Will you be up early to watch the Royal Wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince William? I am setting the alarm for the early hours to tune in. I have even brought out my tiara to wear for the affair. Friends gave this to me for a birthday some years ago. Perhaps you will be wearing a fascinator. They are all the rage.
I will be joining Laura at Blogging from Bolivia for Macro Friday. Have a wonderful day. Valerie
I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend. It was relatively nice here and spent some of the time out of doors. I purchased tulips for the table for the family dinner on Sunday. I received a lovely pink gloxinia from my husband’s uncle and a pot of miniature roses from one of my sons. I have been taking pictures of them so they will be in future posts. For this post I used the serendipity texture from Kim Klassen Cafe today. My edit consisted of Nice and Easy action by Ashley Sisk, a high pass filter adjustment, two layers of the texture and finished with a Polaroid frame from Rimdecker.
I am joining Texture Tuesday with Kim Klassen
I am also joining Touch Up Tuesday with Paper Heart Camera
Have a great week. Valerie
I do believe I am seeing the Sandbox coming to life after the long winter. The pond has about 30 fish in it of various sizes and colours and as of today we have one frog. The Dicentra or Bleeding Heart is leafing out. The purple crocus is so colourful I can see them from the kitchen window. The Hellibore is fading and changing from white to pale pink. Everyday has another new surprise. This gardener is happy again. I hope that you are enjoying this Easter weekend.
Mosaic Monday is hosted by Mary. See you there. Valerie
The Pineapple Lily or Eucomis autumnalis is blooming now. I had planted the bulbs up a couple of months ago. An easy to grow bulb it is rewarding me with many pretty blooms. I am wishing you all a wonderful Easter. Many of you will be sharing a meal with friends and family. Our family will be here on Sunday. If it is not too presumptuous of me, take some time to contemplate the meaning of this Christian holiday. It is a time of rebirth, renewal and forgiveness. Blessings from me. Valerie
Laura from Blogging from Bolivia hosts Macro Friday. If you have a close up or a macro shot why not join us.
Early this week was the perfect temperature for getting out to the garden and cleaning up. I cut back all the ornamental grasses and removed the remaining dead bits off the perennials so that the new growth would get the sunlight and the water from the rain. I did leave some of the stubs on though so that the rabbits could not eat the new growth down to the ground. The white crocus just emerged from the soil this week. They have a lovely tinge of purple in them. I created this mosaic showing them in various edits. The first on top left is straight out of the camera or SOOC, top right is with a clean edit with a frame added, bottom left is what happens when you get crazy with the liquify filter (that was fun) and bottom right has two layers of Kim Klassen’s texture “sweet treat” applied.
Join us for Mosaic Monday at Mary’s. You can find some amazing ideas and inspiration for your own mosaics. Join the fun. Have a great week. Are you having family for Easter Sunday? I need to prepare for my family next Sunday. Valerie
It might be fun to explore the oddest places that people have seen a garden. I would imagine there would be some very interesting and kooky places. I thought while it is raining outside and I am in here at the computer I would look at some of the various places that gardens were planted at the recent Canada Blooms event. There was the hydroponic display of lettuce, a bicycle basket, a lovely wicker basket, perhaps a rooftop, how about in the trunk of your car, upon an easel, in a fancy red Radio flyer or maybe a little red wagon. I thought it was fun.
Mosaic Monday is a fun meme hosted by Mary at Dear Little Red House. I will be there. Valerie
The other day was so nice I just had to get out in the garden and have a little poke around at what I could see in the flowerbeds. I had the camera with me because I had seen a group of fish in the pond and I wanted to get a shot. In one of the flowerbeds is a patch of thyme and the colour of it caught my eye. The top of this plant will be cut down when the new growth appears but the dead leaves of the top was a lovely grey mauve colour. I just had to capture it.
The picture became my inspiration for a texture. After the initial editing of levels, hue and saturation and brightness and contrast I added two textures. The first is a new set of Retro Colour Masks by Shadowhouse Creations. The one I used is RC-8. I used a layer mask to take off the texture on the thyme. The blending mode was probably soft light. The second texture was Kim Klassen’s “warmsun” . I applied a layer mask and removed the texture from the plant. Blending mode was again soft light. I applied a hue and saturation layer and played with the sliders until I was happy with it. I finished with my watermark.
Just a light touch to me picture.
I will be participating at Paper Heart Camera for Touch Up Tuesday and also a new meme called Texture Tuesday hosted by Kim Klassen Cafe. Have a great day. Valerie
The snow has almost disappeared in the area with just the odd places where the sun does not get to. The Hellibore Niger was the first to appear as soon as the snow melted and this morning the early yellow crocus appeared. We are going to have rain tomorrow but that is good as it will wash away all the salt and sand left on the grass from the winter snowplows. Everything will be freshened up and appear brand new. I hope that you are enjoyed the beginning of spring in your area. Have a great week. Valerie
Our gracious host Mary encourages us to participate in Mosaic Monday. It is where friends meet. See you there
