A Bit of This and That

Well he got one finally, yep Adrian joined me in the land of ink.  Apparently he has wanted a tattoo for years, but never knew what to get.  Since I got mine last year he has been trying to decide on what, and I suggested the phrase "The greatest of these is love", he loved it but went for the scripture instead. I like it actually.

And he made brekky for me this morning oh so yum.  What a great way to start the weekend.

My hydrangea plant is fading but still beautiful.

And the princess came to visit.  She is walking every where now, crawls occasionally and still has a bad cold.  Poor little darling it has been weeks.

Elle goes for her next operation to remove her spots in January sometime.  The first op has gone well and the scaring is minimal.  The moles are shrinking nicely.  Oh she melts my heart truly.

How do you resist this face tell me please.

Trying my hand at it.

So what a week it's been, firstly getting over my four days with the Angel aka Elle aka Sweet Pea.  A good sleep and I was better and you know Monday afternoon after she had been gone a few hours I really missed her.  Tuesday my babies 22nd birthdays, okay I admit it I am getting old arghh!!!!  Wednesday ironing, ironing, ironing yuk!! Thursday morning tea with some friends and a massage I am still recovering from ouch!  Today play, I loved it I really did.  A lot of photographs, up close and personal, my favourites.

I love the colours in these shots.

Oh and I forgot to mention, I booked us on a cruise on the Princess Lines, for New Years Eve, yahoo!!!!!! Off to New Zealand we go 14 nights of sailing the high seas, meeting new people, and seeing as much as we can of the beautiful islands, I cannot wait.

My camera will surely get a work out, which by the way I will also be giving myself from now until then.  I do not want to be the fat lady laying by the pool.  So a lot of Wii dance and walking coming up for the next few months.

Oh and a few happy snaps from Tuesday night all my girls ha ha and Elle enjoying a little tomato sauce on her chop.  Her mummy had a fit, arghh watch out for her sweater, don't let her touch it argh, really funny.

And lastly I have been dabbling a little with some mixed media artwork,

This one turned out a little darker than I wanted, but I still quite like the overall effect.

I like this one as well, I love the colour runs, I used transparent acrylics and tissue paper for texture.  What do you think?

Off now to play some more, have a good weekend now.

She Takes Me Back

If I could throw my leg in the air as easily as Elle can I would, believe me.  After this last weekend I have realised why we have our children at 20 odd and our grandchildren at 50 odd. We just would not survive if it was the other way around.  We had the absolute pleasure of hosting Elle for 4 nights this last week, and I say hosting, because the Angel is a madam.

She is adorable, she makes us laugh, she is determined, she makes us remember the days we had to discipline her mummy.

She is curious and intelligent and she so wants to join in.

She helped Poppy bottle his first batch of home brew, she played in the water and loved it.

She is a little monkey and we smile a lot when she is here.

She is learning to feed herself, and she is teaching me patience all over again.  Her eyes melt me.

She likes ice cream in the sun on the grass.

She doesn't like Tahitian Lime Sorbet that much ha ha!

She helps out round the place, she's very handy.

She took pop for a ride.

Pop took her for a ride.  She loves spotty socks.

She likes to feel new things.

She loves life.

She is such a good helper in the kitchen.

She is the joy of our lives.  She takes me back to when I had my own little Angels and I love her for that.

Texture Tuesday - Love

The prompt for this weeks Texture Tuesday was Love.... no worries this shot sprang immediately to mind.  My daughter Alicia with her very new baby girl Elle.  Is there anything stronger, anything more pure, anything more lasting and true than the love of a mother for her baby.  I don't think so.  I remember this day, Alicia tired and a little nervous I think about being a new mum again.  This time it was different though, this time her beautiful baby came home, this time she got to hold her in her arms and snuggle her soft sweet neck.  She got to smell her delicious baby scent.  This time she said she really knew she was a mumma.  I could tell she was in love, I could feel that love pouring from her to Elle as she held her.  Oh there is nothing like a mother's love.

Recipe for this layering and texturing is:

Duplicate the pic convert to black and white at about 60% opacity

Layer with Kim's subtly yours texture on multiply at 77%

Layer with Kim's if only texture on softlight at 100%

Add two colour fill layers in a pink and a soft mauve

Add the frame layer and voila you have it.

I am taking a Finding Your Eye course with Kat at the moment too and so far enjoying it immensely.  You can find my efforts on flickr or drop by Kat's and see what she has to offer.

Texture Tuesday at the park

Yes once again it is Texture Tuesday over at the cafe and I have to say I found this a little difficult today.  See I like to try and use a new photograph for my texture Tuesday offerings and my new one this week are all lovely spring flowers and my little princess.  The requirement was to have the photo depicting the verb Do and use Kim's texture Autumn Burst.  Well Elle was doing alright, spinning the noughts and crosses wheels at the park and swinging and checking out all the other children and I do like the grungy effect the texture has given the wheels.  

Recipe

duplicate the photograph

use soft light on the duplicate layer

layer with Autumn burst on Soft light 100%

and again on soft light 71% and voila, what do you think?

Elle loved the park all the colours and the children.

Oh the joys of being a child, really the innocence of babies I just love it.  Can you see her right leg is a little puffier under her stocking?  There are bandages there from her first op yesterday.  She is having some of the spots removed and we are so glad she is well and happy today.  What about that smile!!!!!

It is Poppy's birthday today so tonight we will have a birthday dinner, once again my favourite people the family will be there.  Happy Birthday my darling.  We love you.

Texture Tuesday

Texture Tuesday is here and this week we had to use Kim's new freebie CrackerJack.  My recipe for this is

A Brightness and Contrast tweek

A soft pink colour fill

Then a layer of Crackerjack on Multiply at 83%

Another layer of an oldie but a goodie All My Lovin' on Softlight at 93%

I really like this, what with Spring upon us now and the city gardens blooming beautifully.  I took a little photo walk today, look what I found.

Ranunculas everywhere, all the colours you can imagine absolutely beautiful.

Huge white ones I love these.

I so love taking shots of flowers, I love strolling around the parks and gardens, so peaceful.

So pretty.

Primulas I think, there was a drift of white in one garden, like snow.

And from Sunday on Father's Day, my beautiful flowers.

Oh yeah crazy kids.

A few minutes after this shot they had a food fight!!!!!!!  Children will always be children I guess.

Of course someone had to come of worst.

Not too bad really considering, a little caramel tart never hurt anyone really.

And of course for Father's Day a portrait with Sweet Pea.