myJanee.com Graphic Creations
As soon as I figure out how to make it clickable, this will be my new website interface! All original pixels. I’m going to reorient it, though, so that it’s taller than wide. Or… I wonder if I can have a different one for people viewing on their mobiles. Hmmmm…
I’m feeling really creative and having loads of fun with Photoshop! I find that I wish I had students to share this with again, and I hope that someday somebody will read these posts.
I’m enjoying learning the new things about PS in the atmosphere of putting together my new interface! I was thinking “industrial” in my last post, and that’s the direction I’m headed. You know those labels that they put on motors and such? Those labels riveted or screwed onto a piece of sheet metal — that’s the look I’m after.
I discovered some new pattern stuff and I just remembered which rabbit hole took me into patterns. QR Codes! Yeah! Over to the left are some little forays I took into patterns. And I did discover how to generate a QR Code.
But, yeah. You can expect a new and much improved pattern tutorial. TV lines are still very much in fashion, but the 60’s kitchen wallpaper? Not so much.
I’m actually learning new things, among my frustrations. Photoshop isn’t frustrating; it’s WordPress. It seems that, in order to do any of the things that were easy-peasy with my FrontPage, GoLive, or Dreamweaver, I’m expected to download (or usually buy) a plug-in. I realize that this flexibility is supposed to make things better, and, I suppose that it will in the long run. But for now, all I can see is the “long” in “long run.”
For today’s art project, I’m working on a new and improved version of this graphic that I made for my Home Page. This version to the left, uses my old-style icons for all of the where-to-go items.
My new one is going to have actual things you’d expect to see on an old scratched piece of metal. I’m thinking industrial!
Then, of course, I’ll get to write tutorials, detailing how I created each of these! I think that my Torn Paper tutorial was my most popular of my Archive Tutorials.
I’m feeling a little Rip-Van-Winklish, coming back to this world, after so long away. The truth is that, in actuality, so much has changed — even the styles of graphics that are popular now.
I wasn’t really locked in the basement for all of those 12 years. I was doing creative things — like designing interiors for homes! While it wasn’t ever a paid job, and my training has been OTJ plus a couple of classes, I’ve done some neat work over the years. Maybe I’ll make a webpage and post some pics.
Yesterday, I did some file work, finding the files for my old wp part of my site. I made this so that it opens into a new window. I still haven’t worked out how to make those pages part of this new site. … or how to make my Archive pages part of the new site, really. Challenges abound! Good thing I’m young.
I’ve been working on some new Photoshop tutorials! My count is now 6, though my index page is looking like there are sort of 10. I haven’t worked out how to control the columns for my index page.
So far, I have Copy a Logo, for which I have to work on the little video files I tried to make, but which do not work; Remove a Background, which I noticed has a random table in the middle of it; Amazing Gradients, which needs some formatting work; Splendid Symmetry; Sheet Metal; and Hot & Hammered, a cool text effect which made its debut in a chapter I wrote for Trade Secrets in 2002.
I have some more ideas for tutorials and I’m loving writing again. I’m learning more about formatting in WordPress, which still seems far more fiddly than the WYSIWYG editors of old. <sigh></sigh> LOL
Life goes apace. We’re experiencing a little “cool-down,” as we call it in PHX. Today, I think our high will be only 95. It is a relief, after having over 100 for the past 3+ weeks!
Jodie’s doing great! She’s 7 months old now and has finally gotten to where she’ll walk a full 30 minutes with us first thing in the morning. We have some comfortable routines going with her and so that’s good.
I’m eager to get out in our new RV! We just got it in March, right before our lock-in, and we’ve had just 3 nights in our driveway. We’ve done some nice modifications to it. Jack built tables for beside our recliners, put a drawer in under the fridge, and I made custom bedding for our beds. Soon, I hope, we can get out!
I’m working on some fun things — Photoshop art and writing! I have posted my third tutorial re-do. I did a little remake of my Amazing Gradients ideas.
If this looks like something fun, you’d be right! The tutorial for making this is here.
I continue to learn little bits about WordPress. I have a feeling that, once I get it, I’ll be unstoppable, but for now, LOL, I’m feeling quite stoppable!
I’ve joined a WordPress group on Facebook, and they seem to have answers, as well as many, many members, so we’ll see how that goes. Ok now I’m going to set out to learn some new Photoshop technique so I can write a new tutorial. 🙂
Ok, so I’ve had a few small successes! I’ve figured out how to make a new page, customize the header and footer for all my pages, change fonts, make links, make blog postings, and add pictures. I even linked my new site to my old site, with an Archives link.
So here we are at the end of May in 2020 and what’s going on? Any student of history knows that this is the season of the Covid-19 Pandemic! We have been inundated with instructions from health experts and politicians, from futurists and economists, from psychologists and pastors. The handling of this pandemic in the USA has been a real mess.
Jack and I are living our lives in the manner recommended by infectious disease experts and epidemiologists for people at high risk for bad outcomes from this disease: we are self-isolating. We go out of the house to walk every day. We go to the grocery store or a short list of other stores only as necessary, and, when we do, we wear a cloth mask, sanitize before returning to our car, and then wash our hands upon our return home.
We are not letting anyone into our house, garage, car, etc.. We don’t socialize, except on Facebook, phone, or text. We are eating exclusively at home. We get food at the grocery and cook, or we have, upon rare occasion, gotten takeout.
We’re letting ourselves get a bit shaggy! Jack is bearded now and hasn’t had a haircut in 3 months. I’m looking a bit better, because he’s cutting my hair, and doing a great job!
Our dog groomer is open, thankfully, and offering curbside drop-off and pickup. So Jodie’s looking fine. 😊
We’re doing better than a whole boatload of people. Jack has been busying himself with Covid projects — building stuff. He’s made cabinet organizers for my bathroom, a sweet can organizer for our pantry, a dog treat container with a J on the lid for an opener. For the RV, he did a remake on our RV dog crate that makes it from a dog couch to a crate, made an under-fridge drawer, and built the cutest little convertible tables you ever did see. For his shop, he made a screw organizer, a table for his router, and cleaned and organized from top-to-bottom.
Me? I’ve done more cooking and baking in the past few months than in the past 10 years, I think. I made a bedding system for our new RV. Oh, yeah, we did trade our 15 View in on a 19 View. Different floorplan.
I’ve been doing a walk every day, working on training Jodie, um… playing lots of games on my phone, and keeping up with Facebook and all of my groups. I know, I know. That’s why I’m on here now. I’m working on changing my life.
I figured out how to edit WordPress’s idiotic “Hello World” posting! Every time I take a step away from this website recreation thing, I feel like I’ve lost 5 years. Oops! Maybe that’s because I have!
I’ve actually just been engaged in other creative pursuits — mainly involving choosing, remodeling, and moving into and out of different houses! Since I updated my Photoshop education end of my site, I’ve lived in 5 real houses, 2 park-models, and 6 RVs. I’ve also bought 3 cars, 2 of which I still own.
I survived widowhood, and I’m married again. His name is Jack and neither of us changed our names when we got married.
My dog Maddie died in 2010 and my cat Eddie died in 2014. We were painfully petless till 1/5/20, when we added Jodie to our lives. She’s a standard poodle and she’s just a joy! The photo on the left is when she was just 4 months old. Now she’s almost 7 months.
