Osborne Rearranges The Deckchairs On The Titanic

George Osborne is set to deliver his Autumn Statement 2012 today at 12.30pm, in which he will rearrange the deckchairs.

Make Your Own Christmas Photo Card with PicMonkey

This year I'm sending out a picture of James inside our Christmas cards that I had some fun editing in PicMonkey.  I wanted to share with you how I did it in case you aren't familiar with the free online editing tool.  It's super easy to use and I edit almost all of my photos in it.  I wish I knew how to use Photoshop, but I find PicMonkey works well for my purposes. 

Here's the end result for the picture that will be included in our cards for 2012.  

Would you believe I took 99 photos of James to get ONE I could use for the card?!  Literally 99.  You ever tried to get a good picture of an active two year old? :)

Below is the out-of-the camera shot that I used for the photo.  It's a great straight on, in-focus shot of James with a cool background given the water fall and brick wall.  The random guy and stroller need to go, obviously.  

To begin editing, go to Pickmonkey.com and click on "Edit a Photo".  You can choose the photo from your computer library or drag the photo into PicMonkey. 

First, I used the cropping tool to crop the image.

Here's the cropped image. 

Then I used the Clone tool to copy the water fall to cover the stroller. 

Voila- no more stroller!  It's not perfect, but close enough. 

To lighten the photo without over exposing it, I used Curves.  You can also lighten your photos in "Exposure" and take out any yellow or warm tones in "Color". 

To write on the photo, I clicked on the "P", then chose my desired font.  You can resize and move the words around too. 

Then I used the color editor to color each letter a different color. 

I then chose the winter application to add snowflakes.  PicMonkey has all kinds of cool effects for different seasons. 

And then I colored the snowflakes to compliment the words Merry Christmas.

Finally, just Save your image.  

I print my photos at Walgreeens.  You can just go to their website and upload your photos from your computer there.  They always have coupons and can print your photos in an hour.  You could also print them at home on photo paper or card stock.

Here's the finished result.  Too cute!

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Christmas Craft (DIY Outdoor Holiday Sign)

Hi all!  Today we kick off our Christmas Cheer Link Party over at Hi Sugarplum where you can show off your Christmas craft!

I got the idea for my craft a few weeks ago at our annual Nutcracker Market when I saw an adorable 

outdoor holiday sign for about $40.  I thought I'd try my hand at recreating it at home, and it only cost me about $5.00.   

  

If only my lettering were cuter:(  I think that was part of the charm of the Nutcracker sign, so I may try repainting and rewriting mine since I'm not crazy about how that part turned out.  In my defense, I used my chalk ink markers to write with, and they were a little difficult to use on the wooden surface.  I may try regular markers next time and write in cursive.  

To make the sign, I used PVC pipe, red duct tape, a piece of wood and red, white, and green spray paint.  I topped it off with a red glittery bow and ornament.

I spray painted the PVC pipe white and folded the red duct tape in half so I could make narrow stripes and get the placement where I wanted it without it sticking while wrapping.  The result is a candy-cane looking pole. 

After cutting the wood into three pieces, I primed each and then spray painted in red, white, and green. 

I determined where I wanted the boards placed and got my husband to drill the holes for me. 

Here's the sign all assembled.  It's meant to go in the front yard, but it got late before I was finished, so it's on the front porch for now.  

Of course, you could put whatever festive message you'd like on your sign, "Merry Christmas" and your family name or the year or "Naughty or Nice?"  So fun!

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See you over at Hi Sugarplum!

Boris Johnson's Wise Words On The Euro

Boris Johnson has given a most concise and effective summary of the Euro:

"It will limp on with sclerotic growth rates continuing to immiserate loads of uncompetitive parts of the eurozone and it will be a bad business. It will eventually blow up but I wouldn't care to bet when."

It would appear that Angela Merkel agrees with him:

"I could take it easy and say the euro is saved. But I am very cautious about saying the worst of the crisis is over." 

In fact it would appear that Merkel believes that things are going to become worse.

Spain Requests Bailout That Is Not A Bailout

Spain has requested a €39.5bn bailout for its banks, which is likely to be approved later today at a meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Brussels.

However, this is not a "bailout" in the Greek sense of the word. Spain will use this money only for its banks, it will not use it to prop up its ailing economy.

The request for a full bailout, in the Greek sense of the word, has yet to come. However, be patient it will come!

Banks Trouser Taxpayers' Money

The Telegraph reports that banks drew down £4.36BN from the Bank of England's Funding for Lending Scheme in its first two months and increased net lending by £496M.

The scheme does not help firms access credit (it should be noted that banks are in fact tightening their lending criteria), it only makes credit cheaper to those successful in their loan applications.

Christmas Cheer Holiday Link Party Start Tomorrow!

This weekend I was knee deep in spray paint and craft projects in honor of our upcoming 2nd Annual Christmas Cheer Holiday Link Party!  I had hoped to have completed at least one of my projects to show you today, but neither project is ready yet.

And, yes, we really are in tank tops and flip flops here in Houston.  It was 85 degrees on Sunday! Are you getting to wear your cozy sweaters and boots? So jealous!

The party starts tomorrow at Cassie's blog (Hi Sugarplum) with Christmas crafts.  On Thursday, Michelle (Ten June) will be hosting the mantle party.  See you there!