Challenge #79

[Grant...@adobeforums.com]

The Challenges is posted and the theme is to develop a birthday card or two
or three. Now is the time for everyone to have fun with Jodi but go easy
...NOT!

http://home.cogeco.ca/~challenge/Challenges.html

Present and Past Challenges will remain Until tomorrow at 7:00 pm the then
the Present will be Past and new images will be posted.

* Important notice to all the new people in this forum. This is not a
close shop you are all invited to submit an image. If you don't think you
are good enough this is your first mistake, I think most have found that
working on the Challenge has improved their personal level. So young and
old, hot shots and cool dudes now is you time to post.
--
Grant

Home Pages http://home.cogeco.ca/~grant.dixon/index.htm

Challenge Pages: http://home.cogeco.ca/~challenge/

*********************************************************

Creativity is so delicate a flower that praise tends to make it bloom, while
discouragement often nips it in the bud. Any of us will put out more and
better ideas if our efforts are appreciated.

Alexander Osborn (1888 - 1966)

*********************************************************

[Nan...@adobeforums.com]

could it be Jodi's birthday???

[Grant...@adobeforums.com]

<Nan...@adobeforums.com> wrote in message
news:3bb55...@webx.la2eafNXanI...
: could it be Jodi's birthday???

Not until Saturday ....

:)

[Jodi...@adobeforums.com]

<BLUSHING>....don't know what to say....except; Thank You Grant :)<kiss>...That is one heck of an image...LMAO It's amazing that you remembered....my hub never does ;)

PS, please people, do not use my mugly face in your cards !

[Wendy_E_...@adobeforums.com]

Too late Jodi :) :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Wendy

[Maril...@adobeforums.com]

Jodi - I must have downloaded the wrong picture because in the one I got from the Challenge site, you are one beautiful lady. I must have missed the mugly face link :)

Have a wonderful birthday!

Marilyn

[cal_...@adobeforums.com]

Jodi happy birthday, have a great day !

Cal

[Not_The...@adobeforums.com]

Jodi, May not have time to work on this challenge...unfortunately. So, wanted to wish you the happiest of all birthdays today.

NTD

[David G House]

Happy Birthday Jodi!!!!!!!!!!
40 and still a babe!!! WooWooo!!!!

You have a wonderful day, Remember...... this is the best time of your life, all of us are raisin ' a glass to you aand wishin you all the best...

David

[Mark_L...@adobeforums.com]

Welcome to the 40's, Jodi! Have a great day!

[Robert...@adobeforums.com]

Happy Birthday, Jodi !

Bob

[Jodi...@adobeforums.com]

wow, you guys are really amazing ! Thank You sooooo much <teary eyed >... I did look throo the challenges and there is so much I want to say about them...BUT, my hub is taking me shopping now ! I can't believe it ! 40 must be my lucky # !!!! Thank You all so much !

Love Always,

Jodi

[Kenneth_...@adobeforums.com]

Happy Birthday,Jodi!
Ken

[byrongale]

Jodi,

...look on the bright side... turning 40 just means that you're another
year closer to being able to order from the Senior's Menu. ;-)

Happy Birthday!!

Byron

[Nan...@adobeforums.com]

Jodi,

A very happy birthday to a wonderful gal who I admire, consider a friend and feel blessed to know. Your presence on this forum has added dimension and color to the group. Your talent wows me with its creations and inspires me.

So...here's to you girl!!

Nancy

[Barbar...@adobeforums.com]

A Happy, Happy 40 to you Jodi!!

Barb

[byrongale]

Patti,

I actually laughed out loud watching your animation... too cute!!

Byron

[Patti Anderson]

Thanks, Byron. That animation was pure fun. :) I kept the drawing to a minimum and only used one swipe with Liquify to sink the cake. Hopefully now that Jodi has DSL she can enjoy it more without waiting forever for it to download.

Patti

[Wendy_E_...@adobeforums.com]

Barb ... The animation is great :)

Anne ... Clever idea ... I really like the way youhave done it.

Beth ... Two beautiful cards

Bob ... Great effect

Dave ... Did you use gradients set to difference mode?

Grant ... Just so funny

Marilyn ... Beautifull images .. the soft dreamy look in no 2 is excellent.

Patti ... The way the cake sags is great and I like the way the lettering is done.

Bob ... The words is your no 1 are beautiful but no 2 has to be my this weeks favourite ... the whole thing is beautiful done and so funny.

Terri ... Nice set of images ... I especially like the one dry and one wet. Just how did you get the wet effect?

Jodi ... Lovely thank you card. What lettering did you use?, it is very nice ... bet I can't get it for the Mac :)

Wendy

[be...@adobeforums.com]

Hi Wendy,
Thanks - that's very kind of you to say.
I think you had a great idea with your card and it kind of reminded me of old American show called "Laugh-in" where people peak out and make funny comments.

beth

[Dave Hamer]

Wendy,

Yes, I used the Rainbow Gradient set to difference mode several times.

Dave

---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Dave Hamer
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.735 / Virus Database: 489 - Release Date: 8/6/2004

[Terri_...@adobeforums.com]

Wendy,

Thanks. Actually the wet look is surprising easy to do. I made the paper from a pattern fill with a little help from the line tool. On to the wet look. I created a 50% gray Overlay layer over the paper and used the burn tool at a low setting. This went a long way towards making the paper look wet. I then made a blank layer and used my favorite brush the "Drippy Watercolor" brush located in the Special Effects set. I set the brush opacity to around 29%, and randomly sloshed it around the paper. Next did the text and balloons and applied styles to the text...the balloons were done with gradients. I dropped the opacity to all these layers down to around 22%. I varied these layers by 1 - 3% to make the fading more random. After all the text and balloon layers were done I made another transparent layer and slopped on some more drippy watercolor at 20% or so. Next I created another layer and used drippy watercolor set to royal blue for the stain. I again slopped on the color at about 20% as before but on this layer I ran the Gaussian Blur filter. I thought the paper needed that stain to fool the eye. Next I created another 50% overlay layer and used both the burn and dodge tool. (I also used a brush set called Coffee Rings I got from the exchange to do the paint on the matt where the jars had been moved. The paint stain under the brush is also the drippy watercolor brush set at 10% blue pink 100%. Lastly, I created a layer on top and turned off any layers that weren't on or the note paper. I stamped these together then ran the wave filter over this layer to get the edges of the paper to warp as they would with water damage. That pretty much covers the wet stuff. I hope this one isn't too depressing! Don't know about Jodi but it's how I personally feel about aging.

Terri

[Terri_...@adobeforums.com]

Wendy,

Just saw your globe. Wow! That soooo looks like real glass. The little flecks of snow are a great touch. Isn't that like 79 steps to do one of those globes from scratch?

Terri

[Maril...@adobeforums.com]

Wendy - Thanks for your comments! That was a neat snow globe you did, and I liked your font. Did you create the font using filters?

Patti - Your cake pic was so very, very funny! Well, maybe not to Jodi :) But to those of us who would be ecstatic to be 40 again, though, it was hilarious!

Jodi - Hope you are enjoying your birthday as much as we are ;)

Marilyn

[Wendy_E_...@adobeforums.com]

Thank you all for the comments, I was so stuck for ideas on this one.

Terri ... I have added your notes on how to do the wet stain to my tutorial file. It is very realistic. Thanks for all the info.

Marilyn ... the snowglobe was from a tutorial a few of us did a while ago its at:

<http://graphicssoft.about.com/library/tuts/bltut31snowglobe1.htm>

The font is Apple Chancery and I used a style on it ... its from Adobe Studio Exchange not too sure what its called but they are all water styles (Shallow Water, Carribean Water) ... I just tried to search for it but the exchange is down at the moment.

Wendy

[Jodi...@adobeforums.com]

Hi everybody, I wanted to be here last night but I was just way too tired. Wow, looking through the images and they are really really special. Each one touched me in a special way that i can't possibly describe in words. I know it was the challenge for the week but I'd like to beleive it wasn't ;)

Thank You all so much !

Wendy, ya it was a PC font;' Nottingham ' from EKNP.com (free fonts)but maybe you can find something like it here;

<http://www.freemacfonts.com/>

[Wendy_E_...@adobeforums.com]

Thanks Jodi,

I will take a look ... :)

Did you have a great evening?

Wendy

[Jodi...@adobeforums.com]

Wendy, my hub took me shopping out of town for my b'day...i could not find the 2 items i wanted and ended up buying some new school clothes for my daughter instead. Seems to always be the way with me. Afterwards we went to eat at Ponderosa ( a typical All~American all you can eat buffet/steakhouse )...BECAUSE it's the only place where my kids do not have to sit and wait for food. My 3 year old son can be a real bugger when he gets bored...I can walk up to the buffet and get his food before i even sit at the table. Not exactly what I would have favored for my b'day dinner but again, it's all about the kids <sigh>. Even so, it was a nice day out. Ended up renting a couple of DVD's afterwards ' Master In Commander' ( Russel Crowe ) and 'Casper' for the kids. Another b'day passes <sigh again> ;)Thanks for asking.

[Susan_S.@adobeforums.com]

Happy Birthday Jodi! Some great challenge entries this week. I loved the saggy cake and the one with Jodi's beautiful beasties! My excuse for non-participation this week is that no.1 daughter has proved to be one of the ten per cent for whom the chicken pox vaccination does not work...So she is going out of her mind with boredom stuck at home - but not feeling sick at all - just a little bit spotty! So until the spots go down I've been letting her use the computer/trying to entertain her. I hope she is better by Wednesday - it's her birthday then (she is the sort of child that you punish by not letting her go to school)

[Jodi...@adobeforums.com]

Susan, sorry to hear about your daughter...bummer ! .... have you tried the baking soda bath ? When we were little and all had the chicken pox my mother made us take baths in hot water mixed with 'alot' of baking soda mixed in. Our pox were gone before the neighbour's kids ! I guess it dries them up quicker.

[Wendy_E_...@adobeforums.com]

Jodi,

Hey ... still sounds like a fine birthday. Three year olds are always like that ... its just that some of them never grow out of it :).

I have just tried out the font place but no nice fonts at all ... then I remembered that someone (May have been Beth or Barbara) said that PC fonts will work on a Mac. So I did a search, found the font, installed it and YEAH it works !!!

Oh I am happy !! :)

Wendy

[Susan_S.@adobeforums.com]

Thanks for the tip Jodi-it's a good idea - although her spots are so mild (presumably due to the vaccine) she hasn't even been really itchy - the only reason she can't go to school is to avoid infecting any one else. (altho' as the possibility of chicken pox didn't occur to me when she was slightly headachey last week she actually went to school when she would have been at her most infectious...)

[carl_su...@adobeforums.com]

I looked at all the entries this morning and got the biggest smile on my face when I clicked on Patti Anderson's cake. If you have not clicked on it you are missing a real treat (all pun intended).

I really enjoyed doing mine as it was the first "constructed" (I don't even know the terminology) image I've done. I appreciate the opportunity to participate in these events and learn from all you Pros.

Happy Birthday Jodi and anybody else who has one also

Carl

[Jodi...@adobeforums.com]

Wendy, I'm glad the font worked. All my extra fonts ( not really that many) I got from that site. Nice to still get somethin for free :)

Carl, thanks, can you please tell me what the bottom line says on that bookcover ? <please :) >

Susan, amazing your kids are already in school. My peace(somewhat) doesn't start til Sept 9th.

[Barbar...@adobeforums.com]

Thanks Wendy, but I can't take any credit for those little cute animations. They are from a German site (translated by Google to English) found here <http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.plauder-smilies.com/&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%2522plauder%2Bsmiles%2522%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26sa%3DG>. I believe the same smileys are used on this forum, I think that's their origin. I only use or should I say overuse them on special occasions 'cause I'm sure Adobe wouldn't appreciate too many of them appearing, although they are neat! ;-) All you have to do is select the smiley, etc. that you want, and when it appears in English in the 'UBB code' box at the bottom of their page, highlight it and copy to the clipboard.

Now for the fun part, go to the next link, paste them in there and play with them all you want HTML Laboratory <http://www.cwru.edu/cgi-bin/tutorial/laboratory>. You'll also have to add the following at the beginning of each line of code (each smiley) you copy img src= and place brackets on either end of your entire clipboarded line. I don't think the brackets will show for an example on here, they're the ones above the period & comma. They will show as long as I include the outer parentheses, you'll only need the inner ones, I just checked at the Lab ( < > ). This place is great for learning HTML, and it's in private, have fun! :-)

Barb

[Wendy_E_...@adobeforums.com]

Barb,

Thanks for all the information ... I am going to give it a try :)

Wendy

[carl_su...@adobeforums.com]

Jodi,

The PSE Forum Writing Group (picture enclosed- ).

Carl

[Jodi...@adobeforums.com]

Thanks Carl :D

[Susan_S.@adobeforums.com]

Cute smileys! Jodi - our school year is different from the Northern hemisphere - we have our long summer holidays over Christmas, with the academic year running from February to December! So we only get two weeks school hlidays in July. (It rained. Continously!)

(If I can connect up the old playstation today I may get long enough on this machine to try the challenge!)

[Jesus...@adobeforums.com]

Hi Jodi,

Happy belated birthday! Just saw this thread and it couldn't have been done in honor of a nicer person. May your next 40 be as happy and healthy and productive as your first.

Robert Ash

[Pat_C...@adobeforums.com]

Susan, what was the font you used for the birthday card...Looks like something out of the thirties... very nice

[Jodi...@adobeforums.com]

Robert, thanks a whole bunch ! I hope my next 40 will have a monetary production value ;)....as far as my art goes i mean.

I hope everyone understands how much I value these cards...I've never received so many ! :) i guess 40 is just my lucky # !

I've looked at them at least a dozen times and i always see something new that I didn't notice the first time. Thank you all so much.

[Susan_S.@adobeforums.com]

Pat (Hmmmmm - checks) - it was a true type font (so it should work on Windows fine) called Lansbury (one of the few downloaded fonts I have). It's very Agatha Christie! While I can't remember where I got it from (although I have enough sense to keep downloaded fonts separately from the others so I can delete them/disable them pretty easily in the event of a problem) a quick google indicates that it is available for download from several free font sites. It's apparently based on the font used on the titles of 'Murder She Wrote" (I didn't know that before I used it on the birthday card!!)

[Grant...@adobeforums.com]

The Birthday Challenges is approaching the magical number of 40 ... just a
few more entries and we will have 40 images one for each of Jodi's trips
around the sun ... so don't stop doing them now folks.

Grant

[Wendy_E_...@adobeforums.com]

I have just been to check out the images ... there are quite a few more since I last commented.

Byron ... Neat effect!

Chris ... Very nice use if colours they blend together so well.

John ... Like the way you did the clowns.

Lucy ... Great idea, it gives a really good effect.

Marilyn ... You have made Jodi look like a princess, it is a beautiful image.

Mark ... Wow! what amazing colours.

Ray ... That is so pretty. How did you do the frame effect?

Wendy

[Ray]

Thanks Wendy!

Very easily done... It's a blue frame (made with a selection), with a
Pattern Layer. I merged them when I was satisfied (first I reduced the
opacity to 40 or so). The pattern was the Metal Landscape, in the standard
PSE pattern (default). Finally added a drop shadow.

I used PSE for this image, not PS CS.

Ray

[Jodi...@adobeforums.com]

Ray, Merci beaucoup ! Vous ete un ange ! ( wish i had a french~english dictionary...I can read it fine.....my writing is corrupt!)

Terri says to Marilyn "Jodi really should like that one!"

Are you kidding me ? I love it !!

Marylin, how did you know ? ...the owl

PS Wendy, thanks for the boobs ! ~ ...if only

[Terri_...@adobeforums.com]

Marylin,

Wow! What a great set of entries. Just saw you last one. Jodi really should like that one! It has a bit of a gothic twist.

Terri

[Maril...@adobeforums.com]

Wendy and Terri - Thanks for your nice comments on my "princess" picture. Jodi certainly made a super model. It was such fun doing the cards.

Jodi - To me you are a wonderful free spirit and a true inspiration in so many ways. If only you could have a birthday every three months :) I thought a long time before adding the owl; but it just seemed perfect to complete the picture. I'm so glad that it turned out to be the right choice after all. I hope many of your dreams will come true for you in the coming year.

Marilyn

[byrongale]

<Wendy_E_...@adobeforums.com> wrote
> Byron ... Neat effect!

Thanks, Wendy... it's just the Mosaic filter applied in graduated amounts,
but it was fun to do.. I'm glad Jodi is such a good sport!

Byron

[Jodi...@adobeforums.com]

Marilyn, thank you for reawakening me.

[Dick_...@adobeforums.com]

Jodi,

I haven't added my congrats on reaching the ripe old age of 40! I
haven't been able to do much this week with our 7 year old grandaughter
here. We've been too busy doing the grandparenting thing, including gem
mining and horseback riding. Hopefully we'll be back to normal next
week! Yeah, right...

Happy Birthday to a wonderful person.

Dick

[Jodi...@adobeforums.com]

Thank You Dick ! Enjoy your grandaughter !

[Pixel...@adobeforums.com]

~*~*~Happy Birthday Jodi~*~*~

Are you on the design team at Scrapbook-bytes?

[Lorace...@adobeforums.com]

Oh, Jodi - Forgive me for doing it again - Jody, instead of with the "I."

Have many, many more happy birthdays, and think of those of us whose only wish is that we could be Forty, again.

Best wishes,

Lorace

[Lorace...@adobeforums.com]

Marilyn,

I think you have magic in your computer!

Thanks for the beautiful feelings one gets from seeing your marvelous creations!

Lorace

[Bob_E....@adobeforums.com]

Happy Birthday, Jodi -- here's to a very good year!
Looking at some of these entries, maybe the group should
go into the greeting card business.
ANNE T: Great grungey edge -- I like how you faded the
lower half of the buildings in #1 -- nice effect. Did you
use a gradient on the mountains in #2? Nice insertion of
the rose in the TV in #3.
BETH C: Cool lettering and a nice spherical effect in #1.
Great 'card' in #2.
BYRON G: Neat animation/enlarging -- Love the raised
lettering,too.
CAL C: Very atmospheric -- I like the way you used the
tree silhouettes.
CARL S: Great book binding!
CELIA B: Beautiful flower -- a camelia or perhaps a peony?
CHRIS R: Nice cut out effect with the lettering -- the
faded '40' is cool, too.
CLIFF S: The weave makes an interesting background for the
yarn '40' -- how did you get the effect?
DAVE H: Interesting glass tube effect -- how was it done?
DONALD M: Great old caboose & 'grafitti'.
FLAR K: Very cool idea and realization.
GRANT D: Grant squared this week -- nice work on Woods
gothic.
JAMES H: Love the cutout stars and moon -- cool look!
JOHN D: The clown look is a great take on American Gothic.
Now we need someone to do it in Kiss makeup.
LORACE G: I like the cake and decorations -- is the
background a quilting pattern?
LUCY VP: A different take on Gothic -- nice multiple image
combination.
MARILYN L: Wonderful work on enhancement in #1. #2, #3 &
#4 are terrific takes on the themes I've seen in Jodi's
own work -- very cool stuff!
MARK R: Great picture & frame work. I love the patterns on
the water -- where was it taken?
PAT C: Very cool work with the special brushes. The
scattered butterflies on top are the perfect touch.
PATTI A: The sagging cake has me laughing -- great idea
and execution!
RAY R: Cool pattern with Jodi and the flowerpot.
ROBERT J: WOW! #1 just knocked me out -- terrific 'card'
-- love what you did with the flowers & the haiku. Neat
animation in #2.
ROBIN S: I like the way you worked with color in this one.
SUSAN S: Very restrained painting effect -- and a great
choice of font.
TERRI F: Love the way you re-used the balloons for the
quilt and the watercolors (#2's wet effect is an
inspiration). How did you get the look for the portrait in
#3?
WENDY W: Cool font in #1 -- love the snowglobe in #2. Have
to go with the color variations in #3 as my favorite in
this set, although the prom dress in #4 is just perfect (
nice work on the shadows there).
Happy Birthday, Jodi -- you've obviously inspired us!
Bob Warren
<http://www.rewarren.com/challenge/chl79.htm>

[Dave Hamer]

Bob Warren,

I don't know if you will see this or not as I am reading the forum with my
newsreader.

The effect on my card was done with multiple applications of the Rainbow
gradient using the difference mode.

Dave

---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Dave Hamer
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.736 / Virus Database: 490 - Release Date: 8/9/2004

[Terri_...@adobeforums.com]

Bob,

Thanks! I'm glad you like that. I started by applying a lot of smart blur to Jodi's photo (Quality low setting, low radius, high threshold). I duplicated this and turned off the eye since I would need it later to bring back some of Jodi's facial features...although it turned out I needed to also use the clone stamp along with this layer. I took my one visible smart blur layer and applied Accented Edges...around 1-19-9, then applied Paint Daubs...around 11-0 Simple. I left this layer set to normal. I next loaded up this layers selection, and created a blank layer. I eyedropped some color from Jodi then used the drippy watercolor brush out of the special effects set on a setting of around 20%. After applying some sloppy, spattery strokes I put this layer into overlay. I created another layer, sampled another color and again painted with the drippy watercolor brush but was only painted on her skin changing out the color to paint a bit into her hair to add highlights then I put this layer into color burn. I next brought the extra smart blurred Jodi to the top of the stack. I put this layer into multiply and got rid of everything but her eyes, mouth, brows, and partially her nose. I ended up having to use the clone tool since the smart blur kind of took out some edges. I also filled in area under Jodi's armpits since I wanted a close tight head shot. Next I turned off the paper pattern and type so I just merged the Jodi layers. I then turned back on the pattern and duplicated it, and moved the duplicated pattern to the top of the stack. I adjusted on the top patterns blend mode and opacity settling on Hue/Opacity 56%. I also readjusted the merged Jodi layer to Multiply. After turning on the type layer I merged the whole image. I duplicated this then applied the Lighting Effects filter to the duplicated merge copy. I settled on changing this layer to soft light. The filter numbers are approximates and the color you use may effect which blend mode looks best. I hope I wasn't too terribly longwinded.

Terri

[be...@adobeforums.com]

Thanks Bob - I thought you made a really nice card too. The #2 one - a picture I took of a tiny flower on my butterfly plant.

beth

[Patti Anderson]

Thanks, Bob! Sometimes simplicity works. I decided to use a crayon drawing look that I've seen on many birthday cards these days -- fun AND easy.

My first thought was to do a cake on fire, but that woulda taken a LOT longer. :)

Patti

[Mark_R...@adobeforums.com]

Bob,

Thank you for your comment on my photo. It was taken from a ferry boat in Puget Sound, (Washington State on the Seattle to Vashon Island route)

[Robert...@adobeforums.com]

Thanks Bob!

[cal_...@adobeforums.com]

Thanks Bob, liked yours too.

Cal

[Flar_K...@adobeforums.com]

thanks bob.

btw, the term "so happy birthday" is stolen from
laurie anderson's united states part 1-4 album.

[jh...@adobeforums.com]

Thanks but I can't take credit for that, it's a standard frame.

--
Have A Nice Day, :-)
James Hutchinson
http://www.pbase.com/myeyesview
http://www.myeyesviewstudio.com/
<Bob_E....@adobeforums.com> wrote in message
news:3bb55...@webx.la2eafNXanI...

[Marty Landolt]

Jodi, I have been missing so many moments but glad I tuned in to catch your 40th. I have an idea as to what I'll do on a card and hope I get in in on time.
Still not much change in my busy year.
Marty

[Lorace...@adobeforums.com]

Thanks, Bob, for your nice comment.

Yes, the background is a quilting pattern. I had put a link in another post because she offers these free and has many, many of them.

<http://dlstewart.com/clipart.htm>

Again, thank you.

Lorace

[cal_...@adobeforums.com]

Just had to say I love your entries Marilyn, they are so fantastic and Wendy Jodi looks stunning in the dress. Lovely entries all.

Cal

[Maril...@adobeforums.com]

Thanks so much Lorace, Bob, and Cal for all your lovely comments!

Marilyn