Thursday, January 28, 2010

Lush Woodland Garden Plan


I have paths that meander through the wooden part of my property. Adding a low maintenance woodland garden makes it worth a stroll.

Download Lush Woodland Garden Plan free

Photo was enhance using Topaz Clean

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Young Northern Cardinal note card

Notecards

Notecards and postcards are no longer available

Monday, January 25, 2010

New Card page

Just finished installing a new template I coded from scratch. I will be making more changes but for now its working and I hope, easy to navigate.

I needed a shell for the card section of my zStore I now have directly on my site. Now I can submit my store on Yahoo! and Bing. You have to insert a code on your page to prove you are the owner. That was not possible with the store on the Zazzle site. They do offer the option of having a store on your own site which you can customized as much as you like. This makes it easier to make it blend in.

For the codes, I got most of my ideas reading books on Safari Books Online.

Update I no longer offer cards and the Zazzle store is now closed. Now I only offer prints and soon photo books.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Affiliate Bookstore

 Updates

Finally got the bookstore part of the site to blend with the rest.
Now it has a header like the Journal and a top menu.

I did try this before.
Coding the template from scratch.
Learning CSS, improving my design skills.
What I learn is that I need a basic shell to work with.
It saves time and works better for me.

Using a core template created by someone else was another problem.
Always something missing or parts I didn't need. Solution, create my own basic template and work from there.

Once done, I used the same colour codes to make changes to the my Amazon affiliate's store.
Then pasted the inline frame code into my template shell and voilĂ , a store that looks way much better than a widget.

Handcrafted CSS: More Bulletproof Web Design


P.S: No longer using Artisteer.
Except for the this blog and the Journal and Photo blog created with Wordpress, the rest is all coded manually in Notepad ++

Friday, January 15, 2010

Perennial Seeds - Geranium seeds: World's Top Six Mix

Just added a photo of my Geronimo from this mix on my Garden site
Perennial Seeds - Geranium seeds: World's Top Six Mix

It grows very well as a house plant. It spent about 2 months in a paper bag. It's a very nice red.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Choosing a camera

Read this interesting article on the English Garden magazine site. I read a lot of reviews and articles before I bought my own Canon EOS 40D camera.
Choosing a camera

Posted using ShareThis

Monday, January 11, 2010

Busy Bee in Iris



This is the start image of the latest addition to my Gallery Doesn't look like much. Most photographer would simply delete it. My attention was all on the bee and didn't see the lousy background until it was on my computer screen. I still liked the photo but it needed lots of work.

First, I cropped it. With the help of Adobe Photoshop Elements I adjusted the colours, shadows, and highlights. Then with Topaz Detail I changed the tones, made them bolder.

This added lots of noise, which I corrected with Topaz Denoise This was a great improvement but still not enough. With the stylize option in Topaz Clean I finally got what I wanted.

Take a look at the end result in the Gallery and you will think twice before you delete your next so so shot.

See it on a notecard

Topaz Photoshop Bundle

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Postcards



I still have postcards that were sent to me years ago.
It's like going through an old photo album.

Recently received one as a thank you for gifts to new parents.
Placed it where everyone who visits can see it.

Last summer one was included with plants I ordered online. I still have it. I use it now as a bookmark in a rose book.

Now I have my own Postcards You could get your own too.

In association with Zazzle.com

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Gold Light by eszra tanner
Gold Light by eszra tanner


I'm a member of the Imagekind.com community and I like to visit other artists galleries for inspiration. Eszra Tanner's landscapes are breathtaking.

Click on image to view more of her great work.

P.S: I an no longer a member of the Imagekind community.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Blue Lupine

Newly added in the Photo Gallery's Annuals Album. Pass this one twice in Topaz Clean 2 Tried to enhanced this photo before but results weren't worth keeping. Now it looks good enough to print.

The Art of Digital Photo Painting: Using Popular Software to Create Masterpieces



Kogesha Iris

Ensata Iris


Now in the Irises
 Kogesha grows well in borders.
Mine is a few years old and was divided once.
I have it in a sandy loam in a section that I water more often.

Friday, January 1, 2010

Blue Jay



This is another photo I managed to rescue using Adobe Photoshop Elements I took this one through a window and did not have enough time to adjust the camera for the light reflection on the snow.

After a few corrections, I tested with Topaz Simplify. First few tries didn't come out right and I made a few more changes. The end results you can see in the Gallery