Handmade Wedding Invites

         Good evening friends.

   It has been a long time since I made some cards. So, decided it would be a good time to make some handmade invites, with a wedding coming soon.

    Since I couldn't get a wedding themed stamp for the front cover, I decided to convert one of the engagement photos into a vector image. 

Vector image

     I added some free designs I got off the internet and I printed the same outline image on watercolor paper. Kept the water coloring to a bare minimum since I had a huge bunch of cards to color. 

Before coloring..!!

Phew, finally...

     Then for the inside, I decided to print some image and add the text to a vellum sheet. Got a beautiful blue watercolor floral image from this site. Since it didn't match the color theme of my card, I edited that to make it purple/magenta. 

     Printed the invite content on vellum paper & put them both together using double sided tape for the inside of the card.

Vellum printing done.

      Finally added the watercolor panels to the front of the card using double sided tape & stamped the Handmade sign to the back. 

     Stamped a pretty little quote at the back of my envelopes and embossed the same using superfine silver embossing powder. 

Silver embossing on envelope.

     Am happy that the cards came out good & so glad that I haven't lost my touch.

     Hope this inspired you to let out your long dormant artistic genes. Have a great day..!!

 

Photo Story 4

      What you are is a reflection of your inner self ❤❤❤

      This was during a road trip with my parents, a 3 hours trip going through villages around Tirunelveli, India. Took this photo in a pond by the side of a busy road connecting two towns. 

      We were on the way home when I saw a pond filled with beautiful water lilies. And I just had to click some.

So we stopped our car farther down the road under a tree and I walked back to the pond. It was a scorching day, the sun mercilessly shining down.

      And there I was with my camera, no coolers, no hat and trying to get a good angle for my shot. As usual I got some weird glances from the people passing by. 

      I was shooting at the lowest ISO and still the shots were a bit overexposed. I don't have any filters. And happy that Photoshop could salvage things from Raw.

     It is really a happy feeling when you can get a good shot despite the conditions being so poor. 

Image Details:

Shot on Nikon D750 with 24-120mm zoom lens.

Focal length 112mm

Shutter speed 1/1000 sec

Aperture f/4

ISO 100

For a full screen view, please check my Flicker Page.

First Solo Trip of 2020, Bannerghatta Biological Park ♥

      Hello, good evening!!

      Hope you all are having a good day. It has been a while since I posted anything in my site, I know. I won't lie and say I've been busy. I have just been lazy!! That said, I wanted to post something new and so this travelogue (about my trip to Bannerghatta Biological Park ♥). 

      This was an unplanned trip, which only happened because I was free for a day during my recent visit to Bengaluru. 

Inside Butterfly Park - Conservatory dome

      Since I didn't have company, I decided to make it a solo trip and enjoy the day. And because I was traveling alone, I decided to go eco-friendly and use the public transport. From the place where I was staying in Bangalore, I had to take two buses to reach Bannerghatta national park. 

K.S.R.T.C

      Bus V-500CA from Kadubeesanahalli to Jayadeva hospital and from there bus 365 to Bannerghatta national park. Google was a huge help from which I learnt the bus numbers and the route. 

      The bus service dropped me exactly in front of the National park entry. Since I had all day long, I decided to take the safari ride into the reserve and also visit the butterfly park and the zoo.  Fare was reasonable which came to a total of 400 INR including the fee for my camera.

      And thus the day began at the Bannerghatta national park. 

      I decided to go for the safari first. I had opted for a non-AC van so that I can take photos without the glare of the sun on the window pane. Both the driver and the conductor of the van were fluent in quite a few languages. But since most of us were Tamils in that van, he started explaining in Tamil. 

      Since I was the only one traveling alone, the conductor gave his front seat and I was on cloud nine; I had an uninterrupted view in the front and ample space at the side to poke my camera outside and take photos. They were friendly enough to take a couple of photos for me and answer all of our questions. 

Safari ride

      Into our safari, the first animals we encountered were a bunch of spotted deer. The children were excited and I managed to click a couple of photos.

      Then we reached a watering hole where a group of elephants were relaxing. It was fun to watch the baby elephants playing with each other and roaming around. One little elephant was even brave enough to get away from the group and enjoying on its own.

      Next we entered the closed enclosures, the first of which was the bear enclosure. There are around 70 bears there and we saw around 15 of them in groups of 4-5 lazing around. It was fun to watch them at close quarters, hairy giants with sharp claws.

      Then we went to the lion enclosure and we were lucky to get a glimpse of a few relaxing near the road. Few were asleep and one was licking & grooming itself and the safari waited long enough so that we could take videos. 

      Next was the tiger enclosure and all of the tigers were at the place where food was provided for them. Such majestic animals, they were happily walking around the meal area.

      We also saw 2 white tigers but they were so far away and were sleeping. Wish I saw them at close quarters, they were so beautiful.

      And with that the safari came to an end and we were dropped off at the entrance of the butterfly park. It had a beautifully decorated selfie point at the entrance and a short walk to the conservatory dome. 

Walk to the Butterfly Conservatory dome

      The exhibit featured a lot of information about butterflies, their habitat, life cycle and such. They also had some preserved specimens of butterflies which were amazing.

      The dome itself was a peaceful area where I spent an hour roaming around watching butterflies flying around, taking photos of them and some pretty flowers too.

      I even found a red eared slider lazing on a rock in a man made pond inside the dome.

      Finally it was time to leave the butterfly park and I was getting hungry too. I entered the zoo which has a restaurant inside. I decided to have my lunch and enjoyed yummy chicken tikka since I didn't want anything heavy before roaming around the zoo.

      The restaurant had some beautiful murals and wood works related to the forest.

      After my lunch I entered the zoo. But to be frank, I loved watching the animals in the open rather than them caged inside. 

      I must say I was fascinated by the leopard. It was so stunningly beautiful and it was elegant even while walking around inside the enclosure.

      There were a few monkeys out in the open playing with each other, hopping on the branches and warily watching the humans.

      I was getting tired and thirsty, so I decided to wrap things up and rushed through the reptile area and the aviary without much photos.

      It was a day well spent, enjoying the solitude. I do love traveling with a bunch of people but I must say, it is fun when I travel alone since I don't have to stick to any schedules and do things as I please and when I want.

      Now, coming to the end of this travelogue, I hope I inspired at least a few to put on your traveling shoes, to get out and explore, to have fun. Go on solo travels, meet someone new, make friends, live your life..!!

Have a great day. 

♥♥ Dream, Create, Inspire ♥♥
Thank you so much for your visits & comments, they mean a lot to me ♥