Fun in Photoshop

When I went on my vacation I had fun collecting rocks on the beach of Lake Michigan. This is one of my favorite past times. I had an idea to do the alphabet in rocks, so I picked out the prettiest stones and started photographing them, A through Z.

I thought to myself, you never know when you might need a letter made out of stones.

It seems silly, but it's better for me to play on the beach than just lay there, so I find things to do!

Today I decided to put together my name with some of the pictures.

Here's my name in the natural look of the alphabet stones.




Here's my name when I changed the color in photoshop.

Here it is with several filters.

Finally, here it is made into a pattern.

It's nothing that spectacular, just an exercise in creativity. I never know where these little exercises might take me. But it's a great way to explore and be inspired!

Sunsets, fishing and an ambulance.

I arrived home from my trip yesterday and am anxious to get back to work in my house and on my art.

Here's a quick synopsis of my time away.





Took a lot of pictures of old houses...

Kids fished a lot

We painted wooden fish...

Saw a lot of sunsets..



Worked on projects with grandkids..




Did I mention fishing?





More sunsets...





Paper crafts..





Fun with family..



Drank a little wine..(actually brought two of these bottles home..so it wasn't that much!!)






Went to the beach at Lake Michigan...but didn't swim.





Sleeping Bear Dunes..




Traverse City Cherries.

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The cottage


I had a really nice week with my family. Never made it to Ludington because of the weather. Didn't get to swim either, which was disappointing to me, since that is my favorite thing to do on vacation, but the summer isn't over with yet!

Most of the week went smoothly except for Tuesday evening when my granddaughter Kara, had an allergic reaction to something, (we think nuts) and started to itch and swell. Her little eyes looked like slits and she had hives all over her body. My sister called 911 to ask where the nearest hospital was and they informed us that it would take at least a 1/2 hour for us to get there, so they sent an ambulance. The operator told us to watch her breathing.

Since we were back along the lake, and the directions were confusing, I drove to the main entrance and waited for the ambulance. My granddaughter had gone from itching and crying wildly to being very quite. As we sat on the dark road (it was 1:30 a.m.) my mind started to go over the CPR training I receive once a year. Is it 3o compressions to two breaths or 15 to one? They keep changing the cycles and I didn't remember. Luckily, the ambulance got there in about 15 minutes.

Even though she was breathing well and the worst was over, the paramedics and my daughter decided to take her to the hospital. My daughter rode in the ambulance and I followed. My nephew was with me and he proved to be a big help. Kara seemed fine by the time the Dr. looked at her and she announced, "I"m ready."

My daughter asked her what she was ready for and she sighed, "to go home."

After receiving medication and instructions, we headed back to the cabin. It was 4:45 a.m.

All is well that ends well. However, it made me realize that the next vacation I take will be a little closer to a big city, just in case!

I've yearned for my clay all week, so I'll be back to blog about that later on!

Returning soon

Today is the last day of my vacation. I'm eager to return to blogging since I have a lot of great stories to tell and lots of pictures to show. It's hard blogging at someone else's home.

I had a lot of adventures and brainstormed a lot with my cousin. I'm really inspired to begin working on some great projects too!

Hope everyone had a nice Easter. I'll be posting with pictures tomorrow.