I edited Jasmin using the Caramel texture from The CoffeeShop Blog.

I’m linking up with Shauna at Mist and Lilies for the One in Thirty Photography Challenge. If you’d like to join in, here are the rules:

• Try to get a different setting for each shot, for each day.
• Try to use Photoshop to warp the expressions on your prop (Shaunna posts examples here and tutorials here).
• Submit your shots on Sunday in February only.
• Add the button to your post.
• Feel free to incorporate your prop shops if you participate in Ashley Sisk’s Scavenger Hunt Sundays.
• Visit other challenge participants and leave them some comment love

Although you can use your own ideas, here are some of Shauna’s suggested themes:

• Winter
• Dreaming of Spring
• Amongst Nature
• Little Things
• Love
• Emotions {play with your prop’s expressions}
• Adventure

Today started off pretty good, the hubs and I went to a marriage empowerment seminar at our church this morning {expect a post on that tomorrow} and then I went out for coffee with one of my neighbors.

I edited Jasmin using the Vintage Cream texture from The CoffeeShop Blog.

It’s been a long time since I’ve done that and, lemme tell ya, the laughs were much needed. While we were out Tara asked me about my photography so I showed her my camera and the prop that I’m using for the One in Thirty Photography Challenge, which she found hilarious. So I showed her how I stage  the doll for the various challenges.

On a related note, when you’re a grown woman and you pull a doll out of your purse and start taking pictures of it, you get a lot of attention. A guy from another table leaned over and said “I don’t know what y’all are doing over there, but it’s pretty funny.”

For this picture I used the Solitude Texture by Kristy at Life~n~Reflection. This is my first time using a texture in Photoshop. Love it!

I’m linking up with Shauna at Mist and Lilies for the One in Thirty Photography Challenge. If you’d like to join in, here are the rules:

• Try to get a different setting for each shot, for each day.
• Try to use Photoshop to warp the expressions on your prop (Shaunna posts examples here and tutorials here).
• Submit your shots on Sunday in February only.
• Add the button to your post.
• Feel free to incorporate your prop shops if you participate in Ashley Sisk’s Scavenger Hunt Sundays.
• Visit other challenge participants and leave them some comment love

Although you can use your own ideas, here are some of Shauna’s suggested themes:

• Winter
• Dreaming of Spring
• Amongst Nature
• Little Things
• Love
• Emotions {play with your prop’s expressions}
• Adventure

IF YOU LIKE WHAT YOU SEE HERE, PLEASE JOIN ME ON FACEBOOK!

“Never be afraid to sit awhile and think.” ~ Lorraine Hansberry

February is Black History Month, so I’ll be trying to share quotes from famous African Americans to go along with my photographs for the challenge. Ohhh, look a little history lesson to go with the pretty pictures…

Lorraine Hansberry was an African American playwright and author of political letters, speeches and essays.  Her best known work is A Raisin in the Sun which has been performed on numerous stages and made into two movies.

These photos were taken during one of my walks through the Cape Girardeau Conservation Center. This is where I go to be still and think, to meditate on the words of the Lord and to find peace when I’m feeling pulled in too many directions.

I’m linking up with Alicia of Project Alicia,  Faith of Sweet Violet, Kristi of live and love…out loud and Rebecca of Bumbles and Light  for a 4 week photography challenge that celebrates the poetic beauty of winter. If you’d like to participate, here are a few details:

• Everyone is welcome regardless of skill level, time commitment or photographic tools
• Make sure you link to your blog post and not your homepage {linky remains open from 9 AM Friday ~ 9 AM Thursday CST}
• Don’t forget to grab the badge
• Each Friday there’ll be discounts, freebies, tutorials and other fun photography related tidbits
• Visit other participants and leave some comment love

The themes for the challenge are:

1. 3 February ~ Solitude
2. 10 February ~ Warmth
3. 17 February ~ Passion
4. 24 February ~ Calm

You can also join the fun on Flickr and Pinterest

The theme for week 5 of Project 52 is Surreal. And I had some really great ideas but I couldn’t figure out how to go through with the execution, so last night, this was what I came up with:

I merged a picture of myself and a cracked eggshell using Photoshop Elements 10, then I applied the Orton Effect. I wish I had lightened the colors a little so you could see the grass and everything, but I think the darkness gives it a haunting surreal quality.

What do you think?

I’m linking up with Misty and Kim for Shoot. Edit. Submit. If you’d like to join in, the “rules” are simple:

1. The photo must be taken this week {Saturday~Friday}
2. Only one entry per person
3. Must have the “Shoot. Edit. Submit.” button or text link to back to this week’s post to qualify
4. Link only to the blog post and not your main blog URL

And make sure you visit some of the other participants and leave some comment love.

Today I decided to escape the confines of the house and go to the park…

The weather was absolutely beautiful…

I had some unexpected company…

Being that I’m afraid of birds, I cut my visit short and headed home.

I’m linking up with Deb from Deb Duty Photography for This or That Thursday. If you’d like to participate, here are the rules:

• Submit the URL of your blog post, not your blog
• Link up to a photo that was taken by you
• Include a link back to Deb’s blog post {either a text link or the button}
• Visit a few other blogs and leave some comment love

How was your Thursday?

Hmmm… I think I’ll call this one “Monkey Love”. Truth be told, that is the ugliest monkey ever created but I love monkeys, so I had to have him.

I merged a picture of Jasmin that I took yesterday with a picture of the monkey that I took this morning to form the picture you see above. I then cropped it, autocorrected the colors and added an Orton effect with Vignette.

I’m linking up with Shauna at Mist and Lilies for the One in Thirty Photography Challenge. If you’d like to join in, here are the rules:

• Try to get a different setting for each shot, for each day.
• Try to use Photoshop to warp the expressions on your prop (Shaunna posts examples here and tutorials here).
• Submit your shots on Sunday in February only.
• Add the button to your post.
• Feel free to incorporate your prop shops if you participate in Ashley Sisk’s Scavenger Hunt Sundays.
• Visit other challenge participants and leave them some comment love.

Although you can use your own ideas, here are some of Shauna’s suggested themes:

• Winter
• Dreaming of Spring
• Amongst Nature
• Little Things
• Love
• Emotions {play with your prop’s expressions}
• Adventure

I’m linking up with:

So today is it. The first day of the One in Thirty Photography Challenge. Yay! The goal is to take a picture of the same prop in different settings every day for thirty days AND use Photoshop to manipulate the settings and expressions. Yikes! I am so not a Photoshop expert but I know I need to become more adept at it’s use especially now that Picnik is going away.

The theme for today is Winter. So I merged my prop, Jasmin, with a snow scene that I took last month. I’m not totally thrilled with the outcome but I think it’s pretty good for this being the second time that I’ve merged two photos. Hopefully, as the days go by and I experiment more with Photoshop and the themes, I’ll get better.

I’m linking up with Shauna at Mist and Lilies. If you’d like to join in, here are the rules:

• Try to get a different setting for each shot, for each day.
• Try to use Photoshop to warp the expressions on your prop (Shaunna posts exampleshere and tutorials here).
• Submit your shots on Sunday in February only.
• Add the button to your post.
• Feel free to incorporate your prop shops if you participate in Ashley Sisk’s Scavenger Hunt Sundays.
• Visit other challenge participants and leave them some comment love.

Although you can use your own ideas, here are some of Shauna’s suggested themes:

• Winter
• Dreaming of Spring
• Amongst Nature
• Little Things
• Love
• Emotions {play with your prop’s expressions}
• Adventure

Do you have any other suggestions? There are 30 days in this challenge, folks! I’ll also take tips on what to do differently to make my pictures better…

SCRIPTURE

I Peter 3:1 {NIV}

Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if an of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives.

OBSERVATION

There are two key points for me here:

1. “…submit yourselves to you own husbands…” ~ this does not mean that wives are lesser than or subservient to their husbands nor does this mean that a husband can walk all over his wife {I Peter 3:7}; this means that as the head of the household, the husband is the final authority and wives are to yield themselves to that authority {if you’ve made a wise choice in a partner, this shouldn’t be an issue}, wives are also supposed to be respectful of their husbands
2. “…they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives…” ~ an unsaved husband should be able to look at his wife and be won over by her actions; as the homemaker, her greatest testimony for the love and redeeming grace of God is her attitude towards her husband and her family

APPLICATION

I’m naturally a strong willed person. Even as a little girl, my first inclination was to always do the opposite of whatever my parents told me to do. Over the years, I’ve learned to reign in that personality trait. A little bit. After getting married, the hardest thing for me to do was to not question every single decision my husband made. And by question, I mean, demand that he do things my way because, of course, my way is the right way. As the years have passed, I’m happy that he ultimately showed me that his decisions were the right way to go. I don’t have issues with submitting to my husband anymore because I’ve learned that he is guided by wisdom from God and love for our family.

PRAYER

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for giving my husband the wisdom to lead our family. Thank you for putting me in a position to recognize that wisdom. Continue to grant me the grace and wisdom that I need to be submissive to my husband. Amen.

BOOK DESCRIPTION (FROM THE BOOK)

 This stunning new novel from Tatiana de Rosnay, author of the acclaimed New York Times bestseller Sarah’s Key, plumbs the depths of complex family relationships and the power of past secret to change everything in the present.

It all began with a simple seaside vacation, a brother and sister recapturing their childhood. Antoine Rey thought he had the perfect surprise for his sister Mélanie’s birthday: a weekend by the sea at Noirmoutier Island, where the pair spent many happy childhood summers playing on the beach. It had been too long, Antoine thought, since they’d returned to the island ~ over thirty years since their mother died and the family holidays ceased. But the island’s haunting beauty triggers more than happy memories: it reminds Mélanie of something unexpected and deeply disturbing about their last summer. When, on the drive home to Paris, she finally summons the courage to reveal what she knows to Antoine, her emotions overcome her and she loses control of the car.

Recovering from the accident in a nearby hospital, Mélanie tries to recall what caused her to crash. Antoine encounters an unexpected ally: sexy, streetwise Angèle, a mortician who will teach him new meanings for the words life, love and death. Suddenly, however, the past comes swinging back at both siblings, burdened with a dark truth about their mother, Clarisse.

Trapped in the wake of a shocking family secret shrouded by taboo, Antoine must confront his past and also his troubled relationships with own children. How well does he really know his mother, his children, even himself? Suddenly fragile on all fronts as a son, a husband, a brother and a father, Antoine Rey will learn the truth about his family and himself the hard way. By turns thrilling, seductive and destructive, with a lingering effect that is bittersweet and redeeming, A Secret Kept is the story of a modern family, the invisible ties that hold it together, and the impact it has throughout life.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tatiana de Rosnay was born in the suburbs of Paris and is of English, French and Russian descent.  She is the author of nine French novels.  She also writes for French ELLE, and is a literary critic for Psychologies magazine.  Tatiana de Rosnay is married and has two children.  Sarah’s Key is her first novel written in her mother tongue, English

You can follow her on Twitter by clicking here or visit her website by clicking here.

MY OPINION

I wanted to like this book, I really did. I think Tatiana de Rosnay is a fabulously talented writer but this book left so much to be desired. First of all, there was the really weird relationship between Antoine and his sister. OK, perhaps there wasn’t a “relationship” per se, but he admired his sister’s body in ways that made me more than just a little bit uncomfortable.

And speaking of Antoine, I thought he was too whiny. About everything. I wanted to grab him by the collar, shake him and tell him to man up!  I know parents feel guilt over divorcing and they have a hard time reprimanding their children, but allowing them to become juvenile delinquents is not the answer.

Also, without giving away the family secret, I think a homicide would have been a far better choice…

The one positive in this story had to be Angèle. She warrants her own story. I like the way she talked about death and how we have to come to grips with the death of loved ones and the fact that we won’t always have answer to the “whys” of life.

FAVORITE SENTENCE(S)

Page 141

For a long time I have felt like an Alcatraz inmate, desperately feeding on the scraps the wind sends my way ~ laughter, singing, and music, the hub~bub of a crowd I can hear but will never see.

LEAST FAVORITE SENTENCE(S)

Page 142

The printer makes a moaning noise like a woman in labor.

RATING
★★

Disclosure: This review refers to the electronic version of this book. I didn’t receive any compensation for this post.