Bits & Bobs

 

Hello lovelies, hope you're all doing well. There is not really a set topic for this post today; it's all a bit random, but random is good every so often, right? This month I've really been into scrap-booking. I've always collected bits and bobs such as tickets, wristbands etc so instead of them all gathering dust in a box, I decided to make use of my them and my book from paperchase and arrange everything neatly so I can just flick through for a trip down memory lane.

I've also started to plot indoor plants around my room but I've killed about five flowering plants- I don't even know how I do it. I guess I've finally found my special talent;D As a last resort I decided to pick up a cactus. If this dies, then there really is no hope for me, but so far so good. Are any of you serial plant killers too?

How to brighten your images in Photoshop

 

I know that I'm not the first and I definitely won't be the last blogger to offer tutorials and tips etc for blogging and HTML/CSS but I really want to try and offer something other than the generic advice that is passed around. I'm not saying that what I am going to offer is going to be brand-spanking new but hopefully it will help you out nevertheless. Without further a do, this is one of the ways in which you can quickly brighten your images in photoshop (I'm using the CS5 version but this should work in any version of PS).

001: Open your image that you are going to use. Duplicate the layer (by pressing CTRL+J) or by right-clicking the background layer and selecting duplicate layer.

002: Still in the layers section, click where it says Normal and a menu should pop up; click on Screen.

003: You should notice how much brighter your image is already, if it looks okay, that's you pretty much done. However, depending on the image you have chosen, this could have made your image a little too bright so to combat this, lower your opacity until you get your desired look. 

004: To finish off, merge your two layers together (CTRL+E) or right-clicking and selecting merge visible.

 

And it is as simple as that. If you have any questions or requests, feel free to ask them in the comments below. 

Books to be read

Hello lovelies, hope you're all doing well. I thought I'd do something new today and feature the books that I'm currently reading/read. First up is The Help by Kathryn Stockett, I've wanted to read this for such a long time so it must of been fate when I saw it sitting in my school library. I also really wanted to watch the film but I always have to read the book first before I see the film, does anyone else feel the need to do this? The book is about a white woman who writes a book about what it's like for black maids in the 1960s working for other white women. I found this book really interesting and I was actually quite sad to finish it but I highly recommend it!

After watching the trailer (it doesn't post anything on your fb) for Kiss Me First* by Lottie Moggach, I really can't wait to read this. The blurb: "On the internet, we can be anyone we choose. No one knows who we really are. Sheltered and obsessive, Leila spends more time online than out in the real world. So she seems the ideal person to take over the virtual identity of the vivacious and fragile Tess, who wants to disappear. But even with all the facts at her fingertips, there are things that Leila can't possibly know about Tess- or herself- until it is too late..." This looks like it's going to be really interesting.

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult is going to be a re-read for me as I enjoyed it that much when I first read it. It's about a boy who goes into his school and shoots ten people as a means of revenge for his bullying. It's really interesting as it's told from several different viewpoints and more and more information comes out not just about him but other people that lead to this event.

I've only read a few chapters of The Divide by Nicholas Evans but from what I can gather so far is that a girl called Abbie has been on the run as she is wanted by the FBI but her body has been found in a remote mountain and now her family is trying to figure out what happened to her. I've found this really easy to read so far and I can't wait to find out what happens.

Do you like these kind of posts? Have you read any of these books before?