Fragmented Friday

The past few weeks have been very busy, with a little of this and this, and a little of that and a whole lot of where on earth did the time go! I do however have a few good fragments to share.

1. I  did manage to make it to the March meeting of the Black Hills Photography Club which was very enjoyable. I hope to be joining this very active and fun group of photographers. They meet once a month at this beautiful location. 

2. I took the grand kids to see the taxidermy display last week. Since my granddaughter Sissy was using my Powershot, I handed my phone to my youngest daughter who had come along with us and asked her to use it to capture the kids expressions. 

Here is a shot Sissy captured.

3. By now everyone knows that I love combining great quotes with beautiful images. Well this morning I was delighted to receive this from a friend of mine. He added one of my favorite quotes to one of his beautiful photographs, I was very touched. 

Isn't it beautiful!

4. This morning I received an email about a Call for Art for an art exhibit that will be held during the Dare to Dream convention in June. The convention's mission is "... to provide people with disabilities and others an opportunity to gain knowledge, enhance skills, develop friendships and have fun!" and is being sponsored by some really great organizations that I have had the pleasure of dealing with in the past. So of course I submitted some artwork and hope to have one of my pieces chosen for the art exhibit.

That dear folks wraps up my fragments, so please enjoy your weekend and click the button below to stop over to Mrs 4444's for more fragmented fun.

A big thanks to Lisleman for reminding me that I needed to link up this post.

Nail Art

Almost everyone has some item that they just never get enough of. For some it is shoes or maybe purses, but for us it is art supplies and more specifically nail art supplies.

We are up to 111 bottles of nail polish, and believe me we will buy more then next time we go to the store. Add to that the 20 or thirty bottles of acrylic paint and we are in good shape to create many fun nail art designs.

My nails

We started the month off with these fun spring designs.

Mrs. G's nails

Of course I decided that a special design was called for in honor of Saint Patrick's Day.

Now that St. Patrick's Day is over what type of design should I do?
Do you have an item that you just can't seem to get enough of?

Wordless Wednesday: Anticipation

Weekly Smorgasbord

It is time once more for the weekly smorgasbord of posts. I have had a busy but productive week. How about you, how has your week been?

This weeks random facts and fragments

#1 

I love to read both fiction and non-fiction. This week I read a very captivating short fiction story titled Last Exit. If you enjoy stories with a bit of a twist hop over and give it a read. I really think it would make a great intro to an interesting novel.

#2
How long is too long... for a person to live that is. That may seem like an odd question, but it is one that Mrs. G and I talked about just before I came across Misao Okawa's tips for long life. Mrs. G says she doesn't want to live past 80, but I am sure she will change her mind when she turns 50. Can you hear me laughing? I am not sure I want to live as long as Misao Okawa though. All I know is that I would prefer not to live longer than my children. Other than that, as long as I can remain active and enjoy life I am all for living to a ripe old age! What do you think?

#3
Picture time!!!!
In my notes for Wednesday's Abstract Floral Art post I had jotted down to include the original photos used to create the abstract piece. Some how I forgot to do so and Joyce at Joyful Art Stuff mentioned that it would be nice to see the originals, so here are the two photos I used. 

#4
An off the wall, but cute fact. Mrs. G's cat is very naughty. She decided that since Mrs. G's sweater/jacket was on the table it was an open invitation to lay on the table.

#5
The beginning of this week I managed to get a good amount of work done including adding this to our Irish fun designs.

I also added this composite art design to our gift shop. It is available with or without the Irish Blessing.

For more fragments and random fact visit these blog parties:

Abstract Floral Art: Emergence of Spring

It seems this week I have a one track mind and that track is SPRING!

Bonnie over at Pixel Dust Photo Art hosts a monthly photo art challenge and this month the theme is Abstract flowers. Being as I am in a Spring frame of mind I decided to join in the fun this month and create a piece for the challenge.

In creating this abstract art I was inspired by the idea of spring erupting in vibrant color from the frost covered ground of winter.  To express this I used two photos one I took of a vibrant bouquet of spring flowers and a second photo of a frost covered twigs. 

I applied the following effects in Photoshop; Frosted glass filter on spring floral bouquet, followed by the application of a wave filter. Then I added a winter frost photo which I made transparent applying a linear light filter to the top photo.

Yummy... Snow????

Mrs. G took the kids out for a bit of fun today and got these shots of them enjoying the snow.

Both kids decided to snack on the snow....

Today was only the second time Sissy and Bubba actually got a chance to go outside and play in the snow. With the exception of the blizzard in October, each time it has snowed  we have had extremely cold temperatures and dangerous wind chills or the snow has melted so quick they didn't get a chance to go out and enjoy the snow.

It is suppose to warm up over the next few days so most likely the snow will be gone really quick.