Pictures From My Garden

                  

Three day weekends bring us the extra time to do special projects around the house.  This three day weekend did just that ~ a full day in the garden.  While I love having the extra day, I try very hard not to forget why we're having such a wonderful weekend.  I'll have a post to honor our brave service members of the military who have given the ultimate sacrifice, and those still serving, on Memorial Day.

For today's post, I thought I would post  a few pictures that I took on this glorious day here in sunny San Diego...from my very own backyard.  I thought I would have some fun and show some more of the wonderful tools Picasa 3 has to offer.  Take a look at the before and after photos below.  I've also added the Picasa 3 tool that was used to edit each one.  If you have any questions about the program or want to read more, you can check out my earlier post, Picasa 3, Meet San Francisco.

                 

                     

 For the picture above, I chose the "Vignette" tool. 

                                       

   

The tool above was the "Focal Zoom"

The tool used for this picture is "Holga-ish".  I love the vintage feel it gives to the setting.

                    

   The tool used for the jasmine picture above is "Boost". I like      how it clarifies the petals and leaves.

This fun tool is called "Pencil Sketch"!

  

I used two tools for the picture above.  First I added text with the "text" tool. 

Then I applied the "Boost" feature.  My husband and I thought this little succulent looked like

an alien calling out for help :)

                      

For the beautiful rose above, I added the "Focal Black & White" 

tool as well as the "Glow" feature.

I love it!

         

        The tool above is the "Polaroid" tool.  You can even choose your background color!

For the roses here, I used the "Lomo-ish" tool.  It's another

vintage inspired feature.

                      

The lighting was very poor for the picture of the perfect peach above.  I used the "1960's" tool first, 

followed by the "Cross Process" feature.  I think it sharpened the picture and brought it into

focus.  Now the perfect peach looks ripe enough for tonight's dessert :)

I hope you enjoyed the pictures of our garden.  They were made even better by the addition of all the great Picasa 3 tools.  If you've read many of my posts you know I'm a Google nut.  Picasa 3 is just one of the reasons why I love Google so much!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

~ Alison

Tuesday's Treasury List ~ Headed to Norway!

It seems I keep living vicariously through my children's travels. I am so happy they have opportunities to see the world and to work in amazing, faraway places. I just miss them so darn much! For today's Treasury List, I've chosen Etsy creations with the common them of Norway. My son is growing to love this beautiful country. I can certainly understand why. Have you ever been to Norway? Was it as beautiful as these creations lead us to believe? I hope you enjoy this Treasury and the thoughts of traveling to faraway places....

'Headed to Norway!' by hartleyrowe

It seems all my Treasury Lists lately have had to do with travels to faraway places. This week I've chosen Norway because my son is there now visiting his girlfriend before he continues on to Cairo (next week's Tuesday Treasury?).

Tuesday's Treasury List - A Farewell to Madrid

I found these beautiful Madrid creations while "window shopping" at Etsy.com. I thought I would create this treasury list in celebration of our daughter's homecoming from studying abroad. She loved Madrid!

'A Farewell to Madrid' by hartleyrowe

My daughter is heading home on Thursday. She's saying goodbye to Madrid, Spain, her home for the past four months. She made great friends and had great adventures as she studied abroad. I'm so happy she had this experience....

Treasury tool by StylishHome.

Corbel Close-Up

I've been trying to decide what to do with several photos I took of architectural elements during our last trip to San Francisco.  I finally got to work today to try a new project.  Here is a picture of the first one in a series I have planned.  This is one of my favorite pictures of the elements I took; one of a corbel.  I love corbels and how they've been used in architecture over the ages.  Sometimes  referred to as brackets or cornices, the name's not important, but the beauty is.

I printed the photograph onto regular printer paper and adhered it to three sanded and painted pallet boards.  I used ModPodge and black acrylic paint.  You can see the steps in the picture below.

I had originally thought I would  frame the picture with smaller strips on the front, but  I decided to keep the front flat with the photo being the focal point.

The boards are held together by another pallet board that I split and nailed as braces from the back.  I then attached a saw tooth picture hanger on the back.

                     

It now hangs near our door leading out to our garage.  It will remind us of our visit to San Francisco to visit our son every time we leave the house.   You can read more about the pictures I took on our trip here.  It's my blog post about one of my favorite online photo editing programs....Picasa 3.

I hope this project gives you some ideas for ones of your own.  Please let me know if you have any questions...or suggestions for making this project even better.

Thank you!

~ Alison

This post was linked up at:

The Boogie Board Cottage
Thrifty Decor Chick
Home Stories A to Z

Tuesday's Treasury List ~ May Day, A Welcome to Spring!

I love customs and traditions. Perhaps one of our most intriguing seasonal holidays/festivals is May Day. I thought I would search Etsy.com for artists who have created special May Day treasures. Enjoy these beautiful creations!

'~ May Day ~ A Welcome to Spring' by hartleyrowe

While not an official holiday for many reasons, political and religious ~ it is truly the first official welcoming of Spring. Happy May Day, Everyone!

Treasury tool by StylishHome.

~

Library Day!

I went to the library today.  You know, one of those buildings ~ real, not virtual ~ where stack after stack of glorious books can be found.  Real books, not ebooks.  Truth is, I go to the library most every day.  But the library I usually go to is my workplace.  I love my job.  I'm surrounded by amazing books, children and the staff and teachers of the best elementary school in the world!  I am an elementary school librarian ~ my library is full of children's books.  But, there are those days, when I long to go to the library just for me.  And, today, I did just that.

Here's a picture of the great book I checked out today.  After reading only two pages, I'm sure I'll be up late tonight scouring the pages looking for new ideas to give wonderfully old reclaimed materials new life!

Now that you know how much I love libraries, I have to tell you what one of my favorite rooms in my house is.  It's my library, or course.  As a Navy family, we move often.  With each new house, comes a new library.  In some houses it is its own special room, just like we have now.  But in other houses, sometimes it consists of a special corner in a room that serves multiple purposes ~ or a combination of shelves in several rooms spread throughout the house.  But, regardless of how we store our thousand + books, wherever they dwell is always one of my favorite spots in the house.

I took a picture tonight (as you can tell from the quality, I can't wait to get a new camera!) of one of our library walls.  We have so many shelves and so many books.  We're currently living in a rental so we're limited to white walls as backdrops for most of our favorite pieces.  This makes me want to add as much character to all our pieces as I can.  Most of the valuable real estate in this shelving unit is taken up by books, but you will be able to see I've chosen two sections to house some of our vintage family items.  They have a prominent home and we see them every day.

                                                                                                                                                                                                     

The pictures above show those special things I mentioned. (I edited one in Picasa 3 giving it a vintage look, just for fun:)  Under the dome I have placed small pocket bibles from my grandfathers and great-grandfathers.  I also have sermon notes from my step-father's many beautiful sermons he delivered from his pulpit.  There's also several old books of poetry from my great-grandfather and a pair of antique glasses. To add a bit of color to the shelves, I chose our hand blown glass vase from Australia.  I love the unexpected bit of color.  And, lastly, is the canvas transfer photo I made of my aunt's husband during WWII.  He never made it back from the war, but I still feel like we've known him forever because of all the wonderful stories and pictures my aunt shares with us.  You can read more about them in my blog post here.

I'd love to hear about your own libraries...or better yet, see pictures.  Please let me know your storage secrets and design ideas for that special room in your house.

Have a great day,

~ Alison