Tutorial Tuesday - Watercolor Edit

Ashley and Branson have teamed up to bring us Tutorial Tuesdays.  Each week they will show us a "new challenge to stretch our shooting and editing skills."  FUN!  


This week's tutorial is all about how to attain a watercolor effect in Photoshop/Photoshop Elements.  So instead of doing the things I should be doing while the kids aren't home this evening, I decided to play in the peace and quiet.  :) 

I pulled out this photo of the Pittsburgh skyline that I took back in September.  This is the clean edit.

And here is what it looks like after applying the watercolor technique ...

  

Pretty cool, huh?  I like it!

Then I tried the technique on a photo of my cosmos flowers that I grew this past summer.  Here's the clean edit ...

and the watercolor version ...

 

This is an easy, fun technique that was a lot of fun to play with.  Thanks to Ashley and Branson for showing it to us!  If you'd like to play around and learn some new editing skillz, then check out Tutorial Tuesday.  And be sure to stop over and see some of the other great photos.

Wild & Wonderful Wednesday #14

Hi there!  Welcome to another Wild & Wonderful Wednesday!

Just one quick pic of some ice Alex and I came across on our walk last week in the icy rain.  Because it is late.  And I am tired.  This kitchen remodeling thing is really taking it out of me.  And I'm not even doing most of the work so far!  :)

Now it is your turn!  Link up your Wild & Wonderful photos below.  

Just a few things first ...

1.  Grab my button for your post and link up below (or at least use a text link) so others can find out about Wild & Wonderful Wednesday.  Thank you!

2.  Link up your post URL (or Flickr photo URL), not your blog URL.

3.  Photos must be yours please.

4.  Try to visit and comment on a few other linker uppers. 

5.  You have until Saturday at midnight to link up!

<center><a href="http://kimberlysperspective.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-__rTDJroOS4/Tq2TpA90uRI/AAAAAAAAEXo/s2vcaypRcPU/s1600/Wild-and-wonderful-wednesda.jpg"/></a></center>

Also linking up with these lovely ladies ...

                 

Week 4 in Pictures

Almost the end of January and so far so good on my third year of Project 365/366.  Some days are still tougher than others, but I managed again this week.  Let's take a look, shall we?

{Sunday - Let It Snow/Winter for Be Inspired}

If you recall, last week's pictures showed me trying to photograph all "four" of my kids posing for the camera, which doesn't usually work out so well.  Capturing them in action does though.  And I think I like it better.  :)  We asked our neighbors if we could sled on their hill for a change of scenery.  They said of course and watched us the whole time (you can see Mr. R. in the window).  I guess we were pretty entertaining.  In this photo, Keira and Nick were attempting a train and it wasn't working out so well.  Alex was having no part of it, while Honey was trying to get in on the fun.  (Although she won't get on a sled, she will run down beside you and bite at your feet).

{Monday}

This winter has brought with it some crazy weather.  Today it warmed up and rained a good part of the day, melting most of the snow.  :(  But we were blessed with this double rainbow.  In January!!!  The outer one is a little harder to see, but it is definitely there.

  

{Tuesday}

While grocery shopping, I saw these little primrose plants for 99 cents.  This yellow one was so cheery looking.  I thought it would brighten up the sometimes dreary days winter brings.

{Wednesday - self portrait for My 3 Boybarians Project 52}

So, yeah, I had an idea in my brain to capture myself while exercising.  I set up my camera and my 50mm lens (which I need to manually focus) on my tripod and got busy.  But I was unable to get a focused shot after many, many attempts.  Mental note - it is hard to get the focus correct when there is no one there to focus on.  :)  So anyway, you get an out-of-focus shot of me exercising to Just Dance on the Wii.

{Thursday - Close for Project 366 Rewind}

Woke up to icy rain, so Alex and I decided to go for a nature walk.  (I know, WHAT?!?!  Why would you go for a walk in the rain?!?!)  :)  My ulterior motive was to capture some icy photos ... I was able to get a few before the ice melted.  These little icicles were hanging on the side of my neighbor's tractor.

{Friday}

Finally got around to setting up my light box for Ashley's and Branson's Tutorial Tuesday.  So I spent some time playing.  I think the hardest part was figuring out what to photograph.  :)

{Saturday}

Doug took Alex to get a new car for his train (you can see another photo in my Scavenger Hunt set).  He decided on a Polar Express stock car to go with his Polar Express train.  The train is now set up again in his bedroom.  We seem to set it up for a couple weeks, then get tired of it and put it away.  Then get it back out again a month or so later, etc. etc.  Anyway, he wanted me to take some pictures of his new train car so ...  :)


A kitchen update for those who are interested ... Doug and I went in on Wednesday to get the cabinets ordered only to find out that we needed to have an installer come out and confirm the measurements before we could order.  He was here on Saturday morning (Doug was working on Thursday and Friday) and was a great guy to talk to.  He gave us a few suggestions and ideas.  And I got to look through his book of before/after pictures and ooh and aah over the beautiful kitchens.  :) 


Shortly after he left (and after the trip to the hobby shop for Alex's train car), Doug moved the refrigerator to the dining room and started ripping out cabinets.  Today he took down the ceilings.  Yes, ceilings ... as in more than one.  Apparently when the previous owners wanted to update the ceiling, they just put a new one over top of the old one.  There were four ceilings total in our kitchen.  Each one was uglier than the last.  :)  Next week you'll get to see one of the interesting objects he found in the ceiling.


Gosh, don'tcha hate teasers like that?  :)


So we are adjusting to where everything is now.  Almost nothing is where it should be.  Which is sometimes frustrating.  But it is only temporary.  Hopefully we'll go in today to order the cabinets and get them going.  In the meantime, Doug has lots of work to do to keep him busy.  Floor, walls, ceiling, wiring, plumbing.  It's a good thing he knows how to do all that!


Have a great week!

Scavenger Hunt Sunday 01.29.12

In the midst of the dust flying during the great kitchen remodel, I managed to hunt down this week's items ... Smile, Stand alone, Rusty or Something old, Artificial, and Repeating pattern.  

Here are my interpretations ...

{smile}

Doug promised Alex a while back that he'd buy him a new train car.  That exciting event happened on Saturday.  It is a Polar Express stock car (surprise!  Alex LOVES The Polar Express).  Since the doors open on both sides, I thought it would be cool to capture his excited face through the train car.  Just look at that smile!

{stand alone}

I finally managed to find some time to make a light box by following Rosie's instructions.  Since one of my goals this year is to learn to sew, I chose to photograph a lone bobbin.

{rusty or something old}

This is an old button holer from a really old sewing machine that I no longer own.  Why I still have the button holer, I can't say.  Except that I needed something to photograph for this prompt.  :)

{artificial}

A bouquet of artificial daisies that resides in my dining room.

{repeating pattern}

Had a little fun with Big Huge Labs Pop Art Poster action.

Be sure to head over to Ashley's to see more great photos!  And if you'd like to play along next week, the items to hunt down are:

1. Strike a Pose
2. Footwear
3. Hobby
4. Shiny
5. Color Me Green

Have a great week!

A Mile in His Shoes Winner!

Okay, so the past couple days have been pretty busy ... or maybe I just forgot.  Whatever!  So tonight I remembered that I forgot to randomly pick the winner for the DVD giveaway.  Random.org chose comment #1, which is Jill.  (I'm being too lazy to take a screen capture and plop it in here so you'll just have to take my word for it).  :)

Congratulations, Jill!  I'll get your information so you can get your DVD soon!

Wild & Wonderful Wednesday #13

Some weeks Tuesday nights sneak up on me!  :)  After a pretty busy day, I went to a Turbo Kick class at our local Zumba center this evening (loved it!).  Then read to Alex, dealt with some PTO stuff, took a shower, and realized that I hadn't prepared my W&WW post yet.  Yikes!


Before I share my photos, let me just say THANK YOU once again to everyone who links up!  We broke another record last week.  That's exciting to me!  Although it makes it challenging to get around to visit everyone but I managed.  Not sure how well I'll do this week as we are ordering our kitchen cabinets so I'll be working diligently to get some things straightened up/cleaned out/pitched in our kitchen over the next few weeks.  But I will do my best to sneak a few moments here and there to stop by.

Anyway, on to the photos ... I wanted to share a few from our fun on Saturday.  Friday night/Saturday morning Mother Nature decided to dump another 5 inches or so of snow on us.  On top of the 3 inches we received Thursday night/Friday morning.  After shoveling out, we enjoyed the snow by sledding in our back yard.  When we finally got in the house, we had a message from a friend, Jennifer, inviting us over to sled at her house.  The kids were excited to go, so instead of taking a much-needed nap, we went sledding some more.  While there, we got to visit with the neighbor's horse and donkeys.

This is Cocoa.  She is beautiful.  Not that you need me to tell you that.  :)

We sweetened her up by feeding her a few apples that Jennifer had given us.

And I discovered just how difficult it is to photograph a horse.  She didn't like to be still for long.  :)  And the bright sun and snow combined with her dark fur made metering interesting.

When we were just about to get back to sledding, a plow truck came through.  Cocoa got terribly upset and started running around and bucking and whinnying.  I managed to get this shot of her even though it's not the greatest.  I didn't overstep my boundaries and go into the pasture where picture-taking would have been better.

And you can sort of see the donkeys.  I did take pictures of them too.  Just no time to post them tonight.  Although they were difficult to photograph as well.  That's okay though.  I love those learning opportunities.

Now it is your turn!  Link up your Wild & Wonderful photos below.  

Just a few things first ...

1.  Grab my button for your post and link up below (or at least use a text link) so others can find out about Wild & Wonderful Wednesday.  Thank you!

2.  Link up your post URL (or Flickr photo URL), not your blog URL.

3.  Photos must be yours please.

4.  Try to visit and comment on a few other linker uppers. 

5.  You have until Saturday at midnight to link up!

<center><a href="http://kimberlysperspective.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-__rTDJroOS4/Tq2TpA90uRI/AAAAAAAAEXo/s2vcaypRcPU/s1600/Wild-and-wonderful-wednesda.jpg"/></a></center>

Also linking up with these lovely ladies ...

                    

Week 3 in pictures

Near the end of 2011 when I was reaching the end of my second year of Project 365, I was determined I wasn't going to do another year.  I mean, what could I possibly photograph that I hadn't already?  But I'm really glad I decided to go ahead with another year.  It gives me the incentive I need to pick up my camera every day.  Especially on gray, gloomy days like today when the last thing I want to do is take pictures.  I enjoy the growth I'm seeing in my photos - the getting it right (or at least better) IN camera, which requires less editing on my part.  Editing is not high on my list of favorite things to do.  I get bored with it pretty quickly.  And no one likes to do something boring, right?  :)

Anyway, you're not here to read my ramblings, so on with the photos!

{Sunday}

Alex had a blast trying out his new snowboard.  He fell off a lot, but he kept right on trying.

This is my "active" photo for Inspire Me's Be Inspired Project.

{Monday}

I had to go grocery shopping this week since Doug has been working so many hours (he's usually the one to do our "big" shopping each week).  While at the store I treated myself to a bouquet of flowers.  Unfortunately all they had were different colored daisies.  Now I love daisies, but I was hoping for more variety.  Maybe this week.  :)

{Tuesday}

Just playing around with Keira's nail polishes and my 50mm lens.  One of the other photos I took of them ended up in this week's Scavenger Hunt.

{Wednesday}

I dusted off my sewing machine to do a little mending.  One of my goals for 2012 is to learn how to sew and actually finish making something.  I don't know what yet.

{Thursday}

I put another bird feeder right outside my office window in the hopes that I could get a closer photo of some birds.  This little guy popped in for a snack just as I was sitting down at my computer and he stuck around long enough for me to capture him.

{Friday}

It is a rare thing for me to be up when the sun is rising.  Especially when the kids have a 2-hour delay for school.  But this day I was up.  If only for a few minutes to take a couple photos then go back to bed.  :)  We may not have had a beautiful sunset this week, but the sunrise was pretty spectacular.  I'm glad I got up for it.

This is my "start of the day" photo for P366 Rewind's challenge.

 
{Saturday}

We got a few inches of fluffy snow Thursday night/Friday morning.  Then late Friday night another front came through that dumped another five inches or so.  This time it was wet, heavy snow.  Once we finished shoveling out the driveway (took me almost 2 hours!  man, are my shoulders sore!), we had some fun sledding in the back yard.  Then later in the day we went to a friend's house and did some more sledding (those photos coming soon).

This is my "I dreamed a dream" photo for My 3 Boybarians P52 challenge.  I dream of the day when all three kids and the dog will cooperate and look at and smile for the camera.  :)

On another note, I may not be around too much for the next couple weeks.  We are remodeling our kitchen (YAY!) and I have some serious, um, reorganizing to do to prepare.  This has been a long time coming and I'm so looking forward to having the kitchen done.  It is the room you walk into when you enter our home and it is truly the ugliest kitchen ever.  Literally falling apart.  (You'll see that when I post the before/after pictures). But since it is the most-expensive room to do, we saved it until last.  We now have enough money saved up to do it, so we'll have a new kitchen and NO DEBT when it is all done.  That's the only way to go!  I'm so excited!


I could also use some crock pot recipes since I suspect my stove will be out of commission for a while and we don't want to order pizza every day.  Not that the kids would mind.  :)  So if you have a great crock pot recipe that you'd like to share, please do!  If it is a link, you can share it in the comments.  Otherwise shoot me an email ... kvensel {at} gmail {dot} com.  Thank you!!!


Have a fabulous week!  Go take lots of pictures!