Using Rhonna Designs Magic

I have been using the Rhonna Designs App for over a year now, playing around with photos and having fun.
But now Rhonna has a Rhonna Designs Magic App.  Let me tell you….it does create magic.

 With this photo, I started out using the Rhonna Designs app using one of her backgrounds, the black chalkboard.  I added in several elements and the wording "Believe" & Sprinkle Your Magic"
I then toggled back into the Rhonna Designs Magic app and added the coloring changes, the wording texture at the bottom and the scribbly edges & then **Magic** of blending in my photo onto of all that.  Doesn't it look like the sun is dripping?  That wasn't Rhonna magic, that was probably my hand moving when I took the photo.  Ha!
Let me mention that I toggled between the apps…..that means they work together.  I don't have to save photo and then open it up in another app and then save again.
With that said, if you want to reuse a design I would suggest saving it before adding more details.  I do wish I had saved the black chalkboard with the designs I had started with.  Lesson learned:)

Here are the apps--the original Rhonna Designs app on the left and the Magic on the right.

I thought it would be fun to show some of my original photos and then the edits I did using Rhonna Designs Magic edits.

But….shhhh….don't tell anyone.  This is kind of like giving away some of my secrets.

This is a photo I took at a little stop on the side of the road.  The girls and I fell in love with the flowers on the lilly pads.  I didn't have my good camera with me, so this is what I got.

I brought it into the Rhonna app, angled it differently, added the colors, filters, text and some texture.

Voila!!!

……and I like to make a monthly photo marker, so I added in the "september" text

I even went a step further with this one and brought it into the Retouch app to get rid of that little pesky leaf on the right hand side.  When I "squared" the photo in IG, it was in my way.  Begone leaf!!

As you can see in the original photo, the natural bokeh was there.  I am not good at adding fake bokeh into photos, but I love it when others do.

But it helped that it was already there and just worked beautifully when I added "Rhonna's magic"

There is an eraser tool that after I add Rhonna's magical colors which tones down the whole photo, I then go back and erase that over certain parts.  

Like in the photo above, I still wanted the flower part to pop out.

It's not as bright as the original, but it still shows some pink.

I love my sunflowers, but this one had too much green for me, so I sprinkled some magic on it and made the sunflower pop.

This was probably one of my first macro shots with my new olloclip.

I saved it for a long time, not really knowing what to do with it.

Then one day…the right photo prompt came, added rdmagic to it, and it made such a difference.

This may be one that the original looked prettier, but it was still fun to play around with.

This flower shot is one of my favorites.

We were at my in-laws house, so I had lots to look around and photograph.  

I decided this flower needed a sky background.  So I laid down on the ground, aiming my camera up at the sky, when my father-in-law happened to walk by.  He says "I am not even going to ask."

That quote makes it even more a fav.

Thanks for looking, ya'll!!

xoxo Tracey

Cheesy Zucchini

This is just a quick recipe post for a friend.
I usually post a step-by-step of how to make it.
I thought I already had posted it, but apparently not.

This is my recipe card I made for the yummiest Cheesy Zucchini Bake.  It can be used with either zucchini, squash or both.  I usually mix both for prettier color.

App Happy - Using Camera Plus & BubbleFrame Apps

I am happy to have a reason to share these photo and the fun I have with them. Linking up to Barb's "App Happy" party.

For Father's Day we went to my parent's house to spend the day swimming.

When we pulled up I saw these gorgeous coneflowers and knew they would be my willing subject for the day.

Here is the original picture of the edit I am going to share:

Pretty……but needed some help

This is after a little help using the "Backlight" scene in the CameraPlus app

And this is one extra step using a filter (I believe it was Lo-fi or Chrome)

After that edit, it seemed a little too fake for me.

So days later, when I was playing around in the BubbleFrame app, I saw that the app now has pre-made layouts.  

I was never very good at using BubbleFrame on my own, so this made me very happy.

There are lots of layouts to choose from.  

You can either use photos or choose from the many patterns there are.

If you haven't already, go check out the app.

It seemed to tone down some of all that green. 

This was the final step.  After saving the BubbleFrame edit, I brought it into Rhonna Designs (app) and added the "Beauty in bloom" text.
Then I posted it to Instagram for #myweekofnature

App Happy

This is inspired by http://www.keepingwiththetimes.com ----- Every week she links app happy links to her blog, and then links our posts to hers.

So…. I thought I would start with this one.  I posted this on Instagram (you can see my photos by clicking on the right hand side)

Here are the original two photos:

The first was a bird flying above in our backyard.

The 2nd was a sunset in our backyard.

I had a photo prompt for "twilight", so I thought I would try to mix them together.

I then brought both photos into the bubble frame app.  I first brought the sunset pic in and toned down the opacity.  I then bought in the bird picture with toning that down a bit.  I wish I had more specifics, but at the time I just did it and wasn't thinking about the process.  Will do much better next time.

I then brightened up the sky in #pictapgo

Italian Crescent Casserole

This is one of our most favorite recipes.  The girls have even requested it for their birthday dinners.

It is so yummy & also so easy to make.

And…..more than likely it is ingredients you always have on hand.

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef

1 cup pasta sauce

1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup sour cream (or more to make it more creamy)

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 tube of crescent dinner rolls

2 TBL butter

Minced garlic

Directions:

Cook your ground beef and add in 1 or 2 cloves of garlic.

Once cooked, add in pasta sauce and store until heated.

In a medium bowl, combine mozzarella cheese and sour cream and mix well.

Pour the hot beef mixture in the bottom of an ungreased 9 1/2 or 10 inch deep-dish pie pan.

(any size dish will do, really)

Spread the cheese mixture on top of the  meat.

Unroll the crescent roll dough and place over the cheese mixture.

Depending on your size dish, you may have to get creative with how you place the dough.

The original recipe says to separate the dough into 8 triangles; arrange points toward the center over the mixture, crimping the edges if necessary.

I used a square dish this time and just slapped that dough right on top, breaking a part a few triangles so that every thing was covered.

Put the melted butter and some minced garlic in a microwave safe dish and heat.

For some reason, this time I mixed the Parmesan cheese with my butter BEFORE I melted it.

Uh-Oh - don't do that.

Melt your butter first and THEN add your cheese…...

'cause I ended up with a big clunk of Parmesean cheese that wasn't spreadable.

Spread the butter/cheese/garlic mixture over top the crescent roll.

Bake for 18-25 minutes at 375, until deep golden brown.

Broccoli using the leftover sauce from my Asparagus Parmigiano recipe.

Yuck, my sauces started to run together.  I had to put a stop to that quickly.

Directions:

Cook your ground beef and add in 1 or 2 cloves of garlic.

Once cooked, add in pasta sauce and store until heated.

In a medium bowl, combine mozzarella cheese and sour cream and mix well.

Pour the hot beef mixture in the bottom of an ungreased 9 1/2 or 10 inch deep-dish pie pan.

Spread the cheese mixture on top of the  meat.

Unroll the crescent roll dough and place over the cheese mixture.

Put the melted butter and some minced garlic in a microwave safe dish and heat.

Spread the butter/cheese/garlic mixture over top the crescent roll.

Bake for 18-25 minutes at 375, until deep golden brown.



The original recipe is from Pillsbury

Asparagus Parmigiano

I never realized how pretty asparagus was.

I was looking for inspiration for a photo prompt for my 'photo a day' on Instagram - the word was "half," and as I was prepping my asparagus for dinner and breaking off the asparagus stalks, I saw the pretty purple triangles on the stalk - the other half.

Isn't it pretty?

Here is what you will need to create this flavorful dish.

And by flavorful, I mean my girls LOVE it.

That always makes it a top recipe for me.

A bunch or 2 of asparagus

3/4 cup of sour cream

2 tsp lemon juice

1/2 cup Parmesean cheese

+

1 tsp salt

Mix it together (minus the asparagus) in a bowl

Cook the asparagus (I cook mine in a pampered chef steamer and hit the fresh vegetable button on my microwave)

Cook the sour cream mixture in a saucepan; heat slowy, but do not boil.

 Arrange the cooked asparagus on a platter and top with the cream sauce.

Sprinkle paprika as a garnish, if you would like.  

I forgot.

Ingredients:

Fresh asparagus

3/4 cup sour cream

1/2 cup Parmesean cheese

2 tsps lemon juice

1 tsp salt

Directions:

Cook asparagus and drain.

Combine sour cream, cheese, lemon juice and salt in a saucepan.

Heat slowly, but do not boil.

Arrange asparagus on a platter.

Top with cream sauce.

Sprinkle with paprika. *optional

**This recipe is from my Virginia Hospitality cookbook.