Let me read your future……

<p style=”text-align: center;”>Image is retouched with Photoshop CS4
cropped, adjusted sharpness-contrast-lighting, added vibrance &
background replacement (using 3 different textures)

The temperature outside is way too cold for an afternoon stroll, even too cold for a 10 minute walk, which we did to get to the foot reflex place. Every part of exposed skin is painful to the touch. But it was worth the walk. It always does. It has become a weekend ritual now, getting a full body treatment –  2 hour of pampering with foot bath, foot reflex, head & shoulder massage and back massage.  Hubby went out for a walk one afternoon and came back with a bag full of Haagendazs ice creams, pastries and bunch of new DVDs to watch. He even got 2012.

Update from Briana: she’s teething again. It’s her 7th and 8th teeth. The usual routine:  dribbles, gums on every single thing she could lay her hands on, chews on used tissues (her new habit) preferably hand-picked from the trash bin, chews on mom or dad’s fingers, picks on the electrical socket in the corner of the room (referred as the “corner of doom” according to daddy). And whoa, hey…  she said  “MAMA”  for the first time. SHE DID IT!!!!  Yeps, she was crying for me and called “MAMA”   *wiiiiii….. jingkrak-jingkrak gila*

My favorite past time during the weekend (some days during the week too, actually) is upgrading the 3 of my sites and setting little tasks to myself to learn at least 3 new Photoshop tricks everyday. That will keep me glued to the computer for a while and forget minor upsetting things that I constantly have to deal everyday. So here are some of the work I’ve done over the weekend.

We were playing dress up one day when I found my old bright pink scarf in the cabinet. Briana always loves playing hide & seek with a scarf and I think she loves the color as well. When I wrapped it around her head and showed her in the mirror, she giggled and giggled. She looked so much like a Gypsy Fortune Teller. I couldn’t help myself. Quickly grabbed the camera started snapping away.

Here’s the second batch, retouched using Lightroom v.2 with special presets. Keep an ear out, I will release tutorial on how to retouch photos using Photoshop and Lightroom. Just simple things but useful to know….

top left: SchwinnBreeze Preset,  top right: Lomo Action,
bottom left: Fresh Vintage Preset,  bottom right: Metropolis Preset

Now the fun part. I’ve been waiting for the caricature site from  Fasticon.com to come back online  soon so I can place order with them. Their image quality is just too cute, smooth like those animation studio characters. I love them.

In the mean time, I found an online cartoonizer that can turn your photos into cartoon — or any other cool photo effects for free. They offer about 25 different photo effects. Go ahead and check it out.  www.befunky.com

Here’s another batch of photo that I processed using Befunky.

Using “Cartoonizer” Effect

Using “Pop Art” Effect

Using “Charcola” Effect

Using “Pop Art” Effect