What are you working on (in March 2025)?

[Donna Sillia]

My dear grandson, Matthew, lost his beloved dog, Chooch, last week. Needless to say, he is devasted. I am working on a poster for printing in remembrance of Chooch. These are my first photos. The photos are from Matthew, but the effects are the result of Paintshop and PSE. I must say that Paintshop Pro adjusts the clarity and color of the photos much better than PSE. The frames on three of the pictures were made in PSP using vector tube-the bone frame, Carole's Wordframe script and a doggy heart font from CF. The beach photo effect is from PSE. I have a plethora of photos from which to choose. 

[Susan Ewart]

  On 3/8/2025 at 1:06 AM, Donna Sillia said:

My dear grandson, Matthew, lost his beloved dog, Chooch, last week. Needless to say, he is devasted. I am working on a poster for printing in remembrance of Chooch. These are my first photos. The photos are from Matthew, but the effects are the result of Paintshop and PSE. I must say that Paintshop Pro adjusts the clarity and color of the photos much better than PSE. The frames on three of the pictures were made in PSP using vector tube-the bone frame, Carole's Wordframe script and a doggy heart font from CF. The beach photo effect is from PSE. I have a plethora of photos from which to choose. 

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I'm sorry to hear about your grandson's best friend (Chooch).  It's so hard and heartbreaking to let them go.  This wonderful layout will be a treasure for him.  

[Julie Magerka]

  On 3/8/2025 at 1:06 AM, Donna Sillia said:

My dear grandson, Matthew, lost his beloved dog, Chooch, last week. Needless to say, he is devasted. I am working on a poster for printing in remembrance of Chooch. These are my first photos. The photos are from Matthew, but the effects are the result of Paintshop and PSE. I must say that Paintshop Pro adjusts the clarity and color of the photos much better than PSE. The frames on three of the pictures were made in PSP using vector tube-the bone frame, Carole's Wordframe script and a doggy heart font from CF. The beach photo effect is from PSE. I have a plethora of photos from which to choose. 

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Oh Donna, you do what I do when someone close to me loses their furbaby. Recently, my nephew and his partner lost their long-time rescue dog, and they had no photos at all. He had lost his phone and had no backup system! That made me doubly sad.

And just last week, good friends had to make the tough decision for their 16-year-old dog. But there are pix of her from which I used one to create my tribute. Somehow being able to do this makes us feel a tiny bit better. Maybe it will for you and your family too.

[Donna Sillia]

Susan and Julie,

Thank you for your sympathy for one of my grand dogs. Fortunately, Matthew had a lot of photos of Chooch. My three oldest grandsons live together with their girlfriends, and the whole family loved Chooch and were devastated. They were all crying when I called. Chooch was part Huskie and loved pulling the boys on their skate boards and floats in the streams around Vegas. He also loved hiking in the desert with Matthew and David's pit bull, Finan.

[Donna Sillia]

  On 3/8/2025 at 5:03 PM, Julie Magerka said:

Oh Donna, you do what I do when someone close to me loses their furbaby. Recently, my nephew and his partner lost their long-time rescue dog, and they had no photos at all. He had lost his phone and had no backup system! That made me doubly sad.

And just last week, good friends had to make the tough decision for their 16-year-old dog. But there are pix of her from which I used one to create my tribute. Somehow being able to do this makes us feel a tiny bit better. Maybe it will for you and your family too.

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Love this layout, Julie. I still debating on my background and layout. I may steal some of your ideas.

[Susan Ewart]

  On 3/8/2025 at 5:03 PM, Julie Magerka said:

Oh Donna, you do what I do when someone close to me loses their furbaby. Recently, my nephew and his partner lost their long-time rescue dog, and they had no photos at all. He had lost his phone and had no backup system! That made me doubly sad.

And just last week, good friends had to make the tough decision for their 16-year-old dog. But there are pix of her from which I used one to create my tribute. Somehow being able to do this makes us feel a tiny bit better. Maybe it will for you and your family too.

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Julie, this is so incredibly beautiful and touching.  

[kasany]

  On 3/6/2025 at 11:13 PM, Sue Thomas said:

During the winter months, when the opportunity arises I like to walk across the frozen lake. Living in the  banks across the lake are lots of rabbits. They have become accustomed  to me. Looking down I marvel at the patterns under the ice.  Of course I photograph them.  I decided to use two shots in this page, which is still a work in progress.  The files are very large, so through such compression they will be greatly degraded, but it will give you a gimpse at what I see. I'm also dabbling with  the paper cutting technique, even though it is straight lines.  As I do, do paper cutting.

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Lovely picks and these creatures as well:)

[kasany]

I still work with INSECTS AROUND US. My recent work created before.

[kasany]

Mask used with my recent work/fractal.

[Anne Lamp]

  On 3/6/2025 at 11:15 PM, Sue Thomas said:

Here is another one.  They really do make  lovely textured papers. 

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I bet they do. I have used some of the picks I have taken of my frosted windows for that too.

[Anne Lamp]

  On 3/8/2025 at 5:03 PM, Julie Magerka said:

Oh Donna, you do what I do when someone close to me loses their furbaby. Recently, my nephew and his partner lost their long-time rescue dog, and they had no photos at all. He had lost his phone and had no backup system! That made me doubly sad.

And just last week, good friends had to make the tough decision for their 16-year-old dog. But there are pix of her from which I used one to create my tribute. Somehow being able to do this makes us feel a tiny bit better. Maybe it will for you and your family too.

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These are very thoughtful and nice.  I can't  imagine someone not having a backup for those cell phone pictures. 

[kasany]

  On 3/9/2025 at 5:04 PM, Anne Lamp said:

I bet they do. I have used some of the picks I have taken of my frosted windows for that too.

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Really good pick and an idea to create the texture.

[Donna Sillia]

  On 3/8/2025 at 5:03 PM, Julie Magerka said:

Oh Donna, you do what I do when someone close to me loses their furbaby. Recently, my nephew and his partner lost their long-time rescue dog, and they had no photos at all. He had lost his phone and had no backup system! That made me doubly sad.

And just last week, good friends had to make the tough decision for their 16-year-old dog. But there are pix of her from which I used one to create my tribute. Somehow being able to do this makes us feel a tiny bit better. Maybe it will for you and your family too.

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Julie,

I love the quote and looked it up on the internet. "Wherever a beautiful soul has been, there is a trail of beautiful memories" - Ronald Reagan  I think I may use  it on my poster.

I am still having problems measuring up to your creativity on backgrounds. May I ask your opinion on this one?

[Julie Magerka]

  On 3/9/2025 at 6:06 PM, Donna Sillia said:

Julie,

I love the quote and looked it up on the internet. "Wherever a beautiful soul has been, there is a trail of beautiful memories" - Ronald Reagan  I think I may use  it on my poster.

I am still having problems measuring up to your creativity on backgrounds. May I ask your opinion on this one?

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I think it's lovely. There's an ethereal feel to it, one that suggests the sky, the horizon, and beyond which is so appropriate. Nicely done Donna.

[Donna Sillia]

  On 3/9/2025 at 7:27 PM, Julie Magerka said:

I think it's lovely. There's an ethereal feel to it, one that suggests the sky, the horizon, and beyond which is so appropriate. Nicely done Donna.

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Thank you, Julie

I overthink things and added a beige vintage layer with a hue blend. After your kind words, I am thinking of removing it.

[Julie Magerka]

  On 3/9/2025 at 8:48 PM, Donna Sillia said:

Thank you, Julie

I overthink things and added a beige vintage layer with a hue blend. After your kind words, I am thinking of removing it.

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If I HAD to choose, I'd say the blue background. But both are effective and convey the message. Love the elements and images which are so touching.

[Julie Magerka]

Yesterday I did something a bit different. I saw a posting on FB about a display of raptors (the birds, not the Toronto NBA team) coming to this area for March Break which just began.

It was in such an unlikely location (an empty store in a small mall in Windsor), and chock full of squirmy, noisy kids, but it was amazing! I learned so much about the birds of prey that are native to this area and was able to be up close but not personal with them.

The show was put on by the Canadian Raptor Conservancy in Port Dover, on the north shore of Lake Erie. The birds flew in brief bursts from the trainer's arm to perches at either end of the room. She spoke in great detail about each one.

They brought five show birds. In the layout, they are (starting at top left and going clockwise): Red-Tailed hawk, Bald eagle (who is 33 years old!), Sparrow hawk (noisy!), Great Horned Owl, and a Harris hawk (not native to here).

I used a template and kept getting mixed up with all the layers, but once committed to it, I had to continue. I think there should be some journaling on the l/o, but I didn't find it necessary since no one else is likely to see it. So I removed the journal space and added another photo.

[Rene Marker]

  On 3/9/2025 at 10:25 PM, Julie Magerka said:

They brought five show birds. In the layout, they are (starting at top left and going clockwise): Red-Tailed hawk, Bald eagle (who is 33 years old!), Sparrow hawk (noisy!), Great Horned Owl, and a Harris hawk (not native to here).

I used a template and kept getting mixed up with all the layers, but once committed to it, I had to continue. I think there should be some journaling on the l/o, but I didn't find it necessary since no one else is likely to see it. So I removed the journal space and added another photo.

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You should at least put the information that you put here on the layout. Believe me, you could forget it in the future! Also, the date would be a good idea.

Nice layout though.

[Donna Sillia]

  On 3/9/2025 at 10:03 PM, Julie Magerka said:

If I HAD to choose, I'd say the blue background. But both are effective and convey the message. Love the elements and images which are so touching.

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Thanks, Julie. I'm going with the blue.

[Julie Magerka]

  On 3/9/2025 at 11:24 PM, Rene Marker said:

You should at least put the information that you put here on the layout. Believe me, you could forget it in the future! Also, the date would be a good idea.

Nice layout though.

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I think you're right about including the date, at least. I will amend it.

[Donna Sillia]

I think that I have my final poster. Now, I have to see how it prints.

[Corrie Kinkel]

  On 3/9/2025 at 10:25 PM, Julie Magerka said:

Yesterday I did something a bit different. I saw a posting on FB about a display of raptors (the birds, not the Toronto NBA team) coming to this area for March Break which just began.

It was in such an unlikely location (an empty store in a small mall in Windsor), and chock full of squirmy, noisy kids, but it was amazing! I learned so much about the birds of prey that are native to this area and was able to be up close but not personal with them.

The show was put on by the Canadian Raptor Conservancy in Port Dover, on the north shore of Lake Erie. The birds flew in brief bursts from the trainer's arm to perches at either end of the room. She spoke in great detail about each one.

They brought five show birds. In the layout, they are (starting at top left and going clockwise): Red-Tailed hawk, Bald eagle (who is 33 years old!), Sparrow hawk (noisy!), Great Horned Owl, and a Harris hawk (not native to here).

I used a template and kept getting mixed up with all the layers, but once committed to it, I had to continue. I think there should be some journaling on the l/o, but I didn't find it necessary since no one else is likely to see it. So I removed the journal space and added another photo.

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I went many years ago with my husband on a visit to England where we visited a castle and saw a show about birds of prey. I remember it was impressive, those birds are really fearsome when you see them up close. It was in the open air in the castle grounds and the birds when released came back to their trainers and rested on their fists where they were treated to some bits of meat. Your layout and story brought back my memories of it, so thank you.

[Julie Magerka]

  On 3/10/2025 at 10:31 PM, Corrie Kinkel said:

I went many years ago with my husband on a visit to England where we visited a castle and saw a show about birds of prey. I remember it was impressive, those birds are really fearsome when you see them up close. It was in the open air in the castle grounds and the birds when released came back to their trainers and rested on their fists where they were treated to some bits of meat. Your layout and story brought back my memories of it, so thank you.

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I would prefer to see them in the open air, as well. The location was small and unsuitable for the purpose, I thought.

[Julie Magerka]

  On 3/10/2025 at 6:20 PM, Donna Sillia said:

I think that I have my final poster. Now, I have to see how it prints.

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I'm sure your family will appreciate the love you put into this.

[Susan Ewart]

My friends of Affinity!  I'm posting this info here because I know everyone looks here.  I was working on my Lab Challenge (for the Diamond members) and needed to check how to do an element I learned in the Basic Scrap Course.  Guess what?  There is now videos for Affinity in the Basic Scrap Course (available for Diamond member anytime - I think) if you want extra practice with layouts using Affinity.  Find it under Classes>Beginner>Basic Scrap Course 1 and scroll past the PSP video and you'll find the Affinity ones.  The Basic course is really good, especially right after the Bootcamp when you are wondering where you go from there.