Only Tuesday and already I have an onset of heavy, shallow breathing.  Yes, I am that busy. I am trying to wrap up one branding project, start digital comps on another (a chocolatier!), do a portrait shoot for a major magazine and launch my shop. My brain feels like it is sizzling. To counteract this feeling of frenzy I do what  I do best–procrastinate.  Lucky for you my procrastination turns to goods for the blog. This is a glowy apricot photoshop action, it works really well on over exposed skies and makes fields nice and cream.  I haven’t tried it on portraits but the action is fully adjustable so you can play around.  I have included a before + after image in the download so you can get an idea of what type of image works for best results.  Happy editing! Now I must get back to the grind.  You can download your free apricot glow here.

P.S. For those of you having trouble I *think* it has finally been resolved. 

This whole series of cards by Sapling Press is brilliant. So smart + cheeky. This was my favorite card and for this Monday morn, was definitely the cutest. They are all equally as witty and I am sure you will find one just perfect for you.

Another little peek and a contest of sorts.  I have chosen a launch date and no matter what (unless there is a random alien abduction) I shall be opening my virtual doors for business. It’s all very butterfly inducing, especially since my product labels haven’t arrived and the count down is on.  I know one lovely lady that wants this stamps, perhaps there might be more?  All you need to do to win yourself this super duper (and may I add handy?) stamp is to be the first one to guess the correct date of the launch.  How easy is that?

In other exciting news Jules, Danni, Alex and a few other immensely talented and good looking ladies will be meeting up for Holly’s book signing on Friday.  Nicole from Making it Lovely blogged about it today (Nicole being another blogger I would love to meet in person).  Are you planning on coming? Jules tweeted about it, but it was crickets, I took it personally of course, so I was not planning on having crickets here on the blog, but I figured with a giveaway maybe you might be more inclined to come.  I am so not above bribery. I have been emailing Jules non-stop with my fear of not having time to have a face-lift, lipo and a new wardrobe by Friday (she already knows I have a winning personality so I am allowed to be superficial here).  A few of us will be dining under the stars in the City of Angels and if you are not a psycho killer perhaps you may like to join? I would love to meet you, I will be the lady with the lashes, but of course.

I had a photo outing a few months ago with a guy I met on Craigslist*.  If that doesn’t sound like a missing person’s story ready to happen I don’t know what does.  How about if I told you that we went into secluded woods to shoot and it wasn’t just me but eight other guys, me being the only female shooter?  I know sounds creepier by the second right?  Fortunately, there were two models and the creep factor was non-existent.  The day was an adventure and although I thought it was going to be more of a workshop/outdoor classroom type day (it wasn’t), it was still a great experience. Prior I was taught to never shoot during high noon (especially a portrait)  but we shot in all kinds of light from dark, shady and dramatic to the brain melting hot sun. I am just now getting around to starting my edits.  I probably would have left these shots on my hard drive for eternity but I was making myself some black and white actions and thought why not a blush and warm gray?  I knew that I had a photo from this shoot that I wanted to try it out on. I think this image looks like it should be on an album cover.  I created the Blush + Gray action for download here, (It’s in a folder so click on the folder when you are in the actions palette and it will drop down to the action) it works best on lighter images with blown out highlights (that is if you want lots of creamy blush tones). Here’s a couple other photos from the shoot  here and here. Let me know if you have any questions or problems with the action, I am happy to help if I can (sometimes I may just add to your frustration instead of alleviating it).

*Please note, the guy is a professional photographer/teacher, but it sounds so much better for the story that he was just some guy.

**The action has been updated 8.31.11 and should work perfectly now.

Just when you think the internet has served up all the inspiration you’ll get for one lifetime along comes Dana.  I was looking up messy chalkboard textures, because I am quite taken with the color of an erased chalkboard (aren’t you?) and I find the gifted Dana Tanamachi.  For someone so young, she is quote accomplished and if this is the beginning of her career I can only imagine what creative summits she will scale.  I believe in editorial parlance Miss Tanamachi would be considered ‘one to watch’.  I would love to one day see her installations in person, I am positive they would be even more impressive than they appear on my little computer screen. You can visit more of her portfolio here.

  photo by::kelsey foster