September 2014

Welcome September!

Some September Love:

~ The start of another school year

~ Cooler weather

~ Crisp fresh veggies and plump juicy fruits at the farmers market

What do you love about September?

September 2014 Calendar

Grab them here:
Desktop wallpaper - click here - (right click on image and save as desktop image)
Phone wallpaper - click here - (click on image and save as wallpaper image)
iPad wallpaper - click here - (click on image and save as wallpaper image)
iPad mini wallpaper - click here - (click on image and save as wallpaper image)

I hope that you are having a great weekend!

Be Wonderfully Odd!

Dancing Lady

I'm joining App Happy Wednesday today!

This dancing lady statue and fountain is so pretty.  It sits in the middle of our local conservatory - surrounded by beautiful palms and delicate ferns.

I processed this image in VSCOcam to desaturate the colors and increase contrast.  And then into PicTapGo to fade the shadows and increase brightness a bit.

Here is the original image:

I hope that your Wednesday is wonderful!

Be Wonderfully Odd!

Lady Slipper

I'm joining Texture Tuesday today with an image from a recent visit to our local conservatory.

I love orchids - especially lady slippers (it's our state flower! - it's hard to believe that they can survive our cold winters!)

This pink one is so pretty and so delicate.

Lady Slipper

I used one layer of Kim's "Pin It Only #8" and one layer of "Pin It Only #1"  - gosh I love this set of Pinterest only textures.

Have a beautiful day!

Be Wonderfully Odd!

Koi Fish

Friday finds me playing around with some really awful koi fish pictures that I snapped last week.

I find that is difficult to take pictures of koi fish - the water is murky, the sun is too bright, and fish don't sit still for their portrait {sigh}.

I love how they come swarming to the pool edge when they see your shadow, mouth open asking for treats.  I also adore their beautiful bright colors and graceful movements.

Here is the original image.

I plopped this image into photoshop (elements) cropped and removed a few fish, added a photoshop painterly artistic filter (something that I hardly ever play with), added one of photoshops textures, and a few blue grey geometric shapes.  Oh, and I increased the color saturation a bit so that the koi have a warm glow.

Sometimes it's fun to play around with a poor image - just to see what kind of "magic" happens.

I hope that you have a magical day and a wonderful weekend!

Be Wonderfully Odd!

Natures Drama

I love the lines and drama of this palm leaf.

The folds of this leaf narrow and lead down into the thorn-like center.  The rich and lush green color of the palm is amazing.

Palm

I'm joining App Happy Wednesday today.

I put the above palm image into the Noir app to desaturate the colors a bit and to highlight the lighting in the center.

Palm processed in Noir

Next I combined both images in the Diana app - so much fun to see the effects of the different filters in the Diana app.

I selected just six of them to show here - I saved more than a dozen versions!

Palm processed in the Diana app

I hope that you have a great day!

Be Wonderfully Odd!

Look Closely

I love flower images.  I don't believe that there is a flower that I don't appreciate in some way - in color or shape or size.

Roses are in full bloom now and I never get tired of seeing them.  I see roses in a every beautiful color of the rainbow.  Their layers of petals are soft to the touch and their soft fragrant perfume floats in the air.  Is there any wonder why we associate roses with love and romance?

I'm joining Texture Tuesday with a few close-up images.

Pale yellow rose

A soft butter yellow rose.  I used 2 layers of Kim's "Pin it only #10" texture on this image.

Pale old fashion rose

Old fashion roses have delicate centers and five simple petals - and are just as beautiful as this multi-petaled pink beauty.

Pink edged white rose

Have a gorgeous day!

Be Wonderfully Odd!

A Visit to the Arboretum

Rose Gardens

Earlier this week we strolled through the arboretum.  Not only are the flowers gorgeous but the walkways are amazing.  

I'm joining Friday Finds with photos from this visit (warning - lots of photos!)

Although I took hundreds of photos, mostly flowers, I did not want to overlook the quiet beauty of these wonderful walkways.

Sit for a bit under an ancient oak tree

Stroll through the magnificent hosta glade.

The rose gardens were in full bloom during our visit - and here are just a few pics.

Splattered Roses

Lots of butterfly and bumblebee sightings too!

We startled this baby bunny (hiding in the hedge) while walking through the Victory Garden exhibits - he'd been nibbling on the arboretum's leaf lettuce!

I have so many photos from this visit!  I'm sure that more images will find their way on to a blog post or two.

Have a great weekend!

Be Wonderfully Odd!

Woodland Bridges

I snapped this phone last weekend while on a hike in a park not far from my home.

We had just crossed over a simple plank bridge that spans a small creek, and I turned around to see all of these fallen trees creating new "bridges" over the creek.  The sun was high in the sky, lighting up the open space with a warm glow.

Woodland Bridges

I'm joining App Happy Wednesday today.  The process for this photo was pretty simple - I used the basic Camera App to take the photo and processed it in Snapseed.  I used the light leaks feature in Snapseed to add a little more warmth to the sun and to darken the edges.

Have a great day!

Be Wonderfully Odd!

Balloon Flower

I'm quickly popping in today to join texture tuesday.

Yesterday we strolled through the state university's arboretum.  There is so much beauty in this place - gorgeous blooming flowers, stunning architecture, and quiet, peaceful walkways.

We walked for four hours and were not able to see all of the gardens.  I think that I'll need to visit again very soon :)  I took hundreds of photos and I'll share more soon.

This image is of a beautiful purple/blue balloon flower - I don't think that I've ever seen this flower before.

Balloon Flower

I added two layers of Kim Klassen's "Achieve" texture on this image.

I hope that you have a beautiful day!

Be Wonderfully Odd!