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Showing posts from September, 2010

Autumn Leaves

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Hi everyone!  Wow, I've really enjoyed reading your posts about fall, and the beautiful colors it's starting to be in your area of the country. Fall is my favorite time of year, but where we live there's not much to see in the way of "color."  So, I thought I'd share with you some photos I took about a year ago in Washington. You see, for me having lived in the desert all my life, just walking down a city street in Seattle in the fall was glorious!  I remember seeing all of the golden leaves everywhere I walked wanting to stop and pick one up.  It was absolutely beautiful to me.  Strolling along this street in Seattle, on our way to a football game.  (Toto, I don't think we're in Vegas anymore!) A ferry ride from Seattle to Bainbridge Island. Thanks for dropping by and sharing a little "fall" with me!  There's just not much here in Las Vegas that's "fall-like" right now to take new photos of.  We'll be headi

Friday Night Wine & Jazz

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One of my favorite things to calm a stressful Friday workday is sipping a glass of wine and listening to some of my favorite jazz artists.  So, pour a glass, sit back and relax with me to the sounds of  Oscar Peterson and Stan Getz. Becca

The Grunge Movement

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I'm playing with textures again, in Photoshop Elements. This is a texture I got from  Kim Klassen The texture is called Celine. I really enjoy all the "grunge" looks that textures can give.  I took this photo last year right at the turn on to my Aunt & Uncle's property in Oregon. This is actually a really bright, blue day with yellow flowers in the field.  I enjoy the photo that way too, but I wanted a more vintage look this time.   By editing the photograph to this, it invoked memories of visiting there when I was a child.  I'm just beginning to delve into this Photoshop stuff, so I still have a lot to learn, but at least I'm enjoying it along the way.  I think photo editing is an individual taste, just like painting. (If I could paint on canvas, I wouldn't be sitting here on this computer...oh how I would love to be able to paint!  What a beautiful art form of expression!) Just like art, some prefer the Impressionist era over the Surrealist mo

An Ugly Duckling to Beautiful Swan

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I've been wanting to share a couple of photos of the tree in my front yard. This awkward little tree has been here since we moved in 5 years ago.  I've started calling it our  "Charlie Brown Tree."  It's so slow growing, and goofy looking.  At times, I've wanted to pull it out and plant something else! No one here in Vegas has been able to tell me what it was, so I asked my blog friend, Noelle   from  www.azplantlady.blogspot.com The name she gave me was a  Chinese Pistache or ( Pistacia chinensis ) I started to do some Googling and she's right!  The fun part is that one of the things I read was...  "An Ugly Duckling to Beautiful Swan" It seems that after about 5 or 6 years this scrawny tree will begin to blossom and it's canopy will begin to change and grow. It produces little berries that birds seem to love. We don't have many trees here that change into beautiful colors, but this one always seems to show it's true colors around

Another photo scavenger hunt!

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Well, here I go again with yet another photo scavenger hunt!  I tell you, these are very addicting!  This week was a little "tricky" for me. Here are the items: 1. Wish/Dream 2. Clean 3. Currency 4. Pair 5. Square ...and my interpretations  Wish/Dream It would be a dream come true for me to live in this fabulous city some day! (If you're listening...I found this goofy song by Perry Como called Seattle...I've never heard it before, have you?) Clean I've had this old Purex bottle for a while now.  It sits in my laundry room,  and since I love photographing some of the vintage items I have anyway, it was the perfect time to do so.  Currency Wow, how interesting is a dollar bill?  Well, I never thought so until I took a macro of it. I love the detail of the bill and went with a vintage sepia tone for color.  Pair So, what did you expect a girl from Vegas to choose for pair ?  I think living in this city all my life has affected my brain.  Square I just coul

Fun with sewing and fun with Fetzer

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Just thought I'd show you my finished book cover.  My co-worker saw another cover I made for a paper back book and ask if I could make one for her Bible.   Her Birthday was yesterday.  I'm a little late, but I hope she likes it.  Humm...it fits my Bible too.  Maybe she won't like it. :-)  I showed you some close ups of another project I was working on a few posts back.  This is the little pillow/pincushion I made.  I've been inspired by some lovely things made by my friend Diane Knott, and her daughter, Holly. You can check out their Etsy shop,  HERE *** Finally, I thought I'd show you some shots of my boy, Fetzer.  Sometimes he just loves to act goofy and play!  Well, now you can see what Fetzer has been up to.  I've been having fun playing more tennis! What are you doing for fun?  It's almost the weekend!  Becca 

Happy Mistakes/Textures

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Well, as you can see this Photoshop stuff is starting to possess my brain. It's very addicting especially with photos that might not be so great otherwise, you can create a whole different mood.  I have so many photos that didn't quite turn out the way I would like, so I'm trying to use those to practice with.  It's really funny too, how you start to "see" textures...everywhere!  I was sitting outside the other day and started to see things that I could be use.  I started taking photos of walls, the ground, rusted pots...crazy huh?   I'll try not to go too crazy on you guys with my altered photos, I'm just excited I'm starting to pick some of this stuff up and can't wait to learn more!  I shot this the same day.  I'm not sure what happened exactly, but I kind of like the outcome and decided to leave it just the way it is.  Well, I need to pull myself away from this computer and get started sewing!   Remember that quilted book cover that

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

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Ok, here I go again, on another photo scavenger hunt.  I thought I was going to take a break this week, but Ashley Sisk's  Scavenger Hunt Sunday is so much fun!   This week's hunt includes:  1. Landscape 2. Power Lines 3. Newspaper 4. Pose 5. Hobby Here's my interpretation for those five.  Landscape I can think of so many other pretty landscape shots that I have from places I've visited, but I wanted to try and take all new shots this time, so not much else going on here except "desert" landscape.  Power Lines It was this item that had me most interested to play.  I've always had this curious fascination with "powerlines" (I know, weird huh? )  I took a walk out to the end of the desert where the houses stop, and took this shot.   Another one of my obsessions the past few days has been messing around in Photoshop.   I liked the erie look I got with this.  Newspaper Everyday our paper gets delivered somewhere in one of the bushes. Pose This

A Whiter Shade of Pale

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The color of Summer is beginning to fade.  As the temperatures begin to drop, I welcome Fall with open arms.   My soul is invigorated by the refreshing breeze and the prospect of a new beginning.  I'm linking over to  Blogging from Bolivia  for another  Macro Friday.  There's a lot of beautiful shots over there if you care to take a peek.  Wishing you a lovely Friday. Becca

Stitching and Planting

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Hi all!   Well, this nice long Labor Day weekend is about to come to a close, and it's back to work tomorrow.  But, I won't complain, because I was able to do just what I wanted and that was a little container gardening and playing in my craft room.  It's still warmer than I'd like, but I got out early in the morning so I could get some planting done before the heat came.  The day I brought this Gerber Daisy plant home, it was in the middle of the afternoon, and by the time I got it out of the car it looked so hot and wilted.  (I know the feeling)  I was afraid I had already killed it on the way home in this heat.  But once I got it cooled off, and into a container with a little TLC and fresh soil and morning sunshine, it perked up.  Once the heat started to set in, I decided I would go inside (in the air conditioned house) and do a little collage on canvas.  I really like the  Zetti  style, so I played around with that, and made an ATC for my friend  Lind