Sweet Dreams

She fell asleep in the car on the way home from grocery shopping. I carried her upstairs and laid her on my bed so that I could put away the groceries (little stinker's been climbing out of her crib). I thought it was kind of funny that she still had the balloon tied around her wrist, so I grabbed my camera.

"Hydrangeas in My Kitchen"

I treated myself to these flowers from Trader Joe's today. I grabbed them at the last minute. I never splurge, but I'm glad I did today.

Here's how I processed the photo of my hydrangea...
Florabella textures...
Patina (cool) overlay blending mode 45% opacity
Memory (cool) overlay 28%
Cappuccino overlay 64%
Milk and Honey screen blending mode 31%




This version is similar to the first... I just changed the hue/saturation and changed the
Milk and Honey texture to screen overlay at 23%

"Yesterday" as seen through the eye of my humble camera phone [unedited]

This is how we spent the last two afternoons... fishing. The boys get all snarky lately when I bring out my bad-boy camera, so I just used the camera on my phone and we had fun.

Top row (left to right): The boys proudly displaying their "catches". Eww!
Beach Bunny waving to me so that I don't notice that she's about to sneak a sip of my Diet Coke.

Middle row: Beach Bunny... I'll take one nap "to go", please.
That's me in the middle. Can you feel the love?
Goofy Foot fishes with a reed and a piece of chewing gum on the end. Works every time!

Bottom row: Big Surf fishing on the bank and as close to the water as he can get. I told him to be careful not to fall in. Guess who slipped?

Yup. I'm a wonder!

Faith Baby

This is a picture of Beach Bunny at six months old. I just ran across this picture the other day, and so many memories of her adoption came flooding back.
At this point in her adoption, she was still living in her orphanage. Kahuna and I would fly out to Central America and visit her every six weeks or so (How we afforded to do that I will never know- It was only by God's hand). We would literally scoop her out of her dimly lit, no windows, no heat-no air, slump stone orphanage; and whisk her off to bathe, feed and love on her for five straight days. It was heaven!
There was literally no sunshine for her while living behind the walls of the orphanage, so once we got back to the hotel I would prop her up on pillows and blankets, open up the slider to the balcony and bathe her in sunshine.
Oh, how she loved it! Her eyes would just sparkle!

The excruciating part of our visit trips was that at the end of our five day love-fest with our daughter we had to give her back and come home to the U.S.-
and not know "when" or "if" she would really be coming home to us.
Kahuna and I would gently lay her back in her metal crib,
pray over her,
cry,
and ask the Lord to protect her life...
and He did.

No matter how big she gets,
she will always be our miraculous, sparkly-eyed, beautiful,
answer-to-prayer,
"faith" baby.

Your Photo- My Edit

A great blogging friend, Angie, and I were recently collaborating on a few editing techniques. She's a wonderful photographer, and I love her work (her blog here). Below is the original picture that Angie took of her daughter. How cute is she! I wanted to try to give the photo more of a vintage-y look, which is so popular right now. I threw in a "platinum" edited version just for fun. I edited them both first in Lightroom and then Photoshop Elements. I also used two Florabella textures, as well as one from Jessica Sprague.

Original:

Edit #1:

Edit #2



I can't decide which edited version I like better.
Will you help me out?
Tell me which version you prefer.

Peaceful

I found a couple of subjects in my backyard that don't mind me taking pictures of them. No bribery needed to make my roses cooperate! Ha!

Wishing you a peaceful Monday.

Soak It Up

Just soaking up the last few weeks of summer fun and. . .
freedom from kids' homework and our busy schedules.
Shoot! I was just getting used to this!
I wish summer would last forever.

Five Minute Chocolate Cake- Myth or Science?

Do you ever need a treat, but you're not sure what to eat? Well I've got something for you! This chocolate cake is made from scratch, is crazy good, and you can make it in five minutes. Seriously.

Here's all you'll need:

4 tablespoons of flour

4 tablespoons of sugar

2 tablespoons of cocoa

1 egg

3 tablespoons of milk

3 tablespoons of oil

optional- 3 tablespoons of chocolate chips (Oh, hello! NOT optional in my opinion!)

A splash of vanilla extract

A coffee mug

The recipe:

1. Add dry ingredients to mug and mix well.

2. Add egg and all wet ingredients and mix thoroughly.

3. Add the chocolate chips (if using) and gently mix in.

4. Place the mug in the microwave and cook on high for 3 minutes. Don’t be alarmed if the cake rises over the top of the mug!

Now you can eat it as is (which is my 10 p.m. snack method) or you can wait for it to cool, slice in half, top with some whipped cream or ice cream and voila... a perfect five-minute treat.

Ahh, ya! Now that's what I'm talkin' about!


To see more great desserts, visit www.kellyskornerblog.com.

Digital Photo Album

I'm working on a digital photo album from our recent island trip. Here are a couple of pages that I worked on tonight. . .

Kahuna's sister and our brother-in-law. . .

He's laughing cause I caught him squeezing her butt!

They have four kids...

a four year old, a three year old, and 8 month old twins.

He better go easy on the squeezin'!

Oh, Beach Bunny! I'm glad I caught you with your clothes on. Lately, you spend most of your days naked as a jay bird!

Have I ever told you about my niece?

She is our little miracle. . .

She was born via emergency c-section due to a nuchal cord (umbilical cord wrapped around her neck). She had no heartbeat and wasn't breathing.

By God's amazing grace the doctor and nurses resuscitated her, and she is healthy and perfect.

She is our reminder that God is all-powerful!

Meet the Parents

I'd like to introduce you to my in-laws...

Come on. Tell me you feel at least a little sorry for us.

Fix it Friday Thursday

Tonight I'm doing my own version of Fix it Friday Thursday. A couple of days ago I took this picture of my niece at the beach. I couldn't wait to get home to try to edit it!

Original:

I tried a bunch of Lightroom pre-sets from Coffee Shop and finally settled on the mocha. I added a texture from Jessica Sprague, did a little magic around her eyes, and last but not least I cropped the picture.

I just posted it to my sister-in-law's Facebook wall.

I really hope she likes it!

Digital Goodness

How are you guys doing tonight? I just finished 6 straight hours of tutoring elementary students, and my brain is fried, but I love my job! I couldn't wait to put up a new post. Blogging is such therapy for me and helps me relax. Plus, you guys are the coolest!! It totally makes my day that you'd spend a few minutes with me. Thank you!

Now the digital goodness...

I've gotten a few emails from friends asking about Photoshop Elements tips and tricks. I am no expert, let me tell you! I did however, want to pass on to you a really cool site... Jessica Sprague. I have not taken any of her online classes yet, but I'd love to! She also has some wonderful digital products you can easily apply to photos, like the one I edited below.

Below is a picture that I took a few days ago at Catalina Island (Kahuna's parents took all of us... 8 adults and 7 grandkids all under one roof. Can you say CRAZY?!). Anyway, I just digitally water colored the picture using a few of Jessica's textures. It was seriously simple!

I love that Jessica's classes are online and "at your own pace". I hope to take one this fall. Anyone want to join me?

Encouragement

Welcome! I'm so glad you're here! Since this week's blog hop is all about encouragement, I thought I'd share one of my favorite verses and two pictures with you. "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world" James 1:27. I just love that verse. It is so clear cut and straight forward to me. My relationship with God is NOT about a list of rules, it's about loving people- especially when they can't give back!

Below is a picture of the sweetest girl. She lives at God Cares School in Uganda. Kahuna had the great privilege of delivering her very first pair of shoes to her. She just melts my heart.

Below is Kahuna and a few more of the amazing children at God Cares. If you aren't already sponsoring an orphan somewhere in the world, hop on over to World Vision. You may find that bringing life transformation and hope to a child is just the encouragement you need!