Just in case you missed it…today is the last day of July. For those of you who have children, this means that school is about to start (at least on a traditional calendar). For me, this means we’re one day closer to Fall temperatures (I cannot even wait!). It also means that TOMORROW IS MY MOM’S BIRTHDAY! Be sure to wish her a Happy Birthday while you’re here.

Anyways, if you’ve been participating in the Scavenger Hunt each week, I hope this week’s items inspired you. If you’re new to the Scavenger Hunt…WELCOME! Next week’s items are sponsored by Paper Heart Camera, the Paper Mama and Dina.

I dragged my feet on this prompt until yesterday. I was driving downtown to pick up lunch for my mom and dad when I turned down a road that typically looks pretty crummy. I’ve learned from Katie Lloyd that you can turn anything into a work of art by just un-focusing.

I took this shot during the PEACE(ful) Protest last Sunday. I figure there are a couple of repeating patterns in this shot: the fence itself and the bricks…even if they are in the form of bokeh.

During the late afternoons, Kitty Paw loves to sit in our bathroom and soak up the sun. When I considered what I might shoot for “floor,” I immediately thought of Kitty Paw sitting on the floor. I had no idea she’d give me her yawn face.

 

Earlier this week, I released “Debonair,” inspired by Katie Lloyd’s Vintage Polaroid Effect for Photoshop Elements. As much as I’m loving Debonair (and I hope you are too), I really wanted to create an action that would really simulate the vintage polaroid effect…meaning, I needed to create frames. After a few hours of recording and re-recording my steps, I finally got it to a point worth sharing. 

If you click on the link below, you can download the entire set. It includes: Photoshop Action Set and Photoshop Elements Folder including Debonair, Vintage Polaroid Horizontal and Vintage Polaroid Vertical. The only thing that may be a little off is the clipping mask. Because this runs as an action, it will create one size that doesn’t fit all. Just click on the clipping mask and you can resize it to fit your photo’s dimensions. You can also fill the frame layer white if you want a white frame instead of a black frame (or create a new white fill layer on top of the black frame layer). Enjoy!

Last year, my friend Caroline asked if I would take some engagement portraits. I was thrilled to get the practice, so we headed out to Peace College (Caroline is a 2003 graduate). If you mouse over, you can see one of the images from that session. Last weekend, while I was at Peace, I took a new photo of William Peace (Peace College’s founder). Looking back…let’s just say that I have come a long way in the past year.

I’m sure no one could have predicted that I would do a self-portrait for this shot (insert sarcasm). Actually, would you believe I came home the other day and painted my finger nails just for this shot? I initially planned for smurf blue but I kept screwing up the paint so I switched to lovely lilac.

What were your interpretations of the items this week? I can’t wait to check them out. Be sure to load your pictures in your blog (or your Flickr photostream) and link up at the bottom of this post. Feel free to grab a button to display on your blog along with your scavenger hunt items. The linky will be open until Tuesday night at midnight (EST). If you didn’t participate this week, but want to participate next week, here are your items (these can also be found at the bottom of my blog each week):

   

Again, thank you to Paper Heart Camera, the Paper Mama and Dina for so many great scavenger hunt items. I’ve actually got several weeks worth of prompts waiting in my inbox, but if you’d like to contribute items to the list, just send me an email with your suggestions (I can better keep track of them this way…and we’ve got some great prompts coming up in future weeks). Each week, I will select one reader’s prompt list, add those items to what is currently on tap and give the selected reader a shout out on my blog during Scavenger Hunt Sunday. Also, be sure to come back tomorrow for Shoot and Edit: Part 1, Week 30. The prompt/theme is “Sunset.” Happy Shooting!