Us

 

It has been a busy weekend, Richard returned home after being away on a mountain bike race for 5 days at the Sani2 Sea Adventure. He had an amazing time, we missed him and were all so happy to see him again.This photo above was taken from his trip, he is riding across a huge, winding floating water bridge. If you look closely, you can see it floating on the water!! I am so proud of him! You can read further about his adventiures on his mountain biking blog here.

Erin and I went for a walk around our garden early on Sunday morning and took some photos just as the sun was rising over the trees… This is an Avo tree that we have grown from a pip. I will have to bring it inside soon to prevent the frost from killing it. Hopefully we will have delicious avos one day.

Our veg garden is full of these gorgeous Calendula flowers, I really would like to make some Calendula salve, I am on the hunt for a recipe:)

We all went for a walk around our lake down the road, a couple of Spoon Bills flew in to greet us…

Willa, the Koek-koek chicken.
Jenna’s first oil painitng, she has been working on this for a few weeks, I love how it turned out! One a week both Jen and Erin go to History of Art lessons and this was one of their projects. Jen was telling me that the sand in her painting has about 9 different colours in it!

I have been working on figuring out how to design an ebook cover all weekend. I have searched for tutorials everywhere, there are quite a few out there, but none of them really explain in detail, step by step, how this is done. I had no idea so much was involved!

Thank you so much to my wonderful friend K, who has been guiding me through this new learing curve and is always there to offer support and advice whenever I need it. (You are lovely!)

I can almost say Photoshop is my friend now:) At first it was quite daunting, I had never worked on this program before until Saturday and now I am getting the hang of it. What a clever program.

So this is one of the book covers I have designed for my flower knitting pattern ebook. It is simple, I didn’t want to create anything complicated to start off with.

Have an amazing week.
Linda             

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28 Responses to Us

  1. Heather aka Proud Mama May 21, 2012 at 1:53 pm #

    How exciting for your ebook. The bridge he is riding on looks a bit crazy. And that painting – WOW.

    • Linda May 21, 2012 at 2:35 pm #

      Thanks Heather, this is a very exciting time:)

  2. Deborah May 21, 2012 at 1:59 pm #

    That’s a nice book cover, and the painting is fantastic!

    • Linda May 21, 2012 at 2:36 pm #

      Thank you Deborah:)

  3. del May 21, 2012 at 2:11 pm #

    Your book is really coming together! I’ve done an ebook cover before so I know just how hard it is, and I didn’t even use Photoshop! Great job.

    • Linda May 21, 2012 at 2:36 pm #

      I am so looking forward to sending it off to bookbaby, the publishers.

  4. Christine May 21, 2012 at 2:20 pm #

    What a glorious week you’ve had, Linda! I love the e-book cover, it looks so professional. And the painting – (in oils!) is beautiful!

    We have just finished a jar of calendula salve (made by heating the dried petals with oil in the slow cooker and then straining and adding beeswax to set). Rhonda at Down to Earth makes a similar version, although infusing the oil and petals in a glass jar in the sun for a couple of weeks. Good luck, it is such a handy item to have on hand for everyday cuts, scrapes and skin irritations. 🙂

    • Linda May 21, 2012 at 2:39 pm #

      Thank you Christine! I hope there is a tutorial on your wonderful blog, I’m off to go and check now:)

  5. eidolons May 21, 2012 at 2:36 pm #

    Wow! A floating bridge? I think that would be extremely daunting – way to go Richard! (:

    Jenna’s painting is amazing – especially for her first! I used to paint in oils but I guess I never really enjoyed it. I started shortly after my mother died – part of it was a way of assuring my dad that she could live on a little through me (she was extremely artistic). I still have a couple of painting that I did laying around. It’s very weird to look at them now, nearly twenty years later.

    Calendula salve! I love it! The simplest way to go is to infuse your choice of oils (sweet almond, jojoba, even olive!) with the flowers (you can do this over heat or in a jar in the sun for several weeks). After that you strain the oil and combine with things like: cocoa butter, shea butter, beeswax, vitamin e oil, essential oils, etc.

    • Linda May 21, 2012 at 3:15 pm #

      Melissa, thank you so much, I will tell Jen.

      Thanks for the instructions for the salve! I can’t wait to start, we have just picked the flowers and they are drying.

      xo
      Linda

  6. RobinBrz May 21, 2012 at 3:02 pm #

    I love to see the pictures of your yard. It’s so different from mine in Massachusetts! I’m impressed that you were able to tame photoshop in such a short time! It can be rather intimidating at first. From your cover it looks as if you’ve done wonderfully. I like the picture you’ve chosen with the bright flowers popping against the old leaves. Very nice!

    • Linda May 21, 2012 at 3:16 pm #

      Thank you Robin, I still have so much to learn about Photoshop, for now though, it is just book covers for me:)

  7. Tracey May 21, 2012 at 7:00 pm #

    So many beautiful things happening in your world! Your daughter’s painting is amazing, it looks like talent runs in the family!
    I think you did an awesome job on the cover for your book, it’s very pretty!

    • Linda May 22, 2012 at 8:11 am #

      Thanks Tracey!
      xo

  8. EMMA May 21, 2012 at 10:09 pm #

    Jenna’s painting is just beautiful, well done to her. How exciting that you are doing an e-book about flowers, I can’t wait. Just popped over to visit your husbands blog, looks like he had a great time on his race.

    • Linda May 22, 2012 at 8:12 am #

      Thanks Emma!

      Richard had an amazing time, he just loves biking.
      xo

  9. barb May 22, 2012 at 2:30 am #

    Jenna’s painting is wonderful. She is obviously very creative, like her mom. Love Willa. Can’t wait for the E-Book, especially the acorn.

    • Linda May 22, 2012 at 8:10 am #

      I will tell Jen Barb, thank you:)

      Isn’t Willa sweet, she sounds a little like a duck.

      xo

  10. katherine May 22, 2012 at 4:34 am #

    Hi! here’s a link to how to make calendula salve : http://www.healing-from-home-remedies.com/homemade-salve.html

    i just made some calendula, sage, and chamomile salve last night with grapeseed oil, it’s a beautiful green color and feels great on the awful steam burn i gave myself this weekend :X

    your plants are beautiful! thanks for sharing!

    • Linda May 22, 2012 at 8:08 am #

      Thank you for this Katherine!

  11. DaffodilAngel May 22, 2012 at 5:31 am #

    Wonderful cover Linda. When is the e book coming out and will it be in your etsy store?

    • Linda May 22, 2012 at 8:07 am #

      Thank you!
      It shouldn’t be too long now, I am finishing up adding the patterns to the final document and then everything is emailed off to Bookbaby and the conversion to ebook will be done.

      It should then be ready to buy within a few days of the conversion.

      It will be available on Amazon, Apple’s iBookstore, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Copia, the Sony Reader Store and some others:)

      It will possibly also be in my Etsy store too:)

      xo
      Linda

  12. Christy May 22, 2012 at 12:43 pm #

    looking forward to the ebooks – was going to suggest to you a while ago, as that’s now where I’ve been putting my knitting patterns, now I won’t have to convert all my pdf’s which I’ve been putting off 🙂

  13. Elizabeth May 23, 2012 at 11:54 am #

    So much excitement going on – The ebook cover looks wonderful! How exciting. And I can’t imagine riding over a floating bridge. Amazing!. You’re calendula is beautiful. I want to grow some this summer but am having a difficult finding seeds locally. I plan to make salve as well. Here is a video tutorial – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQrAlIz4aqg&list=UUteqV5h3g01Db4SlrICyfdw&index=3&feature=plcp
    Blessings, Elizabeth

  14. Baa-Me Kniits May 24, 2012 at 2:12 am #

    I like you book cover, it says it all! Just popped over to hubbby’s blog for a look at that race….OMGoodness! He looks like he had the best time and that bridge over the water, I would have been worried about falling in too not to mention the other bridges. Congratulations to him for doing such great race, looks like the best fun! 🙂

  15. woolies May 24, 2012 at 3:28 am #

    The floating bridge looks so amazing! When will your ebook be for sale? I think I must have it. :))

  16. K May 27, 2012 at 7:19 pm #

    Oh, I almost missed seeing this one, too. Drat. First comment – about the cover: simple is strong. Keep it clean and simple. Your first instincts here are marvelous. Second comment – RIDING A BIKE ON A FLOATING BRIDGE? Oy, oy, oy – the very thought makes my hands shaky. As for the rest – what a lovely world you see around you. You have a gift for life, Linda.

  17. Ann June 1, 2012 at 2:40 am #

    Great cover.

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