Texture Tuesday with Kim Klassen and a finished little quilt

this a.m. i sit at the computer, bare feet resting on the cool floor and as i wait for photos to upload i close my eyes and listen to the neighborhood sounds floating through the window; cars passing, birds singing, the pond's fountain flowing over the big boulder and splashing back into circulation . . . life is good. peaceful. i am so grateful.
i hope that you are experiencing your own peaceful moments with senses wide open and a grateful heart. i hope that your life is good too.

i'll be linking up with Kim Klassen for the Texture Tuesday event this week. she asked that we use any one of her textures and create an image suitable for the 'flower power' theme. i chose to use one of her oldies but goodies called "Golden" and layered a photo from last year's columbine crop on top of it. i made some opacity adjustments and cropped artistically and ta-da~!
i hope that you will pop over and see what a few of the other Texture Tuesday participants are coming up with.

btw: remember the green bits of brand new growth in my last post that i asked you to guess about . . . some of my returning columbine have begun to poke up out of the spring soil. 
i loved reading your guesses. thanks for playing along.

i finished the little nine patch primitive piece that Cheri inspired.

i think it turned out nicely and now i have TWO small quilts on my donation/gift stack~! i'll start working on a third very soon.

 

i also have several postcards to work up for the month of april so i should have some very busy hands for the next few weeks.

 

recent gifts include:

• the grand-dog Suki and the kitties getting along SO much better lately. it's taken almost two years~!
• watching the garden come back to life
• a blooming easter lily and orchid plants
• opportunities for spring cleaning and redecorating
• the appearance of a pair of robins in the yard
• healing and strength returning to my hip 

 

 

also sharing this post with Mona's Picturesque

for Floral Love Friday.

Texture Tuesday/ 8-9-2011

it's all about the small stuff over at Kim Klassen's Cafe today. i used her  free 'Not too Shabby' texture with one of my photos (square crop). Thank you Kim~!~

today's gifts included:

• playing tug and fetch with River (she's not 'lost' anymore)
• watching the hummingbirds chase each other around the feeder
• participating in the texture tuesday challenge this week

Texture Tuesday/7-26-11

good morning. the texture tuesday challenge this week is 'Dream'.

Free To Fly



i've used a recent shot, a layer of 'not too shabby' and a quote that i like.
the layer is a freebie from the very generous and talented kim klassen.

today's gifts have included:

• a few extra minutes of sleep
• the beloved ritual of watering/tending the houseplants
• frozen grapes on a hot summer morning ~ yummy ~!!~

Texture Tuesday

here we are at another tuesday. the challenge at Kim's this week was to use at least one layer of her (free) texture 'aurora'.
my columbine have mostly finished their bloom time and now present their funny little jester style seed pod heads.

 Sweet Surrender

i used the (challenge) texture of 'aurora' as well as 'pour vous' on these two images.  the second image is different only in that i've added a border.

do you prefer one more than the  other?

Sweet Surrender (with border)

today's gifts have so far included:

• waking up in my own bed (i've been out of town for a few days)
• cinnamon rolls for breakfast
• the ability to 'lose' myself while playing in photoshop

Texture Tuesday

it's Texture Tuesday again over at Kim's Cafe. the challenge this week was "pink".
i had fun with two different images but failed to write down which textures i used and now i've forgotten.
so . . . my challenge to all those who participate in this weekly event is to give me your guesses within your comment. i do remember that i only used one on Linen Love but there were several used on HollyHock Daze. Have Fun.

 Linen Love

HollyHock Daze

Today's gifts have included:

• deep satisfaction with the weekend garden projects
• cool morning air as i admire the blue summer sky (and the weekend's garden projects)
• ibuprofin as i recover (from the weekend's garden projects (!)

Texture Tuesday

it's actually late monday for me but tomorrow promises quite a bit of work in the garden and i didn't want to take the chance of not getting a chance to post.


Kim's challenge this week was the number 3 and the use of at least one of her textures. since my favorite number is 3 i decided to do three Texture Tuesday exercises this week.

this first one used one of my shots of last summer's moss rose. i cropped it square and  used one layer of kim klassen's (free) texture "not too shabby". i kept it pretty light handed on this one.

this second one used my own shot from spring 2009 when some of the willows in the area were doing their thing. i also cropped this one but used a 5 x 7 format and once again used the "not too shabby" texture. this one is even more subtle. i don't think one would know that there was a texture there if i didn't reveal it. it did add depth to the shot though . . .

the third one is much more involved and dramatic. the original still life was taken in 2008. i added three of kim's textures: mayzee, portrait and pourvous.

today's gifts included:

• celebrating the blessing of being an American
• the deep cool shade on a hot day
• the happiness of 'family' 

Texture Tuesdays

this week on TT the challenge was to use the layer (free) "golden" by kim klassen.

this is the original image i shot. we had some blackberries in the house so i used a handful of them and some mint sprigs to create a quick still life. i used a small white shell shaped dish and the contrast was so great between the blackberries and the dish that i felt the shot was harsh . . . i shot a lot of images, using a variety of settings/adjustments within camera, but just couldn't really overcome the problem. so . . . it was textures to the rescue . . .

Blackberries A La Mint

this was the result. i think it has a much softer look now. i would be interested to know: which do you like better? what suggestions do you have regarding the original problem of contrasts and harshness? do you like blackberries?

today's gifts include:

• homemade blackberry syrup
• the discovery of rosebuds within the garden
• a recount on the goldfish: there are 15 rather than 14

Texture Tuesdays

it's Texture Tuesday again and this week the challenge was to work with at least one of kim klassen's textures and a photo of a person or people.
i chose to work with a photo of a photo and the texture warm sun.

 Becoming a Ghost

this is a photo that i took of an antique photo that i won in a give-away from Eileen of Keeping it Rural in Wisconsin quite some time ago.
i know that normally this sort of thing is scanned into the computer but my scanner and i are not on as good of terms as my camera and i so i just took a photo of it.
anyway i find these photos fascinating. who are these people that somehow end up in an antique store and eventually are "adopted" by a buyer who finds them interesting in some way? they have faded out of family memory and into the realm of ghosts . . . who were they? what did they live through? photos attempt to tell a story but what was hers? do you have any ideas? go ahead, leave me a comment that helps build her some sort of history. what is she telling you?


today's gifts include

• having my hands in the warm dirt planting some flowers 
• being surprised by the discovery of a clematis vine full of beautiful mostly white flowers. this vine has struggled every year since we moved in (nearly eight~!) and i've never seen it bloom before. and not just one or two blooms but MANY.
• seeing that the climbing rose that i planted last year really has pulled through the winter and is just now beginning it's "climb" through the summer months. no flowers (yet) but a small green branch just beginning to thicken and flourish

Texture Tuesdays

it's Texture Tuesday's over at kim klassens again. this week we were encouraged to do our own thing using at least one of her textures. i used three: warm sun, not to shabby and sweet tart.

 Not to be Forgotten

this is the original sepia image that i used; one of my own still lifes from the archives.


i've been out of town for a couple of days and much of life has gotten ahead of me so it's short and sweet today.


toady's gifts include:

• a bright blue sky
• hot chai tea as i wake up
• a good nights sleep

Texture Tuesdays

this Texture Tuesdays challenge was to use text within our image as well as at least one of kim klassens textures. i used two textures: not to shabby and stained linen.
i was pretty light handed with them and did some erasing on the textures from the parts where i wanted the flowers to really remain light and bright. so they are subtle this week. i was also careful with the text as i wanted it to just be a "whisper".

 Beginnings

this is the original photo taken from my garden a few days ago.

*****     *****     *****     *****     *****

and then being the overachiever that i sometimes can be (or maybe i'm just having a really good time) i had to do another one. this one much more dramatic. this time i used only one of kim's textures: warm sun.

 Widening Towards Enlightenment

i even was inspired to write a cinquain (a five line poem) to go with it:

moon snail

radiant symmetry

an inner mystery

widening towards enlightenment

growth glows

 the black and white snail shell is one of my own photos taken from my archives. i don't think it's a very good photo as a stand alone shot but i didn't want to dump it either . . . i think it worked well here.

this is a photo that i took of a fallen rose petal several summers ago. i loved it's color and luminosity as well as the subtle details.  i hoped i might be able to use it as a texture layer someday. it was fun to work with and i'll use it again i'm sure.

today's gifts include:

• time to work/play in photoshop
• some joyful giving
• a friend's shared happiness

Texture Tuesday

it's Texture Tuesday and here i am right on time~!
:-)


using two of kim klassens (free~!)wonderful textures this time: Not to Shabby and Portrait

if you haven't already discovered this great site and you're interested in photography and  what you can do with your own shots you should really click on the Texture Tuesdays button on my sidebar and check it out. i've been dancing around this activity for years and finally feel like a have a wonderful community of support in which to actively learn and use these skills. i do have a lot to learn and a long way to go to get as good as many of the participants but their talent and sharing spirit is totally inspiring.

this week it's a "garden party" going on over there~it's okay to be fashionably late but do at least come and partake a little~!!~

 Anticipation

this is my original photo which is part of a series of shots recently taken in my garden. i shared another of these shots in a recent post but felt this one was a bit "washed out" looking. i do love what the textures did for it.

today's gifts include:

• starting a new novel and being totally drawn in (The Help)
• seeing many different (and beautiful) birds at the feeder as they make a pit stop on their migratory paths
• water warmed and at the ready whenever i should want or need it (that shower felt good this morning)

Texture Tuesdays with Kim Klassen

yep, i know it's not tuesday but i'm a bit slow with the texture challenge this week. i'll keep practicing and and eventually i'll get faster (i hope).
once again the texture comes from kim klassen. this one is called "yesteryear" so i did something yesteryear-ish with it.

 Faded Memories

this is the original photo. again one of my own still life shots from my archives.


today's gifts include:

• waking up wrapped in flannel sheets on a chilly spring morning
• happy memories of my grandparents
• a cup of hot chocolate made with warmed milk

For You / Pour Vous

it's so good to be back. i've been experiencing a great deal of problems with my internet connection for the past several weeks and for the past week have had no internet at all so i'm feeling totally disconnected from all my blog friends. the connection is now working although with intermittent lapses . . . not sure what is going on or when it will be totally straightened out but thought i would jump on this evening real quick and show you what i've been up to. i hope to get back on tomorrow and catch up with you too.

For You

this is a textured image that i put together using a photo of mine:

 (that i pulled from my archives) and a texture (Pour Vous) given to me by kim klassen.

i'm very happy with it and if you have a second or two you can hop over to my flickr page and see the image on black by clicking on the little magnifying glass that says "view in lightbox".

it's  quite stunning if i don't say so myself~!~

;-)

i hope to be doing photoshop work on a regular basis so hopefully there will be more to see as time goes on . . .

today's gifts included:

• the pleasure i feel while creating
• walking in the sun with my grandog
• enjoying a pasta dinner (lovingly prepared by my daughter) with my family