Visions of Sugar Plums

Hello,  I've been away for awhile trying to get things ready for Christmas and haven't had time to post of blog surf/comment much.  I apologize for not stopping by your blogs and commenting but it's just been crazy around here.  I hope to be back to regular posting and commenting/blog viewing after the start of the New Year.

I did whip up this little photo today to keep you all in the Holiday mood.

I used one of Bonnie's textures - Pixel Dust Art Photo(Blue Me Away) on this photo.  Then I uploaded it to Picnik did a little editing there and added the text.  This is one of my Christmas Decorations.

Below is the same photo but look what happened when I used the (Auto Correct) feature in the Microsoft editing program.

Isn't that weird and yet I like it too!.

Macro Monday - Dec. 19

Hello! Yes, I'm still alive. - It's been awhile since I've posted so I thought I'd best get something up before people started thinking I'd dropped off the face of the earth.
Just super busy getting ready for Christmas. 
It's time though for Macro Monday on Lisa's blog.  It's always a pleasure to see what people have posted.  Today I chose to share one of my "cheery" Christmas decorations with you. He use to be an ornament but now he sits next to a decorated Christmas cabin.
Just in case I don't get by all your blogs I want to wish you all a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR as I am not sure I'll be posting until after the New Year - That may change but I like to cover my bases.  Have a great holiday everyone and thank you for all your wonderful support and comments.  Looking forward to sharing more in the coming New Year.

Photo Art Friday Dec.9-11

Hello!  Well the count down towards Christmas is going by quickly.  I spent most of today out shopping until my feet hurt so bad I could hardly walk.  Still not done but I will carry on.

In the meantime let's have some FUN and visit Bonnie's Blog (Pixel Photo Art) for Photo Art Friday  this is the last one until after the New Year so be sure to check it out.  Everyone is showcasing something to do with Holiday Preparations, Decorations, etc...

I chose one of my favorite Christmas decorations to showcase.  I used various techniques on Picnik and a couple of Bonnie's textures for my photos.  So here goes:

This one was mainly edited in Picnik using the Vignette feature.

The second one was soften in Picnik and I added a texture from Picnik but I don't recall which one.  I messed around doing several different things and added a frame and once I got something that I liked I closed my photo and this is the result.  I really should write this stuff down but I was in a hurry.

This one uses Bonnie's texture, (Abstract Scratches) and 1960's Picnik and Vignette features.

I think this one is my favorite.

See you back for Photo Art Friday in 2012.

Macro Monday - December 5

Happy Monday! - It's time for Macro Monday at Lisa's Chaos. 

For today's Macro I am sharing a shot of one of the newest neighborhood cats/strays that we've taken to feeding.  This guy showed up about 3 weeks ago and we have no idea if he belongs to anyone in the neighborhood or was dumped or lost.  He hangs around though and enjoys the food and the milk we leave out.  He especially loves milk as you will see in this photo.  We've named him, Piglet as he drinks milk like it's going out of style and does a pretty good job on soft cat food as well.  I truly wish people who have cats would not leave them outside especially at night and during the winter when it's cold outside.  If I had my way every cat in the world would have a nice safe, warm place to stay but alas that just can't be so I do my part to make them as comfortable as possible.

He's a really pretty cat and tame enough that I can pet him and he'll come in the house although he's very skittish about coming inside and I can only let him in after all our cats have gone to bed for the night.  He just comes in for a few minutes and then wants back outside. 

Below are a couple of pictures of him that  I really like too.

Be sure to stop by Lisa's blog and check out the other Macro Monday enteries.  Always inspiring and interesting.  Have a great week.

Scavenger Hunt Sunday - Dec. 4

Hello. - Wow time is sure marching by quickly.  I am so not ready for Christmas yet but it arrives right on schedule (ready or not). 
So are you ready for this weeks Scavenger Hunt Sunday.  Yes it's time for Ashley's Scavenger Hunt over on her blog: Ramblings and Photo's. - I wasn't able to participate last week but made an effort to get my pictures ready for this week.  For one thing Ashley chose 2 of my suggested "prompts" for this week so how could I not participate.

This weeks prompts were:  Portrait, Nostalgic, Time, Full of Light and Motion.

So here we go:

I'm not sure this would qualify as "portrait" quality but it's a pretty decent photo of my little Granddaughter, Coleen taken at the Christmas Light Parade on Saturday night.  It's not easy getting a good picture of her these days as she's always looking off to the side or up in the air instead of at the camera so I was happy to have snapped this happy photo.












Nostalgic: This was one of my prompts.  - I knew right away what I wanted to do for this photo.

These sweet little Angels belonged to my Grandmother.  She passed them on to me one day shortly before she passed away in 1988 - They are a part of her that I treasure. I believe they were probably made in the 1930's-40's and are of course "vintage" now.

Next prompt:  Time (also my suggestion) - For this I decided to photograph the Clock Tower on the Whitman College Campus here in Walla Walla.

Full of Light:

These little Gingerbread Figures and House are part of our holiday light display between our house and my mom's next door.  They sit in her yard.  We really light up the neighborhood with our lights. 

Lastly:  Full of Motion:  This one was a touch one for me.   I ended up with something a bit different (at least I think it is).

These are little bells hanging off a Christmas Santa that plays, "Just take those old Stockings off the shelf." to the tune of Bob Seger's, Old Time Rock-n-Roll.

So there you have my interpretations of this weeks prompts.  Don't forget to stop by Ashley's blog and check out what other people have done.

Photo Art Friday - Dec. 2-4

Hello!  Well with the holiday season in full swing now I haven't had a lot of time for editing photo's and such.  Due to the Thanksgiving holiday in the US I was unable to participate last week for Bonnie's, Photo Art Friday challenge.  I have prepared something though for this week.

We were to try a new technique or tutorial etc...that we've been wanting to try. I really didn't have a lot of time to try and learn a new technique or find a tutorial to try and follow.  So I went with something that I sort of understand now how to do. 

Here is my "Before" photo:

This is my newest Christmas decoration.  I fell in love with this Angel the minute that I saw her.  She is so beautiful.  The problem was that she was a bit "spendy" ($75) so I called hubby and asked if it was okay to buy her.  He said, YES!


So I have edited my photo using one of Bonnie's FREE Christmas textures that she offered here:  This one is called, Christmas Music.

I used the GIMP program and did a few adjustments (which of course I didn't write down) and then went into Picnik and edited the photo, went back to Gimp and reapplied the texture again using different settings, back to Picnik and voila~ finished up with this:

I hope to get by all your blogs to leave comments but time is so limited these day with so many things to do before Christmas arrives.  So if I don't get around to commenting on your blog please know that I truly enjoy all your work and hope that once the New Year is here life will once again settle back down to a normal routine and I will have more time for commenting.











Before I close I'm going to share a picture of the Angel in full length.