Pink Week Photo Challenge

In honor of October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the I Heart Faces blog has posted a challenge to submit any pink photo. I have to admit, when I read about this challenge I really wanted to participate, but honestly I'm not a 'pink' kind of girl...my heart goes to baby blues, but I was determined to find a photo that would work! So in digging through photos all I could find was blue, until I came across a photo of my niece, Caroline. Thank goodness some pink and lots of it! The original photo was a bit saturated in the pink, so I toned it down a bit, adjusting the lighting and desaturating the colors a tad for a softer appearance.

I am really proud to participate in this challenge in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This challenge hits close to home for myself, and I'm sure countless others. A few years ago my aunt was diagnosed with Breast Cancer, but thankfully she is a fighter and through medication and prayer she was able to fight it and is cancer free to this day!

Enjoy my contribution to the Pink Week Photo Challenge, and be sure to check out the other amazing entries and read their empowering stories as well.

because every picture needs some flare!

Recently my sister-in-law sent me some absolutely precious pictures of my niece (Caroline) to edit. I guess I had the movie 'Office Space' in my mind, because while editing I kept hearing a tiny voice saying I needed to add some 'flare'...so I did and below is how it turned out.

Looks almost like a digital scrapbook, or like I took a picture after I placed it all together by hand, but this was all done on the computer. And yes, I did blur out the last name for privacy purposes. Enjoy and show me your photo flare! I love seeing how different the creative minds work! At times I personally think photos need that extra flare...

Just a thought...a polka-dot thought!

I need cat nip

So, I have been MIA for the past week or so, and I was off to such a good start with this blog! I apologize for the few viewers/readers I did collect...I hope you didn't scamper off and forget about me! September, the start of an awesome fall month and season, has not been off to a very good start for me at all! Not to bore you with my life's adventures, or misadventures I should say, I will briefly sum up the past two weeks and move along to my post!

This September I have...managed to fall down the stairs of our 2 story house, incurring an eversion ankle sprain thus creating a limp and new nickname 'hobbles' for the time being. We have also managed to blow out our tire while traveling to a Clemson game and to top it all off my husband just recently had an emergency appendectomy...all of this in 2 week's time! On a more positive note, I am very thankful we are both fine and I just continue to pray that God will turn our luck around...I know something uplifting is coming our way, so I keep my chin up.

Now, in the midst of this chaos, I haven't had time to update my blog at all! I really wanted to participate in the iheartfaces challenge this week for submitting pet photos because I am proud to say I have a ton of pet photos! Even though the challenge is already closed for the week and I am late in posting this, I still wanted to submit what I was intending to submit. Below is a photo of my precious and first fur baby: Puff Chasity. She is a 5 year old Maine Coone rescued from the streets of Clemson, SC. Isn't she just precious? Not to be biased, but I really think she is such a photogenic cat. She actually won a calendar contents in Atlanta a few years ago.

Below is my pet photo contribution. It was so hard to choose just 1 image, but I chose this one because she had just finished playing with cat nip and had a boost of energy that was so entertaining to watch (and photograph). With days like these, I feel I need some cat nip to give me some sort of boost as well!

Fix it Friday...Er Um...Sunday!

So I was a little late in contributing my 'Fix it Friday' photo for the I Heart Faces blog...but better late than never! The original photo (below) is so beautiful in itself! However, I must say editing this one was a lot of fun (especially since I had more time this time than the last one completed during my lunch break!).

Original:

In looking at this photo titled 'beauty', this little girl looked like she would be a sweet dancer. Once I envisioned her as a dancer, my creativity soared from there. While editing and imagining this little girl as a dancer, the song 'Tiny Dancer' came to mind (and is now stuck in my head). I really wanted to capture soft angles and coloring in this image when editing. I also wanted to add some creative swirls/scrolls. Hope you enjoy my attempt at editing this photo, and be sure to check out other amazing edits on the I Heart Faces blog!

Edit:

Foto Friday!

This week's photo features my very own Marley. He is our loving 7 month Golden Retriever. With Golden's having a natural liking to water, this photo is one of my favorites of him because it captures so much thought. This was taken back in June when we went to a friend's lake house to kick the summer months off. Everyone was playing in the water, splashing and having a great time and then there is Marley, very concerned about the water and not quite sure what to make of it. Rest assured, his natural water instincts kicked in and he finally decided to take the plunge and go swimming (now we can't keep him out of the water!).


Taking the original photo, an aged lighting filter was applied. After playing around with the curves and tones to further emphasize the shadows in this image, the photo was then softened and slightly cropped in. I feel the edited image almost looks like an old post card, which is one of the reasons I like it so much. It also reminds me of young Marley's fears and reservations when he was a puppy. Now he is a little dare devil in the water!

Got a special photo you want featured for Foto Friday? Feel free to send them to me and they may be featured!

I ♥ Faces - Week 33 - Nostalgia Photo

This week at I Heart Faces, blog viewers are asked to post a picture representing just one word...'nostalgia'. This was quite challenging for me, but I still welcomed the challenge.

First I had to define what nostalgia is. Dictionary.com defines this as "a wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one's life, to one's home or homeland, or to one's family and friends; a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time: a nostalgia for his college days."

In looking through my photos, I came across a photo of myself as a child. Who wouldn't want to be taken back to the simplicity of their childhood? As I was color correcting this photo, I was instantly taken back to 1988, when this was taken. I distinctly remember my favorite Rainbow Bright tricycle that I had just gotten! I felt like I was on top of the world...barefoot and free, with no worries. I could let my childhood imagination roam and there was no stopping me!

I think we should all have moments of escape to our childhood. Remember our childhood dreams and imaginations. Remember the people that surrounded us with love that may no longer currently be with us. And remember how the small things (such as your favorite tricycle or toy) made the biggest impact. What do you think? What are some of your favorite childhood memories?

Fix it Friday

Every Friday at the iHeartFaces blog, they have a photo for bloggers to edit and share tools used. Below is the original photo and my edits done quickly during my work lunch break!

Original

Edit #1

Edit #2

All of my edits were completed using Photoshop. Let me know your thoughts and check out what others have done to edit this photo...the possibilities are endless!

Foto Friday!

It is time for 'Foto Friday', where I will display a photo I have taken the time to edit in various programs. Today's honored photo is a picture of my adorable niece, Caroline. My amazing sister-in-law and her daughter came to visit a couple weeks ago to embark on their first mini-vacation and also to celebrate Caroline's 6 month birthday. Let me first just explain, that not only is Caroline a sweet heart and such an easy baby(!), she is also a very gorgeous child! That weekend with Caroline was among many firsts for her: First long trip, first time eating bananas and first time swimming in the pool, which is the photo I have taken and edited.

Below is the before image. Aren't my sister-in-law and niece so adorable? She had the best time in the pool, was splashing with her tiny hand and laughing! It was such a precious site.
Although the original image is a very cute one without the editing, I wanted to capture Caroline's true soft beauty, which is shown below. After a bit of cropping, lighting adjustments, color changes, sharpening, surface blur and burning shifts, below is the final outcome!
Got a special photo you want featured for Foto Friday? Feel free to send them to me and they may be featured!