I'm not an amazing photographer, but I do enjoy it. In the past I have enjoyed the editing tricks with google's free picasa software. It was free and good, but lacked a lot of professional photoshop tools. However, I did just bite the bullet in the form of 25 big ones to pay for an annual subscription to Picnik. They also offer free editing options, but their premium tools looked like they would be totally worth it. Here's why I recommend picnik for people that love to take photos.

Considering the fact that it has taken me almost 4 years to get pictures of our extended family on the wall, and since I was on a roll, I decided I would work on the kids valentines this week.

First of all, I hate rip-me-apart Dora the Explorer crap valentines. Second of all, I'm way too cheap to make over-the-top crafty Valentine's for 45 kids this year.

So inspired by last year's cards,



I perused my photo files and decided to tinker around in Google's free photo software, Picasa. It was fun, clean, and my end cost was around 12 cents per valentine. Cheap mothers unite...


I can't recommend Picasa enough. There are 2 available options to download (both FREE). One is a photo software for your computer that allows you to crop, add text, tint, skewer, whatever...and it's perfect for those that aren't savvy enough on photoshop and/or don't want to spend the money.

The second Picasa download allows you to upload your photos online. Anyone who has lost their photos from a computer crash can appreciate that (that would be me....twice).

Lastly, Picasa is awesome if you love to blog! It makes adding pictures a bagillion times easier than the stupid standard blogger photo system.

Nuff said. Here's me waxing creative for once.



Here's one of my favorite pictures of The Buddha Baby. He used to give me kisses on demand, but I think I'm in overdraft (SEE EXHIBIT: Talk to the hand). I saved 2 copies of this print then merged them as a collage in Picasa. I added the text after making it a collage. After printing them up as a 4X6 print, I cut them in half and inserted a Valentine treat. Here's the end product.



This next one is for my middle child. Once again, I created a collage but added a thicker red border around it. We made 2 different Valentine rhymes for variety, and had fun making it a little on the grody side.



Cut them apart, insert a wrapped treat (and make sure to tape it on the back) and you have this:



For Rainbow Girl, I took a picture and tinted the whole thing green. This one turned out okay, but was probably a bit of a stretch. I added characters and symbols to make her more alien-like, but in the end, I think the picture was too dark. I will admit Photoshoppers would have dominated this project better than I...but the kid likes it so we're all happy!

Here's the image sent to the printer:



We punched a hole and added black pipe-cleaners to make her an alien...and here is our end product.



For more Valentine inspirations, visit these blogs:

"Cute Valentines"
Loved this healthy (and simple) valentine inspiration here.
Here's a short YouTube video about Picasa.

Happy Loveliness!
Mrs. Olsen

We're having a celebration of love this week, as manifested through the lips. Yo people. Email me your kissing pictures to mrsolsenipresume[at]gmail[dot]com so I can feel the love this week. If you show me enough of the good stuff, I just might post my awkward desperate love poetry from my high school notebook. It'll be fun!

In the meantime, I have a tip for the masses of point-and-shoot photographers who drool with envy when they see real pictures taken with expensive cameras. It's called Picasa 3, and I'm getting my full cheese on by turning my pics into black and white, graining them out, and then highlighting cheesy little hearts in full color. If you always wanted to learn how to Photoshop, but never had the time or money...trust me...Picasa is a great tide-me-over. I turned this:



Into this:

I'm not going into business or anything, but you have to admit that it's an improvement. I even gave them a love glow. Are you feeling it? I'm appreciating the long lines stretching shoulder to toe on Jackson, dipping his bride of less than two years.

Jackson and Celeste. What makes their love unique? They rock the glasses with style. Give Sandra Bullock glasses, and she's the ugly duckling in Love Potion #9. Give Jackson and Celeste glasses, and they work it like Sarah Palin (but in a better way). I'm also positive I could have found a dozen pictures of them lip-locked just by stalking their facebook page, they are just full of life and passion like that.

Because they seem to embody the newlywed kiss, I had to share this photo of my sister Niki and her Justin-Timberlake-look-alike-husband, Jared. I added the cheesy by doing a soft focus on everything except the lovely wedding band, all on Picasa.

Thank you! I'm here all week. Here's the crap they gave me to work with:




okay so I took it. I gave myself the crap to work with. But they posed themselves on a perfectly washed out day on the coast of Maine. See how Picasa is my friend?

Of course a full lip-lock is not required to make it on the kissing wall. Here's the sis pretending to be coy with her man:

This one is full on cheesy. Timberlake's obviously been out clubbing with hootchie mama's because his lip curl is totally fake. And the sissy's eyeroll is neutralized by a lip about to turn up. I guuuesssss.... that means that they're really in love! So maybe that's a good thing.

Jared and Niki. What makes their love unique? They somehow embody full on intelligence on a nerdy level but still are cool. Not many people can do that. I can't look at this picture without picturing Jared going slack-jawed and hamming it up like Homestar Runner, then wondering in awe if that's the same guy that's getting screaming A's at his medical residency at Harvard. And the sis is the same way. She started a cold-calling salesman job all by herself, then sold it a year later for more than an SUV with all the upgrades. Smart. Charismatic. And yet, they can rock it in the grown-up world but come home to karaoke, wrestling, and bad Space Ghost impersonations together at the end of the day.

Back in 1962, just before getting a major value shift with hippies, woodstock, and Vietnam, my folks insulated themselves from the upcoming generational chaos by settling down as husband & wife. Now I'm not saying my dad was not hip, or even that he was your standard 20th century male-chauvenist pig that the feminist movement despised. I'm just giving a disclaimer for this picture taken on their wedding day, on a warm summer's day back in 1962.

Curvy Bride: Oh honey, tell me all your secret family recipes!

Tall/Dark/Handsome: You are so beautiful today, and this is the last time I'm touching this pot.

Curvy Bride: It shall shine this bright on our ten year anniversary, I promise!

Now in actuality, this photo embodies more of a closing era than it does my actual parents. If a photog tried to pull this off nowadays, he wouldn't be in business.

And yet...something about this picture, this bygone era is so bittersweet for Mrs. Olsen. It seems to be a time when people took the loving, scrubbing, and feeding of kids a little more serious. And if you were a woman that loved to cook, to snuggle babies, and decorate...it was enough. Unfortunately, like our good earth, women have seasons in their lives. Which is why I'm going to be a pro volleyball player after my kids are all grown and out of the house. {concerned pause while soft body morphs into a blob on the office chair}. So anyway!

What was started back in 1962, was a beautiful family soon to have five kids who, for the most part, are all handsome, tall, funny, unselfish, and motivated people. The key to our success? My mom's diligent search of bargain racks so we had the latest fashions for the post-game Victory Dances! Okay, okay. The thing is: they were there. There wasn't a game, recital, gymnastics routine, swimming lesson, or military haircut they weren't there for.

So in honor of this 1962 miracle, I'm asking for a Caption to the Above Photo or a link to visual delights you enjoy on the web. Do I really need to have a giveaway for this people? Come on!

In the meantime, here is a list of photogs who are sure to stay in business in the new millenium:

• Justin Hackworth Photography of all the mission mail I enjoyed during my time as a nun, I'm sure that I enjoyed JH's the most. Visual Delights!
• Amelia Lyon Photography she has no idea who I am, but she married the waterboy to my High School Volleyball Team. Random. Her pics are beautiful.
• Heathernan Photography fellow Idaho Girl turned photog. The eyes! The eyes!
• What It All Looks Like. Photos by news journalist Mike Terry.