Little Scraps of Magic

I Said I Wasn't Going to Do It

I said I wasn't going to do it.

Afterall, I had so many reasons not to do it.

I couldn't wrap my head around the theme. I didn't have a clue as to what picture I'd use.

I was beyond tired. I would just do my puzzles and go to bed. Wake up bright eyed and bushy tailed.

Well, I stretched the truth there. No bright eyed bushy taled artist here.

But, Kim's sirens whispered sweet nothings into my ears. They lured me into the studio, and there was no going back.

I wandered through the maze that contained my photos. Tried some flowers. Nope.

Tried some macro shots of flowers, and I created some of the most miserable examples of how you can misuse textures that ever existed.

And, then I found the picture above and a little light bulb flickered briefly. Reds, oranges, and yellows are warm colors, right?

So, I cropped. And, I cropped some more. I layered on "Spill It," using color burn at 69%.

I added a new layer, and then on top of it, added "Revolution," again on color burn at 62%.

As Elmo would say, "Ta Da!!!"

I'm loving it.

Loving the warm colors, the bold clean lines and shapes.

Sometimes, I'm really glad that I don't listen to myself.

Where The Wild Things Are

This past Friday, our classes ventured where the wild things are. Our purpose? To do some water testing and make real what our students have been studying, the wetlands. Armed with cameras, binoculars, cloud identifiers, and knowledge as to what made a marsh different than a bog, we spent several hours wandering through Huntley Meadows. Frogs croaked, snakes slithered, and egrets and herons dined on their own endless buffet. Students collected water sample data and enjoyed spotting the citizens of the park.  All of us battled heat and humidity, and yet, thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Mmmmmmmmmnnnnnnnnn....Delicious!

This spot looks promising...

 

Searching, searching, ...

 

Acquiring target...

 

Got ya! Delicious!!!

 

Joining in on the fun over at Focus 52, where it's Week 21, and the theme is "Delicous!"

 

I Need to Remember This

So, I started with this:

Cropped her down a bit...

Stirred up some photoshop elements magic, threw in a texture or two, and got this...

 

I'm going to print her out and focus on this quote; too much monkey brain going here. (Although, I have to credit the monkey brain; it's what woke me up at 3 am, leading to this.)

Silliness

He causes gales of laughter, this Aussie of ours! Whether it's a doggy bagel crammed in his mouth, or his barreling through the house with a squeaky football, he loves to play. He can't catch a frisbee to save his life, but glories in the pursuit. I've got a lot to learn from this fellow.

This page, as so many, started out completely differently. It evolved ...layers of paper, paint, a slightly altered photo, some sanding, and so it went. Add some pens and some rubber stamping, and I bet it made you smile.

Today began with the two of us sitting in traffic and creeping toward our destination, arriving much later than normal. I scurried in only to find the black screen of death awaiting me. Luckily, my best new friend, Phil, came to fix it. Seems as if one piece of tech was not playing nicely with another. God bless Phil...he gets rid of the gremlins that lurk in my machine. From there, I scrounged to get some copy paper; it seems as if it's to be delivered tomorrow, which didn't help matters today.

Some scented shower gel, an iced chai, and looking at this silly face has cured what ails me.

Happy Tuesday!

Macro Shot Monday

Taken for Macro Shot Monday...Who Dey on our couch.

 

In living color, before messing around in Photoshop Elements!

Sheer Silliness

Art imitating life imitating art...

Taken at "Wine in the Woods" this past Saturday at Merriweather Post Pavillion. A good time was had by all!

It Started Out as a Disaster...

Remember this? I decided to go for it and use the shot as a journal page. But, as the print emerged from my HP, it became very clear that I had pushed my printer as far as I could push it. HP decided to fight back, and the upshot was a very faded grayish blue picture, and not at all what I had in mind for my journal page.

Something made me hesitate as I headed toward the recyling container. The color appealed to me for some reason, and honestly, that ink is expensive. Upshot? I decided to play, because, after all, it couldn't get much worse.

Out came the micron for a bit of outlining and journaling. A few areas of stark white jumped out, so I blended in some "weathered wood" from an old Ranger stampad.

And, I like it!

Week 20: Nurture

Week 20! So far, I've manged to post, some pics obviously better than others, but I've done it. I'm looking forward to doing a book of these at the end of this year, and if I'm smart, I'll start putting it together now!

Kara and Alex in the black and white version - taken during our usual Friday night mayhem.

You can lots more pics here, over at Focus 52.

 

Tiny Details

Can you spot me? Up late last night and then again in the wee hours of the morning, honing in on the details of learning to use a macro and learning to get off the manual mode of my camera. Note to self: sign up for a course already!

Look across the silver beads and you'll find me several times, relfected here and there.

Loving this one and seeing so many journaling possiblities. I've got an idea that's been percolating for some time now, and I think it's beginning to bubble. Just need to work out a few logistics...

We've got plans for today and are going to have so much fun. Happy Saturday, everyone!