{ 032 } :: 325

This is my sink and window.

I. Love. It.

My husband picked out the faucet and sink and my stepdad installed it all.

They did a brilliant job!

Remember those violets from a couple weeks ago?

This is where they normally reside.

I love that this window ledge is big enough for most of my plants to sit on...4 violets, 1 tulip, 1 orchid, and 1 unknown bulb from a variety pack, which is kind of cropped out.

{ 014 } :: 325

Today is laundry day.

...technically the past two days have been laundry days with another one in sight...

If they sorted women by our aptitudes for housekeeping, I undoubtedly would be placed in the hoarder/slum dog category.

Cleaning and maintaining a spotless home is not my specialty.

Getting half done with a craft, then abandoning it for another craft...that's my specialty! ;)

Anywho, this shot is of our new washer, which I love. 

{not the HE kind...no bells, no whistles, no locking lid, just simple and perfect}

To get this look I ran the Rumors action by Paint the Moon {not a freebie} and then added a running water kind of overlay set at 50% soft light.

Scavenger Hunt - Back at Last!

It has been a looong time since I've participated in Scavenger Hunt Sunday!
...it's nice to be back at it...




Macro/Close-Up
I wanted to get a kind of Casablanca feel with this shot
...but I've never seen the movie, so I'm really just guessing here...
{I also used this image as an example in my Hi, ISO post...just in case you missed it.}

Found Texture 

Home
My home consists not of brick and mortar or framing and drywall, but of these two plus my husband.
Wherever they are is my home!

Cover
Perhaps this is a stretch but peels are kind of a cover, right?!

The Tree
This is another image you may have already seen on the blog.
I used it earlier in the week for my Scripture & a Snapshot post but decided to use it for this as well because that bokeh is way too scrumptious to share only once!

Tea Time

I love bone china tea sets, even though I don't drink tea.
They are so dainty and feminine and pretty.

I found this one while garage sale-ing {which I also love} for $0.75!
Well worth every penny if you ask me.

{I also got a mini oil lamp, a pretty bead bracelet, and a gorgeous blue pitcher...all of which I will photograph and share at some point.}










On Friday I'll be sharing the itinerary for the 31 Days to Releasing Your Inner Artist series.
I'm really excited about it and hope you are too!
Even though it starts on a Saturday I hope you'll take a few minutes to come back and check it out.
You'll also want to come back on Monday for the first of five link-up exercises!

If you Tweet, use #InnerArtist to share about the series, or any tips and comments you have along the way!

Scavenger Hunt - Good Things Around the House

1. Music to My Ears
We have had no rain for such a long time that the cracks in the dirt around our house are looking like scary, deep caverns.
{a few more inches wide and the kids and I could go spelunking}
This morning, however, we woke up to a much needed rain.



2. Hat
I love this hat.
I got it at Target for $10, which was full price but worth the splurge.
{ps. Target has the best clearance sales.}



3. Clear
Clean dishes mean my counter tops are clear.
And that is a good thing.
{spoken in my best Martha voice}



4. Out of this World
For this prompt I chose Candyland.
{I don't know about you, but my street certainly isn't lined with gumdrops}



5. Sprinkles
Sprinkles of rain on the screen door.
...ahhhh...

Wii've Been Busy.

Golly y'all.
This week has been bi-zay!
{twenty games of 'tanks' on the wii each day sure takes a lot out of a girl ;)}



{but it sure does make for fun bonding!}




Hope you're all having a great week too.
:)

Scavenger Hunt - Last Minute Hunt

This week flew by...much like the entire summer and this entire year.
So yesterday morning I was scrambling to think of an idea for each prompt and then put it into action!
Lucky for me, things just kind of happened to fall into place.

1. Looks Like a Letter of the Alphabet: "G"

2. Weather

This one's from the dusty archives. It's from a year ago and one which I thought had been deleted until I came across it a few days ago! I was pretty excited to find it, but completely disappointed to see that from a technical standpoint it's terrible. I really had to boost the exposure in post processing to show off that amazingly awesome sky...which consequently led to those hideous red and blue lines. At the time I didn't know that my camera even had the bulb mode nor did I realize that I should have been using it. ...just further proof to read your camera's manual. ;)

3. Bling
I must admit, I'm not a bling kind of girl. So for this prompt I turned to my kids and their dress up gear.
{My son's going to love this one when he's older! haha!}

4. Tangled
Hours at the pool + a nap immediately after = a tangled mess.

5. Dark
I am really loving all those 'through the doorway' shots that are popping up everywhere.
...so I copied it...

I made an Instagram-for-PSE frame/action set!
Go to this post to see it and access your free download!

Love You, Seth

Today is my husband's birthday...and this one is for him!

Of Chandeliers and Farmhouse Windows

Over the last several weeks I've slowly been sharing bits and pieces of my grandparents' home.
We moved a fair amount when I was young...always within the same school district, but moves nonetheless. And the one and only home that has remained completely consistent throughout my entire life is that of my grandparents. It feels like home to me. (does anyone else have that song stuck in their head now, too?!) I can say that about no other place from my childhood and for these reasons my memories and love of this place are rooted deep.



This chandelier is a dear friend of mine...I polished and cleaned this sucker more times than I can remember! My grandma loathed the task and paid me fifty cents to clean it for her...I'm quite certain she would have paid more.





This is the window at the top of their awkwardly steep staircase. To me, it's just a window. And one I'd never paid any notice to until our last visit. But I do think it has a lot of farmhouse charm and for that reason alone it deserves a spot on the blog!





*****


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Fluffy Towels & Pretty Irises

This is my grandparents' bathroom. It's painted a vintage carnation pink and my grandma even has mint green towels to complete the retro feel! I personally enjoy retro spaces, but what makes this even better for me is that my great grandma - this particular grandma's mom - also had a vintage carnation pink bathroom. It brings back such sweet and loving memories and I can only hope and pray when my own children are grown, they will have similarly fond memories of their great grandma.

I'm also linking this shot to Texture Thursday because of those towels...boy, were they super soft!!

 




And below is my entry for Pixel Perfect's Before & After:

Before:




After:







Step 1: Run PW's Boost action, merge visible
Step 2: Run PW's Heartland action, reduce opacity to 75%
Step 3: Increase saturation to +66, merge all and save

Scavenger Hunt - Things Around the House

1. HOT HOT HOT
A charred jalapeno on the grill...yeah, I'd call that hot!



2. Finding Form
This was a tough one for me. I knew I wanted my image to be in black and white, as I thought color would be too distracting from the actual form of the object. I took a lot of photos of various things before deciding on this lamp.



3. Front Page of the News
There's not much to explain about this shot.
I ran PW's Seventies action and also layered with Kim Klassen's 'Coffee Tea or Me' texture.






4. Chore
I am not a fan of cleaning in general.
I love how things look after the icky work is done, but I certainly do not enjoy the process.



5. Beads
This necklace was my Great Grandma's. I consider myself very fortunate to have met three of my great grandmas and to have fond memories of each. But what I'm finding even more wonderful is that my children are able to enjoy the memories of these wonderful women, too!






And of course, this whole post is linked up with Ashley!

Tea for Two

I love these two mugs. 

They are Frankoma pottery and we received them as a wedding shower gift.

I do not use them - they only sit on my shelf as decoration. But one recent day, I felt that they needed to be loved in a purposeful way, rather than simple pretty things to look at; so I filled them with tea. I don't drink tea, but had the below vision in my mind - and I don't think coffee would have fit the bill near as nicely.

I used Kim Klassen's Chamomile texture and I can't imagine any other texture doing a better job or being more appropriate!

(if you use textures and haven't signed up for her free texture lovin' list, do yourself a favor and sign up on her site now!)

Ice on Branches

Wow, it's been a while since I've shared new photos!!

These were taken at the end of February when we had a minor ice storm.

Odd as it sounds, I'd been waiting all winter for one! The ice makes everything glisten and sparkle - and I find it incredibly beautiful!!

I believe these are all sooc. If any editing was done, it was slight increases of contrast. But the 'texture' and bokeh is all original to the shot.