Friday Finds....Bluebells and Books

Joining in with Kim Klassen's Friday Finds today.
(These are actually Thursday Finds.......but I don't think anyone will notice)

 Photo altered in PSE using two layers of  Kim's texture 'Coolgrunge'.

Beautiful bluebells from my garden plus a vintage book (Dante's 'Ad Astra') gifted to me by a lovely new friend. 

I had a wonderful day yesterday with Maggi Birchenough, Julie Mackinder and a group of her friends.
We went to see the new exhibition of work by The Textile Study Group at The Beetroot Tree Gallery near where I live. We also managed coffee at the Cachepot vintage tea rooms, lunch at Anderson's delicatessen and a rummage in Peartree Yard craft emporium, That's what I call a packed day! :-)
By way of a thank you, Wendy gave me a vintage book I'd admired in Peartree Yard....its very special and I can't wait to use it in my projects.

On the subject of books......I bought Alysn Midgelow-Marsden's new book this week.....

I know Alysn as she is the co-owner of The Beetroot Tree and I have worked for her there and attended many of her workshops. This is a fabulous book ....highly recommended! You can see some examples of her work here. The lucky lady now lives in New Zealand, but she visits regularly to teach workshops over here.

Finally......have all you iPhone/iPad users out there discovered Waterlogue app yet? I love it!!!
It's good to post on Instagram too and tag your photos to the Waterlogue link there.
Here are a few of my recent creations.....forgive me if you're an Instagram friend, I know you've already seen them  ;-)

Here's the bluebell/book photo 'waterlogued'.

 My blue muscari and pansies.

A cat we spotted in the churchyard at Edensor...plus my gorgeous white muscari.

And me!......Looking at you :-)  

(Well actually I was looking to see if I'd set the timer right on my iPhone)

Love the way the app has broken up my garden into patterns.....

Time to wade through my Bloglovin feed....I'm way behind.

Friday Finds (on a Monday)......'She wore flowers in her hair'

This is my contribution for Kim Klassen's 'Friday Finds' challenge (sorry I'm a bit late.....wasn't too well on Friday).
I have two 'finds'...a book and a planter.
I've been wanting a head planter for some time and finally spotted one in our local garden centre. I'm intrigued by how the look of it will change as the trailing plant grows and the pansies are replaced with other flowers.
We have a walled garden, which isn't always an advantage, but it is good for attaching things like this on to!

I altered my photo using Kim's textures 'Golden' and 'Magicedges'. I love the magic series....it always amazes me how a black texture can affect an image in the way it does.

The quote is from 'The God of Small Things' by Arundhati Roy (winner of the Booker Prize 1997). 

I love the description of the character Ammu...

'On days like this there was something restless and untamed about her.... she wore flowers in her hair and carried magic secrets in her eyes. She spoke to no-one. She spent hours on the riverbank with her little plastic transistor.....she smoked cigarettes and had midnight swims. She had a delicate chiselled face, black eyebrows angled like seagull's wings, a small straight nose and luminous nutbrown skin. Her shoulders in her sleeveless sari blouse shone as though they had been polished with a high-wax polish.'

I have the book on my Kindle but am only 15% through it. I'll let you know how I get on.
Have any of you read it?

I adore this time of year when every day there are new finds in the garden. I had a quick trip round with my camera this morning whilst the sun was shining. Angel wondered what on earth I was doing crouching on the ground getting that low-angled shot.
I treated myself to a Nikon camera a few weeks ago; there's so much to learn!! I'm still trying to get to grips with the aperture setting...... love those soft, blurry backgrounds :-)

Thank goodness for the warmer days and the beauty of Springtime; they lift my spirits when I'm feeling down. When we do meditation (in my yoga class) we sometimes have to imagine a favourite, soothing place......I always think of my garden.
Still searching for a diagnosis for my health problem .....I'm paying for a series of ultrasound scans later this week. 

Back tomorrow with Texture Tuesday and a recipe..... 

Friday Finds....Pussy Willow

I would love to be able to say I found the pussy willow whilst out walking today.......unless you count walking around Marks & Spencers ;-)
I spotted a lovely huge bunch there whilst shopping for our Valentines Day dinner.
I have to confess to stroking them a lot...I'm surprised there are any furry bits left on the branches actually.

Textures: Kim Klassen's 'All my loving', '99' and 'Natures Beauty' all soft light.

Quote: 'No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn'.  ~Hal Borland  

Thank goodness...........

Before....and after

Texture Tuesday

This week the theme is  Love  on Texture Tuesday. I decided avoid the usual pink and red (lovely as it is) and see what else I could find.....

....a vintage glass bottle, some hydrangea skeletons, tiny poppy seedheads plus a metal tag.

I used Kim Klassen's black texture 'Wonderful magic_scripted' (screen. 55% opacity),  plus '99'...a cream texture (soft light).

Brian and I have always celebrated Valentine's Day...cards, presents, a special meal. Don't suppose we'll ever stop...... I'll maybe make a card this year with this image.

I love this tiny heart from Kim's 'Vines and Lines' brush collection.

Before and after.....

Back on Friday with an update on my new collage plus 'Friday Finds'.

Hope you're having a   lovely   week........... :-)