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!)

Survival of the Purple Flower

Before:

After:

Boy, I messed with this shot forever! I don't think I've ever edited something so much, as far as adding textures and overlays is concerned. But, sometimes you just feel like making art, and for me that's usually more of a discovery than a plan. 

I use PSE 8 and did the following:

Step 1: Crop
Step 2: Adjust levels

Step 3: Added a bokeh overlay set at overlay and opacity at about 75%.

Step 4: Added a concrete grunge texture set at overlay.

Step 5: Erased texture and bokeh from flower with 80% opacity. 

Step 6: Added an old photo border (from brush set found on deviantart.com)

Step 7: Added an old photo texture (found on deviantart.com) set at overlay and opacity at about 90%.

Turning Leaf & Two Loose Screws

Show of hands: Based on that title, who thought I was going crazy with a cheap bottle of wine in hand?!

Don't worry, I'm not.
...yet.

I absolutely love maple trees in the Fall! This tree is in our front yard, which is a nice treat.
The texture I used is Kim Klassen's 'Scratches'.






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I'm not really sure what there is to say about this...it's two loose screws.
:)

I did add a bokeh texture to the background, just to jazz it up a bit.
It was a little boring sooc.

Touch Up Tuesday: Water Lily

There's a pond that we walk by on our way to and from preschool.
I usually bring my camera because we see new and beautiful things every time!
This lily was our latest surprise.


Before:



After:



I edit with PSE 8 and here's what I did:


Step 1. Cropped.
Step 2. Ran PW's Lovely action.
Step 3. Applied concrete grunge texture, changed layer to screen mode.
Step 4. Adjusted levels.
Step 5. Erased texture layer from lily.
Step 6. Used the burn tool to darken the frame edges and the lily.

Before & After: Cherries

This tree is at my son's preschool.
It is the most perfect cherry tree I've ever seen!
Gorgeous!


SOOC:




After:





I edit with PSE 8 and here's what I did:

Step 1: Adjusted levels
Step 2: Used the clone tool to fix some blemishes within the cherries
Step 3: Added 'Wall' texture from my Hotel Textures Set, took opacity down to 25%
Step 4: Used this tutorial to make a mask layer
Step 5: Erased over the berries
Step 6: Merged visible