Camper

Tuesday Fun

Tuesday might just be my favorite day of the week. It was quite enough fun when I was just linking up to Texture Tuesday but now that I'm playing along at Tuesday Muse, it's double the fun! So let's get busy.

For Texture Tuesday, the theme was The Times Two eDition, meaning we had to use two layers of Kim Klassen's textures. The photo above had a trip through Lightroom for some tinkering then over to PSE 11 for some additional tinkering. I used one layer of Kim's Sunkissed (one of my favorites) at blend mode multiply 63% opacity, and another layer of the same texture at blend mode soft light 55% opacity. After  brushing off the texture from the book and cup, I lightened the photo a bit in a levels adjustment layer and called it done (as Kim would say).

For the tulip photo, I ran it through Lightroom for some basic editing then into PSE 11 where I added one layer of Kim's Prague texture, blend mode soft light 50% opacity, then another layer of Prague, soft light 100%, brushing off some texture from the tulips. I then added the heart circle and text and it was done.

This is a budding branch from our Japanese Willow Tree, taken in early morning. I used Nancy Claeys' texture, Chris at blend mode mulitply 85%, and another layer of Chris at blend mode mulitply 25%. That's it. You'll find Nancy and her lovely textures at A Rural Journal.

Both these lovely ladies are very generous in sharing their textures so if you're interested, check them out. They also give very helpful tutorials.

That's it for my Tuesday adventures. I hope you enjoyed visiting Camper because we love it when you stop by.

A Birthday Gift

Since this is a multigenerational blog, I like to feature Campbell's artwork and photography whenever the opportunity arises. Today I'm very happy to share her latest creation.

This past weekend was Krista's birthday and since I had Campbell all week last week, I kept her busy with artwork. She always seems to have a pen, pencil, crayon or marker in her hands when she is in the house so instead of candy, I got her a basketful of art supplies for Easter. This week she put them to good use.

The little painting you see above was done on canvas and Campbell painted it to give to her mother for her birthday. I think it's a wonderful painting and so did her mommy.

It's so much fun to see little ones experience the joy of creativity, don't you think?

Spring Break

Since Texture Tuesday is a free and easy edition, I thought I'd do something other than tulips this week. It's Spring Break week here which means I have Campbell all week long while her mom and dad are at work. This morning, we started off the week with a paint-by-number project. I was so taken with how lovely she looked as she concentrated on her picture that I just had to grab my camera.

I seldom use textures on people pictures but thought I'd make an exception and link to Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday and A Rural Journal's Tuesday Muse. I had also wanted to use one of Nancy's textures but am really pressed for time. Next week for sure!!

After some editing in Lightroom, where I used Kim's matte finish trick, I hopped over to PSE 11 to add Kim's Sunkissed at 60% opacity, brushing it off Campbell. That's it - free and easy!

Whether you're on spring break or not, I hope spring is coming your way. It seems to be getting ready to make an appearance here. And I hope your week is a good one. As always ... thanks for stopping by! Do stop and say "hi" in the comments.

It's Easter!

                                         The Camper Girls wish you  a very happy Easter holiday!





 

Thinking on Tuesday

This week's Texture Tuesday challenge is Flower Power, always a winner for me since I love to photograph flowers.

For this photo, I did a bit of tweaking in Lightroom to give my original image more of a matte look. Next, I added one of Kim's textures, Daisy, at soft light 100% opacity. I brushed texture off the flowers.

For the text, I decided to incorporate the Beyond Beyond lesson for this week, text on a path. It took a bit of trial and error to get a workable path ... that drawing tool is harder than I imagined. I think because I started out going too slowly. When I just let it rip, I did much better. Anyhow, that's the technique that I used. The font is French Script MT.

That's it and now I'm ready to link up with Kim and my friends at

and ...

{drum roll}

I've found a new Tuesday link up over at A Rural Journal.

Winter Hangs On

In spite of our lovely new spring banner (hat tip to my daughter, Krista!), winter is hanging on and hanging on this year. Last year we had a very mild, springlike winter, resulting in a late freeze and frozen buds and blooms. So far we're in little danger of that this year. So ... what's a girl to do?

Tulips! Yes, grocery store tulips ... or any other flower, for that matter. I just happen to be partial to tulips. Especially since gerbera daisies have not yet made an appearance on the store shelves in my neck of the woods.

For this week's Beyond Beyond class with Kim Klassen, I'm using tulips to practice my lessons. I liked Beyond Layers last year but I gotta tell you ... I am lovin' Beyond Beyond, or 2B, which is not such a mouthful.

This week's lesson was chock full of fun things to learn. For this photo I incorporated a matte finish, a texture layer (Kim's "Ashton" from the Cloth and Paper Collection), and text on a path. Woohoo! I love this text on a path trick! So much fun.

There you have it.

So ... is winter hanging on in your neck of the woods or are you in sunnier climates these days? If you're winter bound (and tired of it), do share with me how you keep your sanity when ... winter hangs on.

 

The Lucky Winner Is ...

At the end of each nine-week grading period, Campbell's school holds a perfect attendance drawing for a special prize. This week the prize was an iPad Mini ... and ... Little Miss Campbell was the very happy winner!

This was especially sweet because of a recent misfortune. For Christmas, Campbell got an iPod Touch which she loved and said was her favorite gift. About a month later while visiting Washington, DC, for the Inauguration, Campbell lost her iPod Touch. Needless to say, she was heartbroken.

Fast forward two months and my sweet little granddaugher was the lucky winner. And do you know what? An iPad Mini is better than an iPod Touch.

PS - When I was in school, all we got for perfect attendance was a certificate.

Thursday Thoughts

Okay ... I know it's not Tuesday; it's Thursday. I'm a bit late this week but I still have time to just get in under the wire over at

This week's challenge was "The Word Edition" and it was just too much fun to pass up even if I have had a busy week. I hate it when "life" interferes with my creative time!

For this image, I used two layers of Kim's Daisy texture, one layer at 40% soft light, the other at 60% color burn. The photo was taken out on my back porch and it was mighty chilly but I managed to stick it out long enough to get some shots to work with. This was my favorite.

Okay ... going over to link up right now. Until next time, let's remember that spring is going to get here. Until it does, thank goodness for store-bought tulips!

Hawai'i - Part 3

Aloha!

Let me begin by saying “Mahalo” for all for your lovely comments. I know not everybody gets to visit Hawaii and it’s such a beautiful place, I wanted to share it with you. This is the final installment of the story of our time in Hawaii a couple of weeks ago.

There are flowers in abundance in Hawaii. Unbelievably, these are the only three flower pictures I shot the whole week. Anybody who knows me knows that I love photographing flowers but I guess with all the other beauty around me, I overlooked the flowers that were everywhere.

If you like blue skies, big waves and surfers (and who doesn’t like surfers?), Hawaii is the place for you. These were taken at Poipu Beach.

This energetic fellow was surfing just beneath our deck along with a buddy. They surfed and they surfed and they surfed. Anyone who has ever played in the ocean knows how much energy it takes and how hungry and tired you are when you’re finished. I can only imagine that these guys ate a huge meal when they were finished. All over Hawaii, you usually see somebody playing in the surf at any given time of day all year round. The weather when we were there was a pleasant breezy mid-seventies (F) during the day and not cooler than mid-sixties overnight. There are always pleasant tropical breezes to keep you cool. Okay, sometimes it’s downright windy!

Kauai is a small island so everything is within easy driving distance but there is a lot of traffic. Heading north from our condo, we drove to Kilauea Lighthouse which has been beautifully restored. Situated on a picturesque point, it affords breathtaking views from all directions.

Looking north from the lighthouse property, this is the view you see.

Looking over the edge of the cliffs, you’ll see sights such as this one.

Traveling away from Kilauea, we came upon a small shopping enclave that featured gift shops and lots of locally made crafts, and of course, restaurants and snack bars. Strolling through this delightful area was like a walk in the park.

Next up: Anini Beach. Oh, my! All the beaches in Hawaii are too beautiful to believe but something about Anini really resonated with me. I’ve already shared one photo in an earlier post. Here’s another. The crescent shaped beach is so picturesque.

From here we journeyed onto the town of Hanalei, a typical tourist town but still very interesting, lots of shops, lots of people, and  lots of restaurants … all screaming, “Hawaii”. We ate lunch here and I include it because it’s so typical of the open air restaurants all over Hawaii.

From here we continued to Hanalei Bay another unbelievably picturesque beach. This beach is famous as the beach where Mitzi Gaynor washed that man right outta her hair in the movie, “South Pacific”. Yes, you have my permission to sing that song the rest of the day.

Following Route 56 we literally ran to the end of the road at Haena Beach Park which connects to the Na Pali Coast hiking trailhead. If you really want an adventure, I have no doubt that hiking the Na Pali Coast would provide one.

With one last look at the view from our condo, I’ll finish up my series on Kauai. I’m so happy you were able to share it with me. I’d love to hear your thoughts and if you’ve been to Kauai, please stop by and tell me a bit about your trip.

Mahalo! I’m so glad you joined me here at Camper.

Hawai'i - Part 2

Although Hawaii is our 50th state, it really is a culture unlike any of the other 49 states. For one thing, they have their very own language. I'm not talking regional accents and dialects, I'm talking a whole different language. They have, of course, adapted American English as their own but there are beautiful Hawaiian words to be found everywhere in names, towns, street signs. It's all very intriguing. The Hawaiian language is a beautiful, musical language, to hear natives speak Hawaiian is a delight.

Most, if not all the restaurants in Hawaii are open air restaurants. Year-round tropical breezes make air-conditioning unneccesary. What this means is that the birds join you when you dine so it was not unusual to see signs like this in the dining areas.

"Maholo" is Hawaiian for thank you. Aloha, of course, means hello as well as good-bye and I love you. What is so fascinating about the Hawaiian language is that it uses only 12 characters, 5 vowels and 7 consonants. Vowels often appear one after the other but each is pronounced separately. All syllables end with vowels so if you see a consonant that's your clue that it's a new syllable. They also have a unique way of accenting their words, usually accenting the next to the last syllable. As we drove around, my personal game was to read the street signs and try to figure out the correct pronunciation.

One of our favorite places was the artists' conclave of Hanapepe on the west side of the island. It's a small place ... well, I guess every place in Kauai is small ... but packed with charm. A local attraction is the Hanapepe Swinging Bridge. Yes, it truly swings as it crosses the Waimea River enough so that you want to hang on when you're in the middle.

This next photo is for my local readers. As we walked around Hanapepe, Steve and I both had the same thought at almost the esact same moment: Hanapepe is Hawaii's Perryville. For the uninitiated, Perryville is a small, local town with a significant Civil War history. The storefronts and many of the buildings from that era still survive and the town, along with Perryville Battlefield are tourist destinations.

Next up was a trip to the Waimea Canyon, the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. It was formed by rainwater erosion as well as the collapse of a volcano some 4 million years ago. You can read more about it on Wikipedia.

The overlook at the park featured a Hawaiian guide to answer your questions. To be honest, I thought he looked a bit self-conscious, as though everybody was looking at him. I can't think why ...

When we finished up at the canyon, we decided it was lunch time but we had no clue where we might find said meal. Spotting a sign along the highway for a cafe, we decided to give it a try. What a treasure! Located on the cottage resort of Waimea Plantation, it turned out to be one of the best meals we had during our whole stay. And the grounds were stunning! Genteel, 19th century Hawaiian tranquility. If you decide to go to Kauai, I highly recommend staying here for a totally relaxing visit. If we return, this is where we'll stay.

This Banyan tree stood on the grounds between the lodge and the ocean. Banyan trees are found on all the islands. I asked Steve pose in front of the it to provide some perspective as to the size of these things. Amazing, isn't it?

Now that we were well fed, it was time to head to Port Allen for our sunset dinner cruise along the Na Pali Coast. We cruised this coast on our first trip to Hawaii and longed to go back. The cliffs rise some 4000 feet above sea level and stretch for miles along the north shore.Truly a natural wonder not to be missed if you go to Kauai.

We saw some humpback whales but not close enough to get photos, much to my utter dismay. We did get close to a sea turtle.

What better way to close this somewhat lengthy post than with a couple of shots of Na Pali sunset. The island you see off to the right hand edge of the photo is Ni'ihau, or the Forbidden Island. It is inhabited by Native Hawaiians and Hawaiian is their primary language. Only family and some government people are allowed to visit. (I wonder if this was the inspiration for "Bali Ha'i" of South Pacific fame?)

That concludes our travelogue for today. I hope you've found it interesting and perhaps I've tempted you to plan your own visit to this fascinating place. Tomorrow I'll be back with the final installment from our trip.

Aloha!