cheap and easy

I'm cheap, and so I can't bring myself to pay $600 or more for Adobe programs like Illustrator or Photoshop. I KNOW I'd end up loving them, but I just can't do it. Right now, Word and I get along just fine...mostly.

But that also means I don't have a great way of editing my photos for etsy. In comes Picnik. Free, online photo editing program, that requires NO registration. Just upload your photos from your computer or Fliker, and get started.

In less than 5 min, with only 2 adjustments, I uploaded this photo and came out with this:

I'm sure I could even do better, with a little more time and patience...but I have neither of these.

Emily cards here.

igloo

We finally had a nice amount of snow this week (enough that J missed 1 1/2 days of work). We did the normal "play in the snow with your kids" things. We rode the sled, built a snowman, stomped around the backyard, repositioned gloves on cold little hands, and picked up fallen babies who's legs were just too short to walk in the deep powder.

Then J began building an igloo. The conditions of our snow storm were such that there were several inches of soft snow, topped with about 2 inches of crunchy, icy snow. If you carefully lifted the top layer, you could come away with some nice "block" to build igloo walls.

I was amazed...windows, roof, door opening, supported with broom handles, and all constructed after "the sky got dark" (as Caroline was saying!). But alas, even such fine engineering is no match for the warm sun, and our igloo is now a heap of crunchy snow on our back lawn.

So to keep that cool feeling just a little longer, here are a few etsy inspirations. Spring will come soon enough, but I'm not ready quite yet.My Little Snow Boots by hipknots

Ice Ice Baby earrings by sleepingcatbeads
Berry Ring by thepebblecollection

Snow Poppies by cultivar
Little Chickadee by naturemandalas
Chocolate Snow Cookies by onesweetday

(found searching etsy.com for "ice" and "snow". Searching igloo didn't give me quite what I was looking for!)