Simply Sweet (Texture Tuesday)

I actually took this shot a few weeks ago (on Mother’s Day) while visiting a park close to my parent’s house.  I hadn’t edited it until this weekend, however.  I did a quick clean edit and then added Kim Klassen's new Stained Linen texture.  And I love it!  I can almost smell the simply sweet pink and white blossoms through my computer monitor.

To see more beautiful (garden themed) photos, visit Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday.

As always, thanks for stopping by and thanks for the encouraging comments!

About books…

Hi!  I’m Lisa and I’m a self-proclaimed lover of books.  I love getting lost in stories between pages and I love learning from words that come from someone else’s wisdom.  I get excited when I know (yet) another order from Amazon is on it’s way to my mailbox and I love to visit the library where I get to stock up on lots and lots of words.

Just yesterday a package arrived with three new titles inside and I realized that I currently have quite a few books on my plate.  Some I’ve recently read, some I’m in the midst of and some are waiting for me to delve into.  Maybe I’m a little strange, but a pile of books like this gets me very excited!

Since I love hearing about the books that other people are enjoying, I thought I’d share about a few that have really made an impact on me lately.

Recently read:

1.  Heaven is for Real (Todd Burpo) … A little boy’s astounding story of his trip to heaven and back … this book gives its readers a beautiful glimpse into heaven as seen by an almost four year boy … it is encouraging, inspiring, comforting and exciting!  I highly recommend it!

2.  One Thousand Gifts (Ann Voskamp) … A dare to live fully right where you are … this is a book to be savored … one in which the reader is encouraged to see God in every moment and live a life of full gratitude … this book was life changing for me … another one I’d highly recommend!

3.  Unbroken (Laura Hillenbrand) … A World War II story of survival, resilience, and redemption … although at times this book is hard to read (war stories and atrocities), it is also inspiring to see how one man endured horror beyond the imagination and lived to tell about it … the ending of this book is amazing … another high recommendation!

4.  Expressive Photography … the Shutter Sisters' guide to shooting from the heart … a book full of inspiration, beautiful pictures and loads of valuable information on how to make your photography compelling and meaningful … another one I loved!

The rest of the titles are ones that I’m either currently reading or are looking forward to reading.   My dilemma is that of not having enough patience to wait to start a new book until I’m finished with the one I’m currently reading!

Anyone out there have any other good book suggestions they’d like to share?

Braces!

Yesterday was a big day for Andrew … he got braces on his top teeth!  Now he joins his brother with a mouthful of metal.

I’m not sure Joel and I ever thought we’d be putting two kids through braces at the same time because let’s face it … braces are expensive!  I’m so thankful, though, for insurance and flex spending benefits that enable us to do this for our boys.  Last night when we were praying with them before bed, Andrew’s prayer went something like this … “Dear Lord, Thank you for mom and dad and their willingness to pay for Matthew and I to have braces so that our teeth can be straight.  Please bless them for that.  Amen.”  And then he asked us if we felt blessed.  With two amazing sons (and an equally amazing daughter!), how could we not be blessed?

Chalk Drawings–Before & After

Today I’m sharing my before & after chalk drawings shots as part of Ashley and Jill's Good to Wow photography link up.  I decided to keep the edits fairly simple by just making a few adjustments, adding a creative action and by editing them all with the same recipe.  I don’t always choose to use actions for my edits but every once in a while it’s fun to play!  What I love about the products I used for these edits, is that that were all free!

#1 – SOOC

#1 – After edit

#2 – SOOC

#2 – After edit

#3 – SOOC

#3 – After edit

My recipe:

*Open in ACR and make slight adjustments to recovery, blacks and contrast

*Open in PSE9 … levels adjustment layer (outside sliders in towards the middle just slightly); high pass filter for sharpening

*Apply MCP's FREE Mini Fusion action … this action set includes many layers that you can click on or off or adjust the opacity based your desired look.  I usually just play around with the layers until I get a look that I’m happy with.

That’s it!  Pretty easy!  Even though I was pretty happy with the shots SOOC, it was fun to play around in Elements to give them just a little extra pizzazz!

Thanks for stopping by!  Oh, and if you want to see more before and after shots, be sure to visit Ashley's Ramblings and Photos.

Proud Mama!

Monday night my oldest son was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society at school.  To be included, you have to maintain an 11.0 grade point average on a 12 point scale (which essentially translates to an A- average) and be willing to complete at least 15 hours of community service during the course of a school year.  To say his Daddy and I are proud is a gross understatement.

I warned him ahead of time that there would definitely be pictures involved and like a typical 13-year old boy he sort of gave a sigh of resignation (perhaps even rolled his eyes a little) but then complied beautifully.  Oh how I love this boy young man!

Formal shots before the induction ceremony:

And one during (the one where he was actually willing to look at the camera and give a little smirk):

Motherhood has got to be one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done in my life, but it’s also the one thing that has brought me the most joy.  To see my kids growing up (too fast!) and maturing, making good choices and being blessed for their efforts makes my heart swell with pride.

Proverbs 23:15 … My child, if your heart is wise, my own heart will rejoice!

Pretty in Pink

 

My Recipe:

*Opened in ACR … slight adjustments to exposure, recovery, blacks and contrast

*Opened in PSE9 … Levels adjustment layer and solid color layer (cream) … high pass filter for sharpening

*Added Kim Klassen's Yesteryear texture … Soft Light & Screen blending modes at default opacity

To see more incredible shots visit Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday and Life With My 3Boybarians's Sweet Shot Tuesday.  I’m linking up to both today.

Thanks for stopping by!

Chalk Drawings

My camera’s been pretty quiet over the past week. In fact as I was looking through my files, I realized I haven’t uploaded any new pictures in a week! There are a few on my camera but, in general, that’s very uncharacteristic of me. But I did find some really fun pictures from this spring that I hadn’t edited or shared so I think I’ll share some of those this week.

This first set shows one of my kid’s favorite outdoor activities … drawing with chalk on the driveway. Their most favorite thing to draw is a giant city complete with roads, signs and buildings. Then they take their bikes and pretend that they are living in that city. They pretend over and over again until a rain comes and washes it all away. And then they get to start all over again.

Since I’m linking up to Jill and Ashley's Good-to-Wow challenge this week, these shots are brought to you SOOC (straight out of the camera – with no editing). If you come back on Thursday I’ll repost them with some simple editing steps.

All three shots: ISO 200 … f/5.6 … 1/640 … 35 mm focal length … taken with 24-70mm 2.8L lens

Brothers and Buddies

Captured while walking down the driveway towards home after school one day…

They may bicker and disagree … they may have completely different personalities … they may approach life totally different … But at the end of the day, these two boys are not only brothers, they are best buds.

My recipe:

f/2.8 … ISO 100 … 1/1600 … 100 mm

Edited in PSE 9 … clean edit followed by MCP's FREE Mini Fusion Action and Pioneer Woman's FREE Edge Burn action.

Around my yard…

If you were to take a stroll with me through my yard and around our property over the past couple of weeks, this is what we’d see together…

Henry David Thoreau said … “My profession is to always find God in nature.”  I think Mr. Thoreau had the right idea!

The Tree

Ten years ago, we bought a piece of property in hopes of eventually building a house there. The land was heavily wooded and there was really only one option of where we would be able to put the house. That spot was approximately 800 feet off the road and through lots of heavy underbrush and trees.

Before we could begin building we had to have loggers come in and clear out many tall trees and then have an excavating company come through and clear the building site as well as a path that would eventually become our driveway. We marked out a path and left the rest of the work in the hands of the capable people we hired.

Approximately eight months later – in May 2002 – we moved in. Around that same time, we discovered two dogwood trees – on either side of our driveway in just the perfect spot for us to see them from our front room windows.

I’ve always felt that those two trees were placed there as a special gift to us. They were not in bloom when the driveway was put in therefore we had no way of knowing what special treasure awaited us. But there they were that first spring in full splendor, on either side of our driveway. If the driveway had been put in another foot to the right or the left or both, they would’ve been trampled by heavy machinery.

Each spring, I await the blooming of those dogwood trees with great anticipation. The dainty white blossoms make my heart smile. They lift my spirits after months of cold weather. They remind me of new life and miracles and precious gifts.

For those of you interested in the specifics, I took all of the above shots with my 100mm 2.8L macro lens on my Rebel xti. They were edited in Elements 9. After making a few adjustments in ACR, I gave them a quick clean edit (Levels Adjustment and Solid Color Adjustment where I applied a light cream layer on Soft Light blending mode at 100% opacity). I sharpened them using a High Pass Filter and then I applied a free texture from Kim Klassen's Cafe. On most of the shots, I used her “Trust” texture on Soft Light blending mode. Then I saved and that’s it!

To see more amazing shots, you can visit Sweet Shot Tuesday at My 3 Boybarians.

Thanks for stopping by!

About hearts

Whew!  What a week!  This is one of those times when I am so thankful for the weekend.

A few weeks ago, my husband injured his back moving a piano.  The injury sidelined him for a few days but he was gradually making his way back to being healthy and able.  And then this week he re-injured it.  This time, the pain has been much worse.  For the past three days he’s been confined to bed, the couch or an upright chair and it’s been hard on all of us.  He’s got four different kinds of medication that’s he’s been trying and none of them are really making a huge difference.  We suspect that the only thing that’s really going to help is rest.  And time.

I’d like to say that I’ve handled the situation with grace and dignity, but I haven’t.  I’ve felt anger and frustration and since neither of is really getting much sleep, fatigue.  Thankfully, though, God and I had a few heart to heart conversations in which he set me straight, reminding me that when I am weak, he is strong.  And today, although the situation hasn’t changed, my heart has.

 

Furry Visitors

In the almost ten years that we’ve been in our current house, we’ve had the privilege of enjoying lots of furry creatures.  Since our property is mostly wooded, we’ve seen fox, coyotes, turkeys, a myriad of birds and, of course, deer.  No matter how often we see them strolling through our yard (or snacking on my flowers and plants!), there is always a thrill.  There’s just something magical about watching them through the windows of our house.

The other night, a family of deer came through and I was able to snap a few quick shots through the window.  I had to be quick – the evening light was fading fast and they were very skiddish.  Even though we were separated by windows, they were very aware of our presence … every time we moved they’d get antsy and run off.  It was fun to watch them, though, even if for just a few minutes.

Since we see squirrels constantly they aren’t as much of a thrill … that is, unless one comes right up to the sliding glass door like this one did yesterday!  I was sitting at the computer and I kept hearing a funny noise behind me.  When I looked up to see what the noise was I saw this little guy staring at me.  It just made me laugh (and grab my camera!).

I watched him for a while in the yard before he came back up on the deck with this big hunk of orange stuff in his mouth.  When I looked closer to figure out what he had, I realized it was a chunk of dried up orange play dough.  My daughter had been playing with the play dough outside a few days ago and when she was finished we just swept the mess off the deck.  Apparently this squirrel thought it would make a good snack.  I can’t imagine it tasting very good, but to each his own, right?

Celebrating Texture!

I recently stumbled upon Kim Klassen Café – a super website that celebrates texture.  Since I love using textures on my photos I felt right at home.  Each week the site hosts a challenge/link up.  This week the challenge was to incorporate at least one texture on a photo of a tea/coffee cup.  Although I am an avid tea drinker, I do not drink coffee.  I chose to photograph two special mugs – mugs my mom made for my kids – filled with warm, spicy chai tea.

Each shot was given a clean edit in both Adobe Camera Raw and Elements 9.  After the clean edit, I applied a different texture to each picture.  The details are as follows:

#1 – Texture:  Love … Soft light blending mode: 66% … Multiply blending mode: 54%

#2 – Texture:  Life is Good … Soft light blending mode: 45% … Color burn blending mode: 23% (brushed off the drink)

#3 – Texture:  Chamomile … Soft light blending mode: 48% … Color burn blending mode: 15% (brushed off drink)

#4 – Texture: Silence … Soft light blending mode: 45% … Color burn blending mode:  23% (again, brushed off drink)

As I glanced through the thumbnails of the other entrants, it was interesting to see all the different interpretations of the challenge.  If you want to take a look, visit Kim Klassen's Cafe.

Sweet Shot Tuesday

As I was editing these pictures over the weekend, it hit me … one of the reasons I love photography so much is because it has forced me to look at the world with a whole new perspective and appreciation.  Over time my eyes have become trained to see things differently and I constantly find myself wondering if even the ordinary would make a good picture.

Take these dandelions for example.  I bet there aren’t very many of us who rejoice when we see dandelions cropping in our yards.  I know I don’t.  But when my daughter brought me a perfect, fluffy dandelion I wondered what it would look like through the “eyes” of my camera lens.

I took these with my macro lens and am in awe with how intricately designed this weed is.  It’s a weed – something very few of us can admit to appreciating – and yet it’s amazingly detailed and perfect.

I’m still not in love with the dandelion, as a whole … but … WOW!  I am in love with the intricacy, delicacy, detail and design. 

If God put so much thought and detail into creating a weed … how much more thought and detail did he put into creating me?

Just a thought…

To see more sweet shots, visit Life With My 3 Boybarians.

Thanks for stopping by!