Summer Lovin'

Hi Everyone!

Today is just for fun with a little all occasions card for my stash. I have used some Recollections papers and wood chippies from Michaels and lots of extra goodies to put this together. Special note of the gorgeous lace butterfly. It was a gift from my good friend Anne of Redanne. Thank you Anne, I just love my little lace butterflies!!

The little tag is from Graphic 45, the wooden flower embellishment is Prima, the doily is Prima, the leaves are Cheery Lynn, the Chloe die is Memory Box, the flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts, the dragonfly stamp is from Do-crafts and everything else is from my stash.

UPDATE:
My card won an award in the following wonderful challenge:

Simply Create Too - Ch. #111- Use Buttons or Bows

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To continue with my story of our trek up the mountain, I thought I would show you what we saw when we finally got to the top. It was really beautiful, but to be honest, we were both so tired and frustrated with the bugs, that we didn't really stop to enjoy it like we should have.

I decided to practice a photography technique known as 'creamy water'. It was tricky making the necessary adjustments, holding the camera completely still without a tripod, and swatting away bugs so they don't fly up my nose, but I think I managed to get a few good shots. lol

Here is a regular shot of the water...

this was done using the 'creamy water' technique...

regular...

creamy...

An overall shot of the falls with 'creamy water'. I think it's so much prettier than a regular shot.

These must be the remains of some sort of water pipe, tunnel, something or other. I am going to enter this shot into "A Beautiful World". Their word prompt this week is "OLD".

There is a  photography technique called 'forced perspective'. Basically, you can make small things look big and big things look small using a bit of trickery with your camera. I found the perfect spot to practice on.

 

I believe this next one is my most successful shot.
Doesn't this look like a giant cliff overhanging the ocean??

In fact, all the photos were taken from this little section of rock that was only about knee high from the ground...COOL RIGHT!!

Well enough about the waterfalls, back on the home front we have lots of birds at the lake. Some Mallards, a baby Blackbird on the boardwalk, a Goose taking a bath and something extra special!

So this is a Cormorant. They aren't rare everywhere, but apparently they only land on our lake for about two days a year, so I feel pretty lucky to have been there to capture a shot! They were way out in the middle of the lake, so this was the best photo I could get.

Dee Dee says hello from the patio as she asks very politely for some peanuts...

Karen says hello from the comfort of the big shady tree...

I would like everyone to meet Skittles. This is one of the babies that's been hanging around in the tree. 

And when I say 'hanging around' I mean literally...

HANGING!!!

Honestly, have you ever seen anything like this before? HILARIOUS!!

I actually managed to get up before the sun the other day, so here is my token morning coffee shot...

You would think with all those clouds that maybe we would get some rain...NOPE!! It is dry and hot, hot and dry...HOT HOT HOT!!

That's it for today. Thank you for stopping in and for all the amazing comments. If you have any questions or interesting tidbits about today's wildlife, please let me know.