Thanks so much for your nice comments; I feel very encouraged!.
The first photo, the one with the sign holders was behind a chain link fence, so I was trying not to get the fence in the shot. I took several shots, and this turned out the best of the bunch. I may go back and ask if I can go into the yard and take some shots at different angles and see what comes of it.
I used the illustrator tool on my Pentax k200D and I really liked the effect it had on the pipe shot. I took many different angles/compositions of the icicles and this in my opinion was the best shot. I guess the best way to learn all this stuff is to just go out and try and experiment. It is very much fun though and a great way to kill an afternoon!