One More Patriotic Colored Collage 🇺🇸
I spent too much time searching for an old post to make sure there would not be a duplicate, so I’ll work on that one tomorrow. For today, since the month of July is almost over, here’s a collage from the unused patriotic candle images from the 4th.
Even with the same prompts, different AI tools and different filters in each tool can make such a vast array of creations that my extra storage in Google Photos comes in really handy. In case you want to try the prompt in your favorite AI creation tool, (and now you can put prompts right into many search engines,) here’s exactly what I used…
2 patriotic Candles with red and white stripes plus white stars on blue like the USA flag. They are in ornate golden candlesticks burning with a soft glow that illuminates the air around them with sparkling fireworks. The candlesticks should be sitting on a beautifully polished high quality marble table and some silky patriotic flowers of red white and blue should be sitting on the table near the candles. The walls in the room should be gray granite stonework and festive patriotic decorations. The candle flames are peaceful and beautiful.
And I’ll close with one more image just because I really like the knitted pictures Wombo makes. (Even if yarn is not the best material to make candles from, lol 🤣.) Also, I didn’t ask for the eyes, but their training model for the knitted filter must include something about being cute. 😁
Some Bible Verses About Freedom
Galatians 5:1 BSB
[1] It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be encumbered once more by a yoke of slavery.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/gal.5.1.BSB
1 Peter 2:16 BSB
[16] Live in freedom, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/1pe.2.16.BSB
Galatians 5:13 BSB
[13] For you, brothers, were called to freedom; but do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. Rather, serve one another in love.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/gal.5.13.BSB
Psalm 119:45 BSB
[45] And I will walk in freedom, for I have sought Your precepts.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/psa.119.45.BSB
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Blog Break 2–Busy is as Busy Does
Because of many days of not staying on top of things, I got into some very old dust on the back of a shelf desperately needing organizing. I got lots of steps and busy stuff done to prepare for a busy day tomorrow, but I need more sleep for real preparation. That means, another day of taking a break from trying to write any meaningful words, but I can almost always find some pretty images to share.
These images are called digital squared circles because they are created with software (digitally designed in the Mirror Lab app for Android) and you can clearly see the circle in the middle of the square. I learned about these from a Flickr group I’ve now inherited and need to add more of my own images to. But it’s fun to see what others add—when they follow the rules. (That is, when they actually add squared circles and not just add whatever in haste to get their stuff out to multiple groups.)
And with that, I say goodnight and sweet dreams. I hope my busyness will pay off with some good sleep to revive my creative words. 😴
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Word Art Preview
Some days, especially after a serious and word-intense post, I just need to be creative and play with some designs. I dug out these old Word Art images I made back in 2022 at the site: https://wordart.com/ which has even more to offer now with their inclusion of AI tools.
For this design, I added 4 lines of words and told it the shape and colors I wanted. For their free version, you get a 700 x 700 pixel image (I think they used to be bigger), but you’re allowed to use them for anything you want as long as it’s non-commercial. Since I don’t have ads on this page, I should be okay.
So when I say dug out, I mean I searched for these old images in my Amazon Photos, and downloaded them for editing. Then I used my favorite Photo Studio Pro app for Android to add the gradient background along with some butterflies and sparkles. I finished with a sparkling pink frame. And I saved the project in case I want to change any of the decorative steps or add more effects, like a video overlay.
I did one more with the same words but different design elements.
I highly recommend the site if you want to play with words and put them into designs. There are apps and software that can help you grow your image if you want to use it personally but larger, and they have prices for high quality downloads if you want to use them commercially.
One other option I will share is that AI can do some Word Art if you just tell it what you want done. I’ve only tried Gemini so far, and I asked for Psalm 23 in the shape of a lamb. Here’s what it produced:
and Crystal A Murray (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
I noticed a few mistakes, but this was just a trial run, so I didn’t do the back and forth I normally do when I’m creating images. My reasoning for wanting to do this is for my plans in August and September when I will use cliches and fables for my blog post topics. I’ve got some designs in mind for Word Art to go with those posts, which is why I said this was a preview.
So be on the lookout for my first cliche post on August 1st, but the rest is a surprise for now. If you make your own, feel free to let me know in the comments, so I can come see yours.
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I Break for Creativity
I’m running late on some things today while I rest from sciatica pain, so in my photo memories, these actual fireworks I captured were desperately needing creative editing. The pink one is the most obvious that it’s a real picture because it only needed a little creativity, but I really have fun with the alchemy filter in the Mirror Lab app for Android.
Here’s one before image…
You can see where I got rid of the smoke and added some saturation for better colors. Those simple edits, plus an AI request to clean up the smoke behind the big fireworks were done with the Photo Studio Pro app. (Link goes to the free ad-supported app, but if you have Play Pass, this is one of the included pro apps.) After that I applied the alchemy filter.
One more mid process…
This one has been cropped and had contrast and saturation adjustments before putting it through the strong alchemy filter to really stretch out all those points of light.
Finally, when I got a few I liked (and it got too late to work on anymore of them, I grabbed my 3 favorites and put them in a collage using the Photo Studio Pro app.
And that’s my day and night for this post. I sure would love to see some responses from people trying any or all of these apps I share to tell me what you think and maybe show me some results. I do not use affiliate links to share these, so I’m not even certain what’s clicked on, but it’s important to me to think I’m being helpful to people. And because I have no Apple devices, I can only hope you can find some of these if that’s the system you prefer to work in.
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Blog Break ⛓️💥 Fireworks
I fell asleep in my chair and couldn’t get my mind to complete the task I started for this post, so I’ll try to finish tomorrow. I hope you all had a beautiful Sunday that included giving thanks to our Creator for His love, mercy, and provision. He is so worthy of all praise! 🙌
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Color Me Abstract; Quick Image Post
Some days, a few words and a lot of color will do. The above image is a twist made in the Mirror Lab app using multiple processes. I likely took a round kaleidoscope image and added the height map in the alchemy set of processes. That grew the edges and created multiple heights in the circles. From there, I duplicated them in the blur kaleidoscope filter. For tonight, I cropped it to a landscape image and used the Photo Studio Pro app to brighten and then frame it
Now, I have some other bright kaleidoscopes that I left as mandala shapes when I designed them. They are digitally created but oh so pretty. I placed them in a collage using the Photo Studio Pro app.
by Crystal A Murray (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
And with that, I’ll say goodnight and see you tomorrow. 👋
Psalm 42:5b BSB
Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him for the salvation of His presence.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/psa.42.5.BSB
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Sabbath Flora
Some people need to write every day because of how their minds work. My lessons on that have come with years of missed posts, so apparently that’s also how my mind works. But, I also need a Shabbat (Sabbath) rest here and there, so my new plan is to use Fridays to share some of my many image creations.
Today, that starts with a few of my lilies which were used as input images into a few different photo manipulation programs. I’ll share them as simple collages created with the Photo Studio Pro app.
Original lily color enhanced and vignetted.
Original lily with background removed in the Background Eraser app. And when I first got that app, removing backgrounds and replacing them with other colors and designs was about all it could do. Now it includes all kinds of other photo editing tools, so I need to get back and play a bit more. Anyway, after removing the background, I used the Chroma Lab app to change colors and the Photo Studio Pro app to add frames and decorative edges.
(CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
I went back to Chroma Lab and did a whole lot of rainbow filters with some added bokeh (background blur), and I really like the way this collage came out.
Finally, I used the lily image as an input image (like a template) for Wombo Dream AI. A variety of filters later, including one that knitted a rainbow lily for me, I got the following collection I’ve put into a collage for you. I think the pink ones for their pretty pink gingham background from Background Eraser be before I used that as an input to Wombo. These designs are mostly from the Abstract Fluid 2 filter, and they are by far my favorites. Can you believe how much variety can be created from only one image? And if a computer can do this, imagine all that God can do with those of us created in His image!
Sweet flower dreams and Shabbat Shalom everyone! 🌸
Luke 12:27 BSB
[27] Consider how the lilies grow: They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory was adorned like one of these.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/luk.12.27.BSB
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Creative Ways to Deal
(CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
This is blog post number two because after I had blog post number 1 completed, my check of links revealed that it wasn’t the best idea to share. I was going to tell you all where to get my free phone wallpapers from Zedge, but the link to the regular website is so different from what I see within the app, it became clear I could not share it. Third party ads with misleading statements about activating your account could’ve made it look like that’s what you needed to do in order to grab my creations, and I just couldn’t serve that info with a clear conscience. I did find an alternative I’ll begin working on to share here later, though.
The other issue was that I had put some sample images in a collage, so people would know what they could expect. As it turns out, even though AI images cannot be copyrighted at this time, the terms of service (TOS) for using Zedge pAInt to design includes not being allowed to use those images on a blog or external website, even if it’s not monetized and is only being used to send people to them. 🙃
So, today’s blog post is a lesson for me, and it can also be for you all to learn from my “almost” mistakes, so none of my readers will risk their own violation of a site’s terms. The big lesson being, even if you know the basic rules, ALWAYS read the TOS for the specific user practices they demand. In the meantime, enjoy the collage of peaceful doves, flowers, and butterflies made in Wombo where they have much more user friendly terms.
And here is one more collage of dove images using the following prompt:
2 white peace doves nestling on colorful flowers with deep royal reds, purples, blues, and greens all with gilded edges. A layer of deep green leaves with gilded edges and veins sits beneath the flowers. Soft glittery rays of sunshine stream from fluffy white clouds in the corner and bathe the doves and flowers. One large butterfly made of stained glass hovers near the doves, and many tiny colorful butterflies flit and sparkle throughout the scene.
(CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
Use that prompt in your favorite AI image generator and then let me know where I can see what you’ve created. In the meantime, have a really creative day!
P.S. The “How to Deal” in the title was about dealing with extreme nerve pain in my back and leg (detailed in the first post), and how that led me to being creative as a way of dealing with what I could not do. Plus I got notes on my phone from apps saying, “Hey, look what we can do now!” It was a good day to be creative, but since it ended up taking me all night to do so, and since I actually wrote 2 posts, I’m officially skipping what would have been published as the date of May 24th and bringing you this for May 25th. Maybe that will set me on a better path forward. Now it’s time for some sleep for me. 😴
Psalm 4:8 BSB
[8] I will lie down and sleep in peace, for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/psa.4.8.BSB
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🎵Writer’s Weekend—Blog Break
I found an old golden hour sunset that I was trying to edit, and I couldn’t get it quite where I wanted it without turning on the computer with better software. That’s when I decided to ask Wombo to add the swing and the woman, and now I can take a little break for tonight.
We had a great writer’s meeting today, and I’m so impressed by the hearts and writing talent of those in our group. But it also means I get home a little late and have so much on my mind that a single topic for a blog post is a little hard to focus on. I wouldn’t trade it, though, and I hope it just gives readers an excuse to read old posts they may have missed. 😁
But just for fun, here’s a little squeeze box (accordion) tune to go with the funny fish poem I posted about in April called I Fished in a Tree.
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Picture in Picture
I’m cheating tonight. I got on some very long learning tasks and wore myself out, so I’m sharing some of the many picture-in-picture creations I’ve made with Photo Studio Pro by KVADGROUP. This isn’t even a tiny bit with all you can do in the app, but I’m falling asleep, so I hope you enjoy it. I have one more collage of strawberries to share and then it’s sleep time.
(CC BY-NC-SA 4.o)
Psalm 118:24 BSB
[24] This is the day that the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/psa.118.24.BSB
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A Way (to Play) with Words
Since I’m in a poetry vein for April, I thought I’d create a decorated word tile poem from Magnetic Poetry® and show you how I do it.
First, go visit the Magnetic Poetry® Online website at https://magneticpoetry.com/pages/play-online
Once there, you’ll click one of the boxes to choose the set of tiles you want to work with. They are just like the ones you can get for home except that you won’t drop one and lose it until you find it under the refrigerator years later. 😂 You can choose from “Original Kit,” “Poet Kit,” “Mustache Poet,” or “Nature Poet” on the front page. Once you select your kit and go to the play page, they’ve also added “Love” and “Geek” to the selections.
On that page, you’ll have a myriad of words to play with. In addition to regular words, you’ll also notice the s, ing, r, es, and other endings you may need to create the right tense of your poetic lines. You’ll notice my “you + r” to make “your” in the above image, and the combining of in and to for “into” in one line. It’s a little bit of work lining them up (in real life kits as well), but it’s part of the creative fun. Also, the pile of word tiles you see is not all that’s available. You’ll see a button to add more words at the bottom, and it will give you a whole different batch from the same kit.
After you’ve played and created some fun lines, you can save and share it if you’re willing to give them your name and email address. If you plan to order any poetry tiles for home, you’ll likely give that to them anyway unless you choose to order from another source like Amazon. If you want to do what I did, just screenshot the whole page. But, before you do that, I recommend you move the piles of unused tiles as far away as possible, so you’ll have plenty of room for cropping your final image.
Once I’ve got my screenshot, I open the image in the Photo Studio Pro app. I can’t tell you how other programs/apps work yet because that’s all I’ve played with so far. In the app, I crop out all the extraneous page info and save just the white background with black-on-white words. It’s not bad just like that, but I like pretty papers and stuff, so my next step is to use the app’s blend menu to create a background. They have a lot of gorgeous designs to choose from, or you can choose your own images or browse an online page from Pixabay public domain images. You can even have their AI design a background for you. And then, you’ll just use the slider to make the image as dark or light as you want with your words.
Here is a collage of my screenshot, then cropped, then blended image…
I saved my original cropped image as a “project” in the app, so I can go back and play with different backgrounds if I want. And there you have it; a way to play with words. I’d love to see your creations if this technique works for you. Maybe I can create a group on Flickr (my favorite photo site) just for people doing the online poetry tiles. Now, go play with words.
Here’s one more quick set of small ones I made recently…
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A Kaleidoscope Heart
I’m not certain when I looked into my first kaleidoscope, but I know when I first got really hooked on them. There was a big presentation at the Kentucky Center for the Arts back in 1993. Somehow, I got a ticket to it, and I got to take a class and build my first kaleidoscope. Shortly thereafter, I won a contest and used the prize money to buy my first professional kaleidoscope. It was made by Shelley Knapp, and I have an album of pictures from inside that scope on my Flickr page at https://www.flickr.com/gp/crystalwriter/iY6dMcF580 though I have many I’ve not yet added to the album.
After beginning that collection, I somehow ran across this very low-priced piece of software called The Silicon Mirror program. I got the free trial but paid the $12 to purchase it before the trial was over, and have kept it installed on various computers and laptops ever since. They still have it available at https://www.torpor.com/ where you can find a variety of creative and colorful programs. I wish I could play with all of them every day.
Anyway, I was on Yahoo Photos back then and had started my first blog on Yahoo 360. I was also writing my first NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writer’s Month) novel, so I would update the blog with my word count and a picture made in Silicon Mirror each day. I was able to save that blog here at WordPress under “Crystal Writes in 360” but I haven’t gone back to check for writing and grammar imperfections there. It was mostly family reading it back then, so I’m not sure how many mistakes there are. But if you venture over there, you will see the beginnings of my digital kaleidoscope addiction, and many of them were made from pictures of pencils and pens to line up with writing for NaNo.
Yahoo Photos got purchased by Flickr around 2006, I think, so I started putting photos there almost from the beginning. I have tens of thousands of them in my unpublished photos there because I never want to share until I can correctly label everything. This perfectionism drive is one of my big battles that keeps me from getting things done (or makes me take way too long as is often the case with this blog). But you can look at my big collection of kaleidoscope images (some real, many digital, 1069 images & 5 videos all together) in the Flickr album at https://www.flickr.com/gp/crystalwriter/pWx7X5586x
I have so much more I could say about kaleidoscopes, but I’ll close here for now with a collection I made in my Mirror Lab app using the image above. That image, by the way, was originally an inside scope picture that I edited in Photo Studio Pro to get it into a heart shape and then uploaded that to Wombo Dream AI and asked it to create a heart-shaped image. Here is the prompt I used in case you want to use it in your favorite AI image generator:
3D Heart-shaped kaleidoscope mandala with a 3d gilded edge and filled with colorful glittery prisms, on a black background with some super tiny golden sparkle in the black, HDR, pro photo, brilliantly lit, glowing, amazing atmosphere
And here’s the collection…
Many people tell me that they haven’t looked in a kaleidoscope since childhood. I highly recommend them for adults as tools to help with anxiety and stress because they create endorphins. I will do another post in the future with links to find kaleidoscopes online along with books and software because I really think they share what the name means, “beautiful image.” And I also believe they represent people the way God looks at His creation: all have beauty that is made more beautiful when light–especially God’s Light–shines through it. Let God light up your most beautiful aspects today and in the future, so you can be a kaleidoscope.
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Now For A Word from my Sponsor
My Sponsor is the One who gave me breath for life, so taking time out to seek His presence and thank Him for all the moments and minutes He gives me is only natural. I cherish all His creations and the joy I find in them. His word on the first Sabbath in Genesis 2:2-3 is…
2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
For a Sabbath day’s rest, my first Sabbatically Saturday post will simply be the pictures I took yesterday along with some creative editing. Relax and enjoy God’s gifts of nature and creativity, and share with me if you do some creative work of your own.
Pic 1, Naked Ladies (Belladonna Lillies) from my front yard. These soft pink beauties are all over the neighborhood right now too.
Pic 2, I wanted to catch the flowers while they still had some water from the earlier rain, and I got some, but then I cheated and decided to use the KVADPhoto+ raindrop filter to add a little more to it. While I was at it, I thought a nice bamboo frame and a bit more saturation went nicely with the raindrops.
Pic 3, When I have a nice contrast in an image, I really have fun getting out the Fractalius plugin and seeing what all images it will create for me. It takes my love of fractal and colorful design and adds it to real world images. What more could I ask for?
Naked Lady (Belladonna Lily) with Fractalius Edits & Framing
Pic 4, Another Fractalius image with a bit more color and a nice vignette and frame from Irfanview. 
Pic 5, And we’ll end this with a kaleidoscope made from one of the fractalized flowers because, after all, it is #KaleidoSaturday on Twitter.
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Creative Images & Fun Apps
In my effort to blog daily, I’m finding myself taking more time than I plan ahead and ending up far later at night than planned, but I’m gonna stick with this. That said, here’s my Tech Time Tuesday submission.
I love to play with graphic programs and apps, especially if they make colorful and kaleidoscopic designs. The designs themselves are a bit of technology, but to stick with a true techy theme, I’ll share just a few of the apps and sites I use to create and have fun.
For starters, because of copyright laws, I suggest always using your own images as a base to create from. That means you’ll need some kind of camera, and the higher quality images you start with, the higher quality graphics you’ll end up with. If you just cannot find anything of your own to use, make sure you use something with a Creative Commons.org license that does not prevent derivative images. (See the CC site link above for explanations of the various licenses.) And if the CC license requires anything (such as attribution–giving credit to the original photographer, or share-alike–repeating the same CC license in your final product), be sure to uphold such requests.
I put together this mosaic of designs from the images I created from the top left picture of a stack of colored chains. The pink, black, and white chains were actually a necklace, and I was very happy with the colorful designs I was able to make. Here’s my mosaic from the creative and fun website called Big Huge Labs…
Necklace Kaleidoscope Mosaic
Now for the technical part. (Note: I’ll add links to make it easier for readers to find the sites. Also, know that links to Amazon are short links with my affiliate information. If you decide to purchase from Amazon, it helps me a little if you use my links. Thanks.
First, I used an app called “Kaleidoscope Lime Pro” that I downloaded from the Google Play Store to make the circular mandala designs as well as the tiled tessellation designs. I love how one picture can create so many images, and I play with this app often when I’m waiting somewhere with my phone. There is a free version of the app, but for 99 cents, I found it worth supporting the developer to continue to make quality apps such as this. I have used it on both a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and Note 5, and both worked perfectly. You may even find my Note 3 review when you view the app.
Next, I used a slightly newer app I’ve had since May called “Photo Studio Pro” that I got from the Amazon App Store. I also opted for the pro version on this to support the KVAD developer and to have access to all the extra options. The PIP (picture in picture) options just came out recently, and that is what made the image above where you see my original kaleidoscope mandala inside a glass with a flower at the bottom. The image above with the cupcakes is done with one of the KVAD frames.
And that’s about it for this Tech Time Tuesday. Download some apps, make some images, and upload them to a safe site like Flickr or Google+, then come back and share some links with me. If the sites and images are safe, clean, and family friendly, I will approve your comments so others can visit your images too.
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Crystal Writes A Blog 