shot is at an angle

Most of my shots are like this...you have to decide what is most important to have straight to you...

I’ll edit it more and see if this is the right decision for this shot...

You can always undo this “fix” by selecting (undo straighten) button and it goes back to the original shot...

I went to the “tuning’ tab first

I then adjusted my fill light slide tab to about 75% toward the right (adds more light)

The next step to to select the “Highlight” sliding tab and slide it about 25% to the right...

a small adjustment that makes a big difference...

See how it is changing the color of the sky...

Now I want to try and adjust that color...

I slid the color slider over about 12% over to the left ...

I wanted more color but couldn’t get what I desired without the photo being way overexposed...

Going back to the Basic Fixes Tab...I cropped a little off the top of the photo and cropped off the windowsill...

I think I’ll straighten it some more...

Go back to Basic Fixes and click on Straighten again...

First I cropped out some more of my sky.

This time the straighten tool cropped that little sliver of light that you could see underneath the dish...

I hope this helps someone dewonkify a photo!!!

Just remember to have fun and experiment a lot!!!

I used to teach painting classes and the most important thing that I could do was to make my students

understand that “fun” makes everything better. If it’s fun, you’ll try again!!!

This is one of those cases where the learning process is fun and you’re not trying to be a professional!!!

“JUST HAVE FUN WITH IT”

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Lucky Number 7

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Timestamp: 2011-02-22 13:44:09 UTC

Lucky Number seven is the winner...the seventh commenter is.......Ms. Bake It ...you’ve won the CSN gift certificate!!! Email me and I’ll give you all the “info”!!! Congratulations!!!