Three Year Progress Photo

I'd like to be one of those people who turns out some fabulous time lapse of how their child has changed. One picture a day, that kind of thing. So far the only consistent image I have is a random shot that I happened to recreate one year after coming home and then again the next year. So I did it again this year. Three years home!

June 2011, first day home

June 2012

June 2013

June 2014

So it may be the last year she can put on these clothes. But then I said that last year too. Thank goodness for stretchy clothes! I can't believe how loose those pants once were on her. She was so little then. I just noticed that we forgot the socks. Probably wouldn't have made it over her heels :-)

Before/After Blog Hop 8/19/10

I spent some time in the garden last weekend. Quite a bit of time actually. My fingers are still sore from pulling out ground cover. For this week's Before and After, I've got two sets of photos.

The first shows my existing hosta garden, which had some weeds and shadows and crud in the bird bath (can't seem to keep up with the crud!).

So I took to Photoshop and brightened, added some saturation and weeded! Love that virtual weeding!The second set of Before and After is not a virtual one. I neglected to take a before shot so the first shot is from last fall. The ground cover has dramatically taken over since it was taken so it's not a real comparison. You get the basic idea anyway.

In the after shot, it sure doesn't seem like much but that whole hill was covered in green until I started pulling. It took a few hours and six bags of mulch but I carved out the beginnings of my reclamation of the hill for planting. Whew. I've long been a hater of hosta, knowing only the sad, overgrown, plain versions lining the sidewalks of neglected houses nearby. Lately I've discovered they are pretty cool! So many interesting varieties to choose from that I think eventually that hill will be a good showcase for them.

Here's a close up of the new and old hostas in the new plantings. I picked up Ivory Coast, Francee, Paradise Power and one other I can't remember now at Savory's Gardens which is a local place that I discovered recently. It's not the cheapest place to buy a hosta but WOW do they have a cool selection! And be sure to check out the garden in the back. Amazing.

Check out the other Before and After photos at Pixel Perfect!

Before/After Blog Hop 6/24/10

Before, with spotty leaves and some distracting petals on the ground. Taken with the Olympus SP-590 on a cloudy afternoon in June.After, with a little bit of cropping, brightening and cleaning of leaves and background in Photoshop.

Check out the other amazing transformations at Pixel Perfect!

Before/After Blog Hop 6/17/10

Before, a close-up of the hybrid tea rose Tineke, a little dark with a distracting background. Taken with the Olympus SP-590.

After, brightened, cropped and cleaned up...
If you like my shots, you need to visit Pixel Perfect for more before and after fun! And if you want to play along all you have to do is show us your SOOC (straight out of camera) shot and then the edited version. Link back to Pixel Perfect and link up your post below! Feel free to share with us your editing program and camera gear too!