Sunday, January 22, 2012

No Picnik

I was sad to read yesterday that Picnik was closing in April. Until they close they are offering their free Premium effects to everyone.
One of my goals for the year is to learn textures on Adobe Photoshop Elements. I played with a few of the textures offered on Picnik and I really like the way they look.


I took this picture of the chickadee on Friday and added texture and the frame on Picnik..


This winter I have been busy in the kitchen learning to make things that I would normally buy. Between the cost of gas and groceries, I am really having to pinch pennies these days. Even though I am southern and my grandmother and mother always cooked their biscuits from scratch, that gene kind of skipped me. I have always bought them frozen, (and even canned). I love to bake bread, so it really bothered me that I couldn't make decent biscuits. I think I handle the dough too much for them to be light and fluffy and rise like they should. Determined to make them, Saturday I tried two different recipes. One was acceptable but the second one was exceptional!The bad thing is that now I can't find the recipe online. I thought for sure I saved it to Pinterest. At least I have the ingredients penned on a piece of paper!

Speaking of pinching pennies, Jen, from Muddy Boot Dreams, is joining Brenda, from Cozy Little House, along with a few other ladies,  for a series on Thrifty Living 2012. I am looking forward to reading their blog posts on living more frugally!
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16 comments:

Kerri Farley said...

Oh they look yummy!

Kim Klassen offers free textures and also tutorials at http://www.kimklassencafe.com/thecafe

eileeninmd said...

Gorgeous photos, I love the chickadee shot! Well done!

Ruth Hiebert said...

Those biscuits look really good.

Carolyn said...

I would love to add the textures in photoshop too.
Love your pics and the beautiful bird pics in the previous post too.

Carolyn

ann said...

We are all pinching pennies, aren't we. Speaking of biscuits, my mom always told the story about dad's biscuits making. As a newly wed, he made biscuits for them one evening and gloated even for years that his were better than moms, more fluffy. In those early years mom did know much about cooking. She always accuse dad of cheating. He used cream, making them rich and fluffy. Yours look quite delicious and perfect.

Cloudia said...

yes, how pleasant to learn to cook new things, new photos. We are bloggy twins Robin!


Aloha from Waikiki
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HolleyGarden said...

I tried to make biscuits from scratch this weekend. Like you, I make my own bread and felt I should be doing this, too. Mine turned out a little hard. Would love to have your recipe if you can find it!

Anonymous said...

I love the CS Lewis quotation. Thanks.

Laura Bloomsbury said...

A great post - thanks for the alert Robin. Judging by your images well worth a tryout before it closes. The baking texture looks perfectly delicious.

Jen Kershner said...

I bought Elements a few months ago and still haven't loaded it on my computer but I guess I'm going to have to get on top of that now!

Those biscuits are making me so hungry. I've been making a wonderful biscuit recipe from a reader and after trying dozens of different recipes my search for the perfect biscuit is over.

Rosemary said...

Love the photos...... especially the tulips..... biscuits looks so yummy.. I too love to bake but tender biscuits are hard to do ....hope you post that recipe once you find it again...... need it too!

RobinL said...

Mmm, I think I need to make biscuits this week! I love those textures too, but you don't really need any tweaking to make your photos lovely. Do me a favor Robin, make note of my new blog address, as my old one was deleted due to someone else's fraud. Grrrr!
http://lifeinrobinsnest.blogspot.com/

debsgarden said...

Your photos are works of art! And your biscuits look scrumptious. My husband had a hankering for biscuits one day when I wasn't home to bake them for him. He took a lot of chemistry in college, and he decided it couldn't be harder than a chemistry experiment. So he got out my recipe and approached it from the viewpoint of a lab student. The biscuits turned out great! That was years ago, and now he has become a terrific cook, with breakfast his specialty.

Kerri said...

Your photos are wonderful, Robin. Love the tulips on the sheet music especially, and the chickadee is so sweet.
I've never used Picnik and haven't played with textures in Photoshop. I should try it.
Mmmmm, those biscuits look delicious. I know what you mean...it's hard to make good, fluffy biscuits. I hope you can duplicate that exceptional batch from the penned ingredients.

Wendy@Once upon a rose haven said...

Piper is so cute!

Anonymous said...

Hi Robin,

Loved your post! My name's Jenn and I work with a team of ex-Picnikers. We were bummed by Picnik going away too so we built a new photo editing site called PicMonkey. We think it's awesome...we might even say better...than your old fave.

Stop by and give it a try. www.PicMonkey.com Let us know if you have questions or feedback, we'd love to hear from you!

Jenn