TEXTURE TUESDAY

Hi everyone,

How are you all doing today?  I'm doing really well. I'm still dealing with some congestion etc that I've had since the Tuesday before last. It started out as a really bad, hoarse, scratchy throat and now I'm just congested. It's getting better, but it still sounds icky gross when I cough sometimes.

However, having said all of that, it's a fantastic day. My dad and I were running some errands today and decided to take the ocean drive back home. We almost always drive through Pacific Grove...and lo and behold there is a "Little Car Show" going on.  So I had to stop and take some photos. I'll share some more of that another time.

Today I'm participating in Texture Tuesday over at the lovley Kim Klassen's blog. Click here to pay her a visit. She's a really nice lady with some of the neatest textures anywhere. I use them with Photoshop and Picmonkey. 

This week it's centered around "looking down".  Whenever I am at the ocean (which is any chance I can get) I like to go to the rocky shore and look down at the ocean. It gives me time to rest, breathe, think and be grateful for all the good things that are happening in my life. It makes me happy.

Here is the original photo that my father took of me this morning. It was a rather ocean foggy day this morning. The fog hadn't lifted yet, so it was still very gray:

Then this is what I did with the photo. I used three different, but equally lovely textures from Kim Klassen.  Here is the photo and then I'll tell you what I did with it:

I started out with the "Dream It" texture for this week...and I followed a similar recipe to what Kim Klassen used for her photo.

I added the "Dream It" texture in soft light at 80% opacity and gaussian blur at 100%. Now the gaussion blur, I'm not sure what "percentage" I should have used. I consider it a success that I even found that feature on my Photoshop CS3 :) :) 

Next I added "waterstained frame" at 80% opacity. Oh, I think this was in "screen", but I can't remember for sure...

Then I switched to Picmonkey...hush...don't tell anyone...and I added a third layer of "Reverie" in Overlay at 76% fade...

So that's what I did to get this look. I love the much softer look. It still reflects the gray tones on a foggy ocean day. You really can't see much of anything. In spite of all that, it's absolutely gorgeous and I love the icy blue/black of the water when I look down at it.

Thanks for stopping by to visit me today. I love it when you all leave me comments.

That is the news from the ocean shores of California today. Love and hugs to your day, Heather :) :) :)

I'M STILL HERE

Hi everyone,
I'm still here :) :) :) I'm sorry I haven't posted in awhile. A lot is happening here. It's all good things, but I went from having nothing to do everyday....literally, to suddenly having something planned every day of the week...and it's been a bit of a shock, a happy shock....but wow, I really need to manage my time better.

Also,  someone that knows me (but has chosen to remain anonymous) has generously paid for me to get some much-needed dental work done...It's been well over 10 years since I've been to a dentist...probably around 17....I'm ashamed to admit that...but I've not been able to afford to go.

Needless to say, I have some cavities and tooth decay happening behind my beautiful smile. However, that is now getting fixed and correct...and can I say WOW...how amazed and humbled I am about that?  I'm so thankful :) :)

With that, I'll leave you with this photo of the day:

I had visit number TWO of four at the dentist office this week? WHAT???? Remember, what I said earlier about needing some serious dental work?  Well, it's all good and my dentist is FABULOUS.  So after that, I went to see my chiropractor in Pacific Grove.  Since his office is three blocks from the ocean, I decided to take in the view today. Let me tell you that it is some kind of fabulous today. It's really warm and the water is the most beautiful shade of blue I have ever seen.  Enjoy this.

Pray for me as I work to be more disciplined with my blogging.  I really do love and appreciate all of you. Your visits and comments really make me smile BIG :) :)

That is the news from the ocean shores of California today.  Love and hugs, Heather :)

INDEPENDENCE DAY PHOTO CONTEST

Hi everyone,
I am entering this super fun, super cool photo contest over at the "Have an Epiphanie" blog. If you love really cool photo stuff and the coolest, most stylish photography bags EV-AH...then click here and pay these nice folks a visit.

We were asked to post one photo that speaks to us of our Independence Day.  This is my favorite photo out of all the pics that I took on July 4th. In fact, I shared this photo in a previous post. This photo was actually taken on July 2nd, as the city was getting ready for the 4th of July parade.

This is a photo of Colton Hall in Monterey, California. Monterey has a HUGE historical significance in the Spanish and Mexican periods...and also in the American period.  We are getting ready to celebrate another year of independence...and I don't know about you, but it feels really good ;) :)

Colton Hall is where the very first constitution for the State of California was signed. It also served as a school in the early 20th century. That bit of information I learned from my 80-something year old neighbor, whose mother went to school there.

Here's my entry for Independence in July :) :) Enjoy:

That's the news from the ocean shores of California today. Extra love and hugs to your day, Heather

HEATHER'S TEXTURE TUESDAY

Hi everyone,
It's been a really exciting week for me.  I'm not ready to talk about what it is...yet. However, it is pretty big for me :) :)


I'm participating in Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday this week. Today it's an "anything goes" edition. So I decided to show you all my very FIRST texture that I used. It was Kim Klassen's "Autumn Burst" back in September 2011. I hadn't learned how to resize the layer image yet, so I just cropped everything instead. This photo was of a lilac bush in my neighbor's yard. Lilacs are so beautiful and delicate:

Tomorrow, our country will be celebrating it's birthday on July 4th :) :) There will be a parade downtown and I'm looking forward to checking that out.

In the meantime, I leave you with a photo of Colton Hall in the city of Monterey, California. Colton Hall is where the first constitution for the State of California was signed back in the 1850s. It also served as a school at the turn of the 20th century. It's being decorated for our July 4th celebrations tomorrow:

That is the news from the ocean shores of California today. Extra love and hugs to your day today, Heather :)

HEATHER'S PHOTO TEXTURE TUESDAY

Hi everyone,

I'm participating in Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday link-up again today. If you'd like to visit her blog, click her. She takes beautiful photos and has some of the most amazing photo textures, too.

Here is the original photo that I took last Sunday:

There is a really sweet story to this photo.  An older couple in our church got married at the beginning of June.  They are both in their 80s.  They were both married to their respective spouses for well over 50 years. They both became widows.  They met at a weekly dinner/Bible study at my church.  They eventually found love again in each other. It was really sweet to see.  We surprised them with a post-wedding reception after church.  The wife was totally surprised. The husband knew about it all along. He can keep a good secret.

It was such a sweet, precious time. Everyone was clapping and cheering for this couple. I think the best love stories are the ones that are written by God - the Author of Ultimate Love.

Okay, so what did I do with that flower photo? See below:

Voila, here it is.  I used TWO of Kim Klassen's beautiful photo textures. I used Photoshop to edit and texturize my photograph today.  First I used two layers of "Reverie" texture. The first layer in soft light at 60% opacity. The second layer in hard light at 30% opacity.

Then I added a THIRD layer of "waterstained frame" at "I totally forget" opacity...just dark enough to see the waterstained frame around the edges of the photograph.

All the textures were free downloads from Kim Klassen's website. Thank you, Kim :) :) :)

That is the news from the ocean shores of California today. Extra special love and hugs to your day today, Heather

HEATHER'S "MAGICAL BLUE SOCKS" WITH TUTORIAL - PART 5

Hi everyone,

So this will be the last and final post in my series on the "magical blue socks" tutorial. Socks are really easy to knit and once you know the basics, you can customize the socks to fit any size foot. 

If you want to catch up on all of the previous posts in this series, please click on the links below:

Heather's Magical Blue Socks with Tutorial - Part 4

Heather's Magical Blue Socks with Tutorial - Part 3

Heather's "Magical" Blue Socks with Tutorial - Part 2

Heather's "Magical" Blue Socks with Tutorial

Now the last thing to do is shape the toe and close it off. 

At this point,  I put all the instep stitches from needle three onto needle 2.  So I work with only 3 double-pointed knitting needles when I'm shaping the toe.

SHAPING THE TOE:

Round 1:

Needle 1 - Knit to last 3 stitiches, knit 2 together, knit 1

Needle 2 - Knit 1, ssk (slip, slip, knit), knit to last 3 stitches, knit 2 together, knit 1

Needle 3 - Knit 1, ssk (slip, slip, knit), knit to end.

Round 2: Knit even all the way around

Just repeat these two rounds till the toe measures 1 1/2" long.  In my case, that was a total of:

22 rounds

All that is left to do is close the toe, so you can actually wear your socks.

There are different methods of doing this, but my all-time FAVORITE is the "kitchener stitch".  It keeps that knit stitch going and has the smoothest finish I've seen so far.

This is how to do it:

Knit stitches from Needle 1 onto Needle 3.

Hold double-pointed knitting needles with purl sides together.

With your yarn needle, draw the yarn through first stitch on the front needle as a purl and leave ON, draw yarn through first stitch on back needle as a knit, and leave ON:

Now here's the rest:

Step 1 - Draw yarn through first stitch on front needle as a knit, slip OFF.  Draw yarn through second stitch on front needle as a purl, leave ON.

Step 2 - Draw yarn through first stitch on back needles as purl, slip OFF.  Draw yarn through second stitch on back needle as knit, leave ON

All you do is repeat steps 1 and 2 across.  Then tie knot at the end and weave in the yarn end.  It's that simple ;) :)

Some people like to block their projects, I do not...especially when it comes to socks. I'm putting the socks on right away..and if they're knit to the correct measurements they WILL fit. 

If you have any questions about the instructions or need some help, please let me know. I'll do my best to help answer your questions :) :)

With that, I'll leave you today with this nice photo:

This was a rose that was part of my dad's Father's Day bouquet.  I think it's really pretty. 

That's the news from the ocean shores of California today.  Love and hugs, Heather.

JUST A TEST POST

Hi everyone,

I'm just doing a test to see if I can change my Blogger font. I had a really pretty font, and just noticed that it had switched back to something really plain.  So I"m just writing this to see what happens.

I'll be posting the last post in my sock tutorial tomorrow (Thursday).

That's the news from the ocean shores of California today. Love and hugs, Heather ;) :)