Jelly Beans

Short and sweet.
:)

It's Kinda Girly...

These two end of season coneflowers were swaying in the wind with not a care in the world.
I loved how those dainty petals were moving - just like a ballerina!

Bubbles always remind me of summer and I also wanted to capture the haze and humidity associated with summer, so I kept this shot slightly out of focus.

I usually take a trip to the arboretum about once a month - sometimes more.
These lovely hydrangeas were new on my last visit!

 

The Winner & Some Watercolors

First things first.
It's time to announce the winner of the 11"x14" photo print from my Etsy shop, MommyMakes!!

I used Random.org this morning to select the winner.
And that winner is lucky commenter number 8!

Congrats, Melanie!
(I've sent you an email.)

I also have a wonderful 30% off Valentine's Day coupon code that I'd like to share:

VDay30

It's good through January 31st and is valid on anything in my shop.

I'll be adding postcard sets in the next day or two, so be sure to stop by MommyMakes later this week!

***

Now on to the photos...

My two year old daughter got a lot of art materials for Christmas!
Crayons, markers, paints, coloring books - it is wonderful!
This is the awesome set of watercolors she received.

 

And one more view of those beautiful watercolors.

Orchids on White

The theme this week at Simplicity is white on white.
This is also the very first photo I took in 2011, so that counts for the Happy New Year theme at The Trendy Treehouse, right?!

 

I added my linen texture to this, then softened and warmed it up a bit.

Tuesday Beauty

I shared this same shot in color on Sunday, but thought it took on a more 'dreaming' quality in black and white.





The theme at Simplicity is Simple Beauty. I can think of no simpler beauty than that of my daughter. She doesn't need or worry about make up or doing her hair just right. She plays dress up because it's fun, not because she's trying to impress anyone.And she doesn't fret over body parts that aren't perfect to someone else, because they are perfect for her.






We have several clumps of decorative grass in our landscaping. Normally, I wouldn't classify many of them as pretty, however this one from our backyard struck my fancy one day. The soft and subtle, muted colors possessed such a quiet beauty that I had to capture it!

Pretty in Purple

I took this over the summer at...you guessed it, the arboretum!
Again, I have no idea what these are (...Rosie, do you know??), but I loved their frilly petals and I really like all the colors that came through in this shot.

While I have a lot of favorite photos, this is my favorite flower shot!

  

Thankfulness

I'm so very thankful for unexpected reminders of Christ and how much He loves me.

(This is a window in a chicken coop.)

    

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I'm thankful for the beauty of Autumn, as fleeting as it is.

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I'm thankful for the variety of things in our backyard, even though it's cold outside!

 

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And I'm thankful for Captivus Living's new challenge that encourages us to try those seldomly used tools in photoshop!

Wow. 

This was insanely fun! 

A little too much fun, perhaps.

Vincent Van Gogh is hands down my all time favorite painter. 

Starry Night is my all time favorite painting. 

So I wanted to create a Starry-Night-Van-Gogh-esque type of photo.

 

I use PSE 8 and did the following:

Step 1: Filter > Distort > Liquefy. Using the 'clockwise' and 'counter-clockwise' buttons, swirl the background.

Step 2: Filter > Distort > Liquefy. Using the 'bloat' button, enlarge the main flower and stem.

  

Just Another Day

One morning, on our off-day from preschool, we heard a lot of big machines and trucks outside. 

So we investigated...through the front room window.

Turns out, there was a water leak somewhere along the pipeline and the crew was getting to work on it.

The kids loved watching all the cool vehicles dig and move, and they liked watching the men get into the giant hole. 

It was a pleasantly surprising event to watch on a gloomy day! 

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I know this is ridiculously blurry, but I love the background and colors, so that's why I'm sharing this shot...plus, nearly all the leaves have fallen off this tree, so retaking it is not an option.




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The theme at Simplicity this week is 'daydream' - I was really at a loss for an awesome interpretation of that. So I chose this image.