Photo Art Friday - June 29, 2012

Please click here for my Flower Art Friday entry.


It's time now to join in on some artistic masterpieces via Photo Art Friday where this week we could showcase any piece of photo art or a piece with a "Painterly" feel.

Bonnie provided some wonderful textures and I chose to use 2 of them on my piece.

Here is the Original Photo:

Here is the Edited Version:  Please Click to Enlarge as it shows the details so much better.

The textures I used were:  Fabrique and Painterly.

I played around on Pic Monkey using both of the textures, saved the photo and reopened on Foto Flexor where I did some further editing before returning to Pic Monkey to add the frame.  I purposely erased the texture from the fly as I wanted it to stand out as if it had just landed on the painting.  So do you think that I achieved that effect?

Come join the fun and check out the othe particpants who have shared their links HERE:

Flower Art Friday - June 29, 2012

Boy has this week  month flown by quickly!  - It's time once again to bask in the beauty of Flowers over on LeAnne's blog, Photos by LeAnne.  So join me for Flower Art Friday

I have so many pictures of flowers that sometimes it's hard for me to pick which ones to use.  I had something different in mind for today but then I came across this photo in my Archives this morning and just knew I had to use it.

This is basically a SOOC (Straight Out of Camera) shot other then the Grunge Frame I added.
This is a lily in my mom's flower bed.

What's funny is that I bought this lily last year along with this one for my mom.  We were digging this spring for a spot to plant my new Bleeding Heart and accidently dug up my lily bulb, in fact we chopped it to pieces so I had to throw it out.  I was pretty sad until I found the same lily again and planted it in a spot where I have it marked so as not to dig it up again next spring.

Enjoy!

"Whatever" Wednesday the Swimming Lesson Edition

Sorry to be late with my "Whatever" Wednesday photo's.  There's a good reason though...It's summer and for Coleen that means,  Swimming Lesson's.  -  She started her 3rd year of lessons on June 18th so my mornings have been taken up with going to her lesson's.  The photo's today are from the very 1st day of  this summers lessons.  She was promoted last Summer from Level 3 into Level 4 at the end of the lessons but because she hadn't been swimming since last August she started back in Level 3 again as a refresher course.

All set and ready to head into the pool in her new swimming suit.

They always start out playing, "Red Light, Green Light" which means yo get to splash everyone by kicking your feet really hard when the light is green.

Here they are practicing Beaver Dive's.

Practicing floating/swimming on your back.

Using the "Noodles"

Side-breathing exercise out of the water.

Racing with the noodles.

Today was the last day of the first session.  -  She was moved to Level 4!!!  She's a bit nervous now because Level 4 is done completely in the Deep End of the pool and you don't get to always use the noodles but she can swim just fine without them. 

Scavenger Hunt Sunday - June 24, 2012

Hello and welcome to the latest edition of Scavenger Hunt Sunday.

This weeks prompts are:  Warped, Concentric Circles, Gear, Glazed and Marble.

I thought this week would be easy compared to last weeks prompts but boy was I wrong.  I had no idea what I was going to do for some of the prompts.

Starting with,  WARPED - I put off trying to find something for the prompt and then an idea popped into my head after reading the dictionary defintion of the word:

Definition of WARP

transitive verb

1: to arrange (yarns) so as to form a warp

2a : to turn or twist out of or as if out of shape; especially : to twist or bend out of a plane b : to cause to judge, choose, or act wrongly or abnormally : pervert c : distort d : to deflect from a course

Coleen was happy to oblige Grandma and warped herself out of shape for this prompt.  Don't you wish you could do this!

CONCENTRIC CIRCLES - I did a "Google" search on this and found that in nature there are certain flowers that have concentric cirles and onions are a perfect example of concentric circles.  Since our local (and famous) Walla Walla Sweet Onions just started showing up in stores I did a little collage of one.

Then today we had a storm show up complete with hail and heavy rain. Our driveway has a drain in it and the rain was coming down so hard it formed a mini-lake and I was lucky enough to catch this shot of the rain drops forming none other then, Concentric Circles.

GEAR: - Okay I wanted to find some kind of a gear to photograph but couldn't seem to find anything to fit the category and time was running out so I came up with this idea:

Rain Gear...perfect for those sudden, unexpected rain storms!

GLAZED - I swear that Ashley & I must be long lost sister's since I've read her post and she mentioned "Googling" concentric circles, which I did as well. Then she mentioned that she had originally planned to buy Glazed donuts for the prompt...Guess what?  That was my 1st idea as well!   Instead I came up with this:

Coleen painted this purple ladybug at a pottery birthday party for one of her little school friends. It's certainly glazed and looked pretty cool sitting on one of my flowers.


MARBLE: - Okay I so wanted to photograph the steps inside our courthouse as they are this gorgeous stone marble but alas I procrastinated and the Courthouse was closed today and I still hadn't gotten around to getting anything other then this last shot which I took earlier in the week (just in case I didn't get to the courthouse) gee...you think I knew that I wouldn't make it.

This little frog sits in my front flower bed and was a birthday gift from my sister-in-law. It has "Marbles" for eyes and it's body is made up of crushed marbles and cement.




Whew another successful hunt. Don't forget to check in on Ashley's blog and check out the other participants entries.

Quarterly Top 5

  I decided to participate in the Quarterly Top 5 because one of my favorite subjects to photograph is my Granddaughter, Coleen. - I also love taking pictures of our cats but this time it's just Coleen in the spotlight.

This is the first time any of these photo's have appeared on my blog.  It seems I often take loads of pictures but never seem to get around to sharing all of them so now is a good time to do that.

I took this shot of Coleen (wearing her Halloween Ladybug costume) on one of our Park excursions.  She had been swinging on the swings and decided to take a bit of a rest in the grass.  I love the tossled look she has and decided to give this photo just a hint of a "vintage" feel.

In this shot she was playing down at the school on some of the playground equipment.  I chose this one because she is looking directly at the camera (for a change) and I just love the happy expression on her face.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Coleen loves to act silly and one night she decided to take her swimming goggles into the bathtub and wanted Grandma to come take some pictures of her.  I love it when she gets silly!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

This shot includes both my daughter, Greta and Coleen.  They wanted some Mother/Daughter photo's taken so we went to the park and I took a bunch of pictures.  This one is one of my favorites.  Coleen had found a flower that she stuck in her hair and it matched her shirt.  Plus I love what is printed on her shirt.
Best Friends 4Ever - Isn't that what Mother's and Daughter's should be.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

This last shot is my absolute favorite of the Top 5.  Coleen had just got a new hair cut (which I love) and I was taking some pictures of her new-do.  She is always getting complimented on her big, brown eyes and I love that while her eyes are closed in this shot you can still see how big they are and she looks so totally, innocent (I know better though). 
 
Please stop by Ashley's  Amber's or Sarah's blogs and check out the other participants entries.

Flower Art and Photo Art Friday - A Birthday Rose

Today is LeAnne's (Photo's by LeAnne) and it's also Flower Art Friday on her blog.  This being her birthday she requested that people post Roses if they wanted to in honor of her birthday and the fact that the Rose is the official flower for the month of June.  -  HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEANNE!

It's also Photo Art Friday on Bonnie's blog,  - Pixel Dust Photo Art where we could feature any piece of Photo Art or one with a, "Vintage" feel to it.  Bonnie even provided some great FREE textures for the challenge if we so desired to use them (and I did).  I chose to use her new texture,
Vintage Craquelure.

Here is the original photo:

This is one of my favorite roses,  It's a J&P (Jackson-Perkins) rose called, Pristine.  It is no longer available and only a portion of my original bush survived the harsh winter of 2008 but thankful it's enough to still produce gorgeous blooms like this one.

Here is my edited version:

Several different photo editing programs were used to get the finished result.
First I uploaded the original photo on Pic Monkey and uploaded Bonnie's texture:
Vintage Craquelure in Hardlight at 100% - I erased all the texture off the rose bloom.  Then I went to the special effects section and used the Sepia effect, fading to 60% to add color back to the rose and background giving it a more vintage feel.  I also added the frame using on of the new "Sketchedy" frames available.  I then saved the photo and reopened it on, Pixlr-o-matic and added their texture (Old) to further age the photo.  Then I uploaded that photo on Foto-flexer to add the sentiment.  They have a large selection of fonts there so I like to use them to add my sentiments.

I hope you like the end result as much as I do.

Please be sure to stop by both LeAnne and Bonnie's blogs to check out all the great Flower Art and Photo Art. - Take care and have a wonderful weekend.

"Whatever" Wednesday - Fallen Hero Edition

Today's Whatever Wednesday photo's are a little more (solemn) then I normally post. However I felt the need to share them so I hope you will take the time to view them. Yesterday our town honored a

Fallen Hero. His name was Matthew Fazzari. He was killed in Afghanistan on June 6, 2012. Leaving behind a wife and 2 young sons. I did not personally know Matt but went to high school with some of his relatives so was familiar with the family name. He is the 1st person from Walla Walla to die in Afghanistan and the 49th from Washington State. I wanted to show my respects and gratitude to his family for his service to our Country and defending our Freedom.

Utility workers working in the area raised their "Cherry Pickers" to form an Arch for the Motorcade to pass under. I really thought that was awesome.
































Two Fire Trucks on both sides of Main Street draping the American Flag for the Motorcade to pass under.

Some of the crowd gathered on Main Street to pay their respects.  It was a wonderful turnout of support and love by the community.

Humans weren't the only one's paying their respects.

There was just something about this shot of the Firemen walking with these little boys that touched my heart.

There were local riders bringing up the rear of the Motorcade and lots of American Flags as well.

WE SALUTE YOU.

God Bless you and the USA. - Rest in Peace.

Scavenger Hunt Sunday - June 17, 2012

Happy Father's Day to all the dad's out there.   It's been 14 years since my dad passed away but when Father's Day rolls around I can't help but think back on all the wonderful memories I have of my dad.  He would have loved seeing my photo's as he was always proud of the things I did.  So dad these are dedicated to your memory.  I love you always.  Your little girl.

Please join me now in the "Hunt" over on Ramblings and Photos
The prompts this week came from  Kay Rhodes

They are:  Meet Me at The Corner, Mother Nature Meets Technology,
One Step at a Time, What's Wrong with this Picture and Standing Tall.

Let me just say this was one "toughie" of a series of prompts.  However I managed to have them all completed by Thursday of this week! - I did fudge just a little on one of the prompts and used an archived photo from sometime back but hey it fit and believe me I had no clue what else to do for that particular prompt.  So with that said let's get started:

I was out with my mom, daughter and granddaughter the other day and we had stopped for some Frozen Yogurt and went to eat it at one of the local parks.  I happened to have my camera with me (imagine that!) and took this shot of the intersection near the park. - Not to creative but it fit the prompt.

This next one is actually an idea that my Granddaughter, Coleen came up with as I was struggling with this prompt.  Her mommy told her that it had to do with Mother Nature and Technology.  She wanted to know what technology was and then in an excited voice she pointed to my computer screen and some fake roses that I have sitting next to the screen.  "Grandma, it's Mother Nature (fake flowers) and Technology (Computer)."  I thought about it and told her that was a really good idea but I thought I'd use some real flowers from my garden.  She was so excited about helping her Grandma figure out one of the prompts.  Here is her idea:

You will notice the Screen Saver on the computer screen is actually of one of my photo's shared awhile back on one of the hunts.

This was taken the same day as the (Meet Me at the Corner) shot.  My daughter and granddaughter we racing back to the picnic table and I snapped a photo of them running towards me.  Looks like Coleen is winning the race, "One Step at a Time.!"

This next shot is my (Archived) shot. 

Believe me there is something definitely "wrong" about this photo...Modern Dentistry?  Now it was actually my husband being "goofy" when our daughter complained about her tooth hurting.  He prepared a special dental tray complete with Whiskey for the pain, a hammer, drills, pliers...and then I snapped this shot.   Coleen said she couldn't watch...at which we all cracked up.  It was pretty funny and made for a really interesting photo don't you think.

This is the Whitman Memoria Shaft located at the Whitman Mission where Missionaries, Marcus Whitman and his wife, Narcissa Whitman along with several others were massacred by members of the Cayuse Indian tribe in 1847.  You can read about the massacre here:

It had been awhile since I'd been to the mission and climbed the hill to the monument.  The Shaft is 27 feet high and the base of the shaft is 720 feet above sea level.  It's quite a little climb up to the monument but the view is spectacular after you reach the top.  I'll share more photo's later in the week.













Have a great day and enjoy your loved ones.

Photo Art Friday - June 15, 2012

For my (Flower Art Friday) entry please scroll down or click HERE:

It's time to share the spotlight with another of my favorite memes:
Photo Art Friday - Pixel Dust Photo Art.

This week you could post "Any" piece of photo art or one that showcased "Negative Space" in your photo art.  I did a bit of reading up on Negative Space and Bonnie provided a link as well to information.  Then I searched through some of my photo's that I felt had negative space in them and I came up with this photo:

This is one of our cats, Snickers.  She was laying on the kitched floor the other day in a patch of sunshine and I decided to do a Photo Shoot with her.  She's such a pretty cat.

I converted the photo to B/W and then used Kim Klassen's texture. KKLola in the negative space area.
I converted this to a Sepia Tone and then added frames.  Below is the the end result. 

Isn't she beautiful!

Don't forget to pop on over to Bonnie's blog and check out all the awesome Photo Art.
Have a great weekend.

Flower Art Friday#8

It's time for some Floral Delight coming to you via Flower Art Friday on LeAnne's blog, Photo's by LeAnne.


Here is my entry for this week.

I was lucky enought to capture this cute little butterfly on my Lobelia this week.  Enjoy!

Don't forget to check out the other great entries.