Kiwanis Park

There is a beautiful little park in Pleasant Grove Utah. It is called Kiwanis Park. A friend showed me where it was because I love to find different places to take my kids hiking in the summer time! I started to research Kiwanis Park, and found some history about it that was quite interesting. It is said to be haunted. I guess in 1849 there was a battle between the pioneers and the indians and many people were killed. It use to be called Battle Creek. I was very curious, for I'm very interested in such things. I've had weird things happen to me in the past where I've felt different energies in different places I've gone to. I had to check this out. Not only to satisfy my curiosity but to see the famous Kiwanis Falls! I love natural waterfalls, and about a mile up a little shale rock trail along a cute little creek, we found the beautiful waterfall. Here are a few pictures of the falls and the creek! It is said that if you go to Kiwanis Park at night time, black shadows are seen running around. I guess there is an archway of trees as well that is said to be some type of spiritual gateway, and some people have reported hearing screams, and smelling bad smells as they walk through this archway of trees. I felt a weird presence close to the pavilion, which is the other way from the trail to the waterfall. I'm not sure how to explain it. I felt a certain silence, and I think I did find the archway of trees, but right as I was about to walk through it, a snake slithered in front of me. It scared me, so I decided to not go there. The Navajo Indians are quite superstitious about snakes, but after hearing that place was haunted and seeing a snake right before the archway, I'm starting to think that maybe the Navajo's know something we don't! Anyways, here are some of the photos I took at Kiwanis Park!

 As you head up the trail to the waterfall, if you glance up, there are some of the most amazing and beautiful rock sculptures up above the trail. They were very interesting to look at.

 This little butterfly, or moth kept flying right in front of us, as if it were guiding us up the trail. It kept going a little ahead, then it would just land, and sit there. I was able to get a few close pictures of it!

 Here it is again, I thought up against the grey shale rock it would make an interesting photo of contrast!

 One again, it was there, just waiting for us.

 There is a river bed up there, that you have to cross to get to the pavilion area, it was dry, but it looked really cool! There were several squirrels hiding in the rocks there, if you look at these two pictures closely, toward the bottom right, you might see one of the  squirrels!

 Another picture of the river bed! I'm not sure why they didn't have the water opened up to it yet, it was damned a little ways up the trail!

 Part of the river. I loved the mossy rocks. So beautiful!

 This would have been a great picture, if those people weren't in the left hand corner!

 The bottom of the waterfall. The trail takes you to the top, but you can also go to the bottom!

 The bottom of the waterfall again. It splashes ALOT down there because it's so steep coming down, and the bottom is so shallow, that it just splashes. There's water particles everywhere down there!

 This is the top of the waterfall. The trail goes all the way to the top, then it keeps going, we didn't go any farther than the top of the waterfall. My kids were tired. When I don't have them with me, I want to go farther up the trail and see where it leads!

A lonely Iris. This Iris was in a grassy area close to the pavilion. It was close to here that I saw the snake! 

Replacing Color in Photoshop.....

One of my favorite tools in Photoshop is the "Replace Color" tool. I Love this tool because you can get a very unique look after you replace colors. I took this photo of myself with my cell phone. Then I desaturated the photo, I simply went to "Image" then "Adjustments" then "Desaturate" Click where you would like to replace the color, when it chooses your shade, then go to "Replace Color" Choose the color you want, and it will replace it with your new color, its simple and gives your piece a very unique look.

This was a magazine cover I had to design for a college class. We had to desaturate a photo, and recolor only a part of it. So I chose to add the pink and blue. 

Another way to replace color in Photoshop is to desaturate your photo, and choose your paintbrush, then your color, and very carefully and precisely paint the photo, where you want the color to be. I have an example below of a family picture I took of a friends family. I changed the photo to Sepia, then I repainted their jeans blue. The trick is, you have to change the opacity on your brush. Make sure you start a brand new layer, only for your painting. Change the opacity on that particular layer. 

A couple more ideas, are to desaturate the photo, and only paint the flowers. Another idea is to take a close up portrait of someone, desaturate the photo, and repaint only their eyes. Back in the olden days, you have probably noticed photos painted, or dyed. Its basically the same idea, only back then they actually dyed or painted the photo with a special transparent dye. We are lucky now because we can do it digitally! There are countless ideas for this particular tool in Photoshop! You could even take a black and white photo of an old house, and only paint the house. 

New Prints..........

I've been working on a few more prints for fun, check them out......

Fun Vintage Clothing Flyer.........

This was a flyer I designed in InDesign. It was for a vintage clothing company!

D'Laina Jae Photography Logos..................

I designed some Logos for Unmistakably D'Laina Jae Photography. She wanted red and black for the colors. I messed with a few different options.  I used Illustrator and Photoshop. They are posted below.

This is a camera with wings. Something simple, for stamping her photos.

This was also designed for photo stamping.

This was designed for flyers and business cards.

This was just something fun, I messed with.

This was simple and ended up being D'Laina's favorite.

The first official day of summer........

Well today is our first official day of summer break. I actually got to sleep in until almost 9:00. It was so nice. All of my kids stayed the night at friends houses except one, who had a sleep over here. My project for today is to get my house cleaned really good, make a job chart for the kids for this summer, and I am going to try and set up a work space in my new town home! I don't have as much room in this house for my craft space, but I think I have a whole wall in my room I can set up with my sewing machine, and a painting space! The house is quiet, my kids are all out playing. Its nice to have some peace. During the school year I swear I was in my minivan driving kids around to school, from school, and to friends houses the majority of my day. Maybe I will get some stuff done now. The weather is still cold and cloudy, which is really weird for this time of year in Utah! Hopefully I can start laying out in my bikini and get some sun on this white body of mine, if the sun ever comes out, that is!