Christmas in October (ATCs)!

It's Christmas in October!  Or, at least Christmas was the theme for this ATC (Artist Trading Card) swap I just completed! 

 



For all the ATCs I used Christmas carol sheet music as the background.  I then applied torn napkins and some Christmas postage stamps to finish them off.  This first one had Christmas tree ornaments as the theme for the piece.  I really love how the napkins are transparent enough to allow the sheet music to peek thru!

 

What would Christmas be without Frosty?  He's the theme of this second piece.  I have had some Frosty napkins for the past couple of years just waiting for the perfect time - and that was now!

 

Finally, I remember those big poinsettia plants around Christmas, and I thought having a big poinsettia napkin on this ATC would be perfect to remind me of those plants!  If you look closely on the stamp, you'll see that it contains greetings from the USPS, too.

 

Enjoy - catch the holiday spirit early!

Vintage Photos ATCs

Here are some ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) that I just finished for a swap.  The theme was vintage photos - take a look!

Aren't these a couple of dapper looking gents?  The background of this (and all the ATCs here)is old text that I distressed a bit to fit the vintage feel of the images.  For this one, I added some specialty papers that seemed to be a bit more formal - just to match the suits and hats of the guys!

These 2 little tots just seemed so sweet, I added a bit of flowery specialty paper to complement them.

 

And these 2 young ladies seemed sort of dreamy and almost foreign. I picked paper that seemed a bit exotic to match their foreign feel.

 

Enjoy!



Misty Morning Walk

Yesterday morning, we managed to get out and walk before the morning mist totally burned off...

Loved this image of Patches and Jazz, our next door neighbor's horses.  The way they naturally posed, I thought they kind of looked like bookends or something in the mist.

Here's another view of them in a broader view where you can still see some of the mist in the distance.  Love the sort of dreamy feel the mist gives things.

I like this image of the cholla up close and South Mountain in the distance, both of whom are clearly seen.  In between is a layer of mist just hanging around....

Finally, the mist is truly beginning to burn off - I can see homes peeking thru!  I'm not sure if it's the effect of the mist, but the mountain just seems to tower over the homes, doesn't it?

 

Enjoy!

Autumn Morning Walk

The other morning, we took Miki (our German Shepherd) for a morning walk around the airpark.  Autumn has definitely arrived....

I just loved the way the morning light played on these dried flower blooms. They seem to be almost glowing, don't they?

I believe this is the dried head of a sunflower.  There was something about how the frost on the remaining parts of the flower glistened that really appealed to me.

Isn't she a little doll?  Little is the operative word here, because Kona is a miniature horse.  She is only just a bit bigger than Miki, but she sure does pack a lot of cute into a small package!  She's a new addition to the airpark, and belongs to one of our neighbors.

 

Enjoy!

Misty Driving

One of the days we were camping, we drove around the area surrounding Bandelier National Monument.  It was a sort of misty day, and the further up the mountains we went, the more misty it became....of course, at that point we were driving in the clouds!

We got stuck behind this car just moseying along a dirt road.  After a while, I realized that the car on the road would make a great surreal shot, after I played with it with my HDR (High Dynamic Range) software to get it to look a bit funky.  Here's the fun result!

I couldn't resist taking this image of probably the last bloom of the season.  Because we were doing the cloud driving, there were lovely raindrops on the petals. 

Several years ago, there was a wildfire that tore thru this area.  I really love this image of the floor of the forest because it reflects how resilient Mother Earth can be.

 

Enjoy!

Early Fall Camping

Last month, we took our last camping trip, up in the Santa Fe Mountains.  It was a very relaxing trip, and already there were signs that fall was coming....

The aspens were already starting to turn.  There's something about fall color against a blue, blue sky that I can't resist!

As we explored a back road in the mountains, we came across this quiet little opening in the woods.  Recent rainfall left a puddle that reflected the towering trees around it.

This is the view looking out of the passenger window in Jeff's Jeep as we drove along the back road.  Needless to say, the road was very narrow!!

 

Enjoy!