That'll learn 'em

This weekend it's party time over at Inspiration Avenue. The ladies and I are hosting a tutorial party. You are of course all invited. Come on over and learn a few hot tips....

I've been wracking my brain for weeks trying to think up with the perfect tutorial for the party . Coming up with the invitation was a piece of party cake, but the content of my party bag something else entirely!

I so wanted something dainty and delicious to wrap up in a pretty serviette for you to take away and savour later but my mind is not exactly in party mood this week.

I hate to moan, but I have the most awful pain in more jaw - some form of inflammation in the joint apparently and I feel quite wretched. It throbs, it hurts in ear, cheek and general head area... My Muse decided to stay on the beach in Mexico.

So, what I have for you is quite small and simple, but nonetheless it's quite useful to know how to do this if you are a Photoshop Elements user.

I will now demonstrate how to put picture behind your text using this software (see sample above).

Step 1. Create some text.
Step 2. Open up the picture you want to use.

Step 3. Drag the picture over your text.

Step 4. Click on Layer>Group with previous - and sit back amazed as the magic happens

Step 5. You can drag the image (now behind the text) around until you get it just right. For me, it was when the Mad Hatter made an appearance in my party P. Et voila! I then filled the background black and gave it a nice bevel edge.

Step 6. Sit back and admire your handiwork!

Before I go and explore the other party tutorials, this is one which I'd like to share:

One of the most useful tips I learnt for blogger was how to remove the box around my title. You can find this and a myriad other handy hints by wandering down Inspiration Avenue, until just past the Jacaranda tree you'll find Plumrose Lane on your right.

Have fun at the party, play nicely and don't drink too much fizzy pop!

5 degrees of inspiration

I've been invited to a wonderful party - fancy dress of course! Come dressed in your five favourite inspirations... It's not too late to join in, grab your 'drive' and journey over...

Inspiration. The word seems to brush gently as it passes your lips,

gossamer soft and strangely enticing.

Primo - My Muse

She is surely a magical thing but playful too. My secret self who will creep up on me when least expected, and don’t think she follows any rules. No way! Inspiration makes an appearance only when she wants to. It’s her terms or no terms.

Inspiration is my muse; she is what turns a dull day into a fine one; a pile of old paper into a work of art and a tiny germ of an idea into a full-blown pandemic of explosive creativity! Sometimes I just have to sit at a keyboard or in front of some art materials and she will weave her spells. Occasionally she makes me work a bit harder for her services. However, the time she pays me most visits (the little minx) is late at night when I am trying to sleep. POP goes the bubble of idea she sends me scuttling into my brain and spreading out its interesting tendrils, exploring a myriad possibilities. Will I remember by morning? Possibly not, so my muse gives me a quick nudge, turns on the bedside lamp and presents me with my beautiful floral notebook into which I diligently record her delightful suggestions.

Secondo - Artists & Creatives
The creativity of others – whether it be a beautiful ACEO on Etsy or gazing in awe in front of the great Masters. Standing in front of the Canalettos in the National Gallery in London, I once had what can only be described as a moment of self-discovery. It is almost impossible to put into words. I felt uplifted and suddenly in touch with lost emotion, with the desire to create and dig for soul treasure.

Websites like Etsy had me dreaming and drooling until suddenly I stopped thinking "if only" and instead dived in head first into a box of art supplies. I came out sticky, paint-stained, crumpled, creased, frustrated, exhilarated but above all motivated. No matter the result, it's the journey that counts. It doesn't have to rank alongside Canaletto, Rosetti or Monet. It just has to please me.

My soul is like a sponge soaked in all this inspirational juice. Everywhere I turn I'm drenched in showers of it. Thank you to all you lovely creative people. This week I was inspired by a simple challenge... Here is a background, go make something. So I pondered and splashed and stuck and experimented. A tiny detail on display here. Come back tomorrow when I post the full version.


Terzo - Italy
What magic lifts from the fragrant hills? What secrets lie behind honeyed walls and terracotta tile? What secret elixir inhabits the vino rosso? Maybe it is the incurable romantic in me, but there is something timelessly enticing about the land of Romeo and his sweetheart. Artists and writers across the centuries have been drawn in mesmerised and, growing up in such surroundings how can you fail but to become Michaelangelo, Da Vinci, Puccini or even Ferrari?

The first time I sat open-mouthed in front of the film adaptation of the E M Forster classic, A Room with a View, I was in love. I only have to catch a passing glimpse of rolling Tuscan countryside and I am reaching for paintbrush. Ah if only I could truly capture that essence.

Quarto - Feedback
Well, I admit that no one really likes criticism but if ever anything was guaranteed to goad me into action to improve anything I have created then a little niggling dig is sure to rile the Muse into action - providing of course that you see their point of view (there's always a caveat!). "I'll show them..."
But thankfully the scales of happiness do sometimes swing in our favour. How wonderful to receive praise... but is it really as good at kick-starting the Muse? Does it not put extra pressure to out-perform or at the very least equal?

And who can ever resist the pull of a little healthy competition too?

And now alas my inner critic is chastising me. How can I possibly post this without an appropriate picture? I don't have any artwork that quite epitomises the inspiring power of a few choice words. No, not excellent.


Quinto - Heston Blumenthal
Just watch and tell me you're not inspired! Anything is possible. Pure genius.

Heston is arguably one of the world's greatest chefs and undoubtedly the most imaginative.

He is a man who thrives on creativity, cut him in half (not recommended) and he'll have it written through him. It doesn't matter whether he creates culinary concoctions, advertisements, films or breeze blocks. It's about having the nerve to fire up that creativity with inspiration from the most unlikely sources; never being afraid to try something different and, possibly most important, keeping at it until you get the results you're after - it may not be exactly what you set out to do at the start, but it's giving people what they didn't know they wanted - and boy do they want it!

Thank you for the invite. I'm having fun so far, but a little lonely at the party on my own... Who will turn up next and what costumes will they be wearing?