Tea Mug Further

This tea mug is so pretty I decided to play a little more with it.  French Kiss's "French Script" texture gave it a different look.  Since I removed my On One Photo Essentials plug-in, I don't have all my fun frames anymore.  I went to Pixlr and used one of their borders for this.

 The border is called "nolaroid".  I like the lavender scripted background with the mug.

-43

Yes, that is the theme for this week's Texture Tuesday.....

use Kim's "-43" texture.  I used a layer of "-43" as well as a layer of Kim's "2701"  I love the title "-43".

 It's based on the temperature outside when she was making the texture!   Brrrrrr - I can't even imagine.  I would hibernate and not come out until summer.  I know.....I'm 

such a pansy.

I really like the look the texture gave this image.  

It was part of a photo shoot I did for our Beyond Beyond class.  My granddaughter gave me this mug for Christmas.  I just love it, and I've been drinking tea from it every day.

Let's go see what everyone else did with Kim's texture.

 

Until next week......

Week 1 - Beyond Beyond

Finally.....thought I never would get this into a layout.  Played with pixlr and PicMonkey.  Don't really know what I'm doing

in Lightroom, so I was dumbfounded as to how to do a layout.  I remember it seemed so simple when Kim did it in the LR class.  Just can't remember how it was done.

Our assignment this week for Beyond Beyond, the second edition of Beyond Layers, was to do a photo shoot of an object from different angles, play with it.  I took about 30 shots and culled to about 10......played with them in LR and then in PSE.

My granddaughter gave me a beautiful tea mug for Christmas.  I love the organic shape of the rim and the flower image.

Credits: Kim Klassen's "Minus 43" texture, font: Centeria Script demo

I could not resist adding in the mini roses from Trader Joe's.  They were in such a pretty little container with a heart design.....perfect for Valentine's.  

I found it difficult to get a lot of different angles, simply because my space is so limited.  I get very little light in my house, so I madly attempted to create an artistic setup right next to the sliding glass door.  It's one of the few areas where I can get enough light for a decent exposure.  Even that area is not as light as I would like.  I was wedged between the door and this still life....in some precarious positions!  After lots of fiddling in both programs I was somewhat satisfied and chose these 6 images.

Collage/Painting Jumble

It's day 10 of my cleansing detox and I'm re-introducing items that were verboten during either days 5,6 and 7 or all days

I had some Mary's Gone Crackers pretzels which are gluten free "twigs".  Ingredients are rice flour, flaxseed, chia seeds and a host of other good-for-you goodies.  They had been my go-to snack when I was gluten-free.  They are so good, I kept them after realizing I don't have sensitivities to gluten.  I think that's it.  No cheese yet, and I guess I would be better off without, but come on.... what good is pizza, even a gluten free pizza from Z's Pizza, without cheese??

Okay it's time for Photo Art Friday again.  Bonnie's instructions.....

use a theme of "hardware" or post any artistic creation we choose.  I'm going with the latter.

I had in my archives a digital collage including an image of sea shells and an image of my drawing of a woman.

 and I shot a tiny piece of my painting for my Bloom True class.  My good friend Jacki taught me to get "closer" to my subject and take a little piece of it.

Then I just played with blend modes and filters.......and was able to get all these looks

I think this one below was done in mosaic filter.

 The image below was finished

 with the "extrude" filter.

and this one with watercolor filter.

 The one below which is one of my two favorites was finished in Topaz Adjust.

If you want to see some incredible edits head on over to Bonnie's Photo Art Friday link party.

That's it for this week.  

Day Nine

I'm so excited to be able to eat a little more variety.

This morning I had some delicious oatmeal with dried cranberries and 1/2 banana.  You would have thought I won the lottery.  Yea!!

Tomorrow we start  gradually introducing certain food groups that were eliminated during the detox.....actually I started today with grains (the oatmeal) which was the 

recommended breakfast..  I really don't think I have any food sensitivities but who knows.....

I felt like doing a Kim Klassen look today.  Actually I started this two days ago on my new PSE 11 and in the middle of it, the program just went screwy.  I think it might have had something to do with my Photo Essentials 4 software plug-in.  

Aaarrrrgh.....so I removed the plug-in and reinstalled the program.

Finished my edit........

Actually, these remind me of Sharon's roses.  I love the delicate color......almost like a fine china.

Almost There!!

I'm in the middle of a 10 day detox.  The most restrictive were days 5, 6 and 7.......could only have cruciferous veggies,

apples, pears and legumes such as lentils.  I'm almost there....I was so excited to eat a banana with some blueberries this AM!!

Never thought a banana could taste so satisfying.  I have to say I've not been hungry, just lacking in satisfaction....only three more days!

Now for Texture Tuesday........free and easy day.....just use one of Kim's textures.

One layer of Kim's "Scripted Night Magic" and some fun with blending.

Have a great week everyone!

Entrance and/or Exit

This was our challenge for 2013 first edition of Photo Art Friday.  I 

found it to be quite a challenge.  When I finished playing

with this image I decided I like the original best.

So first the original......

This is the main entrance (and exit) to the old Santora building in downtown Santa Ana's Art District. It houses the studios of many artists whose work can be viewed during the Santa Ana Art Walk held the first Saturday of every month. 

The older buildings in this area are beauties.....displaying the

incredible architecture of times past.  The Santora Building is but one example.

Edit #1

Edit #2

Edit #3

I used Bonnie's "Old Ornate Linen" and "Antique Farewell" on all the edits.  

Join us for the first edition of the new year and see all the entries.  If you like what you see, consider joining us.  

Bonnie always has free textures you can use in your edits.  She also gives tips and shows her own incredible art.  Just click on the button below and enjoy!

Morning Relaxation

I'm feeling a little lost without an online class, but I'm about to start Kim's "Beyond, Beyond" and Susan's "Photoplay", so 

I should be back in the saddle very soon.

Meantime Photo Art Friday and Texture Tuesday have come

back from holiday.  I did not have time to shoot pics, so I 

dug in my archives and came up with this image. The only requirement for this theme of "Cuppa" 
was to use one of Kim's textures.  

I do love my espresso macchiato.....two shots please, extra foam but no milk.  It's my reward when I finish my workout at the gym.  Lots of times I stop at Starbucks but sometimes I make my own.

I used a layer of Kim's "Reentry" on color dodge at 36% 
and a layer of her "Return" on 
linear burn at 63%.

Don't forget to stop by Kim's linky party and enjoy the other artists'  work.

Believe

My one word for this year is "believe".  I had a difficult time deciding between "believe" or "trust"....they are so close.  To believe in myself, to believe in others, to believe in purpose....it could have been "faith" too.  However, I like "believe".

That said, this is my entry for Photo Art Friday.  I worked on it so long that 

I can't remember what I did.  I used Bonnie's "brown rice paper" texture and changed the color

to a lavender.

Have a beautiful week.  Welcome back to PAF.  Please feel free to jump right in and

join us.

Early Morning Rain

I got in my car the early AM and saw this gorgeous scene in my front yard.

  Sun was just up a short while. 

I snapped it with my iPhone.  Unfortunately the camera did not quite capture what my eye saw.  Still

I decided to post.  I'm trying all sorts of things, breaking all the photography "rules".  

I shot almost directly into the sun, and I like the way the light diffused.

First the early AM shots.....

And then a couple hours later.... 

Time Flies

Life has certainly gotten in the way.  Hard to believe I haven't posted since Christmas day!!

Since Texture Tuesday and Photo Art Friday have been on vacation, I guess I 

decided to take some time off too.  I find it difficult to get back in the groove.  

I did a walk around the neighborhood with my iPhone to get myself familiar with using the camera part of it.

I got a nice shot of these pods hanging from Liquidambar tree -- all this with a background of the sunset.  I cropped the original to try to get rid of the electrical wires.

and then didi a few different edits.  This first one was using Kim's "Cherish Scripted" texture.

 and then I had a little more fun

 I used Karen of Vintage Findings' texture on the image below.

 I decided to get a pic of my new Uggs.  I put off buying them for years thinking they were ugly (no pun intended).  I finally caved and bought a pair.  I can't believe how comfortable they are or how warm they keep my feet.  I could have been enjoying these for the last several years, but I did not know what everyone else seems to know!  The laugh's on me.