Happy Thanksgiving 2014

My soul is at rest, my mind is clear, it's early Thanksgiving morning, still dark and quiet in the house.

I believe the rough bumpy roller coaster has past on down the road and things that I was trying to avoid actually turned out better than expected. 

I will put a reminder on my phone for the first of November to turn down the roller coaster invitation and not get blindsided again.

It's good. God is good. Have a blessed Thankgiving.
Ps. I'm having a one day 70%off sale on all my digital goodies for Black Friday (Friday only). Click the Coppercurls Design link in the side bar to take you there. 

App Happy Wednesday 6-25

It's an App Happy Day with Barb over at Keeping With The Times. Check out what everyone is doing with their mobile photography this week.
I didn't get my act together to be organized enough while on vacation to post the last two weeks. I did quite a bit of editing on my iPad while I was gone and even used it grab a few shots.
At least I remembered to bring my camera hook up so I could edit some of my Canon photos on it. In the rush to leave a day early because of weather many necessities were left behind.
This is one of my favorite shots of the week, shot with my Canon. Just a few tweaks with Snapseed.

Then it was time to play…still with Snapseed.

I really did like the black&white but I decided to take the sepia version into Mextures to see what I could come up with. Seven layers later…

I loved this! But I didn't want to have to add borders to the top and bottom to post it on Instagram. So AntiCrop to the rescue. I went back to Mextures and saved my "formula". A feature that is invaluable. (I wish I could do that in Snapseed.) I then took my sepia image into Anticrop and extended the top of the photo to make it square. If I had tried to do that to the already textured one, the results would have looked like I had tried to do just that. Then back to Mextures and applied my saved formula.

AntiCrop





Now I need a little text to fill in the corner so I've added 2 items from Rhonna Designs from the Insta Friends pack. My niece should love this!

App Happy May 21

I have the honor of being 'The Whole Story' feature today with Geri Centonze at Art of Mob, a website about mobile photography. Check it out here. She has a lot of great tutorials and features. One of my faves is Painterly Mobile Mondays….great stuff. If you want to check out the 'whole' whole story, I had posted about it here.

I'm linking up with Barb today for App Happy Wednesday. 

A rather grungy edit in DistressedFX. (I had promised someone a tutorial this week…. maybe next?)

App Happy wouldn't be complete without a Waterlouge edit! Rhonna Designs text and swirl.

A Snapseed peony.

Another in Snapseed. This is my first 'go to' app for a good clean edit. Sometimes it never makes it to another. I love the old world painterly look of this. I may take it into Tangled and play a bit after watching one of Geri's tutorials.

I took a peony break and posted a couple selfies on Instagram last night. You can see them if you click on the link in the side bar. Quite strange but fun!

App Happy 5-14

It's App Happy Wednesday over at Barb's. Come over and check out what everyone's doing on their mobile edits.
A little tour of my Instagram feed the past few days.
I made 2 versions of this in DistressedFx then used a soft light blend mode in Image Blender to achieve this.

If memory serves me right, this was done using Vintique. Although I may have used PicGrunger too.

You'll just have to get used to the all the peony photos this week. Two Snapseed edits of this close up.

Speaking of Snapseed….I couldn't resist this old church done in black and white. My friend just got a best of show with a shot of this church that she HDR-ed. I haven't seen it yet… It's at the Garden and Art Center in the West Texas Photographic Society Show. My track record has been great this past year but I didn't place at all in this one. I got a few oohs and aahs as I turned in my photos and that's enough to spur me on.

And more Snapseed….. There is a 'gasoline' museum halfway between Taos and Santa Fe but it was closed on Sunday when we made the trek. That didn't keep me from getting out and snapping a few.

And what would Mother's Day be without a card with a watercolored peony on it? Waterlogue and Rhonna Designs.

App Happy Wednesday 4-23

I have a long to do list with my name on it today, but first I 'must' participate in the first App Happy Wednesday over at Barb's blog, Keeping With the Times. One of my recent favorite photos processed with Waterlogue was this group of antique bicycles at a shop in Fredricksburg. It was conveniently closed when I arrived to the delight of the hubby.

Original

Edited with Snapseed to lighten the shadows and a slight increase of saturation. I was curious to see what a 'flat-looking' image would do. I knew I didn't want the darkness of it in the watercolor.

Waterlogue, Bold setting. Yes, I thought that worked pretty well.

Waterlogue Illustration setting. I definitely like the more colorful one.

Another favorite, the largest most beautiful clematis I've ever seen at the nursery. The setting was Fashionable and Giant. The default is set to medium, but you can get more detail when changing the size settings to giant. Some photos benefit when changing the lightness - darkness setting also. I have a tendency to not play with those so much because my patience runs thin while waiting for the changes to processes. Maybe if I got a newer iPad it would be faster? I need an excuse.

A few more faves all taken on our trip to the hill country of Texas. This sweet kitty hung out at the Herb Farm.

Added a bit of word art and text from Rhonna Designs.

If you haven't been bitten by this bug yet, watch out. It'll get you!

Linking up with Barb!

A Small Poem

I'm involved in a writing group (don't laugh). This is my first poem in decades.
I saw this lone sunflower, wrote(dictated) as I sped down the road determined that I would stop on the way back from my 15 mile journey during rush hour traffic.

iPhone, DistressedFX, Snapseed, Rhonna Designs, 

Merry Christmas

Hope this season of reflecting on Christ's birth brings you and yours much peace, joy, and hope for the future.
Have yourself a Merry Christmas!

Edited on iPad with Snapseed and one of Kim's textures applied in Image Blender. Graphics by Rhonnadesigns.

Linking up with Kim for Texture Tuesday. 

And for those of you that have asked for the recipe……
I got it from Ree, the Pioneer Woman who had Lia the candy maker at the ranch several years ago.
Best English toffee ever!!!!! Thank you Ree! (I don't add chocolate to the bottom and beware, be sure to get the butter wiped off the top or the chocolate won't stick)

Lia’s Butter Toffee

Ingredients

• 16 ounces, weight Butter, Melted
• 16 ounces, weight Granulated Sugar
• 3 ounces, fluid Water
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 16 ounces, weight Chopped Topping: Toasted Nuts, Candy Canes, Sea Salt, Etc.
• 24 ounces, weight Tempered Dark Chocolate For Coating, Melted

Preparation Instructions

*Necessary Equipment: Candy Thermometer*

Combine butter, sugar, water, and salt in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.

Cook over moderate heat, stirring gently, until candy thermometer registers 298 degrees.

Remove from heat and stir in vanilla until well combined.

Pour the mixture onto a silicone baking mat or good parchment paper. Use a heatproof rubber spatula or offset spatula to spread quickly before the toffee sets. Spread thin.

Allow toffee to cool completely. Blot to remove excess oil from the surface. Coat surface with half of the melted chocolate and immediately sprinkle with topping.

When chocolate has totally set, carefully flip over (it’s okay if it falls apart a bit) and coat other side with the rest of the chocolate. Sprinkle on topping.

Allow to set, then break into bite-size pieces.

Store in an airtight container.

Finding Joy

I have found such joy in this little girl this past year.
If you remember the kids moved to Colorado last January and fortunately for us they missed family and discovered the job wasn't what they'd envisioned. 3 months later they moved home. It would have been so hard to have a long distance relationship like that. Perhaps over the holidays I'll post some of our antics from this year.
Photos by my friend Kathy. Edits by me.

(Lightroom edit, brush by Kim Klassen)

(edited in Rhonnadesigns on iPad)

Linking up with Kim at Friday Finds.

The Muse -Amarillo

Linking up with Helen for Weekend Walks.
I re-found a wonderful shop in the Route 66 area of Amarillo a few weeks back. It had been years since I'd been there and was curious to see if it was still open. And it did not disappoint.

(Rhonna Designs App)

When I loaded the car for this trip I made the decision to leave the big girl camera at home. And told myself, "You'll just have to deal with it." A few months back it was, "Don't leave home without it!" My, this year is making some changes in my habits!

This rustic bench greated us as we drew near.

(Frame, Rhonna Designs)

As we stepped inside the oohhs and aahhs started. Wonderfully redone antiques, painted, distressed, reupholstered in gorgeous colors and trims. Home dec little goodies to tease the eyes... It was heaven, at least my heaven...

(Pixlr Express App)

I love to mix fabrics like this.

(Pixlr Express App)

And just get a load of this exquisite doorway! I stared at it forever and took about a dozen photos of it.

(Snapseed)

Wouldn't this fabric of circles make something very fun? I'm thinking I may need to go back and get some.

(Snapseed)

Have the most glorious weekend and do something fun!