Simple

Some more shots from my June draft pile. Pretty sure this was homework for Be Still, but I'm not sure.

How about one with a texture by Kim? Pinitonly6 turned to black and white and darkened to be able to 'screen' my photo over it.

It's Texture Tuesday over at Kim's blog today. 

Come on over and check out what everyone's been texturing.

A Long(horn) Shot

What are my chances that I would drive by this longhorn steer just at the point he would be in the right position to grab this cool shot? 1:1000000000. There are only a few points around this small pasture that one can even get a shot without it being through a chain link fence. And this is in the city no less. Lucky me, I met my friend on her side of town for lunch this week. I really should get out of my 3 mile radius more often.
The first is edited in Lightroom with a vintage style preset. The second is with Kim's copper preset from Beyond Beyond class.

Linking up with Little Things Thursdays.

Happy Easter and Welcome Home

Happy Easter to all!

This will be a very different celebration for us this weekend as our kids moved back from Colorado on Thursday. Homesickness won the battle and son quit trying to convince himself that he wanted to be a personal financial planner. I could have told him that when he changed his major. But no one asked me.
We are just so glad to have that baby girl home. She has changed so much in 3 long months and she's turning 1 in two weeks.
I just finished a digital book that 'My Publisher' printed. I can't say enough good about them. I get the super gloss pages and besides the color being so awesome they are water proof. And they are always having sales. (Had severe calendars done this year too.) And the service is quite fast.

Just this week My Publisher announced their new app to make a book from the photos on your iPad. It's called KeepShot and the first 10,000 orders are being printed for free. I stayed up quite late that night arranging my more artistic edited shots in their software. It was quite easy to use. This will be the first book I've actually done of 'my' stuff.

This would actually be a very easy way to do a 'photo diary' of 2013. Oh my gosh, I'm excited! It's going to be a great year!

Beyond Beyond Day 9

Homework. Funny, now that I'm older I actually like homework. Especially if it has to do with photography. Class with Kim Klassen, Beyond Beyond Type Tricks.
The last couple days have been a bit rough, so when I saw this cup staring me in eyes from a TJ Max shelf, I knew it would come home with me. Fortunately I had just gotten the tulips yesterday.
Edited in Lightroom. Texture by Kim Klassen. Layers pallet below.

Linking up with Texture Tuesday, Kim Klassen.

Linking up with Tuesday Muse, with Nancy Claeys

Chalk it Up To Kim

I've loved the chalk look that's quite popular right now but didn't realize how much fun it would be to do it. Part of the Beyond Beyond Day 8 lesson referred to this tutorial on making chalk board text. I picked a favorite quote, added some birds from my brush set Art Journal brushes, the edge damask (same brush set, there is also a CU version) and then attempted to add a photo that appeared to also be chalked on.
My base was kk_chalkmagic 100%,
kk_addsomenoise1 screen 39%
I did the birds and border following the tutorial. The only thing in addition that I did was add a little brushwork with a chalk brush in white where I wanted it to look more chalky. (birds especially)
I duplicated the photo and added a colored pencil filter (I used smart filters CS6) with the settings 6, 11, 28. changed the blending mode to soft light. Then duplicated that layer. I then put those 2 layers into a 'group' and added a mask to brush out the edges and some of the interior. See layers pallet below.

Beyond Beyond Day 2 Part one

A photo supplied by Kim and we were to edit however we wanted.  I decided I was up to the challenge for a  B&W. 

 Her original.

My layers panel.
I used the channel to make my B&W.
Added her texture 0101.
Merged my layers to do some cloning and healing.
Played with the text which is Faustina Font, available here.

Beyond Beyond Day 1

Beyond Beyond has begun. The first assignment was to shoot from many angles, take your time and assess. I didn't take much time because I was packing to leave town and figured I'd work on it on the road. But in the end decided to just take my iPad, which was a good decision. When you go to visit the grand baby, you don't get much 'me' time. Which is totally fine with me.
I was pleased with the outcome and just happened to have this photo of my mom laying nearby. She's second from the right, 15 years old.
I found that I liked the angled photos but I also like the straight ones too. I believe if I had used all angled photos, this would not have looked very good at all. I may do a scrapbook page but for now a Lightroom template will do. Texture used was by Kim Klassen, 2701.
You can still sign up for the year-long class of awesome inspiration here. You won't be sorry.