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I had decied to make my Xmas cake today. Got out all the ingredients, the butter was out softening, as it had been in the fridge, lined the cake tin. Everything was ready. I went outside to fill the bird baths, and feeders when I heard the Robins suddenly sounding off the alarm. My Sharp-shinned Hawk swooped down and flew off with a mourning dove. One of a pair I have here, now only one. After a short while I heard another hawk, and loe and behold there he was up in the tree, looking down on what I believe to be the female tucking into a hearty meal. They certainly do have a fistful of daggers, and what a predatory force the Hawk is. After over two hours, with a break from eating about half way through the meal, she flew off, leaving nothing behind, other than the feathers. Here are some of the pics I took. I got very cold and wet, but it was worth it. It’s always a privilege to be able to witness a private, moment like that which happens all the time but we rarely witness much less get photos of! Some may not like these pages, and find them distasteful and cruel. I have a comment for that. By saying nature is cruel is damaging, it isn't cruel, it's indifferent, brutal and effective, but it is equally beautiful and a marvel of natural wonder. Eventually I did get my Xmas cake baked, fed with brandy, and put away in a cool, dark place. Sharp-shinned Hawks. The template I used is from lab 10-2. It's one of my favourites, which gets used often. I can remember once, that Cristina, said she liked that template too. Carole's lace , where I used a gradient and then a blend mode. a fancy font on the tag, and brush strokes to highlight some text. Scallops and postage stamp edging on the note with text. The other page is a layout demonstrated in the scrap with grids masterclass.

V = viola

I'm still playing with my Beach Kit. This is a freebie and I believe it is from Corel some time ago. The font for the title is MV Boli. Summer in March at the Gulf!

U = Upright clematis

Week 16 All the conifers in the garden have new growth. The photo is of new cones on a fir tree - I just thought they were cute.

Thanks for your help, Ladies. I appreciate it. 🙂

I have the 64 bit plug in that I purchased some time ago. I don't think their website exists anymore, but I did download a PDF with the how to use instructions. However, the last time I tried to use it, my PSP 2023 shut down.

I got so excited at the arrival of the Hawk, I misidentified her. I have been taking photos of the sharp-tailed grouse, which confused me. She is actually a Sharp-shinned Hawk.

Well said!

I want to be you! So awesome, and so lucky. I am enjoying the rabbits near work, and I'm a bit miffed someone bought the empty lot and now there is a container on it and stakes in the ground(possible building soon). Don't they know that's the rabbit(hare?) plot of land? yeesh, Humans, what can you do with them, eh? Thank you for thinking of me, very much appreciated!

Just sharing a chuckle posted by my Warwick library on Facebook.

That is so true. My eyes are alway peeled for ideas, whether I see something on the telly, in the campus or out and about which catches my eye, I will try to replicate it, incorporating it into a page. I will look out for your post, which will also include your exqusite distinctive style. Scripts are awesome, and time saving, but there is something most satisfying and rewarding when you create something yourself. For me that's the beauty of the tutorials in the creative scrap/lab, and of course the masterclasses. It's a pleasure to sometimes be a sourse of inspiration and helpful when I can.

I'm like a magpie. I see something and then I want to mimic it. I guess that's part of the learning process. I loved the Block Photo technique on the robin photo, so I looked up the tutorial. Not as difficult as I thought it must be. So watch out, I'll be posting something with it. And it will be b/c Sue used it so beautifully and prompted me!

I've been able to make a little extra time lately so I can stop reusing my old pics for the themes my game is repeating. My last two projects show a stark difference in styles that were dependent on the themes. Easter Cuteness: The frame with the rabbit is a freebie by Ditz Bitz that was shared in the FB group FTU PSP Stuff. I added some Easter grass behind it that I think was a freebie from Corel. I found the font, Thanks Bunny, a few years ago on Creative Fabrica. It comes with the cutest glyphs. Bohemian Inspiration: CF has a bundle of Bohemian Girls that I fell in love with. I combined it with one of CF's Spring Grunge Floral Background Papers and various borders/frames from Pixel Scrapper. The font is Baby Boho from CF. I use a lot of products from CF and PS. They offer free products daily and I have subscriptions to both at very reasonable prices.

Susan, look who showed up today. A sharp-shinned Hawk. My resident Merlin has now got some competition. Mind you, there's more than enough House Sparrows for them. Sheltering under the lilac hedge, with the Robins. It's still snowing and blowing. I'm yet to get a shot of the Merlin.

I agree, they are fun to make, but I'm afraid not for my layouts. Though I do like them when others use them in their pages. You know that I'm going to expect to see that technique used in one of your lovely pages. lol

That was a 32-bit plugin. So it will only work with older versions of PSP, if you load the 32-bit.

Thank you, Carol. Every one I tried had the format .8bf, but I didn't know about the 32 bits versus 64 bits. At least now I understand why I can't get them to work. AV Bros. had a page curl filter that I used to curl ribbons and other things. It's one I would like to have back.

I've had quite a few pets: cats, dogs, tropical fish, guinea pigs, a de-scented skunk, ponies and horses. The most spectacular were the Irish Wolfhounds that we had starting around 1980 and for about 20 years, encompassing one female and after she passed away we acquired a pair, siblings, whom we named Mick and the female was already named "Annie." She was older and we got her to keep the male under control. As a 7-month-old pup, he was a handful. He was roughly the size of an Irish Setter and still had growing to do! I apologize for the photo, the only one I have of them. It was originally black and white, and I attempted to colorize it. The layout is from a Corel freebie template for Father's Day 2023. The background paper is from Melo Vrijhof, the font is Classic Barbershop and the celtic decor is from pngegg.

Sue - but plaids are so much fun to make!!! LOL Thanks for the tip on the block photo. Just downloaded the Block Photo tutorial. Thanks. Interesting. Watched the video.

One thing to remember is that a lot of older plugins were 32-bits and PSP2023 is only 64-bits so all those old plugins won't work in that version. That is the reason many PSP users are keeping an older version, just to use those old plugins. AKVIS has several plugins that work with PSP2023. Eye Candy can work although it is not 100% compatible with PSP: it won't add the effects on separate layers like it should (and does in Photoshop). Topaz also work for photo effects. Filter Forge is often my go-to plugin since it includes so many filters. In general, except for Filter Forge, I rarely use plugins. Others might chime in with additional plugins that work. But in the meantime, see if you can keep an older version of PSP to use those older plugins.

The only plugins I got to work in PSP 2023 are Particle Effects, which came with the download of PSP, and Filter Forge 3. I have a folder full of plugins I used to have working in my old version of PSP. I followed a few tutorials on how to get them to work in 2023, but to no avail. Can anybody name some of the plugins they have working in 2023, please? Thank you! 🙂

Cheers! Several little details, which doesn't over crowd, or make the layout appear busy, to distract from the photos, yet makes the viewer's eye wander, to absorb the whole page. Although the Masterclasses are great, and I love them. I have always and still do prefer the tutorials in what was the creative scrap, and now called the Lab. Even though a greal deal of the tutorials are available as scripts. I enjoy creating my own elements. Even though I rarely use patterned papers, I have created templates for all of the paper template tutorials in the creative scrap and Lab. My least favourite patterned paper is plaid. The Robins are still here, I doubt they will move on until the weather is more favourable.