Virtual Florist: Happy Mother's Day!!

Good morning, and Happy Mother's Day! I am feeling MUCH better! (of course, now Paul is starting to feel bad so I will be taking care of him and the boys today...)Wanted to share some photos I snapped at Natural Gardener a few weeks ago(the place with the unattended sign) and how I turned them into a quick gift set last night. (All my Mother's Day gifts will be late this year, good thing moms understand when that happens!!)

I've never taken any courses on photography, but I'll share some tips I've picked up from reading and others along the way on how to capture a good nature shot. Look for brilliant colors, interesting textures, and then get really, really close! (I didn't do any editing on the photos below but to add a watermark, it was a glorious day and the colors needed no help from me! Any "blemishes", dead leaves, etc I leave as they are, that's nature, part of the beauty!)

I don't know what the above flower is, but I like it!! Pink and oh so frilly :) I was excited to get the cactus behind it and those two cool "architectural" buds...

Does anyone know what this is?? I call it "Pretty and Prickly" It was serendipitous I found it again, because I saw them for the first time last month when i went to Lake Austin Day Spa for my birthday, and they completely charmed me(but I didn't have my camera). I just love the delicate color and petals(like a fairy skirt) surrounded by all those spiky leaves! Now that I have a photo I'll track it down online and identify when I have time(or feel free to get on that for me if YOU have time! ;) But I put my money on my Mom finding it first :) EDITED TO ADD: Wendy says it's Love in the Mist"! Thank you, Wendy! (Mom must be busy having brunch or something ;)
This earth tone glazed pots and trailing flowers remind me of the "Monet & the Mediterranean" exhibit I went to so many years ago. Maybe I'll try to paint it at some point(I am not a painter!) Try to get odd numbers to groupings (here 3 pots) and try to compose them so your eye moves in a triangle to take in all the things you want the person to see. You can crop with your camera, or with editing software later, I like to do it as I shoot, but sometimes I will tighten it up just a bit later. Having things go off the edges makes it more interesting(the flowers at the bottom)
I love irises, my favorite flower. They have a garden there with varieties and colors that would blow your mind! (I'll share some of those pics another time) This one I had seen before, but I share it because of the little ladybug I spied at the bottom, out on a big ladybug adventure...

Here are some poppies and...can't remember what! one of those "blue" flowers, help me out(not fluffy enough to be larkspur...!) Anyway, this red and blue together was the bomb!
And here's one poppy close up. (If you read my blog, you know I adore all things red.) I love all the great diagonals in the blowing grass. So are you inspired yet to go out and try to take some of your own?? or at least get out your favorite floral stamps?

Now for the gift, no stamping today! I printed them all out 2x3 size (wallet size), a nice proportion for A2 cards(you'll get 9 on your photo paper 8 1/2 x 11 sheet) Next I chose one color from the photo to mat each. Here SU! Basic Black, Regal Rose, Almost Amethyst, Lovely Lilac and Ballet Blue)

I took my PT white CS and embossed each with a large Nestabilities rectangle, it was the perfect proportion for the matted 2x3. I adhered each photo with a few dimensionals in the center. IMHO, they turned out looking like the cards Central Market wants 8 bucks apiece for!

Last I put them in my clear box from Papertrey with some white envelopes (which I buy in bulk from an office store near here). I am thrilled with the result and hope the recipients are, too :)

Okay, off to spend some time with the family, back later to share some stuff about my mom an pics of my kids :)

My Nestabilities TIP: Call me crazy, but aren't the ingredients of the "sandwich stack" for the Cuttlebug the same upside down or right side up when embossing?? I still went in the same order, but instead of having to flip my paper and put everything on top of it, I just put the big A plate on the bottom as usual and did everything in the reverse order so that my cardstock was face up, topped by my die and then the B plate so I could see it was still exactly where I wanted it. KWIM? And, actually found I got a better embossed image doing it this way. (Feel free to write to me and let me know if I'm risking cracking a B plate or something, until them I'm goin' for it!)