Friday Finds and Adventures in Computing

I know, I know.  I'm supposed to be curbing my junking. Well, I sort of am.  Today I was very circumspect and brought home only a few goodies, and those rather unusual. 

I was very happy to find a yard of bright cheery fabric with big childlike motifs in primary colors for $1.00:

I'm not sure what I'll make with it, but I'm sure to think of something.

Next I paid $2.00 for a most unusual--and LARGE--ceramic horse. It's going up for sale shortly in Peppy's shop:

Even seated beside Peppy here, it's hard to get across the full impact of his size.  It's a hefty horse, almost 3 pounds, and it stands a foot tall.  If no one buys it, I think I'll have fun hiding him in various places throughout the woods like some sort of magical being.

Item #3 is a very old bobble head dog.  It's not even vintage, it's downright antique.  I wouldn't be surprised if it dated to the turn of the century.  And for you young folks, I'm referring to the twentieth century, not the twenty-first!  Here he is:

Once upon a time,  he had flocking on his spotted surface, but most of that is worn off now. He "bobs" quite well and the mechanism (a simple wire hook) is of early design, according to my husband. What he's made of is anyone's guess, but I'm going to say it's papier mache.  I rather doubt this little guy is worth much in a monetary sense, but he's so old, I'm sure he's collectible for that reason alone. I rather like him, in spite of his staring eyes.  He came from an estate sale and cost me a whopping $1.00.  I could probably have bargained down for him, but I'm not very good at that sort of thing, so I just forked out the money.

 At this same sale, I inquired about a broken toy and the elderly woman in charge happily gave it to me, bless her!  Isn't this neat?  She told me it was a carnival prize from the 40s or 50s, and that she had won it herself.

You can see the left front leg is broken. It could be repaired without much difficulty, I should think. But I'm thinking this little horse's real value would be to someone who takes "found objects" and creates new things with them, a la Etsy mixed media crafts. 

Now I'm sure you're waiting with baited breath to find out what I mean by adventures in computing. Granted, any time I successfully send an e-mail it's an adventure in computing, but I have even further triumphs to share:  I am learning to fotofuze.

A fellow member of the Etsy Pom Moms Team is the one who told me about the site.  It's called fotofuze.com and it's free.  There's a short video showing you how to do the basics, and I've been playing with it.  I'll show you a "before" and "after" photograph so you can see what it does:

Here's the big red horse, taken in my laundry room with a white brocade tablecloth for background.

Now, I upload the picture to fotofuze, click a button and use it like a magic marker to color over the horse and the shadow beneath it. Another click or two, and fotofuze delivers a nice, cleaned up photo to my e-mail inbox:

Voila!  Isn't it cool? 

Now for the confession...  I can't figure out how to get it from my inbox onto my Etsy site. I had to cut and paste to put it here on the blog, but Etsy needs a j-peg or whatever it's called, and I will have to have someone who speaks geek to help me with that process. But it definitely has possibilities!  Especially as it's these super-tidy white background photos that tend to be featured on Etsy's front page. Being on the front page is a Big Deal. 

Speaking of which...ONE OF MY TREASURIES WAS (OR SO I'M TOLD) FEATURED ON THE FRONT PAGE THE OTHER NIGHT!

And can I tell you which treasury? No, I cannot. I missed the whole thing, and the Etsy seller who sent me the message saying she'd seen it there didn't give me a description. Talk about frustrating!

Ah, well. If that's the worst thing I have to face, I daresay I can buck up and deal with it. Meanwhile, I have other blessings to rejoice in. Did you know that AMA is no longer recommending yearly pap tests for women in my age bracket?!!  Now that's worth celebrating!