Monday 30 November 2015

Simply Neutrals # Lucky 13 - My Braidwood Story

Hello my Blogland friends,

Here is a digital card I've made for you using some of the textures I found on this trip...

digital collage
Just in case the message was too small to read, here it is again...


I've had such an unexpected adventure! Our car was starting to become unreliable, so we decided it was time to trade it in on a newer model. I researched and organised a trade-in at Canberra, our nearest major city. Half-way there, it broke down - a trail of radiator water followed behind me as I stopped to get a coffee. (Lucky that's my half-way watering hole!) The poor car needed a part and couldn't be repaired until the next day...

Luckily for me it was at Braidwood, an historical town full of charm, rusty ironwork and dilapidated stone and wooden buildings... How lucky was I to be forced to spend a whole day looking around and a night alone in an old hotel with a great book and  my tablet with free wifi! And I'd brought a camera (not my best one) too!

So I set off wandering around the backstreets looking for interesting textures and charm. Lots of peeling paint....perfect to show for Simply Neutrals #13!

Texture

Texture



texture



texture


texture



texture

Lovely old houses...please excuse the colour in this pic, but the blue sky was perfect!

Braidwood



Braidwood



Braidwood

Below is the 'Braidwood Times' building, now unused, I think. Or at least very unloved, sadly.

paint texture



paint texture

Lovely stonework on top of a pub...

stonework

And I came upon a lovely French antique shop called 'String', which had some old lace bits found at French markets... most beyond my price.



crochet lace edge



lace



lace



lace


lace



Outside was a rusty gate garden of wire and metal treasures...




rust gate





This rusty old 'thing' caught my fancy. I decided to play in Photoshop a bit.


I overlaid the lace as a texture, and added this angel image to it, manipulated the tone a little and used some brushes from Mouritsada Stock to add decoration...

digital collage

What a lovely day I had, and a few things came home with me..!









What an unexpected bonus to come out of a break-down situation. Serendipity! And I came home with a new (second-hand) car too, which we love.




Now, I'd like to send a special hug to Wen for hosting this Simply Neutrals party. You have helped me grow in my blogging and introduced me to some of your marvellous blogging friends, too. Thank you for being such a positive and friendly hostess.


And another special hug for Suzy of 

http://suziqusthreadworks.blogspot.com.au/, for her support, encouragement and inspiration.


Now you might like to go and have a look at other Simply Neutral beauty over at Wen's blog, Appleapricot.



I hope you have a great few weeks of creating and noticing beauty all around....until our next Simply Neutrals party!


Hugs,

Jesse 

24 comments:

  1. Oh my! Talk about drool worthy images. And don't we all love serendipity! Lots of magic moments and memories. x julie

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    1. Thanks, Julie for visiting. I'm looking forward to trying out your recipe for ricotta pancakes - I do a buttermilk recipe but maybe the kids would like yours better. have a great week.
      hugs,

      Jesse

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  2. Hello Jesse. What wonderful photos and treasures from happenstance. Who can figure the extraordinary moments born of less than extraordinary beginnings. Thanks for the lovely card. You are such a sweet blogging friend. My thanks to Wendy, or many of us never would have met. Hugs and love, Sue

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    1. Hi Sue, Thanks for visiting my blog. Yes, it's been so lovely to meet you, too.
      Hugs,
      Jesse

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  3. PS. Congrats on your new car. It looks like a Toyota. Is it? I'm on my fourth in a row! XO Sue

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    1. Yes, it's a Toyota Kluger. Our last Toyota lasted 13 years, and possibly would have gone much more, but there were a few irritating things happening that meant it was time to trade! Like the door would close on your leg, the roof lining was held up with drawing pins, the key was wearing out (again!) etc. I love Toyotas too :)

      Jesse

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  4. Oh my word, this was such an amazing post Jesse! I so thoroughly enjoyed that! What great shots of all the distressing peeling paint! and the buildings so beautiful, and the cool stuff from the shops; . . . Sigh -it was remarkable and I want to go right back to the top ad see it all again. THANKS for sharing~ (love love...)
    Have a great week Jesse, ~Karen O

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    1. OOPS! Yes, I'm with Sue, Congratulations on your new car! That was quite a story~

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    2. Thanks, Karen, I'm glad you enjoyed my story and the pics. Thanks for visiting my blog :)

      Hugs,
      Jesse

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  5. So glad I've found your blog, Jesse. Thanks to Wen of course. Mimi xxx

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  6. Jesse, those textures are absolutely gorgeous! Love love love them, they would make fantastic backgrounds for all kinds of things. Oh and that lace, totally droolworthy, so glad that you took some home with you. Thank you so much for the beautiful digital card you created for us, that was a really lovely thought. x

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    1. Hi Liz, I'm glad you enjoyed my post. Did you notice a few of my textures in the card image? They do really work as backgrounds, don't they? Thanks for visiting my blog :)

      Hugs,
      Jesse

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  7. Dear Jesse,
    first of all thank you so much for the lovely card you created for us - beautiful! I absolutely love the peeling paint -WOW and I so adore your photo shop cards. So glad you had a lovely day after all. Congrats on the new car.
    Have a wonderful week.
    Hugs and love,
    Marie

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  8. Hi Jesse
    How serendipitous it was for you ending up in Braidwood - just meant to be so you could capture all of those amazing photos of rusting paint, that amazing gate etc. etc. and oh not forgetting that amazing shop called "String" and all the beauty in there with the gorgeous linen and laces. I am so happy that you just had to purchase some and take it home in your new car. Aaahhh God can be good to you!
    Thanks so much for the hug and I'll return some to you also and in appreciation of the beautiful card you
    created for us all here!
    Look forward to joining in again with you next year.
    xox Suzy

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    1. Thanks, Suzy. I'm glad you liiked the card. Did you notice the paint and metal textures in the card? They were from the texture pics I shot in Braidwood. I'm really excited about capturing more textures, now :)

      Love,
      Jesse

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  9. Wonderful photos, you visited a beautiful place. Hugs, Valerie

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  10. Fantastic textures on all those walls Jesse, wonderful photoes, and so much lovely lace ,too,-good you could get some home,too :-)
    The two digitally cards are beautiful both, thank you for the sweet greetings.
    Dorthe, xo

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    1. Thank you, Dorthe. for your kind comments. I'm so glad you stopped by here for a look :)
      Hugs,
      Jesse

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  11. Beautiful post, photos and treasures. Just love the lace, very tempting.

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  12. All these photos are so amazing. As for me they are so much inspiring. There are so much different elements, ornaments you can use in your art. Great post!

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Thank you so much for your friendly comments. It makes my day to hear from you about my artworks and topics.