April Pink Saturday

 Hi everyone and Happy Pink Saturday!

I created this Spring Card for Pink Saturday using the three photos below.

  I think my garden colors are going to be pink and purple this year.  I found these adorable pink primroses on my first trip out.  Then I found some beautiful purple petunias and purple and white pansies at the drugstore so I think those two colors will be the color palette for spring and summer...and I am so looking forward to the warmer weather, aren't you?

I mentioned to my friend that I would try to take a few photos of the flowering cherry trees when it stopped raining.  Well, it didn't stop raining so I took some pictures anyway.  The blooms don't last long at this stage and I really didn't want to miss getting a photo again this year.  Too bad the squirrels weren't hanging upside down at the feeders.  They are quite comical to watch.

I hope you all have a wonderful Pink Saturday and don't forget to stop over and view more images of Pink Saturday!  You can click on the Pink Saturday logo on the right of my blog page.

Recipe Sharing

Every once in a while I find time to play in the kitchen.  Recently I was in the mood for something Greek and so I created the following.  I would love to hear from you if you try these recipes or have a favorite to share as well.  

Olive Tapenade

1 Jar Pitted Kalamata Olives – finely chopped

1 Jar Pimento stuffed Green Olives – finely chopped

¼ Jar Almond stuffed Green Olives – finely chopped

1-2 Cloves Garlic – minced

1-2 T Sweet Onion – minced

1 tsp Kalamata olive juice

Mix all together and chill.

 

I make a Greek pizza with this tapenade but it is also a

great spread on a toasted, buttered bagel and broiled with

a slice of cheese on top.  I prefer Swiss cheese on this one.

Naan style Greek Pizza

1 Pkg. Naan Bread

Seeds of  Change Greek dressing

1 container of Feta Cheese

1-2 Lbs. Ground Lamb

1 Small sweet onion – minced

1 Small Zucchini – thinly sliced

OPT.  Fresh Baby Spinach

OPT.  Marinated Artichoke Hearts

OPT.  Sliced Olives (I use tapenade) 

2-3 Cloves of Garlic

8 Dashes of Chili Pepper Flakes

Salt and Cracked Pepper

Grated Mozzarella Cheese

Seasoned  Ground Lamb

Brown 1-2 Lbs. Ground Lamb with minced sweet onion,

garlic, salt, pepper, and chili flakes.

Spread dressing over Naan Bread.  Top with seasoned lamb,

tapenade, any optional ingredients, Feta cheese, and

mozzarella cheese. 

Bake at 350 for 7-10 minutes then broil to brown top.

Sharing

I thought I might share a few ways I create images in Photoshop.  Sometimes I alter photos using brushes, filters, and blending tools while other times, I sketch an idea first, or I just play in Photoshop until I stumble on a new technique.  The following are examples of what I just described.  Hope you're having a great week! 

Happy Easter Everyone!

Hooray! I can't believe it is sunny and sixty-four degrees out! What a beautiful Easter Day! It is so rare for us to have a warm Easter that I am ever so thankful when it is. I will certainly be smiling all day! Thanks to Dover Publications, I was able to finish one new image on time. I just thought that tag was so cute. The two images under the tag are the two favorites I made last year so this is what I'm sharing at collage obsession. The theme is share your favorites! You can check out others here: http://collageobsessionchallenge.blogspot.com/2012/04/share.html

Wishing you all a day that is Eggstra Special! Happy Easter Everyone!

4x4 Friday Challenge - Framed

This week we were prompted to create from the theme "Framed". I enjoyed trying out different ideas from my birthday flower arrangement so here are two of them. Thanks for visiting my blog! I hope you have a fantastic Spring weekend!

You can view more images framed at: http://4x4friday.blogspot.com/

A Birthday Celebration

What a wonderful day I had!

The sun was shining all day and I awoke to lovely spring flowers, chocolates, and a strawberry cake along with a most beautiful card that touched my heart in the most emotionally loving way.
An hour or so later I found a gift card in my email! I will have fun using that for sure!

As you can see, the cats arrived with a second cake, party hats, and those party noise makers! I guess they know I love purple! ;) Fun aside, this is one of the best gifts ever! What a perfect way to immortalize the three cats that once were part of our family. Thank you cats for remembering my birthday! You made it special and the tears really were happy tears.




Beginning in April, Spring Flowers are quite abundant here but I have to say that this is the first time I've ever had a bouquet of daffodils, irises, and tulips. I am really going to have to plant bulbs of these for next year because I absolutely love this arrangement!

Speaking of that... I actually took a bit over an hour to clean up and plant my first flowers of spring. Now I have an array of primroses in colored pots on my cute little park bench. Yay!

My daughter brought sub sandwiches home for dinner and although I normally would not advertise fast food, these subs were delicious on flat bread but the best part that I added to mine was the new dressing from Burger King (of all places!) It is a creamy apple vinaigrette by Ken's! Yummmmmy! I was already hooked on the honey mustard but this new apple vinaigrette tops the charts for me. It is the perfect dressing for Spring. It would be terrific in coleslaw or an oriental salad as well. I think I would make the coleslaw with that dressing, chopped apples, minced onions, and Craisins. I suppose you meat lovers could also add chopped chicken.

End of a perfect day, you think? Well, there was one more surprise for me. The mail was brought in late so I didn't even know there was a present until evening. My oldest sister surprised me with a set of camel hair paint brushes and a set of Reeves watercolor paints! How amazingly wonderful was that? I'm still smiling! That must tell you something!

So...a great day it was!

AND...a...Happy Birthday to all that celebrate in April!

SPA Challenge - Venetian Mask

"Welcome to Venice"

You can view more Venetian Mask images at:
http://sundaypostcardart.wordpress.com/

WLDA Challenge - Music Mayhem

"Musical Mayhem Bird"

Extended definition to the word mayhem came up as disturbance, havoc, commotion, and chaos so I decided to create something to reflect that. The true definition is really much darker and derived from the word maim. I really wasn't in the mood to access my "darker side" this time for this challenge. Perhaps next time.

"Under Water Concerto"

Too many conductors leading the music could sound chaotic or the most magical music ever heard. :-) I created this one from one of my sketch doodles and enhanced it in Photoshop CS.

Hope you all have a fun and creative week!

Time to Celebrate! It's a Girl!

It's official now! I'm going to be a Grammy! I've been a Nana for ten years already so I have a little experience at this although I lived far away for the first five of those ten years. I'm here to stay for this one. I don't want to miss anything this time around. We are so blessed to have an amazing grandson and, I'm sure, she will be a wonderful grand daughter. It is time to celebrate!

The ultrasounds today are absolutely amazing! This one was taken at just 10 weeks! She was just a little over 2 inches (5.5 cm) then. How adorable is that? Because of this technology we have the opportunity to feel a connection - to attach ourselves to this little girl now. We don't have to wait until birth to begin that process AND that, in itself, is awesome beyond awesome!