Beyond Layers Day 47 : Cuppa Cherry Blossoms

This week, Kim asked us to focus on cups and mugs.  This is one of my favorites.  My sister gave it to me for Christmas one year.  A gift from where she lives in Japan, which is famous for its cherry blossoms.

For this version of the image (above), I used The Coffee Shop Action for Selective Color, brushing out the black and white treatment on the flower.

The only difference with this one, is that I boosted the shadows to hide my fleece sweatshirt sleeves.  Black-white- and a touch of pink!  One of my favorite combinations!  This version reminds me of  sign language music videos where the focus is on dancing hands to communicate the story.  Poetry in motion!

 This version uses the B/W Filter in PhotoShop Elements, along with a pink color fill layer at soft light blend mode, 76% opacity.   A nice effect by itself, but I wanted the cherry blossom to stand out a little more. 

Here's the Grunge version.   This is the same as the one above with the addition of Kim Klassen's Wonderful Magic Scripted texture.  Soft Light blend mode at 83%.

Here's the original image straight out of my camera, cropped to focus on the cup.

Thanks to my sweet husband for helping me capture these "mug shots."