Friday Finds…Nursery Rhymes...

"Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep…"
"Baa Baa black sheep… one for the little boy who lives in the lane."
"Prince… and Princess"  -Nursery Rhymes

Today is Friday Finds at Kim Klassen's blog.  

My Friday find is brought to you by my grandkids.  They wanted to do a photo shoot with them as various, and very familiar nursery rhyme characters.  The first is little Bo Peep who has lost her sheep:

Bo Peep with her sheep...

She loves her sheep...

Okay, where are those sheep…guess I will leave them alone, and hope they come home wagging their tails behind them.

 Then we meet the little boy who lives in the lane.  Baa Baa Black Sheep had a bag of wool for him.

Little boy who lives in the lane…see the lane?  He's standing on the lane.

From there, we move to the forest where we come across a princess.  She can fit in any number of Nursery Rhymes…you choose...

And I found a Prince just wandering around…well, not wandering, but pondering.  I think this must be the prince of The Prince and the Pauper.  Hmmm. He's thinking up a scheme I am sure of that.

The next thing I knew the prince, and princess were practicing their dance steps for the big ball that was going to take place later on that night.

Even the Tango...

Finally, my amazing hubby posed for me as I tried out my new "Starry Lights."  I love these little lights.
I cannot wait to use them in more photos... available at Amazon.com

We had a great time with our character photo shoot.  We lived the quote, "Dream without fear, love without limits."  -The Ready Set
Go out, and live your dream…and be blessed, too.

Music...

"A lecture might inform someone, but music affects us in a more profound way.  Music can go past the intellect to the intimate, moving us so compellingly.  We are different for having encountered the enriching blend of notes, tones, and ideas… 
                                                                   -John Ashcroft

Everyone needs a friend like Suzanne…she has an eye for decorating.  Really cute, vintage decorating. I love the vintage look, but I do not have the touch she does.  I don't have the touch period.  One day, I was at her house to make banners for my twin grandson's birthday, which is coming up very soon. She very crafty as well.  Crafty as in 'Arts and Crafts.'  I brought my camera with me with the intent to find some great photo possibilities.  There were a ton.  I will be sprinkling photos on occasion in various posts, so they will all eventually show up here.  Today, I picked photos that had a music theme.  I like music.  It touches my soul, moves me emotionally, and sometimes changes me.  It is also texture Tuesday at Kim Klassen's blog, where textures from Kim are added to our photos. I go there to be inspired. http://www.kimklassencafe.com/thecafe.  All photos were taken at Suzanne's house.

This is a very old accordion…and rolled up sheet music in a wooden box.  Look how she puts the fabric underneath it all.  It is 'wrinkled', and bunched up in such a perfect way….I used kk textures allard-37% overlay; rien soft light-100%

The original violin was all white.  I added the sheet music and kk textures paper stained multiply 100%, and photo artistry blue glitter. 

This room has amazing color, plus a cool chair.  I added kk paper stained texture soft light 100%, and kk paper sheet music multiply 40%.

Finally, I have to introduce you to this amazing lady…

Me…with the camera, and Suzanne.  The picture was taken as we were looking into a mirror in her hallway.  

Thanks, Suzanne, for letting me take photos.

The Lord hears your prayers…an amazing story...

"Pray continually…"  -1 Thessalonians 5:17

Have you ever felt like you were hearing something directly from the Lord?  Well, that happened to me today.  I was on my way home from sewing; I had my radio tuned to K-Love.  The DJ said, "I want you to know beyond a shadow of a doubt, that God hears your prays."  Then the second DJ told this story:

A lady had been praying for a long time about a particular situation, and she found herself wondering if God was hearing her prayer.  One day, she was driving home when she came upon a very, very bad car accident.  Traffic was backed up for miles, and it took a long time before the traffic jam was cleared.  While she was waiting in the traffic, she felt an overwhelming urge to pray for the people involved in the accident.  She prayed, and when traffic began moving went on her way home.  Several months later, someone knocked on her door.  It was a young woman who she did not know.  The person asked if by chance, she was stopped in traffic due to a car crash on a particular date, time, and highway.  The lady answered in the affirmative.  The person at the door said, "I was in that accident, and I died at the scene.  I was hovering over the area when I saw a car with a bright light coming from its roof.  The next thing I remember, I woke up in a hospital ICU ."  She told her husband to write down these numbers, and she told him the numbers which were the license plate numbers from the car where the light was coming from. Some time late, the lady involved in the accident, and her husband tracked down who owned the car, and their address.  

She said the minute she drove up to the house, she recognized the car from her experience.  She told the lady, "I had to tell you, your prayers saved my life."  She had driven 3 1/2 hours to tell her the Lord heard her prayers.  

Amazing right?  I felt like that story was definitely for me, and was a word from the Lord that He has indeed heard my prayers.  I have been praying a long time for a particular situation.  Maybe my answer is around the corner, and it was God's way of telling me not to give up.  At least that is what I think.  Pray continually…

Love…and Texture Tuesday...

"…and the greatest of these is LOVE…" 1 Corinthians 13:13

One of my favorite blogs is Kim Klassen's blog.  It is like stepping into peace and tranquility.  And she has some great photographic tutorials and classes to boot.  Her husband is fighting cancer, and they both have such a positive outlook.  It is contagious.  On Tuesdays, she has "Texture Tuesday" where she encourages her readers to share photos with textures added.  http://www.kimklassencafe.com/thecafe/texture-tuesday-please-hold.html

Today, I was at my friend, Suzanne's.  Her house like none other.  It is decorated so lovely.  I could spend a day just photographing all her niches.  It is simply amazing.  She should charge for tours.   I took this picture because I like all the old Bibles stacked on each other, and the photograph of her daughter's wedding day in the background.  To me, the Bible is all about God's unconditional love, and we are to love our spouses unconditionally.  What inspiration!  I added one of Kim Klassen's textures called 'edith', blend mode soft light at 79% for her Texture Tuesday, and added the quote.  Christ is life, and life abundantly!

Stephanie...

"I have never taken a picture for any other reason that at the moment, it made me happy to do so." -Jacque-Henri Lartigue

This will be a quick post.  On Saturday, Stephanie DeFranco, a fellow photographer as well as friend, asked me if I wanted to go on a fun photo shoot with her…with her being the subject.  She is into fantasy photos now, and she does some amazing things.  See her work at: https://www.facebook.com/StephanieDeFrancoPhotography.  Her mom came along with us to help us hang stars, hold cameras, ladders, and us... to keep us from falling off fallen branches as we were trying to get the perfect shot.

Stephanie…locating our spot, and before she got into "character".  She's pretty much a character already.

Diane, threatening us with scissors...

Stephanie practicing her far away look...

Some background scenes…

Here is the one picture I edited in a couple of ways...

Original with some color correction

Glamourized, and enlarged...

My final edit…Fantasized… I love it I might add.

Hiding from the Paparazzi...

I am working on albums for 2013, and am up to my eyeballs with photos.  I came across these, and thought they were too good not to share.  Looks like Sawyer is avoiding the Paparazzi to me.  What do you think?

Looks like he has a variety of sunglasses to throw them off.  It's more of a disguise if one has different colors.

My heart…a highway...

I found this wonderful quote by Charles Spurgeon, and thought it was a good thought for the New Year.

Oceans...

Each year,  I try to have a word, or phrase that I want to define the year…one that will cause me to grow spiritually, and cause me to be more like Christ.  This year, I thought my word would be "REFLECT."  I want my life to reflect the life of Christ's; I want to reflect upon where I have been, and where I am now.  I want to reflect more on the word of God, and I want my prayer life to reflect more upon the will of the Father.  
      Lately, rather than listening to talk radio, I have been listening to K-love.  I have loved the Christmas music more than ever before.  After Jane died, it has been a healing balm to my soul.  I found myself turning up the music, stopping to reflect on the words, and dropping them deep into my soul.  It was as if Christ was ministering to me by song.  One song, in particular, hit deep into my marrow.  Being the worst person ever at remembering songs names, or the artist, I was at a loss at finding it.  I googled the only words that stuck in my mind, but did not get any hits.   This morning the song came on, and I went online to K-Love to find out the song's name and artist.  It is "Oceans (where feet may fail)" by Hillsong.  This song will be my goal for 2014.  I like all the words, but these are my favorite.

"You call me out upon the waters.
The great unknown where feet may fail.
And where I find You in the mystery;
In oceans deep my faith will stand...

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders.
Let me walk upon the waters,
Wherever you would call me.
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander,
And my faith will be made stronger
In the presence of the Savior.

I will call upon Your name
Keep my eyes above the waves,
My soul will rest in Your embrace,
I am Yours, and You are mine."