An Autumn Walk...

As we step into October... (Oh, I just CAN'T believe it's already October, can you?) The colors are beginning to change, here in our part of Michigan, and it's so pretty!  I love driving around and taking walks this time of year, there's so much beauty to take in.  In fact, I went for a little walk around our yard today, and found all kinds of really cool things to take pictures of... Nature's inspiration!!!  I thought I'd share a few pictures here with you.  

Happy October to all!! 

 Side view of our front yard... 
And part of our long driveway that is such fun to shovel in winter! lol!

  This is the tree stump I want to make a flower planter out of... 

 We have a perfect view of it, when we look out our front window,

and I think it would be so pretty with cascading flowers 

falling all around it in the springtime!

Our Apple Tree... We sure had a lot of apples this year!

And behind it is our pear tree... Lots of pears too!

A better view of the tree stump, wouldn't it make a cool planter?

This Willow Tree in the front yard is looking a little bare already... 

Love this tree!

The Funi sure grew all over this tree stump, didn't it?!

Pampas Grass... Grows like crazy in our yard...

Mushrooms and Moss...

I think it looks so cool, how the fungi is cascading down like this...

Yes, I do believe that beauty and inspiration is ALL around!!!

I always have my camera, and my eyes open, for those shots that inspire me!

I hope these pictures have inspired you!

On a different kind of inspirational note...

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(¸.•´ (¸.•` ♥ I've been busy, busy, busy in my studio creating all kinds of new wedding cake toppers and clay creations.  I'll be posting them soon, and can't wait for you to see all my new designs!!  

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(¸.•´ (¸.•` ♥ Thank you so much for stopping by today!  

~Trina

Photo Editing...

As you may already know, photography is a favorite hobby of mine, and since moving to Michigan, I've been enjoying taking photographs of all the beautiful scenery here.  I've also been playing around with some of my photographs using the fun options in PicMonkey (a free photo editing site that my Mom told me about) and Picasa 3...  

If you haven't tried either of these, you can click on PicMonkey and Picasa 3, above, to check out the sites... And have fun editing and organizing some of your photos.  It's very easy to navigate around within PicMonkey, I love user friendly sites! Once in PicMonkey, click on "Edit a Photo" and download the picture you would like to edit.  There are all kinds of things you can do... Crop it, re-size it, touch it up, and there are a lot of cool 'Effects' and 'Overlays' ~ There are fun fonts too, so you can add wording...  Once you have your picture the way you like it, just SAVE it and you're set to go.  

To learn my way around in PicMonkey, I downloaded a picture and tried all of the options on the photograph, just to get familiar with the site.  Below I have shared some of the photographs that I have edited.  The first picture is of a log and flowers that I took in our yard and then edited in PicMonkey... I darkened the edges, saturated the colors a bit, and added a frame around it.  Next is a photograph that I took of a butterfly and below it are two copies using different effects.  The first effect is called "Daguerreotype" ~ I like the look of it.  For the next one I used "Holga" effect, then I added frost edges, darkened the edges and added a frame.  Scroll down, below the log and butterfly photographs and there is a picture of Emmi, along with the same picture after using "Pencil Sketch" in Picasa 3... I thought it turned out kind of cool.  :)   Which ones do you like?

 My Original Log and Flower Photograph

After adding some effects... made for a more dramatic look.

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My Original Butterfly Photograph

Daguerreotype Effect... Cool look!

Holga Effect with frosted and darkened edges...

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Click on the 'Pencil Sketch' of Emmi, below, to enlarge the image... 

It really does look like a drawing.

 Emmi

 Pencil Sketch Effect

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(¸.•´ (¸.•` ♥ I have Picasa 3 downloaded and use it to organize my photographs.  There are some options for cropping and touching up photographs, and I used PicNic (within Picasa) when it was there as an option.  I searched for other photo editing sites when I learned that PicNic was closing down.  I found a couple that were okay, but I was so glad when my mom told me about PicMonkey.  Have fun!  ~Trina

Two Awesome Treasuries!

Welcome to Treasury Tuesday!!  Here are two treasuries featuring the beautiful work of some very talented Etsians!  Please stop by and visit their shops to see more of their great items.

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(¸.•´ (¸.•` ♥ I Love the beautiful colors and all the unique items in this first one...  Enjoy!

A Few of my Favorite Things...

 

 

 

 

Picked by Trina's Clay Creations

I was inspired to put together this next treasury while browsing Etsy and seeing all the darling birds... Not seeing many of them around here when looking out my window lately!  So...  As winter nears its end (soon I hope) the birds will begin to appear, busily building their nests, filling the outdoors with their pretty music and bringing beautiful colors to the landscape... Yay!  But for now I'm just waiting for those birds to come back!

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(¸.•´ (¸.•` ♥ These birds are beautiful and we can enjoy them now, and all year long!

Waiting for the Birds to Come Back...

 

 

 

 

Picked by Trina's Clay Creations

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(¸.•´ (¸.•` ♥ Thanks for visiting!  Hope your day is filled with beautiful bright colors and sweet, sweet music!

~Trina

An Amazing Photographer...

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(¸.•´ (¸.•` ♥ My brother, Charlie is a great photographer!  He has an amazingly artistic eye and it certainly shows in all of his photographs.  His studio is based in Texas and he specializes in portrait work ~ although he does many other kinds of photography as well.  Wonderful landscape photographs, great classic car photographs, amazing shots of animals... and much, much more.  When my son and I were in Texas for a visit recently, Charlie took some beautiful portraits of both my kids and me.  We had a great time during the photo shoot.  His studio has such an easy and laid-back feeling, and our sitting was a lot of fun.  I thought I'd share some of the photographs that he took of us, along with the link to his website.  He has many awesome photographs on his website to look at and enjoy!  Here's the link:   Charlie Prenzi Photography

My Kids, George and Melissa

My Mom and Me

Fun! :)

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(¸.•´ (¸.•` ♥ I just love all of these photographs that Charlie took of us, and I am so happy to have them!  He captured this moment in time beautifully, and I thank him so much for that!

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(¸.•´ (¸.•` ♥Wishing you a great day!
~Trina