Dance of the dolphin

Remember the little bluebird of happiness that I had in a recent post? Well I also have a blue dolphin. I can't recall where he came from but we did a little photo shoot the other day

How about some real dolphins?

All that remains

This may only serve to show that I could be a hoarder but I'm going with it anyway.
Years ago I made this bumble bee

Obviously it has no head. The head was made out of a smaller glass bowl. Somewhere along the line it ended up getting broke and yet the bottom half of it still lives on.  I suppose it could be used for flowers but instead it just sits. The hat? The bee was wearing that before it lost it's head.

Since it's Monday

What better day than to say "Well that really sucks"
This awesome cool gadget


Buy the The iPhone 4 SLR Mount at the Photojojo Store!

and me without an Iphone

I have the answer

You've seen a bit of my bird collection but I've never shown you the collection that came after that. I don't know who started this but I suppose someone felt that since I liked birds it was only natural that I would also like eggs. I think I might have about a dozen different ones. Fitting number don't you think?
Here's 3 of them

So based on the two collections that I have I can assume that the answer to the age old question "what came first the chicken or the egg", the answer would be the chicken.

On another note I have to tell you about the background for today and yesterdays picture. I was in a store which shall remain nameless, looking for poster board to use as a backdrop in my light box. I spotted this stuff and it screamed spring at me and I had to buy it.

Vacation

It just occurred to me that I never told you about my little tropical vacation that I took. It was pure heaven I tell you.
The sun was bright and warm and I soaked up ever last ray. The balmy breezes carried the heavenly scents of tropical fruits and flowers. The soft sand felt like powdered sugar beneath my feet as I walked the beaches. The sound of the surf crashing on the shore rang in my ears.

I was so swept away by the sights and the sounds that I only managed to take one picture.

What? A girl can't dream? How about a nice Hawaiian Punch :)

The star of the show

On and off the blog, he steals the show.

If I ever get around to redoing my header I believe this will be in it

I would say that I plan on taking care of that this weekend but I've come to realize that making plans is not a good thing for me. Some things you have to just play by ear.

Archive dive

This archive dive is becoming a regular habit here but it's been fun for me to go back and see some of the stuff I did when I was first learning. I've also discovered that some of it, in my opinion, wasn't half bad.
The picture of the seagull was taken at a place not too far from where I live. It's roughly a half hour drive and we usually stop there at least once a year.

So the name of the place that this picture was taken is the Pymatuning Spillway in Linesville, Pa. It's billed as being the spot where the ducks walk on the fish.
I found a video on you tube that someone took of the fish. I think you'll understand when you see it why the ducks are able to do that.

My excuse

There is a perfectly good excuse for why I have dirty dishes sitting on my counter

It's because I haven't finished making my crocheted dish cloth yet.

I know you're probably wondering why I'm working on this when there has been no mention of finishing the afghan I had started, but I sort of lost interest in that since I knew it wasn't right.

"Oh brother, I can't believe she expects  you to believe the load of dog doo"

Rub a dub dub

Little Cocker Spaniel in a tub.

I played with the light box over the weekend and used a black background this time. The above picture is right off the camera.
The next picture is with a texture added to the background.

And same as above but with a little change in color

weekend fun

Since it's Monday and I promised myself I wouldn't whine about it this week so I'll show you some fun we had on the weekend. (Please refrain from yawning while I call this fun)
Saturday we had snow. Duke wants to go play in the snow. I want to stay in the house where it's warm and play with my camera. We compromised.
He went outside and I took pictures of him through the window.

Hey Duke, it's time to start the post now.

Turn around and say hi to all our nice readers.

Why are you giving me that look? 

How about a nice profile shot, hmm?

Good boy. Come in and get a treat.

Announcement

The red red robin might be bob bob bobbin' along but...

The blue bird of happiness is suffering from eye strain and frustration from trying to read things like this.

 I love you all but I hate this new word verification thing. Was this created by some sadistic creature who has it in for people who like to read and comment on blogs? Or maybe this is just a way to weed out the older, weaker ones with less than perfect eye sight. I'll apologize now to those of you who have this because I doubt that I'll be leaving many comments any more. My eyes just can't take it.

Charmed

Years ago my mother bought me a charm bracelet. I don't think I ever wore it and there are only 3 charms on it.
These days my charm bracelet is a Pandora that I got from my mother in law a couple years ago for Christmas.

Not all of the beads on my Pandora bracelet are real Pandora beads (those suckers are expensive) but I like it anyway.
Did  you know that charms go back as far as the Neolithic era? Want to know a little history about charms and charm bracelets? If so then check out this link 
 If not then that's all for today :) See you tomorrow

I think she forgot someone

That's it, I'm taking over the blog today. Mom has gone far too long without posting a picture of me.

She didn't even get a very good picture of me. I don't know what I'm going to do with her. I guess I'm just going to have to get out that 3 legged creature she has and have it hold the camera so I can take my own self portraits.  Must I do everything? 

I sure hope the rest of you furries out there don't have as much trouble with your people as I do with mine

Archive Dive

Back to the archives today. This time I've got some picture in text edits for you. I thought I had done more of these but I could only find two of them.
The very first one I learned how to do was this one.

 I had just gotten my car s it became the subject for my picture in text experiment.

While my son was in Iraq I frequently browsed through his pictures and would snag one to do an edit on. It kind of made me feel like he wasn't so far away. I used this one of him and his buddies clowning around being super heroes for another picture in text edit.

In case you're wondering, my son is the short one on the right. Believe it or not he's the tallest one in the family. Well that's what you get when you have a mother that is 5'2" and a father that is 5'5"

If this is something you want to try here's a link to a tutorial. I didn't read the whole thing but it looked like how I did it.

Hoarders

I'm afraid I might have a slight problem.

You look at this picture and you say "put it in the garbage" right? Well I looked at it and said "OOH, craft material" I envision craft projects that can made with this. I hurriedly  store it away before Wade can drag it to the trash. I dream about what I'm going to do with it. That wouldn't be such a big problem if it actually got past the dreaming and planning stage.
I wonder if the show Hoarders wants to do a crafters episode?

Happy Valentines Day

Compatible Valentine On Valentine’s Day, I think about
The people who are dear,
How much they add to life’s delight
Whenever they are near. You’ve always been a total joy,
Such pleasant company,
I very much appreciate
Our compatibility! By Joanna Fuchs 

I spent hours working on coloring a special Valentine to all of you from Duke.

 

I found this adorable coloring page on Pinterest. It's for personal use only and came from a blog called Gingerbread Cottage She used this drawing for embroidery and it's so cute. You should go check it out.

Duke and I wish you lots of love and hugs for this Valentines day

Lenox Collectables

I spent the weekend doing only things that I felt like doing. One of the things I wanted to do was play with my camera. I took pictures of all kinds of things in my house just because I could.
After cleaning off some of the dust and dirt I took pictures of these cute little birdhouses.

My mother bought these for me years ago to add to my collection of birds. They were made my Lenox. After sitting on the shelf for years the ribbon hangers are looking a little on the nasty side I was going to replace them but instead just tried to keep them out of the picture.

Friday night it started snowing here and kept going all day yesterday. We didn't get a huge accumulation but enough to make staying at home being bored a very attractive option.

I made one quick trip a half a mile up the road to get a few things I needed to make dinner and that was far enough for me.  The roads were quite slick and slip sliding away is something I prefer to listen to on the radio rather than preform in my car.
Something just occurred to me that I thought I should make you all aware of

I think I'll go take a nap

What do you follow?

Do you follow your head, listening to your instincts or do you

FOLLOW YOUR HEART
by Faye Kilday

Although it’s been said many
times before
It’s a powerful message, so I’ll
say it once more...
Follow your heart, go wherever
it may lead,
Follow your heart and you’re
sure to succeed!

For when you follow your heart
and do what you love,
God gives you guidance and help
from above...
And things start to happen that
you never thought could,
And dreams come true... that you
never thought would!

So listen to what your heart’s
telling you
For that’s the path in life you
should pursue.

For God’s given each of us a
special part to play...
So follow your heart and you
won’t be led astray!

Have you hugged anyone today

A little playing around with my home made lightbox, and inadequate lighting. Followed by more playing around in photoshop elements. Sprinkle in a few hug quotes and you've got yourself a post.

(all four are the same picture starting with the original straight off the camera, and ending with my finished picture)

A hug is like a boomerang - you get it back right away.  ~Bil Keane, "Family Circus"

You can't wrap love in a box, but you can wrap a person in a hug.  ~Author Unknown

There's something in a simple hug
That always warms the heart,
It welcomes us back home
And makes it easier to part....
~Johnny Ray Ryder, Jr., "A Simple Hug"

A hug delights and warms and charms,
that must be why God gave us arms.
~Author Unknown

[E]very day you should reach out and touch someone.  People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back.  ~Maya Angelou

Why I allow anonymous comments

Last week I wrote a letter to my friend anonymous. Some of you mentioned that you no longer allow anonymous comments. I allow them for one reason only. My daughter occasionally leaves me a comment and she is anonymous.
Any way, when I did my archive dive post about Pringle  Amanda left me the following comment:

LOL I'm sure he didnt leave because of your crazy picture taking ways....He didnt even leave when you locked him in the fridge and he ate all the cheesecake...he liked us for some reason lol

I had forgotten all about the refrigerator incident. Yes, I actually closed the poor cat in the refrigerator shortly after we got him.
I had gone to the kitchen for a snack or a drink or something. I got what I wanted and closed the refrigerator. Later on I went back most likely for another can of coke. When I opened the refrigerator, to my surprise, there was the cat sitting on the shelf. OK, yes, he probably was pretty cold in there but he was wearing a fur coat and he chowed down on a whole cheesecake so I don't think he minded it that much.

Fancy Fencing

Ginny from Let Your Light Shine is always showing unique things that she finds around her town. Today I've got something rather unique to show you.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation building in Meadville Pa has the most unique fence I have ever seen. Just take a look for yourself.

Yes, the entire thing is constructed out of signs. There is another spot that has huge flowers made out of the signs as well. I wasn't traveling in the right direction to get a shot of those this time.

A dandy of a dive

Flowers have always been one of my favorite things to take pictures of. Therefor they have been the subject of many of my edits. When I discovered the macro setting on my camera I became fascinated with dandelions.
Here I was going for a collage type thing with some of my favorite flower pictures at the time

Just one of many dandelion pictures I've taken. 

For some unknown reason I thought it would be funny to give it a face. I learned how to turn a face in to a cartoon. Then I distorted it a little and blended in to the dandelion. 

I think I'm very happy that I have moved on from this kind of thing. Or have I?