Photo A Day Challenge - Day 11: Water

Ethereal WATER droplets on pink flower petals.

 

Amazing what you can do on a cloudy day

 

armed with a hose and your camera:)

 

 

 

 

 Have a special Friday!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spring has sprung! (A Photo Diary)

"Happy Spring!" to all those sharing the season with us in the southern hemisphere. Winter has finally moved on and I am grateful for the new life of this blossoming time of the year. Thought I would share some of the photos I took in our garden around the first of September (officially Spring day). It is my favourite season and I always look forward to capturing it's beauty...

These lovelies are the the wild plum's flowers. The wild plum is always the first to show life in our garden after the dry and cold weather of the winter season. This particular tree is one of the babies of the original tree we planted. We have another of its babies that is about waist high now.

 

 

My sweet furbaby, Daisy, loves to follow me around in the garden while I play photographer. Her favourite spot is...among the daisies of course:)

 

 

These tiny white 'rose like' flowers are from a flowering shrub we know as a Mayflower. In the springtime it is covered with white flowers and looks like a bride standing in the flowerbed.

 

 

 

Delicate Jasmine flowers are synonymous with spring. It wouldn't be spring if their sweet sent did not fill the air... It's one of those smells that activate memories for me. Saturday afternoons with the mixture of Jasmine, "braaivleis" (meat roasting on a fire) and the watermelony arome of fresh cut grass swirling in the air...comforting and so so yummy!  

 

 

The Jasmine buds in this pic came out very blurry but did help to create a good photo with Daisy as the focal point. The pinky hues of the buds, the pebbles and the faided teracotta color of the painted paving all blends nicely together...even Daisy's ginger stripes are toning in well here. 

 

 

Little Miss Sweety Pie cheking out the down pipe for creepy crawlies she can chase...

 

 

I take all of my photographs with my trusty little 2007 Sony Cybershot. My photos mostly come out good...with a few accidental brilliant ones here and there and then a bunch of "not so good" ones scattered in between. Losts of picture taking happens even though the lens is damaged (I dropped the camera in 2009 while taking pics of our Christmas table...it fell on the lens. When I switch it on now I have to hold it with the lens pointing down otherwise the lens comes out skewed and then all the pictures are blurred. It's very tricky to get good pics 'cause some settings and zooming in or out switches the camera off). Hopefully, and despite Cybie's "injury", my pics will only improve as I have now signed up for a free mini digital photography secrets course (http://www.digital-photo-secrets.com/k/Camera_Tips?gclid=CJvXvpHZnLICFYFlfAodKV0ACQ). I love macro photography and am looking forward to improving in that area and...well, ALL other photography areas.

 

Blessings!

 

Surita   

 

Crochet Cutie Necklaces

So…it has been two months since I last posted anything (I just can’t believe it!). The rest of February and then March just vanished in a blur of activity and here we are…already well into April with the Easter holidays just over.

I’ve been a very busy little bee during the past months. Making and then exhibiting my handmade jewellery at a ladies creativity morning, came first. Then I received a last minute invitation to exhibit at a new arts and craft market, which caused me to immediately start producing for that so that I would have a full table of goodies to show. There really wasn’t enough time to do and make all that I would have wanted to for the market, because in the middle of everything, I left for a week away at the coast (a holiday invitation received from friends weeks before when there was nothing on my calendar yet). Between making more jewellery, some new paintings and pretty lanterns AND preparing for and going on my holiday…there simply wasn’t any time to blog. But I do intend on making up for it. A lot of picture-taking happened during this time to document all of my activities, so I now have many lovely & beautiful things to post about. Not only that, last week I received another invitation to exhibit at a market that forms part of a festival in May. It means, that in between having to catch up on blogging, filing away the growing heap of papers on my desk, some graphic design projects that is due and preparing for the next market…phew, I’m going to be a very busy lady during April as well. Here’s hoping everything on my To Do List gets done!

Ok…all the blah blah blah about why I haven’t been around is over. Now for the good stuff...

I found out that I like to crochet. Then I found out that you could crochet jewellery, and I like to make jewellery. The next natural step was to download a few free patterns and try them out with left over yarn. Results...ta-da!

When I received the invitation to exhibit at the arts and craft market, 'mass producing' a few of these cuties was at the top of my list. I went to a yarn store and bought what I deem to be shabby chic coloured yarns in 100 % cotton and 100 % bamboo. Bamboo yarn is such a revelation to me...SO soft everybody. Silky soft compared to the cotton yarn. It was just so much fun to make these necklaces and so satisfying seeing the end result.

The pattern for the big flower necklace above, can be found here: http://becreativewithamy.wordpress.com/2011/02/14/wicked-crochet-flower/

The pattern for these budding beauties came from: http://creativeyarn.blogspot.com/2008/08/white-flower-necklace.html

We're in the thick of Autumn here in South Africa...the weather is changing quickly and Winter will be here before we're really prepared for it. Wearing something as pretty as one of these dainty crochet necklaces, will brighten and warm up the coldest and most grey of days.

Blessings!

Surita