Texture talk and sunset

I hope everyone has had a nice & restful weekend.  My weekend was pretty nice.  Since my last post about the rain I expected it to get back to bright and sunny blue skies, but that hasn't exactly been the case, which I think is great!  We have had cooler, and more overcast weather the past few days, and it was almost like living in my favorite city...Seattle...well, almost. :-)

Yesterday I got out and played a little tennis.  (I really need the exercise!) 

Today, I watched my Seattle Seahawks beat the Arizona Cardinals!  Go Hawks! 

Ok, enough about that, I also wanted to practice a bit with my Photoshop Elements 9, so I thought I'd show you a couple of my results. 

All of the textures I've used here today are by Kim Klassen.

I decided to go a little heavy on the texture with this photo, because when I took this photo of my "fake" sunflowers, I was disappointed that well...they looked so fake!  I almost deleted them, then I decided why not try to mess with it in PSE?  So, it's not like I'm trying to make them look "real" or anything, but I think the texture helped take away from some of the raw edges of the pedals, what do you think? 

I am also participating in Kim's Skinny-mini e-course, and it's been wonderful and full of PS information!  You can find out more about it on her site on my side bar. 

So now,  before I go I wanted to throw this into the mix.  While I was upstairs working in PSE I noticed the sky changing colors and it was so beautiful I had to run downstairs and snap a few photos to share with you! 

Here's a couple straight out of the camera...no editing!

I love how the light reflects on the windows of the homes across the street.

(notice my funky little Charlie Brown tree on the left. :-)

I love when the sky gets like this.  It is pretty rare though, because usually it's a clear sky, so not as much drama.  

I'm going to sign off for now, hubby is making a couple of steaks on the grill and it smells yummy!  

Wishing you a great start to the week! 

Becca