Texture Tuesday - Garden Trug

Hello dear friends,

Well, as you know by now, Tuesday is Texture Tuesday.

According to the challenge, this weeks' photo is about gardening. I used to be quite a gardener, planting, digging, pruning to my heart's content, but injury and work committments saw a decline over the years and now, quite truthfully, all I do now is pull a few weeds as I pass and put in a few plants in Spring.

My garden is full... it's a cottage style... it tends to re-seed a lot and often seems to have the uncanny ability to fill in naturally in places where I would have put plants myself, clever garden!
( I must admit that I do also have a very nice gardener who comes fortnightly to mow lawns and cut back where required etc, so that certainly helps to keep it under control, thankyou, Luke)

Anyway, this post is about Textures, right?! Tying to get there...

My trusty little garden holdall, was this lovely TRUG that I fell in love with years ago and just HAD to have. A Trug... I hear you say. What on earth is a trug??!

A Trug is a wooden basket mainly used for gardening. The one I have is a Sussex trug made from thin boards of cricket-bat willow (the body). The handle and rim are made from coppiced sweet chestnut wood.The trug is all hand cut and pieced in a time-honoured style, a fact that I love.
It also sits on little wooden 'feet'.

Over the years this trusty little holdall has not only carried garden tools, seeds etc but has been cleaned up and bought inside my home to hold indoor potted plants and small vases of flowers, too.
Quite a versatile little trug if I do say so!

So, finally, my Texture Tuesday photo is...Ta da! my sweet garden trug.

This is how I achieved this effect - ( using photoshop elements 9)

• High pass sharpening
• KK texture 'stained linen' at soft light 65%
• Hue sat adjustment to tone down the yellow
• KK texture 'stained linen' multiply at 70%
• Layer mask to remove some texture on the trug, seeds, tools and string
• Gaussian blur filter
• slight vignette around edges
• Signature.

Please click on the Texture Tuesday photo on my side bar, or below, to take you to Kim's site and more textured beauties.

NB, this Stained Linen texture  in my photo was a freebie sent by Kim last week, so sign up if you wish to give it a try and you will receive lots of lovely free textures to play with.

Have a great day,

Cheers,

I Heart macro - green bowl love

Hello dear friends,

Sunday is link up to I Heart Macro at Studio Waterstone. Check out all the lovely macro shots over there with Lori.
Here are mine for today, I am loving this ceramic green and blue bowl. ( It is by potter, Kirby Bell, from Adelaide)

I want to make some beads similar in color...  I just love the swirls and dots and the little blue flower in the base,

I love the crackle effect and stripes on the outside of the bowl.

Cute little dots on the rim.

Swirls and dots on the inside of the bowl.

Flower on the inside bowl base.

Sitting with other green bowls.

Check out other photos over at Lori's. Click on the photo below to take you there.

Hope you have had a great weekend,

cheers,

Bead Table Wednesday - A Fairytale/spring bead swap gift.

Hello dear friends,

As today is Wednesday it is Bead Table day...

As a lot of you would know, Bead Table Wednesday is when we display photos of beads we are currently  working with....( please click on the btw icon on the blog side bar to take you to see other participants' photos)


I recently received a lovely package of beads from Erin Prais-Hintz at tesori trovati jewelry.
Erin is a wonderful jewelry designer who creates one-of-a-kind pieces using anything from copper, sari silk and gemstones, to her own line of gorgeous 'simple truth' pendants and charms. I am thrilled with all the elements she sent to me and only hope I can do them justice!

The reason for this little package, is that we are paired up in an exchange, organised by Lori Anderson.
This time around the swap is a Fairytale/spring theme.

Anyway, here are the lovely pieces Erin sent to me, and they are what is on my bead table today...

Lovely card and package.

Simple Truths connector - 'leap'

Lucite flowers, fluorite nuggets, swarovski crystals

and a sweet little jade frog from Thailand.

Ceramic focal from Lisa Peters

Green goldstone and 'bling'

An assortment of Vintage/Nunn designs.

Am I a lucky girl or what!!? There is far more here than I will use on this project, thank-you Erin for your generosity.

And now to get moving on it.... a mixture of "Secret garden meeting the frog prince" said Erin.

 The blog reveal will be on June 4th.

Have a good day,

A Blog Give away - Pattys' Blue bead necklace

Hello dear friends,

I don't do this too often - am trying to improve on that!

Here is a beautiful give away opportunity -

Go to My Life under the Bus and visit Patty for a chance to win this beautiful necklace.

Isn't the color divine!

Good luck!

Cheers,

Yesteryear - kangaroo feeding time

Hello dear friends,

Today I am participating in a challenge organised by Kim Klassen with her 'Texture Tuesday' friends.

The photo below is a copy from a slide taken of my sister in law as a child, about 40 years ago. As you can see she is feeding a kangaroo (probably bread).
This is in a country area some distance from Melbourne.

Kangaroos, are really only found in rural areas .
They spend most of the day resting in the shade, and tend to come out in the cool of the morning or at dusk to feed.
I am not entirely sure what time of day this photo was taken, possibly late afternoon.

The car in the photo, a Dodge, was, I believe a recent purchase at the time.

On the above photo,  I have -

• used Kims' Texture, 'yesteryear' on Soft Light blend mode at 100% opacity
• used a second texture layer of 'yesteryear' on Multiply blend mode at 85%
• added a warming filter at 85%
• selectively put a little color back in the kangaroo
• eliminated a large stick and a partial face in the front of the car.

The original photo taken from a slide.

And just for fun, I thought I would tell you a few lesser known facts about the Australian Kangaroo  - 

There are 47 varieties of kangaroo ranging in size from a kg (1lb) to 85kg approx (300lb).

 - They usually have one young annually. The joey remains in the pouch for nine months and continues to suckle until 12 - 17 months of age. Kangaroos can have up to 3 babies at one time. One becoming mature and just out of the pouch, another developing in the pouch and one embryo in pause mode. There are 4 teats in the pouch and each provides different milk for the different stages of development. ( The embryo will remain dormant until the previous young has left the pouch)

Isn't that an amazing feat of nature!!

 - Kangaroos are herbivores, they need little water to survive and some species are capable of going for months without drinking at all. (if grass is available)

 - The kangaroo can hop at speed up to 60kmh (40mph) 

- The kangaroo, in combination with the emu were chosen as symbols of Australia ( they are on our Coat of Arms) to represent the country's progress because they are always moving forward and never move backwards.

And on that note, I too will move forward, and finish this post and move on with my day....

Please click on the Texture Tuesday picture logo on my blog side bar to see more lovely texture photos.
( they will be posted from Tuesday through to Sunday)

Hope you all have a good day,

Cheers,

I Heart Macro....an addition.

Hello dear friends,
I am adding this as a connection to my previous post... see below.
Please click on this button below to take you to Studio Waterstone, I heart Macro site and the other participant's photos.

For some reason, I can not edit the previous post, so am adding this in now.
Truly! I don't understand blogger sometimes!

Cheers,

Jenni

I Heart Macro- Cyclamen Love.

Hello dear friends,

Please join me for I heart macro, hosted by Lori from Studio Waterstone.

Exquisite pink petals. If you look closely you can see they are delicately edged in pale pink.

Look in closer and you can see multiple colors of pink.

Emergent bud, how divine is that...snuggled amid dark green leaves.

Look in closer and you will see a tiny stamen.

Cheers for now,

Bead Table Wednesday, A 21st birthday necklace

Hello dear readers,

As some of you have read on an earlier post, it was my youngest daughter's 21st birthday just recently.
As part of her gift from me, I decided to make her a  glass (lampwork) bead necklace, made with ivory and black short bicones.
Laura had seen a similar necklace that I had purchased in Italy and mentioned she liked it.

I was a little wary of  emulating the look, but decided that it was different enough in colour choice, clasp selection etc to still give it a go.

I used a brass tool to help shape the beads, thanks for that, Peter.
The black was easy to manage however the dark ivory glass was a little more difficult due to it's sensitivity to heat . A very light touch was needed to shape the ivory bicones.

Necklace in the making

I used a beautiful box clasp with a dark grey stone which matched the transparent grey spacers

at the ends.

The birthday girl and her necklace.

Hope you are all enjoying your day,

Texture Tuesday May 17th- A Vintage Challenge.

Hello dear friends,

Today is "Texture Tuesday" and the challenge this week was 'Vintage'.
I have a lot of quirky, vintage nick-nacks that I have picked up over the years from markets and antique stores etc.  So, to find a vintage piece was quite easy in my home.

One of the pieces I have collected, is a wooden pair of shoe 'lasts' that I have had in my possession for about 25 years.
I just love them. I love the fact that they once were actually a practical and utilitarian 'tool' for shaping shoes. I love the wood, it's texture, color and the many marks on it.

On the soles there are metal plates hammered on to the heel area.
I believe they originally came from Leicester, England, unfortunately the makers name is too difficult to discern.

As I look closer at the shoe lasts in an effort to glean any further information, I have now only just realised they are not a pair!! One is slightly smaller than the other-perhaps a half size. Oh well!

On the above photo, I used Photoshop Elements to add a texture, 'Trust', from Kim Klassen.

I put the blending mode on multiply at 82%, added a layer mask and removed a little of the texture from the shoes. I also reduced the brightness a little in one area (the shoes are naturally very variable in color and I did not want to change that, even though they may have looked better with more uniformity)

If you wish to see more  textured photos from the vintage challenge, just click on the Texture Tuesday photo on my side bar to take you there.

Cheers,

I Heart macro- 15th May

Hello dear readers,

Sunday is macro day. I have always loved taking photos up close and am always amazed to see the surprises  that happen when  the camera captures details not seen by my eyes alone.

This photo of a Rainbow Lorikeet is an example of that. I had inadvertently left the macro setting on  my little point and shoot camera when taking this photo. The bird allowed me to approach quite closely although it was wary as you can see.
I love the detail in the feathers that was a result of taking the picture on the macro setting.

I love the striations on the iris bud and the transluscent 'peeling' of the bud in the foreground as it emerges.

And as today is my daughter's 21st birthday, I thought I would add this one in. It is the weighted base of some helium balloons.

I heart macro is hosted by Lori of Studio Waterstone Click on the photo below to take you to other participant's photos.

Hope you have all had a fab weekend.

cheers,

Texture Tuesday - Old Cargo Boat.

Hello dear readers,

I am endeavouring to learn Photoshop Elements as I am sure you have read before in my blog.
I still feel  a little 'lost at sea', trying to find my feet amongst the videos to watch and to follow through with the practice required to learn the practical exercises.

This photo below is an old timber cargo boat I saw at the old harbour in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates.

I loved the old faded timber on the boat, and the soft hues of aqua on the painted trim.
The wonderful rustic ladder propped against the boat was levelled on the path by a wad of cloth under one leg.

The day was strange, the sky had no color and the sun obscured by what we were told was the effect from a recent sand storm.

Inevitably, the photo was overexposed, so I have endeavoured to fix that via Photoshop.
I also added 2 texture layers both in "warm sun" by Kim Klassen, one at 100%, one at 40% opacity

I wanted to achieve an old "postcard look", something reminiscent of a bygone era. Almost a hand colored -look that some of the old post cards have.

I think I did achieve a little of that look.

Please click on the Texture Tuesday picture on my blog side bar to see more "texture" photos on Kim's site.

Cheers,

Happy Mothers' Day, a textured photo.

Hello dear readers,

I am having fun with photo shop and finally starting to learn a little.

For those who might be interested to learn the basics of photo shop, I can highly recommend the Essentials e-course with Kim Klassen.

Check it out here.

Goodnight,

I Heart Macro- Mother's Day Sunday 8th of May.

I Heart Macro....

Autumn is drawing almost to an end and the vine is losing it's beautiful red leaves.

Protea flower in Mother's day bouquet.

Happy Mother's day to all the mums out there in blogland. I hope you have had a great day.