29 January 2009
Oh, how I have enjoyed the afternoons
Sitting by my mother’s side,
List’ning to her tell the tales
Of beauty, bravery, and the like.
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“Her children rise up and bless her;
Her husband also, and he praises her, saying:
“Many daughters have done nobly,
But you excel them all.“
- Proverbs 31:28-29 -
27 January 2009
Today is a monumental day for my dear sister, Breezy. After much childish anticipation, she has come to the day that she was born just 18 years ago. In other words, today is her 18th birthday. (Bre says that you all need to hear me say it to get the full effect.) As she appreciates enthusiasm, I will try my best.
Happy Birthday, Breezy! I have loved your sistership, your friendship, and your artship. (You taught me how do make my own words, am I doing a good job?)
“Strength and dignity are her clothing,
And she smiles at the future.”
- Proverbs 31:25 -
I thank the Lord for you, and the years that He has blessed you with! May you smile at the future knowing that God is in control and continue to grow closer to Him and in His likeness!
Make sure to drop by her blog and wish her a happy birthday!
Photo: Breezy (in pink), Me, and Pumpkin in 1999.
23 January 2009
A few days ago, Momma began to read aloud The Princess Adelina: An Ancient Christian Tale of Beauty and Bravery. I wanted to make something productive with my hands while she read, so I picked up crocheting again.
The last real crocheted projects I made were a couple of baby blankets (one for a friend, one for my future little ones which is stored in my hope chest) about three years ago.
It feels so good to have yarn and a crochet hook in my hands — like an old friend who has come back to stay!
The above is my current project: a door warmer — which is used to keep the cold air from coming in beneath the door. It will reside in our kitchen, the green should go well in there.
Right now it is about eighteen inches long with a two inch diameter. I still has quite a ways to go, and might even add a few crocheted flowers for extra beauty.
Do you have any projects you are currently working on?
21 January 2009
Do you like it? You could probably guess that I did not just take this photo yesterday. I took it of the Purple Cone flowers in our herb garden last summer. Isn’t the little bumble bee so cute?
For the image above, I used both Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom. Both are great photo-editing programs that I enjoy working in.
Would you like to see the SOOC (straight-out-of-camera) shot?
There you have it — the SOOC! I took this with our Nikon D60 camera and the Nikkor 18-55mm lens (which I fondly call “the fifty-five“).
I really like the way this shot turned out, especially the fresh colors in the background and the soft detail of the petals. But I still played with it.
Below are the things that I did to give the above image a vintage-ness. Since I’m not showing you the step-by-step, I call this the . . .
.
“SORTA-TUTORIAL” on
photo vintage-ness
just one of the many ways you can give your photos a vintage appearance
.
First, editing in Lightroom!
• Warmth — warmed up the temperature and tint, which gives the photo a glowingly reddish-yellow cozy look.
• Tone — enhanced the exposure and black content, which gives the contrast a nicely adjustable boost.
• Presence — added high clarity, extra vibrance, and removed some of the saturation (coloring).
• Vignetting — darkened the corners and edges to bring more attention to the center of the image.
After the Lightroom editing, this is what the photo looked like:
It turned out very pink with the other colors washed out and plenty of added contrast.
(The above Lightroom settings will probably not work well on every photo.)
Time for Photoshop!
• Background — a scan of a fallen out page of an old G. A. Henty book, edited for a bit more of a framed look.
• Text — in the font “Overdressed” is the word inspired (with several added effects for lovely visibility).
• Cracked Texture — a scan of the cover of an old cooking school lesson book, blended as an overlay.
And that’s how I made the finished product!
I hope you enjoyed the “sorta-tutorial”!
.
P.S. I also used the cracked cover and page of the old books in the Declaring His Righteousness art print, which is available in the shop!
20 January 2009
Lately, we have kept a chair next to the kitchen window for Bently to sit on to look outside (there is a blanket on the chair for extra comfort). Yesterday morning we heard him crying in the kitchen.
He was sitting on his chair (where he had been for quite a while) hot and panting. We tried to coax him off the chair and out of the sun, but he wouldn’t budge.
I picked him up and held his relaxed little self in my arms where he seemed quite content to stay. After a couple minutes I put him down and got back to what I was doing before the distraction.
Suddenly, I heard Breezy say quietly yet urgently, “Emily, hurry, look at the dog!”
There he was, laying on his back in the middle of the floor, cooling off on the hardwood floors.
17 January 2009
. . . they’re vintage!
My dear sister took the above photos of me in a couple of my vintage hats. Hats can be worn for warmth, or as a decoration. Or both! I wish hats were a bit more popular, especially the vintage ones. So many of them are just lovely!
Do you have any vintage hats?
15 January 2009
My sweet friend, Sarah Mae, is hosting a Modesty Blog Fashion Show at her blog today — proving that you don’t have to be frumpy to be modest! It is a part of her 10 Days to Modest series, in which she writes about and encourages ladies in modesty.
Here are a few outfits that I have worn the past Autumn and Winter:
LEFT: White blouse with black knit vest (sewn together), long and flared jean skirt, flip flops. RIGHT: Rust colored bouclé jacket over beige wool scarf and dark brown cardigan, just below the knees light jean skirt, floral socks and green shoes.
LEFT: Black turtleneck, off-white knit zipper hoodie, long and flared jean skirt.
RIGHT: Black turtleneck, blue button-up sweater, and once again the long and flared jean skirt.
If you couldn’t tell, I really like jean skirts — they’re as comfy as can be!
My favorite style is vintage, but as of yet, I do not have very many vintage clothes. If you check back in a couple days, I should have a post up with photos of two of my antique hats!
Modesty is a very important issue — one that we should not ignore. I appreciated this paragraph concerning modesty in God’s Priceless Woman by Wanda Kennedy Sanseri:
“A chaste, pure woman can draw others to the Savior (1 Peter 3:1-2). As women we can either choose to highlight our female body by wearing teasing or revealing clothes or we can choose to draw attention to our soul and to our Lord.”
Also, our attitudes and temperaments can add to or take away from our modesty. We are to be “sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands [or my case: father], so that the word of God will not be dishonored” (Titus 2:5).
This fallen world wishes for us to “show off what we got.” Our just and holy God calls us to be sensible and pure (Titus 2:5). It may be a struggle to dress modestly, but what a wonderful thing to know that in doing so we are honoring God!
13 January 2009
Winston Churchill was the British statesman and leader who God used to lead the United Kingdom during World War II. He was quite a witty gentleman, below are a few of his quotes.
“Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.”
“I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught.”
“I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.”
“The price of greatness is responsibility.”
“From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put.”
“You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.”
“It’s not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what’s required.”
“I’m just preparing my impromptu remarks.”
“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.”
“We are all worms. But I believe that I am a glow-worm.”
10 January 2009
A while back, I found this special tin at a small antique shop. The tin is quite worn, adding to the vintage beauty of the design.
On the lid of this little treasure is a portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The tin is a souvenir of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on June 2, 1953. It was Made in England by George W. Horner & Co. Ltd. on Chester-Le-Street, County of Durham.
I think it is a wonderful find — isn’t it lovely? I wonder if anything came inside of it? Do any of my English visitors know?
