The Hidden Seed

Walking in a Secret Room

 

Playing Hide-and-seek with mischievous ghosts :)

This background is a drawing that I made on paper. Just trying something different :)

Dress: Forever 21 

Shoes: White MT

Belt: Handmade

Butterflies :)

 

Dress: Tulle (via Mod Cloth)

Bag: Max&Co.

Shoes: Born

Socks: Target

Necklace: Vintage

 

Zen Journey

 

Far away from where I live I know a place where mushrooms grow in the air :)

Dress: Ophelia

Shoes: Bandolino

Belt: Handmade by myself

 

A b o v e  :   Z e n   G i r l   (this illustration by myself inspired the self-portrait on top)

Halloween :)

This is what I wore for Halloween. I dressed up as a birthday party animator. The best part of this outfit was: the socks! They glow in the dark. It was lots of fun walking at night with all the little glowing dots on my feet. 

Pants: The J. Peterman Company.

Shirt: Jezebell

Suspenders: Vintage

Shoes: Miz Mozz

Socks: Target

Bow: thrifted

 

This is another outfit that I put together with Natalie's help. On Halloween day we spent the whole morning playing costume dress-up. In this picture I'm wearing Natalie's little vintage hat that Bill got for her some time ago. I always tell Natalie: I wish that I could find a hat like that in my size, I just love it. Well, here I'm wearing it anyway, with the help of my blue ribbon :)

Sweater: Bebo

Skirt: My vintage crinoline 

Belt: ?

Hat: Vintage

Socks: Target

Shoes: Miz Mozz

And here you can see another outfit that Natalie and I put together. This one is my favorite because I am a "little girl" and I am holding my favorite doll ever. This is a doll made by Mimi Kirchner, I named her Elsita because she looks just like me. Mimi is one of my favorite doll makers, she is unique.

 

TARA!! This is the end of this post. I hope that you also had a great Halloween day!

How do I Create my Backgrounds?

Since I started this blog I have gotten several e-mails (almost everyday) inquiring about how I create my backgrounds. I basically start up with a simple picture of myself that I take outside against a while wall (always using natural light). On the floor I place a rug that I got at Target, the ones that you can leave outdoors. I place the camera on a tripod and I use the self-timer of the camera  (Cannon) to take my self-portrait. 

For understanding the next step you will need to do a little bit of homework and get familiar with these elements in Photoshop: layers, masks, and the eraser tool. It took me months to get to understand these things well. What I did is that I purchased a Photoshop package with all the basic things that you need to know in order to do your own creations and from there I came out with my background ideas. It was an accident, I was just playing around with the things that I learned from the Photoshop package. I didn't learn how to do this from a tutorial, I don't even know the technical terms to write my own tutorial.

But if you're already familiar with Photoshop then you are going to pick up the idea easily: What I do is that I drag the picture that I want to use for the background on top of my self-portrait. Then I click on Multiply and this makes the picture of the background transparent so I can see my self-portrait through the picture of the background. Then, with the eraser tool I erase the part of the background that is covering me in the self-portrait and I leave only the background. That's it! At this point I save the picture in a JPG file and that's the end.

Again, it sounds simple and IT IS pretty simple but in order to do this you first need to explore Photoshop and get familiar with it little by little, it takes time. I decided to write this explanation to give you a general idea of how I create my backgrounds but I don't even know how to write a professional tutorial. I'm still a Photoshop student :)

I hope that this helps you get the idea!

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Regarding the actual pictures of the backgrounds: You can find beautiful papers with patterns everywhere. In vintage stores... you can also scan old books and fabrics...your imagination is the only limit.

A Garden in my Mind

 

If you cannot have something in real life just make it happen in your imagination. But if that's not enough then ask Mr. Photoshop to help you out. There is always a way to make your dreams come true :) Photoshop is my friend, he helps me create these backgrounds for The Hidden Seed :)

Skirt, Blouse and Shoes: Anthropologie

Brooch: Vintage

PlEASE COME BACK TOMORROW. I HAVE A COUPLE OF HALLOWEEN-RELATED PICTURES TO SHARE WITH YOU :)

Polka Dot Dress :)

 

Do you like my new background? I have been creating new exciting ones for future posts :) Yay!

Dress: Mod Cloth

Shoes: Anthropologie

Bag: Gurka

Little Round Post :)

 

 Here we have this semi-neon dress that I found some time ago. The color is as fresh as homemade lemonade. Then, there is the old cardigan so serene and polite. I think that they complement each other, like a good couple with opposite personalities :)

My Lamp Hat :)

 

I call this hat that way because when I wear it I look like a walking lamp :o that's OK :) Lamps are my friends. One of my lamp friends taught me how to stand upright (see me in the picture).

The other day a boy from Diego's school asked me why I wear hats sometimes and I quickly responded: Because it's lots of fun :) He agreed with me. Hats are lots of fun and they come in such a great variety of colors, materials and shapes! Below you can see some nice ones :)

Enjoy!

 

 

Crocheted Novelties & Gifts (On Ebay)

 

yellowfield7  on Etsy.

 

terrygraziano on Etsy.

 

Victorian lady with feathered hat (via freeparking on Flickr)

A New Cameo Pin for Etsy Plus Some Vintage Brooches from my Collection

Today is jewelry day!

First, I wanted to share a new cameo creation with you (already listed on Etsy) More details about it here.

And also, I wanted to show you a selection of birdies from my collection of vintage brooches. Let's keep going downstairs to see them :)

The photos make these birdies look large but they're tiny and so beautiful in person! These little ones make me smile. I adopted them all, one by one, from flea markets, antique stores, Etsy etc. They're my babies :) I have two jewelry boxes: one for my vintage pieces and one for my modern ones or handmade by me and other artists. I still have many more to share with you.

I hope that they bring a little bit of sunshine into your life today :)