Finished Object Friday - Photo Collage... sort of.

Yes, today is Finished Object Friday! and No, I didn't give you a heads up... sorry about that.. It has been a very busy past few weeks. It seems like summer should be a slower time of year, but then things start piling up again. This week a friend is visiting from the Dallas area to do some intensive piano lessons with my mom. I've been joining in, but got a little behind so I'm just holding in there and listening, knowing I can catch it again later as well as pester Mom with questions... :) THEN next week is our VBS!! Whew!! and I have a list of things I need to finish up for that... but it doesn't all need to be done this week. I'll have time during the week for that.

But none of those has to do with my biggest Finished Object!!! This:

Yes, this is my "Finished Object" this month and a biggie it is... It was my first project using Photoshop Elements... and What a learning curve!! :) But really, you probably don't care much about how I made it, but WHY and WHAT in the world it is... see my next post for answers to those questions... ;) (Because a special announcement deserves it's own post, don't you think?)

For now, here's where you can link up to share your projects!!

Chari Tree Chat

Wow. September already! Fall is on it's way, even here - way down south. :) I hope each of you had an enjoyable Labor Day. Mark and I enjoyed a relaxing day around the house, then we went to our church picnic/hot dog roast.

Mark took this picture of the steeple. He's quite the photographer as well!

I haven't done an update on my garden in a while. It is still going strong. I've had a fresh crop of tomatoes.

(As my kitchen window sill can attest)

My banana peppers are producing again. They like this cooler weather.

And I have cantaloupe and pumpkin growing.

The cantaloupe sprouted from some compost I spread, and the pumpkins I planted about three weeks ago. It could get interesting, though... since they are this close. I wonder what a punk-a-loupe looks like? :)

Speaking of compost... You DON'T want to see a picture of that, although it has turned out rather well. Everthing is composting nicely with the help of a few "friends." (Not very appetizing!) But I plan on spreading it out on my garden spot for the winter. I am already planning next year's garden. It will be slightly bigger than this year's has been.

Well, I'm off to get some things done today. A few "Pocket Tasks" for me as well as starting fall decorating and getting some sewing things done - probably cutting out. Have you decorated for fall yet?

Yellow Week: Friday

How about some fluffy soft downy sunshine to brighten your day? :) Aren't these so cute? I took this picture last fall at our local fair. They had an exhibit set up of chicks in various stages. The ones above were a tad older than this little fella! :)

Isn't new life exciting... little kittens or puppies hobbling around or even a brand new little chick, but especially little people. Oh, the miracle of God's creation!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Friday! For more yellow, visit Erin's blog!

Hope your day is happy!

Charity

Yellow Week: Thursday

Bits of yellow sunshine in my yard yesterday! For more yellow visit Erin's blog.

Smiles!
Charity

Yellow Week: Tuesday

Just a little sunshine on my window sill!
The little pitcher belonged to my grandmother. I think it is so cute! The bowl of cherries and the "c" are both Mary Engelbreit. (I love all her cherry things!)

I hope everyone has a great Tuesday! To see more yellow, visit Erin.

Blessings!
Charity

Yellow Week: Monday

Erin over at House on Hill Road is hosting yellow week this week. Since yellow is my favorite color, it was hard for me to resist! :)

This picture is from last year's visit to a local daffodil garden. The wonderful thing is that daffodils are blooming all over right now. Spring is arriving in Texas! :)

Fun Framed

Ok, I can't resist! I am having a blast with this site! :) Here are a couple of pictures that I spent a few minutes today tweaking! :)

Then another picture of Faithie, this one from last week. I love the pink in the hat... (which actually went with Gracey's outfit, but share and share alike!)


Then me and my sis. I thought this was a cute picture, but we kinda clashed. A little filtered black and white fixed that problem! :)

Isn't it amazing what you can do?

Cool Photo Site!

Ok, I know I just recommended Fotoflexor.com a couple of posts ago, but I just found a site I like even better! :) Picnik.com. I like all the different effects they have and the editing tools. There are also really cool effects and frames. It is really easy to add text where you want it and they have many different fonts to choose from. Anyway, maybe you will want to give it a try! :) Also you don't have to download any software or even register, if you don't want too. Just upload the picture you want to edit and save it to your computer when you are done.

Here is one that I played with a bit:

Fun with Fotos!

I enjoy taking pictures! I'm sure this comes as no surprise to most of you. :) And in the past year, I have discovered that our camera takes pretty good close ups. I love our camera! I highly recommend Cannons (this is not a paid advertisement!) :) Here is the camera I use. I also have fun editing the pictures after I have loaded them on to the computer. The program I use the most, Picasa, has several editing tools. So the following are several pictures that I have taken recently and how I have edited them. (warning: many pictures to follow!) :)

First a cool close up of a visitor on our front porch:


Now a look at a dogwood
This one is straight out of camera (SOOC) to our pc:


For some reason, pictures seem to have a grayish cast to them. I first did a little tweaking with the color under "tuning" in Picasa.
Much better!

And now for a little fun! I increase the Saturation (found under "More Effects")


Here's another flower: (SOOC)

A little fine tuning and...


I have more in an album online (click here). I put some of how I edit pictures of people, reducing redeye and improving less quality pictures.

Anyone else have fun with their pictures? :) I would love to see some of your tweaking. Another great editing tool I've used is FotoFlexor.com. You don't have to download software, just upload the photo to their site and save it to your computer when you're done. I used this software to put the frame around the picture on my header.

I hope everyone has a great Saturday and a restful Sunday!

Blessings!

Edited to add: I hope you have enjoyed my pictures. Please remember that they are my property, not public domain. Thank you! :)