Mosiac Monday: Vintage Photos

Mosaic Monday is here again and I'm posting some very vintage photos of Mr AVO's family.

Please check out Mary's Little Red House for more lovely mosaics.

The photo on the top is Mr AVO's paternal 2nd great grandparents......they were quite well known Quakers, the little girl is their daughter.....Mr. AVO's 1st great grandmother.

The bottom photo is his paternal 3rd Great Grandparents and I'm guessing the photo is from somewhere in the 1880's.

Thanks for stopping by today for a visit.....all your lovely comments are greatly appreciated!

I will not be posting for a few weeks as I will be out of town on a family vacation and I get to do some genealogy things on this vacation too.....I'm sure I'll have LOTS of photos to share with you with I return.

Show & Tell Friday: A View from my Window

Well, here it is another Show &Tell Friday over at Cindy's My Romantic Home.

Show & Tell is meant to show something in your home or garden....well, this is not exactly my garden, but it is a view from my window upstairs in a loft where I have my computer.

I glanced up to look out of the window and this was my view.....I took these photos through the window and was surprised that they came out as well as they did.

Normally the hills wouldn't be quite this green....they are funky interesting hills that are almost all rock, but we've had  more rain this year than usual and so we get a bit greener.

Please visit My Romantic Home to get a look at lots of interesting posts.

Thanks for looking in and for taking the time to comment.

Mosaic Monday: Beautiful Tulips

After receiving the beautiful flowers for Mom's Day I decided to do a bit of artsy photography....I took the tulips out of the arrangement and took lots of photos.

Here is the result for my Mosaic Monday post.

Be sure to hop on over to Mary's Little Red House so you can enjoy all the other fabulous mosaics.

 Thanks for looking in.

As always, your comments make me smile.

Show & Tell Friday: Mother's Day Flowers

For Show & Tell Friday this week, I'm posting some beautiful flowers I received for Mom's Day from my oldest son and his family.

I took dozens of photos to try to get a few good ones....hope you enjoy these.

I was working on being artistic here....

Please join the rest of the participants over at Cindy's My Romantic Home to have some more fun for Show & Tell Friday.

Thank you as always for stopping by and you know I love to hear from you!

Have an enjoyable weekend.

Mosaic Monday: Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful bloggers and readers of blogs!

I thought I would post a  photo or two  of a  lovely and yummy Mother's Day gift for Mosaic Monday...please visit Mary over at Little Red House for more goodies.

These yummy strawberries are from younger son.....are you drooling yet? 

Thanks for dropping in and all comments are greatly appreciated!

If you like these canvas panel mosaics, you can see my tutorial HERE.

Show & Tell Friday: The First Tomatoes of the Season

Do any of you bloggers out there start wondering as to what to blog about?  I'm having that difficulty off and on for months now.

Today I was sitting on the patio having my lunch and wondering just what I was going to post for Show &Tell Friday and I happened to glance at our tomato plants and saw the first tomato on the vine....granted it's still very green but it gave me the inspiration for this post....hope you enjoy it.

This is how we are growing the tomatoes this year....not in the ground as in previous years.

There appears to be a 2nd tomato on the vine....yipee!

Thanks for dropping in and please take a look at all the other participants at Cindy's My Romantic Home.....there's always lots of good stuff to look at.

Your comments are always appreciated.

Mosaic Monday: Vintage Watches

Another fun Mosaic Monday is here.....please pop over to Mary's Little Red House to see all the interesting participants.

These are a few of my many vintage watches that are not running but I love them anyway....
although I'm going to go through them and put a few pieces in my etsy shop.

Some lovely vintage inspired and French wall clocks.....love the black and red reverse toile faces.

If you missed my recent tutorial on how to make the "canvas panel" mosaic on my top photo....you can check it out HERE.

Thanks you for looking in and have a pleasant week!

Your comments are greatly appreciated!

Show & Tell Friday: What Happened to My Orchids?

Two weeks ago I was looking for something to post on Show &Tell Friday and took some photos of the spikes on my Cymbidium orchids that we grow outside.

Normally by this time of the year we have about 12 to 15 spikes altogether on our various orchids. This year I've found only 3 blooming or spiking and am very disappointed.  I think it was possibly the cold and hail that we've had here in So CA this winter.....but I can't say for sure.

This was 2 weeks ago

This is today....not much progress

This is 2 weeks ago

This is today....a little more progress

A close up of one of the blooms.

Please check out Cindy's My Romantic Home for all the other participants.

If you are interested in a tutorial on mosaic canvas panels that some of you have asked for  instructions...please check it out HERE and let me know how it works out for you.

Thanks for looking in....I appreciate each and every one of your comments.

Mosaic and Canvas Panels Tutorial

Quite a number of my dear readers have asked me how I do these panel mosaics pictured above.

Well, I'm absolutely not a computer wiz but I can (hopefully) give you enough understandable instructions on how to create these mosaics.

First, go to Big Hug Labs  and about the middle of the upper right side, you will see a drop down window.  

Click on "Framer" and a new window will open.....choose "Canvas Panels" from the drop down menu.....make sure you choose between "Canvas Panels" or "Portrait" as this is the orientation of your original photo.

Hit browse if you are getting the photo from your computer or you can upload from Flickr or Facebook.

After uploading your photo, hit "Create" and it's all done.....save to your computer or wherever you would like.

Now, for a little more magic.....after you've saved your canvas panel photo......go back to the upload page and hit the drop down menu again and click on  "Frosted Glass"  or "Portrait" and then use browse to get your "panel" photo from your computer or upload from wherever you saved your "panel" photo.

Hit Create and voila'.....you've got a glass frame on your mosaic photo.

Hope you enjoyed this little tutorial and if you have any questions,  please feel free to e-mail me.

Thanks for stopping by!

I would really enjoy hearing about how this worked out for you.....I love your comments.

Mosaic Monday: Mother's Day Flowers

Since it's getting close to Mother's Day I thought it would be nice to look at beautiful flower arrangements that would all be perfect for Mother's Day giving.

I absolutely love lavender in any form

Aren't these wonderful bouquets?

More perfect arrangements.

Remember you can click on each photo to enlarge.

Before you, my readers get the idea that I've taken all these wonderful photos, I must admit that I've gotten them from PB's online catalogue.

I hope you enjoyed these virtual flowers and that you will give a look at all the other wonderful participants in Mosaic Monday over at Mary's Little Red House.

Thanks for dropping in .....I'd love to hear from you.

Oh, and before I forget it, wanted all of you who asked for a tutorial on the canvas panel mosaics that I've posted many times....I hope to get one posted later this week.....so please keep on looking in.

Show & Tell Friday: Spring Roses

We've had some more weird spring weather this week, but just before all the rain and hail, I noticed these beautiful roses on the bush outside and decided to bring them inside to enjoy.

I caught this photo just as the sun was shining through the window.

I hope you enjoy your weekend but first hop on over to Cindy's My Romantic Home for a look at all the other participants in this week's Show & Tell.

Your lovely comments are always appreciated!

Mosaic Monday: Beautiful Hummingbirds

I was sitting on the back patio enjoying my morning cup of tea when a darling little hummingbird came to our feeder.  I, of course, did not have my camera with me, but it inspired these photos of colorful and beautiful hummingbirds for today's Mosaic Monday.

I would certainly love to take credit for the photos of these  beautiful little creatures, but alas, I found them on the web......hope you've enjoyed them!

Please visit all the wonderful participants in Mosaic Monday over at Mary's Little Red House.

Thank you for your visit and taking the time to comment.....I love hearing from you!

Show & Tell Friday: Lots of Color

After returning from  running some errands this morning I drove by this wonderful, colorful profusion of ice plant blooming on the hill in the front of our house and it was the immediate inspiration for this week's Show & Tell post.

I've been having a major blogging block for a while now but these beautiful flowers put me back in the mood for posting......hope the mood lasts!

You may remember that I blogged about these bright flowers before here, but that was the hill behind our house that I see from the back patio and on this front hill there are several different colors of the ice plant.

Thank you for joining me today and have a lovely weekend.

Please don't forget to take a look at all the participants in Show & Tell Friday over at Cindy's My Romantic Home.

I appreciate you taking the time to comment.

Mosaic Monday: Ties to the Past

As many of you may know from some of my past posts I'm very much into genealogy

So, here are a few family photos that I've put together for today's 

Mosaic Monday......please pop on over to our wonderful host, Mary, at

Little Red House to visit all the other wonderful participants.

Mr. AVO's father

Mr. AVO's paternal grandmother

Mr. AVO's maternal grandfather

Thanks for the visit......I always look forward to your comments.

It's a Spring Cloche Party!

Here we are at another wonderful cloche party hosted by Marty over at A Stroll through Life....

please join our wonderful hosts and take a look at the other fabulous participants because

I'm also linking with Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show &Tell Friday....

A few of my favorite things.....seashells and vintage bottles.

I've added a bit of moss for spring.

This is on our dining room table......the silver tray belonged 

to my Mom and I love to use it in vignettes.

As you can see....a few more seashells.

 Thank you for taking the time to stop by.....I

look forward to your visits and comments.

Mosaic Monday: Birds of Spring

It's Mosaic Monday over at Mary's Little Red House and so I'm joining her again.....please pop on over.

 I've been having a complete and utter blogging block for the last few weeks or so....don't know what the problem is but hope to get back into posting more often very soon.

These mosaics are composed of free photos that I found on the internet and thought they would be perfect for spring.

Have a great week and thanks for looking.

Thank you for taking the time to comment.....it makes me smile.

Mosaic Monday: Spring Wildflowers

Since Saturday was the Vernal Equiniox, which marks the end of winter and the beginning of warmer and longer days, and since many of my blogging friends have had a severe winter, I decided to bring some beautiful spring color into my Mosaic Monday.
I'm joining Mary over at Little Red House ....please give all the wonderful participants a look.

 

Although I would love to take all the credit for these beautiful photos, I have to admit that I got them all from Flickr.

I have done some photo editing and added some focal zoom and of course, the frames.

Thank you for stopping by.

I always look forward to your lovely comments.

Table Top Tuesday: Kitchen Vignette

I'm joining Marty over at A Stroll Through Life for her Table Top Tuesday

Please hop on over and take a look at all the other interesting Table Top Tuesday participants.

The blue and white pitchers are Polish stoneware that we purchased in Poland on a

trip a few years back.

I can't tell you how many times various people have picked up the vase that's on it's side and sat it upright.....everyone thinks it fell over!

I caught this shot with the sun shining through the window and thought it was interesting.

I've had this bunny plaque for over 10 years and have always had him in the kitchen......and I LOVE him.

Thanks you for looking in and all of your comments are greatly appreciated.