Leaping From Hot Tub to Polar Bear Swim

That’s how it’s feeling around here. From the hot, humid, creative greenhouse of loveliness at Alt to the freezing cold reality of Mom. Not that I don’t love home– but a few days of uninterrupted sleep, time to do my hair (wait, I can do something other than a ponytail?) and talk to some of the most fun, creative grown-ups anywhere, followed by travel, scraping the ice off of my frozen car at midnight, 4.5 hours of sleep, jet lag, grocery shopping, a house that looks like I left other people living in it for the better part of a week, a 2 year old that woke up 3 times last night and a husband that’s away on business this week and… yeah, we’re back to reality around here. This morning as I was stumbling toward the 2 year-old’s room to rescue her, the scream from K’s room was intense. As a mom, I finally *know* the cries– it took a while, but now I’m pretty clear on which sound means what. And this was the scream of “someone just ran over my puppy.” Leaving M to wail her own less urgent wail, I turned the corner to find… K’s brand new shiny pink ceramic puppy (!) piggy bank in pieces on the floor. For a girl that loves puppies, this is the end of the world.

However, in the midst of this morning’s chaos– I’m more conscious of the things I love about it thanks to hearing Gretchen Rubin talk about The Happiness Project. I downloaded the book on my phone and read a third of it on the plane and have already taken the time to call and tell a few important people in my life about it. ‘Cause it’s worth reading. I’m not the reader I once was. I now tend to choose how-tos and self-help in general, but the timing on this particular sort of self-help was perfect. “When the student is ready, the teacher appears”, Gretchen writes. And this is a week where I can use some coaching on happiness. While I miss the page-turning of the real book in my hands, I love being able to grab screen shots of quotes that really speak to me, like this one:

Gretchen’s words, from The Happiness Project

So, as far as what’s coming around here in the near future in crafting/sewing world, there’s really good news. I’m going to work on my Alt posts while also attempting to juggle 47 other things in this readjustment week… and there are a few posts coming from my co-blogger.  (Hooooray! She’s baaaaack with crafty things! You know, other than the 9-month project.)

And there’s other good crafty news. Except it doesn’t sound like it at first. The first part of the news is that Picnik is closing. My friend Stacey is a bit stressed over this one, and I don’t blame her.

I’m thinking that’s because Picnik is focused on softening the blow of closing by emphasizing that people who’ve paid for a subscription get their money back. I know that people who are getting their money back are happy, and yeah, it’s cool that they’re refunding the whole year rather than just pro-rating it, but the next big question for Picnik lovers (that’s perhaps even more important) is “How will I be able to edit my photos now?” I have Photoshop myself and love it– but the ease of using Picnik on the fly feels irreplaceable.

So I followed the trail of links and came to the Google+ Creative Kit. This is the second part of the story that I wish they’d put more emphasis on because this is where they’re dropping the functionalities that you’re already familiar with if you’re using Picnik. If you already have a Google account you’ll be able to pop right in. If you don’t have a Google account, it’ll only take you two minutes. Easy peasy.

Once you’re logged in to Google, you can open a photo to edit. Then click on “Creative Kit” in the upper left.

From there the interface gets a bit more Picnik-ish. But without the familiar grass and clouds intro.

The same effects are there, with some new options, too. (I’d been wondering for a while why Picnik wasn’t introducing much that was new as far as effects. Now I know–they were busy selling the store…)

Worried that you wouldn’t be able to use “Crowns and Tiaras” anymore? Take a deep breath. Crowns. Tiaras. Both still there. As well as beards, face paint and Christmas hats. No problemo.

So, now that I feel satisfied that the online photographic editing world is not ending, I’m off to look for my living room floor. It’s got to be under there somewhere. And I am as excited as any other reader to see what Adrianna has to show us. ‘Cause blogging as a team is how we got started, and still is one of the things that makes me happiest about blogging at all. I’ve seen a preview, but that’s no replacement for getting to enjoy it when it appears in my reader window.