Snowflake

This is not the best snowflake snap but it's the best I could get and since the snow is all gone now it will have to do. I took about a dozen shots and this was the best of the bunch.
With the macro lens I need to be pretty close to the subject and it was just to cold to sit on the ground so I took a stool out on the porch and then used the camera LCD monitor to try and focus enough to get a shot. I missed a little...... I will give it another try if we get any more snow.....I'm sure we will.

Santa and his reindeer

One of my favorite houses that I pass every morning on my route. I'd love to have these decorations.  Whimsical, colorful, darling!  Love them!


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Snap of Jessi Christmas Eve

Someone snap this shot of Jessi in the middle of all the mess of unwrapping gifts Christmas Eve. It was either Brent or Neal and it turned out pretty good. I always forget about the camera in all the havoc.

The week after Christmas

I have no image to post today...not that I don't have any, just that I'm too lazy to process and convert them from raw to jpg.  But, I was browsing some websites and came across a quote that really spoke to me. I, continually, get down on myself when I can't accomplish something.  Like my cooking....I'm not a good cook, just passable, and it bugs me when I'm in the kitchen trying to make a recipe that everyone will ooh and ah over.  And when I'm visualizing a photo and it doesn't turn out, I'm so hard on myself.  When my flowers don't grow, I blame myself...even through mother nature is probably more to blame than I.  So...when I found this quote, it really spoke volumes and made me realize that I don't have to be good at everything.  I can just be proud that I've tried.

"It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all, in which case you fail by default" - JK Rowling

May the year 2011 bring us love, hope and peace. 
And, a winning lottery ticket...LOL




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Christmas Bokeh 2010

Some Christmas Bokeh.....After looking this morning the linking party is closed. I was to slow. So I'll just edit my post to say. Just trying to get some snaps that maybe I can use on Christmas Cards.....Next year....lol

Snaps of Christmas

Just a few of my decorations.......Small hurricane with gold, silver & white ornaments is something new this year that I picked up at The Cobblestone in Waynesville, Ohio. The larger vase and mercury (fake) glass ornaments I've had but added a few more ornaments this year. The stacking snowman I made a long time ago....Maybe 15 years ago and I still love it.

Used Florabella's actions and a texture from Love that shot. The frames are mine.

Hope I can get more shots tomorrow.

Paper Whites

Finally got some shots of the Paper Whites......I think they are so pretty wish I had planted a lot more.

A Merry Christmas Water Color

We have a little snow on the ground and it's so cold. Winter has started already.

The Ceiling Tile

Just about forgot that I told you I would post this.  I picked this up a few years ago at our Chautauqua in the Park.  It's been hanging on the front porch wall ever since.  It used to be a bit brighter red but the sun has faded it down.  I still like it.  I'll post an image of my front door one of these days....I'm still thinking it is too bright of a red and I'll probably repaint it in the Spring.  But....it does show up from the road now...LOL....when it was painted the light green, it didn't show up much.


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Seasons Greetings

Picked these up at Wally World on Thanksgiving day.  I also bought gold hummingbirds but those shots didn't come out too good.  Anyway, thought these would look great on my outdoor tree along with the hummingbirds. They were just want the tree needed.

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On the other side of the window

Tufted Titmouse




Hope you and yours had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We did but I ate way to much good food.
The kids, Grands and the rest of my family was all here but Neal and he was working. That's ok just glad he has a good job.

I sat my camera and tripod up in the sunroom last Saturday to try snapping some shots of the birds at the feeder outside the window. Not a good idea at that time to much sun. All the brick you see on the right side of the image is reflection and since it was late afternoon when the sun in lower in the sky I decided to wait till morning and try again.......Rain for the next 3 days....... Soooo....... this is the best of the ones I snapped that day, but I'll keep trying. Want to get a shot of the Chickadee's and Nuthatch when they stop by for a snack.

Staples are from Shabby Princess.




End of the Season

Not the best image but I was in a hurry the day I snapped these.  These are the only mums left that are still pretty and they are in my window box.  I put them in with some ornamental cabbage.  They don't really show up cause the Japanese Maple has gotten too big and it blocks them when its leaves are still on.  But, since the leaves have fallen off, you can now see the mums..

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Before & After

     Just so you can see how much darker it is. If you look close you will see that I didn't get the window box painted yet.  I'm going to re-cover the cushions on the rockers to either a black/gold mix or some kind of red. I'm thinking more on the lines of the black/gold.  I painted the bench black and the rockers are a deep/ dark brown.  I'm still thinking I'd like the red door to be a bit darker red but will wait till Spring to re-paint  it. I've got to paint my bicycle again and will paint it red this time.  I do believe this will be the 4th coat of paint that I've put on it....LOL....it was white first, then green, then a darker green and now it will be red.  The hydrangea is getting so big that it covers it up and no one can really see it. Plus, by painting it red, it will give me a triangle of reds on the front of the house, thus balancing things out more. My door is red and I have the red ceiling tile on the right side of the windows.  I'm painting the window box white and still debating on taking the shutters off the house completely.  Right now, they are painted the same color as the scallops in the porch peak. I really like my white trim with the dark color of brown.  I'm going to paint my garage the same color next spring but the shutters on it will be white because the trim around the window is so narrow that I think it will look too plain. I've never painted vinyl siding before but my paint company says I can do it.  The new garage/shop is about the same color as the scallops, so will not be painting it again.  The potting shed is going to be red.  

     So much to do...so little time.  LOL  I'm trying to convince Bill into rebuilding my potting shed.  It has a good concrete floor but the foundation is giving away.  I think we could just take the foundation out and re-build the walls on top of the floor. It will be a bit narrower than it is now but not by much.  I also want to put some windows in it and new siding on  the outside to match the rest of our place.

     You are correct....those are leaves you see...lol....I've picked up for the last time...what's left will be compost for the lawn.  The Cleveland Pear holds the leaves as well as the oaks till mid winter.  Those will be used for cover on my flower beds...unless the wind blows and they end up in someone else's yard.  LOL...I've picked up at least a half dozen times. I've got most of my flower beds cleared out except for the mums and the pampas grass and I leave them till Spring. 

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New House Paint

Project for today

It has rained for the last 3 days needed something to cheer me up some. Planted these Paper White blubs and 2 Amaryllis blubs. One of the Amaryllis was new but the other one was from last year. Had it drying in the garage. Have no idea if it will bloom or not..... Hope so.
Also did a little more shopping and I have several packages that should be here in the next couple of days. I have never had my shopping started this early before in my life. Has me a little worried....LOL

Finally found some Sunflowers

I have been looking for some nice Sunflower to snap for the last couple of months and I finally found some. I have seen them in bouquets but they alway looked a little ragged.

These are SOOC only edit is cropped.
I'm happy with the snaps and the Sunflowers make me smile.

Mighty Oak

Walked around the yard this afternoon looking for something to snap and this is what I came up with.


The ground is covered under one of our trees. The squirrels should have plenty to eat this winter.

When I'm watching TV in the sunroom I can see the squirrels run up & down this tree. That's more fun to watch than some of the TV shows.

Another Round

I keep trying to capture the light right but it never seems to happen.  I blew out the light in this so had to adjust two of the same images on top of each other to get the bulb right.  I still think it is a bit too yellow but couldn't figure out how to change it without blowing it out completely.  I wanted the age of the bulb to show too.  I'm quite intrigued by this barber pole and don't really know why but I like capturing images of it.  I know I can take two exposures and meter for the highlights and the shadows but then I have to get them lined up correctly and that doesn't happen.  LOL...or well, this is close to what I saw when I took it except the boards are a bit darker but only because I liked the look better. 

Anyway, this is it for me on the subject of round....unless I process one more image but I really need to get my butt busying doing something around this house.

What type of image should we shoot for this week?  Color, shape, theme?  You pick!

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Eight Ball

Well. it's not much but it is round!  LOL.....I took this yesterday morning but didn't have time to work with it until today.  This is on the window of a pool hall, here in town.  I took the raw file into PS and adjusted it to Black and White and then added a layer and change the blend mode to vivid light.  I don't know how or why but I love how it changed the image.  Got rid of the dirty window and gave the shadow a weird effect on the blinds.....added the black stroke and this is how it looks after.  I posted both images so you could see what the before looked like too.

I'm sure most folks would just say I made the image in Photoshop but I didn't...its really a photo.  But, it does give ideas for making clipart...LOL

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Granny Smith

Not very creative hope I can come up with something better before the week is done.

Got my PC back yesterday and it's working fine. Had to have a new power supply.

You are not going to believe this but I started my Christmas shopping. I would love to have it done by the first of December but I know that's just a dream.

Witchy Halloween

Just thinking you might need some inspiration for the up coming holiday!  LOL....took this image in Branson at Silver Dollar City....loved the stripes and thought of the bad witch in the Wizard of Oz immediately!

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Colors of Fall

These are the colors of fall, to me.  I think red is the first color I think of when I'm thinking of fall because I love seeing the trees turn to their bright red color.  Our leaves weren't too colorful this year...only lasted a couple of days and then they got blown off yesterday.  

I hope your computer gets fixed soon!

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My Beautiful Dahlia's

Just wanting to share my beautiful Dahlia's.  These didn't do real well this summer during the heat and humidity but since it has cooled down, they are putting on quite the show.  I lost 2 out of the 8 plants due to rot.  These started out only about 6 inches tall and now they are a good 2 feet tall and around.  They are loaded with blooms.  As you can see, my mums aren't blooming yet. 



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Yeek!!!!!

Not exactly what I had in mind for my subject this week but it's definitely yellow!  I had a bit of the shakes trying to take a picture of it...was pretty sure the dang thing was going to jump off the web and on to me while I was capturing it.  Next time, I'll use the telephoto lens and stand back!  I captured it quickly and left it alone. 


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Yellow

Not the greatest yellow image but all I have been able to come up with so far. This is the last of my yellow roses for this year. Can't wait to see what they do next year.
Used Sweet Vintage action from Florabella.
Do I cut these back now or in the spring???? Can't remember what you said.

A Gift from my friend

 

   I drafted this a long time ago....last Fall, to be exact, and for some reason never posted it.  I was looking through and cleaning up the draft folder when I came across it, so decided it was time to publish.  I love these little vases that Nita sent to me...they are perfect for single blooms.  I didn't have any of this color Dahlia this year and missed it this Fall.  Loved the color combination.

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A Sea of Purple

Well, as you can see, it wasn't hard for me to find purple this past Sat.  Gavin plays on the South Harrison football team and their colors are purple.  This is where I've been spending most of my Saturdays for the past month.  Plus, it is over an hour drive to them...in fact, this one was an hour and a half and next Sat. is almost 2 hours but it will be the last one of the season.  He loves playing but hates it when its cold and it was cold this last game. 


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No Purple

I admire Pat's images Here so much that I wanted to see what I could do.

Mine don't compare to hers but I had fun playing around and with some practice I might get better.
This is a table in the sun room that we never use. I couldn't stand to have the table in the kitchen set all the time. We use it to much. This is the only one I can do because I don't have that many different dishes.

Hope you have enjoyed your vacation and didn't work to hard.

Purple Lunch

How's this for purple.
I was trying to think of something purple to snap and just happened to notice this jar of grape jelly in the frig last night. So I had a peanut butter & jelly sandwich for lunch today.  Took two shots and wish I had moved the jelly a little to the left and snapped another but I ate the sandwich so I can't do a do over.
I used a texture from Florabella.

LOL....talked myself into shooting them again!

Photography is making me fat!

Ok...I just wasn't real happy with the first shoot so I set it up again.  This time I took one of my patterned platters and turned it upside down so only white showed and removed some of the cupcakes and focused more on the front cake.  Placed them closed to my background so the circles showed up better.  I do believe I like this much, much better.

I'm going to figure out how to connect my camera to my laptop so that I can view my images on the big screen.  Maybe then I won't have to take so many shots and not be happy once I see them full screen.  Now, to figure out how to do that!

This is it for me for pink...I need to get outside and get to work.



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Cupcakes anyone?

This was my first thoughts for pink....I'm thinking I should have used a flower instead...going to have to eat these props...LOL...

I need to really practice food photography more cause I never get it to what I want it to be.  I printed off some green scrapbook paper to add to the background but I don't really have good light inside my house.  Or should I say I don't have room for the props, my camera and tripod and my body all at the same time.  Have a heck of a time!

You're pick for color next!

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Pretty in Pink

Spotted these on my route. I think they fit the pink color perfectly. This lady has a yard that I could explore for a whole day...she has lots of little things like these chairs scattered all over her huge property.  I tried to make this image look 'dreamy' but it didn't really come out like my mind visualized it. I've got another idea to post tomorrow, just got to find the time to get it done.  Bill and I worked on the front yard till noon today and then the rains moved in and we had to quit.  It is only in the 50's now and I've got my feet covered with a blanket...go figure...we were hot as heck last Sunday and cold this weekend.  It's only suppose to climb to the lower 60's tomorrow and breezy. I want to get the yard done so it will have time to grow before cold weather moves in.  If we can work it tomorrow, it should be done in about 3 hours, I hope. 

I think I'll buy me some of these chairs to put in the privacy fence garden...maybe paint each of them in the terracotta colors.  We've got a huge oak tree up at the end of the fence and beside the garden shed...these chairs would look good under it.

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Pink........

One pink in the bunch

I didn't realize it but my house seems to be void of the color pink. I have looked and looked for something pink to snap and the only thing I could find was my bath scrubby and I didn't think you would be to interested in seeing that. I have plenty of pink flowers but I'm trying to get away from so many flower images. Anyway this will have to do for PINK.

No Pink.....yet.

As I was coming in the back door the other day I noticed these cute little blue berries on my Lantana plant and thought they would make a nice snap. I'm still on the look out for Pink.....LOL

Have a good day.

Another...Orange Cosmos

Just another image of some orange.  I never really realized there was so much orange in this world until I started looking around for it this week.  I like this challenge we are doing...makes me more aware of colors and things that I've never noticed before.  I'm starting to get a real appreciation for all colors!

Orange Sunday....finally!!

As soon as you posted our color to be orange, this is what I thought of....I used to drink it all the time as a kid....loved it!  It took me a while to find some of it in a bottle and even longer to photo the dang stuff...LOL....drank two bottles before I actually captured the foam after pouring.  It's still not what I had in my mind's eye but I'm running out of time and needed to get it posted and my weekend chores done. 

How about PINK for next weeks color challenge?

Rusty orange Mum

A little more rust than orange but close enough.
I trimed this back all summer so it wouldn't bloom to early.

Orange Sunrise

What a beautiful morning!  This is exactly how the sky looked at 6:30 am.  It was as if God was helping me with the color of orange this week...LOL.


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A little Orange

This image isn't even in the same ball park as your adorable Darby but it's orange.

Have you looked at any of the class material yet???