366: Day 56

Three good things: feeding birds at the lake, taking 471 photos, and a boy on the mend. 

366: Day 55

We are getting out of the house tonight, going to see a show at the Children's Theatre, "A Single Shard". We are excited about it, we read the book a couple months ago... but nervous about exposure to more germs. We have to get back to real life sometime. Wish us luck.

Here's today's photo: "Peekaboo!"

Happy Fence Friday

Fence Friday, huh? Why not? Lots and lots over at Flickr if you want to look: http://www.flickr.com/groups/fencedfriday/ and http://www.flickr.com/groups/fence_friday/.

366: Day 54

Three good things: Spring is coming... I saw crocuses blooming today... I met the funniest sea gull today.

366: Day 53

One good thing: my sister brought my newest niece into the world today, welcome, baby Sydney Jean, we love you already!

Another good thing: my lens arrived!

And another good thing - the minute I stepped out the door with it, this beautiful cooper's hawk sharp-shinned hawk was just sitting there waiting for me.

366: Day 52

They say fake it 'til you make it... well, I got nothing but a couple of photos, faux sunshine and happiness.

Texture Tuesday

It's time for Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday again - I missed it last week for some reason, what was going on last Tuesday? Oh, Valentine's Day. Oh well! This week we are supposed to use Kim's "Felicity" texture - I've used it on all the photos in the past few days, but this one is my favorite, I think.... Next week we are supposed to do something based on the color white. Hmn... that's a bit of a challenge... for me. Maybe I can get out of the house finally and go hunting for something good. Anyway, thanks for looking, and go see Kim's post for more participants, there are always some wonderful phtotos :)

366: Day 51

Three good things. Three. Well. Let's see. One: I do not have the flu, that's one person in the family who doesn't have it. Yet. Two: Ok, this is good, I ordered a new lens for my camera, and a new strap, and a remote for it. And Three: Well, it looks like there is a 100% chance that I'll be home when it arrives since everyone here is sick and not going anywhere anytime soon.

366: Day 50

Three good things: chickens, tulips, and finding some tiny spring buds forming. And also, gluten free teriyaki sauce; it's been a year since I had teriyaki. And a boy who had a few smiles to spare over gluten-free chicken noodle soup; I wasn't sure I'd see a smile out of him today.

366: Day 49

I'm having a tough time with the positive thoughts these days... 2012 has been really difficult so far. My kid has been sick since January 11th. He's gotten better a few times, only to get sick again as soon as we go back out in public. Right now he is snoring on the couch after moaning in pain after hours of emptying his stomach every half hour. Poor baby. I should be thankful that he's snoring peacefully. I should be thankful that he's got a raging fever, so that I know his body is fighting it this time. I should be thankful that it's a school break now and he has time to recover before we go back... and I am. But I'm really tired. It would be nice to use our season passes to the ski mountain. It would be nice to maybe go on a little road trip and find some sunshine. It would be nice to go out somewhere besides the drug store or doctors office or grocery store. It would be nice to have something to photograph besides tulips and chickens. It would be nice to think that thinking and listing positive thoughts brought only good things into a person's life. It worked for a little bit, but I'm discouraged right now. And I know my kid is too.

366: Day 48

Three good things: it's the weekend, it's a long weekend, we have no plans at all.

Beyond Layers: Getting Painterly

Well. Painterly is what I'm mostly always going for, so I was thrilled with this week's lesson. Painterly in a mixed media kind of way though, not a fine art kind of way... which is how I feel the tulips came out... and maybe the gull too? I don't know. I was tempted to brighten the flowers, add some script or something mixed media-ish... but I refrained. Probably because I kind of did that yesterday and had lots of fun already. How many ways can I alter that tulip photo? That's a good question, I bet I could do a different treatment every day of the year. But, don't worry, I won't!

Here are my finished images, the tulips and the gull.

and here are my source images so you can see the difference. I think the best thing I learned was about sharpening the image ahead of time to get a more painterly feel out of it. 

 

Thanks for looking :)

366: Day 47

1. Not the candy heart photo I had in my mind. 
2. Better late than never.
3. Now they can get eaten.

More Tulips

Another tulip creation, I'm having fun with these. 

366: Day 46

Three good things: color... making my own texture layers... sunshine. 

366: Day 45

Happy Valentines Day, I hope you were showered with love too.

366: Day 44

Lulu has gone broody on me, trying to hatch eggs that are not even there because I stole them out from under her. I keep booting her out of the egg box, sending her outside to play. She keeps going back to the egg box. She seems a little confused about what's going on, giving me this look.

366: Day 43

Three things: clean windows, buying a fun, rustic @ sign statue thing at the antique store, and finding gluten-free chicken nuggets at a crunchy organic restaurant.

366: Day 42

1.) State Cup Semi-finals. So proud of our boys, they kept it clean even when the other team did not.
2.) Soccer is done! Soccer is done!! Soccer is DONE!!!
3.) Tryouts for next year are 12 weeks away.

366: Day 41

Three things I'd like to do: learn to play the guitar, learn to make sushi, travel to somewhere tropical and beautiful, with snorkeling, kayaking, and fru-fru drinks with umbrellas in them.  

366: Day 40

Three good things: fancy pants coffee (I've been waiting a year for this to come back!), a joking-around kid, and funny friends.

Sunbreak

A couple more photos from our brief sun-break today - too bad none of the hundred shots of rainbow came out any better than the one on my cell phone!

366: Day 39

Three of my favorite things: hearing the boy sing again, visiting the beach during a sunbreak, and chasing rainbows.

This was taken with my cellphone, it was the only lens I had on me that would capture the whole arc of the rainbow. Oh well! The top photo is altered with a layer of flypaper texture - the bottom one is only cropped.

366: Day 38

Three good things: the kid went back to school today, the sun was out, and it feels like everything is going to be ok.

366: Day 37

Three good things: more sunshine, a beautiful moon, and a happy child excited about his next musical theater class - Aladdin.

366: Day 36

175 photos taken, two worth sharing, one technique tried and needs to be revisited as soon as possible.

366: Day 35

Three good things:

1. Sunsets at the beach.
2. Photoshop.
3. A boy who will jump when you say jump. 

366: Day 34

Three good things: sunshine, a clean coop, the promise of some good compost for the garden come spring.

366: Day 33

Three good things: 1.) Sudafed is helping the child. I should have gotten him some weeks ago, but who knew it was going to be so much more effective than all the other stuff we've been trying? 2.) I really like my Beyond Layers class, I'm learning so much. 3.) There will be other days to catch a more perfect sunset shot. 

Beyond Layers Class: Time Capsule, Part 2

Well, look at that. Kim did have a magic trick for making these. Easy-peasy. (For those of you not taking the class, she did give us a free resource for some nice templates - Check out Gingerpixel - and I'm sure there are more on the web too.)

For this one, I couldn't resist adding a texture layer to bring it all together. I used Kim's "Evolve". Thanks for looking!

BTW, that's Pippi, the Buff Orpington, and Lulu, the Cuckoo Maran. We have two others, Daphne and Bella, I'm sure they will be featured at some point.

Beyond Layers Class: Time Capsule

This is my homework for the Beyond Layers class - a time capsule, series of pictures that show a moment of time in my life. This is today. Outside. With the girls. I'm looking forward to seeing how Kim suggests making the collage (though of course I couldn't wait for her instructions) - I bet she's got a trick to make lining them all up evenly much easier. Also, I didn't add any texture to these, though I was very tempted.

366: Day 32

Three good things: interesting weather, taking photos, and a boy who has the energy to want to show you his magic tricks.