Saturday Afternoon Picnik #7 - Pop Art

I have been picniking all the new pictures Lee and I have from our photoshoot... and I discovered a new really cool feature - totally unrelated to our photoshoot that I want to share!

How to make what I like to call pop art out of your pictures!
This technique uses another premium picnik feature called Dots and Dots.For this project you need to start with a head-shot, a closeup image of a face.  To decide on a picture I went to my Facebook and looked at past profile images and found one I knew would be perfect for pop art!

my beginning image

go to Effects and find Dot and Dots in the left side toolbar

Click on Dots and Dots and then chose Color Spots from the drop down menu

I wanted a more abstract look to my image so I made the dots larger, 
but you you can decide according to your preference.

then to kinda gloss over the image I chose the Add setting in the advanced mode.
I liked how it took out the in-between dots and kept only the bold colors.

I saved the image after this step and went back and played around some more and I also liked  the way this one turned out using the News Print style.

I also had the idea that this would be an awesome paint project!  Enlarge an image of someone's face, use the Dots and Dots effect and then reference it for an amazing custom piece of art work!  It would be so simple!
I did a project similar to this in college, only it was a painstakingly horrid process.  We had to print out an image, cover it with a clear grid overlay and paint each square on the canvas according to what was in the corresponding square on the grid. And it wasn't even in color.
I vote for this technique instead!

I dare you to step back from your computer & be amazed at how cool this is from a distance!

Are you up to any awesome picnik projects? please share!

we love colors

I just entered the We Love Colors design competition on facebook!
I heard about the contest (and the company) through colourlovers.com and decided what the heck, I'll enter!

We Love Colors is based out of Miami, Fl. and they specialize in leggins, tights, socks, and accessories.  They were recently featured in Seventeen Magazine!

I created my submission on picnik (duh) and used an image of my own legs! ha! 
I didn't want to "steal" anyone else's images, but knew I wanted to use legs or feet somehow and I remembered a picture of my legs from a What I Wear Wednesday entry a few months ago.
This is what I came up with.... if nothing else they can't say I shyed away from color! (is shyed a word? shied?)

If you'd like to help me win this competition (there are prizes and your image becomes their profile picture on fb) then go to facebook, "like" the WeLoveColorsFanPage and "like" my submission!

If you want to enter for yourself check out http://friends.welovecolors.com/ and then post your image on their facebook page!  Contest ends September 10th!

fresh off the press

I'm so excited about Lee & I's new pictures I couldn't wait to post them!
I'm a very lucky girl in the fact that I have had a ton of photographer friends in my life in Grenada... most of whom have been new at it and have asked to practice on me.  
I am not one one to turn down pictures!  Especially pictures of Lee and I!
It just so happens that the timing has worked out perfectly that we were able to do a photo shoot last year for our 1 year anniversary{here} and then again this year for our 2 year anniversary!

I got a lot of my inspiration  for the pictures from pinterest and was able to use the jute ampersand I made a couple weeks ago!
Thank you so much to my friend Allie for these pictures.  She's just starting, but I think she did a fabulous job!  She's working on a website soon and I'll be sure to share!

and a really big thanks to my Lee.
isn't he a good sport??
he indulges me when he can because med school is so life controlling... but I know he loves me.

I {heart} lions

When I was in the 5th grade I became an aunt for the first time.
My mom bought my niece the most adorable stuffed lion you can possibly imagine at a thrift store.... and I wanted it.
I've never been one to really like stuffed animals, but this one is different... and Mom gave in and let me keep him.  He even made the trip to college with me... but sadly I had to leave him behind when I made the trek to Grenada.
The other night I called my mom to ask her to check what brand he is so I could google him & guess what?!
He was made in 1987 - the year I was born! It was meant to be!

tell the truth... have you ever seen anything cuter?

I decided that whenever I have a child someday their nursery will be designed after my lion.  I love the mix of vintage patterns & gender neutrality of a sweet little yellow lion.


Want more adorable lions?

Source: flickr.com via Elizabeth on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via Heather on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via papermoon on Pinterest

who said they had to be yellow?

Source: printpattern.blogspot.com via Crafty on Pinterest

I am now finding myself posting this with hesitation... please don't let lions blow up like the owls did!

highlight of the day

I broke down and started using twitter. 
Mostly so I could stalk even MORE blogs, designers, companies, famous people...
and also because Cat told me she followed Picnik on twitter & they commented on her blog!
jealous much?

I signed into twitter for the first time in over 2 years the next day.
and today Picnik started following me!!
O happy day!

This brings me to a mid-week Picnik update.

Lee and I had pictures taken for Christmas this past year & while we absolutely love the pictures... Lee has never been happy about the fact that his shorts got splashed by a huge wave moments before we started.
kinda surprising that a man would care about such a thing, huh?

anyway, with my new found love of the cloning tool I went in and simply erased the water spots by cloning areas of his shorts that were dry!

a little 1960s effect

See my last post about the amazing cloning tool here
and duh... follow me on twitter!