Making collages of my images instead of photo albums has totally transformed my posts for me (in case you haven't notice). I NEED collages in order to function photographically because I have too dang many images!
Thanks to Linda/Shoreacres, I now have a new collage-making site that I'm thinking is even better than Picnik. Did I say that? I've been playing around with Photoscape (FREE!) all week and will use this post to experiment.
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Meet Marius, the 3-year-old son of friends Irmgard and Wim, whom we met on our anniversary weekend, 4 February, in Zutphen, NL. He's adorable!
Because Astrid and I both have sons who grew up on Legos,
we assumed Marius would like them, too.
JACKPOT!
It didn't take long for Astrid to get him started!
These were his first real Legos...a step up from his Duplo sets.
Once Irmgard came and joined in,
I asked if Marius is a Mommy's Boy.
BINGO.
And why would anyone argue with that!
Astrid certainly didn't care!
Look at those precious little hands!
It didn't take Marius long to become a Lego pro.
Look at all that concentration...
and pay attention to the wee man on the bottom right (above),
because Marius carried him in his hand later when we took a walk outside.
It doesn't get more adorable than that.
(And yes, Ruth, it made me hungry for James Lawrence.)
Here's my YouTube of Marius, made on 29 February,
in honor of Gioachino Rossini's 220th birthday.
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Because Astrid and I both have sons who grew up on Legos,
we assumed Marius would like them, too.
JACKPOT!
It didn't take long for Astrid to get him started!
These were his first real Legos...a step up from his Duplo sets.
Once Irmgard came and joined in,
I asked if Marius is a Mommy's Boy.
BINGO.
And why would anyone argue with that!
Astrid certainly didn't care!
Look at those precious little hands!
It didn't take Marius long to become a Lego pro.
Look at all that concentration...
and pay attention to the wee man on the bottom right (above),
because Marius carried him in his hand later when we took a walk outside.
It doesn't get more adorable than that.
(And yes, Ruth, it made me hungry for James Lawrence.)
Here's my YouTube of Marius, made on 29 February,
in honor of Gioachino Rossini's 220th birthday.
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
With this post I end our 2nd anniversary weekend from a month ago! But before I leave...
...here are 3 gevelstenen (gable stones) from Zutphen.
The one on the right was made in honor of Wim who is an etcher!
And last but not least, here are weathervanes from the anniversary weekend.
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The one on the right was made in honor of Wim who is an etcher!
And last but not least, here are weathervanes from the anniversary weekend.
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Since the last Jan van Haasteren puzzle, here are two more we've finished (both images are from Haasteren's site):
The Dog Show, 1500 pieces.
This was given to us by 2 of Astrid's co-workers for our anniversary.
The Office, 1,000 pieces
This was given to us by 2 of Astrid's co-workers for our anniversary.
The Office, 1,000 pieces
I think you should change your trip to Bath to April!!!!
ReplyDeleteThose jigsaws are awesome, I wonder if they are available in Canada? I haven't seen one, but I don't usually go shopping for jigsaws.
Your Feedjit Live Traffic Feed always shows me as being from Hamilton which I weird as I don't live anywhere near Hamilton!!!! It used to show me as Richmond Hill which would make more sense. Computers! Sometimes there's no logic in what they do.
Callum loves Lego too, but Isaac hasn't quite graduated to handling such small pieces yet, after all, he's not quite 3. Callum also loves Playmobil and had quite a few sets for his birthday.
Sham: I actually thought about that...the difference in time when we'll both be in England. RATS! But Astrid had this time off from work secured several months ago and that's how it works. (sigh) BUT it'll happen, one of these days/years!
ReplyDeleteI have a feeling those van Haasteren puzzles are available all over the world. They are WONderful. I'm itching to start another one... :)
Wonderful collages - thank you for the link to Photoscape - I've just downloaded it, there are more possibilities for collages than in Picasa :)
ReplyDeleteAnne: Exactly! MANY more choices than in Picnik, too. Now I need to figure out the frames! :)
ReplyDeleteLego..... I grew up with it and so did Jeroen. I imagined Marius is clever enough to get the gist.
ReplyDeleteHe did. shhhh don't tell anybody, I think I wanted to play with the Lego....Marius did a great job 'getting' it.
We\had a wonderful time with them, Marius sure keeps you busy.
The jigsaws are great, I will pick the next one to be made ...grin...
I love the collages, you showed me the almost unlimited possibilities.
You will have fun with the new programm.
Again a wonderful post.
Astrid: I was delighted when you came up with the Lego idea as a gift for Marius. I couldn't believe I didn't think of it first. HA! It sure was a winner for him. So much fun to watch you with him.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, now we have a new puzzle that you picked out this time. My hands are itching. Just like with the new collage program, to figure it all out.
Bedankt, MLMA!
Unfortunately, I don't believe that Photoscape has a version for Macs. :-( I used to use it all the time for frames and other processes. Bummer about Picnik. But they did say something about including some of the features in Google+ if I remember right. Anyway your collages are great and Marius is adorable. Funny, I really notice little boys now, no matter what age. :-)
ReplyDeleteoh thanks for the tip about photoscape (free!!!!!) because just like you i take too many photos.
ReplyDeleteTerrific post, Ginnie!
ReplyDeleteI, also, have downloaded Photoscape and am having a lot of fun with it. The one problem I have that you may be able to advise me on is how to save the edited Photoscape photos to my Picture Gallery. I've tried multiple times without success and I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. When I use Picnik, my saved edited pictures go directly to my computer Photo Gallery automatically which doesn't seem to be the case with Photoscape.
There doesn't seem to be any way to access Photoscape directly from Shutterchance when uploading to my blog, at least from what I can see. No doubt, being a complete technical illiterate, I'm probably missing the obvious.
Thanks so much, Ginnie.
That little Marius is so sweet and so fair. Such a difference with my little grandsons who have such dark hair. They like their Legos too.
ReplyDeleteSomeone mentioned PhotoScape to me at least a year ago and I downloaded it at the time, but since I am using the little collage program that my daughter had saved on a disk (it’s not longer available) I did not try it. I use Picnic once in a while but not often. I’ll need to go back to PhotoScape and learn their process. Where do you find your time to travel, take so many pictures, learn new programs, learn a new language, see friends and so on…and finish puzzles on top of that. Do you ever sleep? You have so much energy! I am in awe.
Ruth: RATS about a version for Macs! That doesn't make any sense at all, Sister, especially since people choose a Mac for photo manipulation! Double rats. I think what Google+ is incorporating from Picnik is the photo manipulation part...but the collages? I haven't found that yet. I'll keep checking, of course.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I always think of James when I see little boys these days. I saw Lesley's video yesterday of him turning over onto his back. So precious!
PC: You'd think there'd be all kinds of sites competing to be #1 for us collage freaks, Maria. (sigh) I think you'll like PhotoScape in the meantime.
Beverly: Thanks for stopping by and commenting again, dear Lady!
On the saving part in PhotoScape...I just save to the file/folder where my original images are and have had no problem with that. I don't think I've ever done something "automatically," so I'm not sure what you're talking about. If I find out more later, I'll definitely let you know! If your collage is in a file, you can upload it from SC just like any other image, right?
Vagabonde: If you re-visit PhotoScape and have any questions, just ask and maybe I can help out. It's a bit more challenging than Picnik but offers more, as far as I can tell thus far.
And yes, that Marius is precious. Makes me wonder what he'll do when he grows up. :)
I had to laugh about the energy part for all I do. I think of the photo processing as my full-time job. Everything else is what I do "after work." HA!
Great collages, wonderful activities, and of course I always like the weather vanes. :)
ReplyDeleteTim: Thanks a million! :)
ReplyDeleteAll I can say is adorable!! When you said little hands I thought instantly of you being here taking photos of Cammie's hands. That's one thing that's really hard to do at times because she's a mover and a mommie play with me kind of gal..
ReplyDeleteI'm gonna try that site!
ET: I'd love to photograph your little Cammie one day. What a precious bundle of joy!
ReplyDeleteThe more I use PhotoScape, the better I like it!
Kids are phenomenal in looking concentrated on what they're doing! Love the photo collage there. I've been using PhotoSCape on/off the past years actually and like it very much, even though there is only some features I use.
ReplyDeleteLCT: I'm so glad I discovered this new program because it has more template options than Picnik. I don't use the other PhotoScape options...just the collage templates. It's fun to see that you've already found it!
ReplyDeleteOh what fun you have taking pictures and putting them together for us all to see! I was checking in on my blog tonight and realized it has once again been almost a month since I've posted anything there. I simply MUST figure out a way to be more disciplined about posting!
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, it looks as though what you have found for making collages will work quite nicely! I so enjoy looking at your collages... and reading about your adventures! My two favorites from this post are the ones of Marius making his lego constructions (the one with SUCH concentration... that center image is so marvelous) and the one underneath of him bundled up outside in the snow.
The video is wonderful too... in case I haven't mentioned it before... I love how you put your images to music in your videos!
Victoria: Ohhhh, thank you. I was wondering if you'd ever see the new collages and the possibilities we have with PhotoScape. I'm still trying to figure it out. It doesn't seem to do some of the things I want...but I'm working on it.
ReplyDeleteI always love when you tell me which images "speak" to you most. Thank you!
Spencer SO enjoyed the video. He now wants Legos.. how is it we have not gotten into that world as of yet, I don't know. I guess he is still fascinated with his wooden trains and track. It was funny, had my face next to Spencers' cheek like the mommy in the video. :) I guess we will have a fun birthday in November and Christmas (if he can wait that long) (he has begun his "wishing for that"...
ReplyDeleteMargaret: Once Spencer gets started on Legos, he'll never stop...if he's anything like my son was. Our last Lego set for Mark was when he was in 9th or 10th grade: it was an airplane with moving parts and cost about $100 back then (late 80s). I loved them as much as he did! And he still has all of them in their original boxes. Talk about a goldmine!
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