Around the House

I really enjoy Spring. We have enough happening around the house to make picture taking fun. It is cool enough in the mornings and evenings to sit and watch what might visit the bird feeders or walk around looking for photo opportunities.

This hole in a telephone pole has been a nesting ground for a number of species of birds. This year it would appear we have Redbellied Woodpeckers. We've seen Momma both inside the hole and hanging around outside. Different days, different skies.

Daddy visits, too.

Indian Blankets are a common wildflower in Texas. Even with ample rain, they don't always bloom alot in our yard, though. We always have some, just not a field full. We did this year.

There is a fancier name for this flower. I can't pronounce it so just stick with the more common name.....Greenthumb.

This is a Texas Thistle with some kind of beetle wondering around in it.

I was very pleased to see these Indian Paintbrushes growing this year. They are prolific in the Texas Hill Country. They bloom about the same time as the Bluebonnets. Even though they are native wildflowers, they are hard to get started in new areas. We have had one or two show up in the past and I won't let my husband mow them until they have dropped their seeds. We had quite a few this year. Maybe it will start a trend.

Last, but not least, my Mother's Day gift from my hubby and daughter. My son and family cooked lunch. What a wonderful day.

 

Hey Guys.....

give me some room!

Feed them and they will come

A Random Exercise

I love working with paper and have an electronic die cutter... The Blackcat Cougar.

I have decided I would like to design some paper hats. No particular reason other than I have been sewing some fabric hats and visors and thought it would be fun to try some with paper. To start, I have just made my designs into....well...hats. Once I have the concept down, I can revamp the designs and turn them into containers or boxes to hold something. I could also make them smaller for treat boxes. Whatever.....

The first hat I wanted to be floppy and yellow polka-dotted. I couldn't find any yellow polka-dotted cardstock. I could design my own, but I do not have a 12 x 12 printer. Anything smaller would make a hat smaller than I wanted. So, I painted white polka-dots onto yellow card stock with acrylic paint and a sponge dauber. I was afraid the acrylic paint might inhibit me from getting a good cut, but the Blackcat cut right through it like butter.

I added some grosgrain ribbon for the band and bow. I also designed some Southern Magnolias for embellishment.

Here is a close-up of the magnolias. I've applied a "technique" to this image. I think the image itself could be incorporated into a paper project.
I prefer most images that I use within my paper projects to not look too realistic so I am always playing with them to "mess them up" as my husband says.

   

A Dilemma

A Dslr kit that covers a decent focal range can be expensive and cumbersome.  Camera phones are quite fun and there is some extraordinary work being done with them, but they are limited in their focal range. You can't always "get closer". A bridge camera sits somewhere between a point and shoot and a Dslr.

I will be travelling to Ecuador sometime in the near future. I want to take a ton of photos. I don't want to take my Dslr because I cannot afford to replace it should something happen to it. I am not sure I will take my phone since I wouldn't be able to use it. Enter the bridge camera. Light weight, one built-in lens.

My son found and researched the latest release from Nikon in their Coolpix series. When I first entered the digital camera arena, I did so with a Coolpix. It was a great little camera. I used it and one other bridge camera until Dslrs came down in price so as to be affordable for someone other than dedicated professionals.

He liked it for its GPS feature. I liked it for its focal range although the GPS is nice.

So, I am back to learning a new camera. Here are some of my tests ranging in focal length from macro to the camera's amazing 1000mm on the tele end.

What Camera is the best?

Oh, no! Not going there. I've been told, and whole heartedly agree, that the best camera to have is the one that you have with you when you need one.

I've also been told that many professional photographers are using the latest generations of Apple's Iphone as their always on hand point and shoot camera. With that in mind, I decided to take a short class on using one.

What I've learned is, that while it does have its drawbacks, it does do an absolutely amazing job. Couple that with the multitude of apps that are available to make shooting easier and in-camera post processing, if you are so inclined, a breeze. I will never again hesitate to use it.

I was never fond of Apple's camera app. The first thing I did was find a new one. I have been using Camera+ and have been quite happy with it. Having said that, SmugMug just released one called Camera Awesome and it is free. I think I am really going to like it as well.


This image was taken with Camera+ and some artsy fartsy filter within the app was applied.

The close up focus range on the camera is quite good. These are seeds from an orange bell pepper.
I was cooking dinner one night and they caught my attention.
Quick... grab the phone and take a picture!!

Like most point and shoot cameras, the depth of field can be a problem. Throwing the background out of focus while keeping the point of interest in focus is fairly simple with a larger format camera. Not so with a camera with a small sensor. Naturally, there is an app to fix the problem. The one I used here was iQuikDof. Simply put: You can "paint in" the areas you want to be in focus and it will blur the rest giving that larger format look...or more.

Oh, my! I can't believe it...

Yesterday afternoon  hundreds, and I mean hundreds, of American Robins landed in our yard. They are still here this evening. I guess they are migrating up north, but I have never seen so many at once. We have a lot of Sugar Hackberry trees that have berries on them and they are having a feast.  I hope they stay around for awhile.

Straddling the Fence

This is one of our cats. She became a member of our family like all of our other cats, with the exception of two. She was dropped off and wandered up to our house. She was very friendly and would jump up and touch your hand to get you to pet her. She had to have been around people for some time, unlike some of the feral or semi-feral ones that have ventured onto our property. She is the second smallest full grown cat I have ever seen.

She is sitting on the fence between our wildlife park and the yard. Does she want to delve into the jungle of wildflowers, tall grass and trees, or chase bugs on the freshly mowed lawn?

Her name? My oldest Granddaughter named her Dark Shadow. I told her she is more medium value than dark. So, someone stuck that to her name. Medium Value Dark Shadow. One of my students says she is precious. So, she stuck that to her name. Precious Medium Value Dark Shadow. What a big name for such a small cat. We call her Shadow.

The Wildlife Park is Open

My husband finally got to mow the trail through my wildlife park. I know that sounds odd, but we do have 2+ acres designated as a Certified Wildlife Habitat. It is small, but it benefits the animals, insects, flowers, and humans. We have a fence separating it from our yard with an opening at the beginning and ending of the trail. Other than the narrow path that my husband mows through it, we don't have to do anything to maintain it. That's the part he likes best.

He built a couple of benches along the path so we can sit and watch whatever wildlife happens to be active at the time. The dogs, the cats, the grandkids, their friends....we all enjoy it.

The photo opportunities are great, but vary from year-to-year and season-to-season. That's the part I like best.
This is a Texas Thistle with 2 of my favorite bugs.

Ride 'em Cowboy

Spring is often very windy here. This cutie was holding on to the Bluebonnet leaf for dear life. I had to lie down in the grass and wait for a lull in the wind to get this shot.

The Beetles of Our Lady

In Europe, during the middle ages, insects were eating all the crops. The Catholic farmers prayed to the Virgin Mary for help. The ladybugs arrived and saved the day by eating the crop destroying insects. The farmers started calling them The Beetles of Our Lady. Later the name was shortened to Lady Beetles. It didn't matter if they were male or female. I have always called them Ladybugs, but I have heard them called Lady Beetles. All species of Ladybugs are beetles, but not all beetles are Ladybugs. I just know that they are very beneficial to have around.

May You Touch Dragonflies and Stars

Dance with Fairies and Talk to the Moon.

Butterflies are Self Propelled Flowers

I read that somewhere. It just seems so appropriate.

Red Corn Poppy Re-Visited

This is the version I have decided to use. It is not anatomically correct nor does it really have to be. That is one of the things I like about paper. Its purpose is decorative and you can be very creative with it.

However, I wanted the center of this one to be closer to the realistic side. As a result, it is a little fussy. Fussy can be very relaxing to me at times and a royal pain at others. I usually watch TV and make several things at once creating a stockpile of stuff. Then, when I need something, it is already done.

If you care to download the Make-the-Cut file and assembly instructions, the links are listed below.

MTC Poppy Digital Cut File

Poppy Assembly Instructions

Spring Top Box

I really enjoy making homemade cards. The more I play with my cutter, the more I really like doing it. Besides the cards, I like the idea that you can make your own boxes and gift bags. Today, I decided I would try my hand at a box. This is what I came up with.

If you would like to make one also, you can find the MTC digital file for the box and the instructions in PDF format below.


MTC Box Digital Cut File

Instruction File

A Birthday is Coming Soon

My youngest daughter's favorite flower is a daisy. Her favorite color is green.
I used a picture that I had taken of a Shasta Daisy as inspiration for this card for her birthday.

I drew the petal layers in Xara Designer Pro 6, my favorite graphic drawing software. I imported the vector drawings into Make-the-Cut software and created a file that my Cricut Expression could cut.

The curly outside layers of the the center are graduated circles with slits cut from the outside edge toward the center. I used a quilling tool to curl them.

The very center is green and yellow glass seed beads fused together in a kiln. Any number of things could be used and look great, including glitter, but I am experimenting with various techniques. The yellow and green "button" is one of those techniques gone awry.

MTC Daisy Digital Cut File

Rose Print and Cut

I have a Cricut Expression Die Cut Machine. It was originally purchased for my daughter. She said "we" really needed it. The machine is designed to be used with other's pre-designed cartridge elements. This works great for my daughter. However, I found it limiting for my use. But, with software...Make-the-Cut... I am able to create my own designs. With the release of the latest version of the software, I am also able to add textures and pictures to shapes. So, I guess "we" really did need it.

I resently joined the forum for Make-the-Cut. In addition to being extremely friendly and helpful, they have challenges in which members can participate in order to become familiar with the many aspects of the software.

One of the challenges was to get inspired by an outfit and create a card or scrapbook layout. I don't scrapbook, but am very interested in homemade cards.

I found a piece of batik fabric that hasn't yet been made into a garment to use as my inspiration.

This is the card that I made. The snippet in the corner is the batik fabric I used for my color palette.

With the exception of the base card, I used the basic shapes that are integrated into Make-the-Cut to size all the paper layers to my dimensions to create the rest of the card. I designed the textured heart layer in Photoshop and used Make-the-Cut's new print and cut feature, which is fabulous, to cut it out with the cutter.

I painted this rose on a porcelain vase using a photograph that I had taken of a friend's rose as inspiration. I used Photoshop to extract it from a photo of the vase to use it as an element in my print and cut design.


Here's a 300DPI version for those that might like to use it in their print and cut design.

Say Ahhh...

For some reason...

I thought most birds only had their babies in the spring. I have seen barn swallows have a nest of babies in the spring and again in late summer. But, this year, I have seen fledging Mockingbirds and, now, this nest of young Sparrows. Just goes to show you how much I know about birds.

She's back

This is exactly why we planted these flowers. The male honored us with his presence earlier, but he did not stay around long enough to get a photograph.

In the Nick of Time

It has been so hot this summer I have had no desire what-so-ever to get out and find something to photograph. I have been taking pictures of my dog, Allie, and was going to post one of those. But, as luck would have it, I was sitting outside with my camera while watching my granddaughters swim and along came this hummingbird.

Jumping Jacks

I like to go out in the morning to watch the mockingbirds. For some reason they like to jump up off their perch, spread their wings and land back on the perch in almost the same spot. They all do it. This is not unique behavior for just this bird but, on this jump, it went a little higher than it had been. I wonder if they are catching bugs or just doing their morning calisthenics?

Remember the Alamo!

I took this photo of the Alamo on a trip to San Antonio last December. The wind was blowing briskly and it was getting dark. That made for fairly long shutter speeds. I was able to get this one shot with the Texas flag extended with minimal motion in the upper corner of the flag.

Dragon

Another sign of spring.

A sucker for Daisies!

We planted these in a bed at the corner of the shop deck. I love daisies. I was lucky. It had rained the night before so I was able to photograph the flower with some drops still clinging to the petals.

Cactus Flower

I find it amazing that something so prickly can have such dainty looking flowers. The inside of this one reminds me of a strawberry icee. All you need is a straw....or a spoon.

A New Variety

A Powder Puff. This is the first time this particular flower has bloomed in our wildflower/wildlife garden. We did not plant it. The birds or the wind must have. Its leaves remind me of some type of fern. There is another plant that looks similar to this one. It is called a Sensitive Briar. Both flower's leaves are "sensitive" and will curl shut when touched.

Spring is here...summer is coming soon

The spring flowers are starting to fade. The summer flowers are taking their place.

Butterflies in the Garden

The Fort Worth Garden Club, Fort Worth Botanical Society and the Botanical Reasearch Institute of Texas presented Butterflies in the Garden this past month. They let approximately 12,000 live butterflies from Asia, Africa, Central, South and North America loose into the conservatory. It is a very popular exhibit and the lines are long.