Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Infatuation of the Digital Kind

My adult life has pretty much been ruled by a series of obsessions: interior design/antiqueing in the early to mid 90's, dieting/beauty/fashion in the late 90's and early part of the last decade, gardening ruled supreme from then until 2008 when I began my infatuation with digital photography in the garden and discovered POD( Print on Demand). Given my nature I fear for what is happening to my garden and pot ghetto. With the unusually cold weather I'm not even taking any new pictures ~ my backside is glued at every opportunity to my desk chair working willy nilly on everything I can think of trying to design in Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro. Since I have no training in graphic design this is a constant adventure of discovery.

I find the greatest pleasure in creating even the simplest things such as these dots...



I'm experimenting with layered images. This was created from images of Swamp Sunflower and a mum & aster combo.



I spent tons of time creating cards for my nieces for Christmas with their names- each one unique. Since a greeting card is 5x7 my thoughts were that they could be framed for their rooms.



In the holiday rush I missed out on sharing a few late autumn images. This dogwood tree is just off my front porch allowing for some great perspectives.



I like the soft focus of this oak leaf that was carried into my lawn by the wind.



I was thinking of creating something with this image~ quintessential North Carolina ~ Loblolly Pines and Carolina blue skies:)



Here's hoping we can all stay warm and enjoy the opportunites that winter

does bring.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

A Brand New Year- 2010

I can hardly believe that I went an entire month without making a blog post. I do apologize for not even posting Christmas greetings~ how rude! I have no excuse that you haven't heard already. Come December I have a tendency to throw out all of the rules and just try to keep my head above water so to speak. So...




I would like to welcome all of my fellow Zazzlers who have recently become followers. I have been hesitant thus far to use this blog to directly promote my Zazzle gallery but that may change in 2010. I'll try not to get too far away from the garden theme.

I'm thrilled to have a brand new pc for Christmas this year- my very first new one~ my husband has always given me his hand me downs. Now if I can manage to get my first new camera I'll be sitting pretty.

One of my resolutions for this year is to use my reusable shopping bags more often. They work really well and I hate all of those plastic bags we get saddled with every time we buy anything. So many times I think about it when checking out- why didn't I bring in my bag??!! Gonna do that less often this year. I have one of these and I love it- used it to take dishes to both of my family Christmas dinners this year.

Spider Lily Shopper bag
Spider Lily Shopper by littlewingdesign
Create your own bags at Zazzle


After a couple of years without buying anything new to wear to work( and quite a few extra pounds) I went on a pre Christmas shopping spree this year which inspired this design.




The current promotion on Zazzle-

20.10% OFF Binders, T-Shirts, & Mugs! 2 DAYS LEFT! Use Code: NEWYOUZAZZLE

I know that so many of you have gorgeous photos to preserve and yummy recipes as well. These custom binders would be a great gift to yourself~ and just think what you'll be giving to your family one day by preserving those things. By custom I mean that you can add your own images and text to the covers.

Sycamore Leaf Photo binder
Sycamore Leaf Photo by littlewingdesign
Create your own 3 ring binders using zazzle.com


One of the many new things that I'm discovering with my new computer is fractal freeware. This image was created with software downloaded from Apophysis. The resources available for creating new images are broader than I'll ever have time to explore. Isn't it grand?