Flying Beauty - Photo Art Friday

The Paper Kite butterfly captured my heart this past summer when I was able to photograph it in two different butterfly houses.  It's home is in southeast Asia, so unfortunately I won't see it flying through my garden any time soon!

Grand Opening - Heart & Soul Photo Art!

GRAND OPENING

HEART & SOUL PHOTO ART - Etsy Store

I am very excited to announce the Grand Opening of my new Etsy store.  It is stocked and ready to go, full of my photography!  Many of you have been so nice in encouraging me to venture out and sell my art, so here we go!

Of course any grand opening needs a special coupon, right?  Use coupon code GRAND to receive 40% off any print now until Sunday evening.  

Here is just a sampling of what you'll find:

Thanks for stopping in.  Happy Shopping!!

Texture Tuesday - {Quote eDition}

A very quick visit to the Butterfly House in St Louis, Missouri on Friday garnered a few photos.  The light wasn't fantastic, and the subject matter flighty, and unable to sit still for this photographer!  Luckily a few of these gorgeous tropical creatures were recently hatched and sitting still drying their wings.  This beauty is called a "Paper Kite" and to see and feel them whizzing about my head was quite extraordinary!

I've simply used two layers of Kim's 'Evolve', (thought that was appropriate) and masked out just the head and body of the butterfly.

I have not been able to identify this beauty yet, but he stood still for me for the longest time.  I've treated this photo with a layer of Kim's 'DearDreamer' at 100% soft light, a layer of 'DearDreamer' with the postmark at 52% multiply, and a layer of 'Revolution' at 100% multiply with a layer mask in the center of the photo on each layer.

That's it for this week!

Be sure to check out the information about my Mommy & Me Photography Challenge.  We'll be posting on Wednesday!!  It's not too late to join in on the fun!!

Ten Truths About Me

It seems to take a long time to be comfortable in who you are.  I never would have guessed it would take me this long, 40 some years, to be comfortable in my own skin.  But it feels good to be here, in this place, content, comfortable, happy.  As I reflect on this place, I thought I'd share Ten Truths About Me.

1.  I'm in a very creative place right now with my photography and Photoshop, and I am having a blast doing it. {I love Texture Tuesdays!}

2.  I'm hoping to be brave enough to begin selling my photography very soon! {did I just say that?}

3.  Summer is my absolutely favorite time of the year.  I spend much of the day outside.  I don't mind the heat as much as the rest of the family.  I adore time in my garden and back yard.

4.  I'm reading through the entire Bible this summer from Memorial Day to Labor Day. (Bible in 90 Days program)  I'm excited my Husband is joining me on this adventure.  We'll have some great discussions as we read together.

5.  I hate cleaning house.

6.  I am shocked at how my life continues to evolve.  I feel the same as I did 15 years ago, but I continue learning new things and enjoying old things.

7.  My girls are growing up too fast!!

8. I love road trips with the family.  We are currently planning for this summer's trip, possibly north through the Dakotas and Montana, into Canada.  I can't wait! (This is when I love digital cameras the most!!)

9.  My Husband is my absolute best friend, and I couldn't possibly live without him.

10.  Organization is not my strength and sometimes it drives me crazy!


Just for fun, I'm hosting a fun photography challenge for Moms and their kids.  Come check it out  We're calling it Mommy & Me Photography Challenge.!

My photo above: Two layers of Kim Klassen's texture 'Oh My' at Soft Light 100%, Kim's 'PaperStained' texture on Overlay at 100%, a new texture 'Cocoa Linen' at 50% color burn, and a few adjustment layers for brightness and exposure.

Hatching Butterflies

When planting our vegetable garden this year, our first, we decided to add some dill just for the butterflies!  Black Swallowtails use dill as a host plant.  I only planted one plant, thinking we'd be lucky if any butterflies found it.  Would you believe we had 14 caterpillars all on that one plant?  Needless to say, they decimated the plant and ate it down to absolutely nothing.  We plucked a few caterpillars off the dill and placed them in a safe place on our patio to go to chrysalis and hatch to butterflies.

Gorgeous, huh?  Needless to say, next year we'll be planting more dill!  We placed her out on the black-eyed susans to dry her wings and find her way around the garden.

I LOVE butterfly gardening!!!

Raising Caterpillars to Butterflies

Several years ago our hearts were captured by the miracle of a caterpillar emerging into a butterfly right before our eyes.  We raised about 15 monarch caterpillars and watched them hatch.  Ever since then we've been planting flowers and plants to feed them!  They are very picky eaters, so if you don't have their choice host plant in your garden, chances are, you won't see them stopping by!

This year, since we started a vegetable garden, we had to plant some dill, as this is the favored host plant for Black Swallowtail butterflies.  Only one of my dill plants made it through the harsh cold and wet spring, and it is now feeding 9 caterpillars!  I'm worried there isn't enough for all of them, but we'll see how it all plays out!

When they emerge they will look like this:

female

 male

Unfortunately near the end of their caterpillar stage, they can be targets for bird-food, so we may be making a safety house for them.  I'll keep you updated on our progress!

I can't wait to welcome them into the garden.

More Butterflies have Arrived!

This beautiful Red-Spotted Purple Swallowtail visited our garden last week.  I first spotted him on this tubing that is on the pump to our swimming pool.  He was there for quite a while, so I suppose he was trying to get some moisture.  Then he gently floated over to the hostas to sun himself, where he graciously allowed me to photograph him!

American Beauties Native Plants Bring the Wildlife

I recently attended a wonderful seminar at Casey's Garden Shop about American Beauties Native Plants and butterfly gardening.  What's not to love about that, right?  I'm always open to learning how I can bring more butterflies and wildlife to my garden.

I was thankful to learn that many of the plants already in my garden fall into that category.  Purple coneflower, milkweed, butterfly bush, tickseed, joe pye weed, black-eyed susans, cosmos, lantana, verbena and zinnia are already in my garden.

But I was excited to add a new plant to this area, the Prairie Coneflower.  This is from the American Beauties collection and is native to our area of the country.  That is the cool thing about their plants....they are only selling to your garden center what is native for your area and your wildlife.

Many may have the false assumption that native plants are all weed like and boring.  I thought I'd show you some of the more exotic plants I found in this category that are far from boring!!

The American Beauties website is full of fantastic information about these native species and how you can draw the wildlife to your garden.  Go learn something, head over to Casey's to check out their selection, and wait for the beauty to arrive!

Invited Guests: Yellow Swallowtail

My heart begins to flutter extra quickly when I see these beautiful creatures visiting my garden!

I'm so glad she was patient enough for me to capture some photos.  They usually don't sit still this long!

Butterflies - Where Art Thou?

Every year at about this time, I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of the butterflies.  They bless my soul, honestly.  They are just so beautiful and graceful.  I consider each time they visit my garden a complete blessing.

But you know, they don't just show up in your garden by accident.  You have to lay out an invitation for them to come, eat and stay awhile!  This requires all the right elements:  food, water, shelter, sun.  There are hundreds of articles out there on how to attract butterflies to your garden.  Just do a little research and you'll be amazed when these little jewels find their way to your home.

I headed over to Casey's earlier this summer to select some plants and then planted a special corner of my garden just for the butterflies. 

 Zinnias

 Butterfly Weed

 Swamp Milkweed

 Purple Coneflower

 Yarrow

 Lantana

 

Cosmos

Want to know more about luring butterflies to your garden?  At 6:30 pm tonight at Casey's you can get in on a great seminar, "Inviting and Sustaining Generations of Butterflies Using American Beauties Native Plants".  Raising native plants to your area is the best way for butterflies to call your garden home!  I'll be there....just look for the lady with the camera!