Happy St. Patrick's Day

 

     I've used Photoshop Elements for a couple of years now, but really just for organizing my digital photos.   In the past I would try to tweak photos but usually wound up frustrated.  Cropping a photo was about as far as I got.

     Then, this past week, when I was once again playing around in the program, something "clicked".  In my brain!  Suddenly the whole "layers" aspect of the program made sense to me!  I was amazed at how I could manipulate a photo.  I think that first day I spent three hours absolutely glued to my computer and used Photoshop to transform a Times New Roman asterisk (y'know, this: *) into this rainbow-colored, 3D flower shape:

     The photo above of the Shamrock and Irish Blessing is my photo-a-day challenge photo for the prompt "green".

     Remember the shamrocks from my St. Patrick's Day Decor post?  I love the green glitter on them, so I photographed a close-up of the glitter:

     Then I used Photoshop Elements to create a shamrock shape from a copy of this picture which I then layered on top of this glitter background (after I blurred the background).  Finally, I added text and voila!  An image that is both festive and very green!

     Thank you for stopping by and have a fun, fantastic day!

St. Patrick's Day Decor

     I usually don't decorate for St. Patrick's Day.  Oh, we'll wear green on March 17, and we wouldn't refuse a pint o' beer.  But I haven't had decorations to go with this holiday until this year!  It all started with my This + That Lucky Kit from Kerri Bradford:

     Kerri has a kit for every holiday and they're all just as adorable!  I was perfectly happy having my Lucky frame as my March/St. Patrick's day decor, and then I saw THIS project featured on one of the blogs that I read:

     This is just about the cutest wreath I've ever seen.  I decided I'd make one, so I followed Jenn's tutorial and made my own (I made mine with artificial greenery because I wanted it to last longer).

     Then, just when I thought I was done with March decor, I stumbled upon this FREE printable from Landee See, Landee Do:

     So, as you can see, one thing led to another and now I have a full-fledged St. Patrick's Day thing goin' on here at home!

     What about you?  Do you decorate for St. Patrick's Day?

May the road rise up to meet you,

may the wind be ever at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face

and the rain fall softly on your fields.

And until we meet again,

may God hold you in the hollow of His hand.

-Irish blessing-

I'm linking up to: