The Birds and the Bees...

are enjoying the spring blossoms as much as I am, so they are starring in my Texture Tuesday challenge: "Show us your dream-like photos, soft, gentle, whispery..."

K.K. textures used: Cora, Sybil, Happy Heart & Grunged-up_2
 

  

K.K. textures used: Cora, Happy Heart & Grunged-up_2

 

K.K. textures used: Providence & Serendipity along with the "dreamy blanket of light tutorial"

 

Time to get posting over at...

 

Early Signs of Spring

Yesterday I had fun capturing the beautiful spring blossoms of the ornamental trees in the area.
I used Kim Klassen's Downton textures to edit them.

edited with the cora and anna textures
 

 

edited with the cora and sybil textures
 

 

edited with the cora and sybil textures

 

I also used the Topaz Simplify plug-in to give the photos some richness and a tad bit of a printerly effect, after using the Downton textures.

 

I'm posting and checking how others used the Downton textures over at...

 



In Search of...

a painterly effect. After seeing all the beautiful painterly photos created using iPhone apps, I have been searching for editing programs that work the same way on a PC. I haven't had much luck. I've been playing around with the 30 day free trial of Topaz Simplify 4 plug-in. I like the watercolor effect, but I am still wanting the grunge effect that is achieved with the many apps available for iPhone photos.
I would love to hear if you know of any tutorials, or editing devices you have used to mimic iPhone photo apps. Although I don't own an iPhone, I still go to iArt Chronicles to admire the iPhone artists and their beautiful work.

 

Here are a few of my simple painterly edits with Topaz Simplify 4...

Golden Hills of Mt. Diablo

 

Scraggley Coastal Oak on Mt. Diablo

 

Tree at the Entrance of China Camp on the S.F. Bay Shoreline

 

My favorite winter tree at Mt. View Cemetery

 

Coit Tower atop a San Francisco Hill

 

 

Fresh Cranberry Mousse

Here is a delicious cranberry dish that has fresh cranberries, not the canned jelly kind. My sister discovered it about 15 years ago, and we have been making it every year since. It is a great dish for Thanksgiving, but also a wonderful addition to the holiday dinners that fall somewhere in December. Not only is it delicious, it is easy too!

Cranberry Mousse

12 oz. fresh cranberries - sorted and rinsed
1 sm. 8 oz. can of crushed* pineapple - drained
8 oz. cream cheese
1/2-3/4 cup powdered sugar**
4-6 oz. of Cool Whip*** - thawed

Grind cranberries coarsely in a food grinder. Combine in a bowl with drained pineapple. Blend cream cheese and sugar with a mixer. Fold Cool Whip in by hand. Add to cranberry and pineapple mixture. Stir until thoroughly mixed. Refrigerate for at least an hour, but longer if possible to let it set.

*if you can't get crushed pineapple, get the tidbits or chunks and grind them coarsly like the cranberries.
** I can't promise good results if any other type of sugar is used.
***the original recipe calls for 8oz. of Cool Whip, but from my experience, it makes the mousse too soupy.

 

I hope you try this recipe and make it a part of your holiday celebrations just as I have!

 

I'm posting over at...

 

 

Time To Get Your Ghoul On...

Over at PicMonkey. I couldn't help but play around with the Halloween editing tools to turn one of my selfies into a ghoul. Below is a gif showing the transformation, and I did it all in the PicMonkey editing program. I am a combination of a zombie, vampire, witch, and demon. It is great fun, you should give it a try!

You don't even have to start with a great photo because there are a lot of regular tools in PicMonkey to fix it up, but hey we're turning them into ghouls, so who cares : ) My eyes are squinty because I'm a but tipsy in the picture. I hate taking selfies, so the only time I will let down my guard is when I've had a few drinks...it is a big joke with my friends over on flickr.

A Glorious Morning

For this week's Texture Tuesday Anything Goes eDition I decided to post some pictures I edited with the Rad Lab editing program. I was introduced to the program by one of Kim's posts and really enjoyed using it on the photos I took of the fog and light in the redwoods. I used various Rad Lab stylets on these photos to give the fog and light an ethereal/surreal look and feel.

There were lots of spider webs throughout the redwoods. Luckily they were made visible by the fog.

 

It was absolutely exhilarating, and somewhat of a holy moment to witness this light show.

 

Each photo has different stylets used on them to achieve the warm soft effects, along with various cloning or straightening done in PicMonkey.

 

 

It's time to get posting to see what everyone else is up to over at...

 

 

Amazing Mango Salsa

I wasn't going to post a recipe today, but when I started cutting up this mango to make mango salsa, I couldn't resist taking a photo of the starburst cuts in it. Then after tasting the salsa, I just had to share the recipe.

Martha Stewart showed this technique for cutting mangos on one of her shows, and I have cut mine like that ever since. Here is a video to show you a few ways to cut a mango:

The secret to making a great mango salsa is having a fresh, sweet mango that is firm, yet ripe. 

Fresh Mango Salsa

1 large ripe Mango, diced

1/2 cup diced Pineapple or small can of crushed (drained)

6-7 stems of Cilantro chopped (leaves only)

2 green onions chopped

1/2 chopped Jalepeno Pepper (adds some seeds for a bit of a pop)

1/4 cup diced Sweet Peppers (Red or Orange, see photo above)

1 Garlic clove finely chopped or 1/2 teas. Garlic in the refrigerated tube

juice of 1/2 fresh Lime

2 Tbl. of Olive Oil

salt or pepper to taste (I don't use it though :)

After chopping and dicing all the ingredients, combine them in a bowl. Squeeze the lime over the chopped ingredients and then add the olive oil. Stir thoroughly to combine the flavors. If you can, allow the ingredients to mingle for 1/2 hour before eating. Serve with your favorite tortilla chips. Serves 4 as an appetizer with other food.

The beauty of this recipe is that you can use it simply as a guideline, and add more or less of an ingredient to suit your taste.

If you try this recipe, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do : )

Time to get posting over at...