Bliss

Hummingbirds are my bliss.  Growing up we visited Mt. Shasta, California for swimming meets and we always hung out with these really great people.  They had a beautiful house in a wooded area.  As time went on, I became good friends with their daughter and spent extra time in the "city" after the Mt. Shasta swim meet - always one of the hottest places we traveled to - hands down.  They had a red hummingbird feeder similar to the one pictured here.  I loved it.  I love these little birds with their wings flapping at what seemed like light speed to my younger self.  They were fabulous.  Now that I'm "all grown up" - I still love hummingbirds.  My breath catches each time I see one.  They remind me of easier times when my whole life was in front of me.  Before the pressure of adulthood and conformity took over - when I was still in touch with my creative self.  This picture captures that feeling perfectly - the feeling of bliss, joy, magic and possibility.

It might come as a surprise - but this picture started out looking like this:

It's a beautiful picture as is - but still I wanted to try to see if I could give it vintage effects and a little texture using Photoshop Elements.  I think I did a pretty good job for my first time out.  I found the picture at Morgue File - a fabulous site I heard about on Paperclipping Roundtable.  They have copyright free images and they're amazing.  It works out well for a girl like me that doesn't take many pictures.  I used a texture from flickr.  I really wish I knew the user name for the person because it's amazing!  So there you are - my first crack at vintage.  I had big plans to post about something else entirely - but...[insert cute quote about plans here - for the love of God I can't think of one]. ;),  I hope everyone is having a nice Sunday.  I spent part of mine at my second home - Barnes & Noble which was heavenly.  More on that another day.  Until then...