What are you working on (in March 2025)?

[Susan Ewart]

  On 3/12/2025 at 9:54 PM, Corrie Kinkel said:

The difference is that I very much like to take photos. I almost never go out without my phone, even if it is to run an errand, and very often there is something I take a photo off and I'm very happy that I can use those for my layouts. My husband isn't overly interested in the photos I take and on a good day he will say: "oh nice" without even looking at them. Just the way it is, to quote you!

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My husband is much the same.  Luckily he is patient (when we are out walking and I've taken my camera) when I stop for 10 minutes to photography a leaf or crack in the sidewalk or something like that.  My husband used to take pictures when we hiked, probably more for something to do while waiting for me.  Now the camera is just useful for him to take pictures of stuff he will sell (he likes to build computers and sell them - or tinker with fixing stuff).  It's a strange contrast between how we each measure our hobbies.  Mine costs me money as my goal is the feeling I get when I create something without the need to profit from it.  His goal is fixing something broken or building something and selling it making his hobby pay for itself.  To me, that's just work.  I should add that he loves the feeling of fixing something broken.  and the fact that at least he has a hobby at all.  

Edited Thursday at 02:18 PM by Susan Ewart

[Rene Marker]

  On 3/12/2025 at 8:49 PM, Julie Magerka said:

Most of my photos of value are old family ones and it would get dull fast if that's all I ever used for layouts! I don't take that many photos b/c I don't go that many places. Even when I do get out, I forget to use the camera/phone. Also, there is no one to whom I can bequeath the pix I take. No one is interested, in family history or my life. Just the way it is.

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You might be surprised that someone just may be interested in the photos you take. I see requests for photos by people that aren't related to the individuals they are looking for all the time. Just last week a gentleman from my town was looking for a photo of a single lady that had been a teacher and principal at one of our elementary schools for many years. He was creating a memorial for her on Find-A-Grave and wanted to add her photo. A former student had one.

Even though my close family relatives are not into the family history/genealogy like I am, they do enjoy my scrapbooks and hearing about my findings. But, I scrap mainly for me. I enjoy the process and the final product.

[Corrie Kinkel]

  On 3/13/2025 at 3:26 PM, Rene Marker said:

You might be surprised that someone just may be interested in the photos you take. I see requests for photos by people that aren't related to the individuals they are looking for all the time. Just last week a gentleman from my town was looking for a photo of a single lady that had been a teacher and principal at one of our elementary schools for many years. He was creating a memorial for her on Find-A-Grave and wanted to add her photo. A former student had one.

Even though my close family relatives are not into the family history/genealogy like I am, they do enjoy my scrapbooks and hearing about my findings. But, I scrap mainly for me. I enjoy the process and the final product.

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Rene that is what I do too. It is nice if I have a printed scrapbook on my table and my friends like it, but for me it is the making of it with the use of my own photos that I enjoy.

[Susan Ewart]

I had a little time to play around and I wanted to try the tutorial from the blog.  a pumpkin isnt quite the right subject but it was handy, so, be assured you all can build yourself a pumpkin now.  I have other things in mind that I want to try though.  And once it's nicer out (we are in the midst of big dump of snow) I will take some pictures of the house.  It's faster than trying to find them in my files.  Thanks for pointing this one out Carole.  I'll review that masterclass and see what other gems are in it.

[Ann Seeber]

  On 3/14/2025 at 4:13 AM, Susan Ewart said:

be assured you all can build yourself a pumpkin now. 

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😆🤣😂

[Sue Thomas]

My goodness, everyone has been ever so creative, far to many to comment on individually. Awesome!

I'm feeling rather proud of myself, after looking at a template for some time, I was wondering how I'd  be able to create it myself. Well, after  some thought I came up with this.  The layout is one of AnnieC. I must say do like many of her layouts, especailly those that include circles. Scraplifting. I have chosen a few that I like that I will be replicating.  Rabbits making the most of the heat of the sun, out of the cold wind  under the banks along the Lake.  Again I used two ice photos for the background papers. I added my own elements.

Edited Friday at 02:27 PM by Sue Thomas

[Susan Ewart]

  On 3/14/2025 at 2:26 PM, Sue Thomas said:

My goodness, everyone has been ever so creative, far to many to comment on individually. Awesome!

I'm feeling rather proud of myself, after looking at a template for some time, I was wondering how I'd  be able to create it myself. Well, after  some thought I came up with this.  The layout is one of AnnieC. I must say do like many of her layouts, especailly those that include circles. Scraplifting. I have chosen a few that I like that I will be replicating.  Rabbits making the most of the heat of the sun, out of the cold wind  under the banks along the Lake.  Again I used two ice photos for the background papers. I added my own elements.

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Wow!  This is SPECTACULAR!  Beautifully balanced and super creative Sue!  The circles really do make the layout sing.  The one in the middle with the masks around it is outstanding and that color drew my eye to it immediately.  They look like they want to be picked up and cuddled...(okay, maybe it's ME that wants to do that).  Beautiful quote.  

[Sue Thomas]

  On 3/14/2025 at 3:29 PM, Susan Ewart said:

Wow!  This is SPECTACULAR!  Beautifully balanced and super creative Sue!  The circles really do make the layout sing.  The one in the middle with the masks around it is outstanding and that color drew my eye to it immediately.  They look like they want to be picked up and cuddled...(okay, maybe it's ME that wants to do that).  Beautiful quote.  

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In all honesty, I  appreciate your kind words, from the  bottom of my heart.  I now have a template  which can be modified and used over and over again. I always  use vectors for the circles. To maintain smooth  clean edges. From vector shape comes in handy to make clean round deletes. It is imperative  to make sure that each delete is done in sequence. All in all it wasn't  as much of a challenge as I  thought it was going to be.  Perhaps  Carole would  consider doing a masterclass  on similar  layouts down the road.

All the  rabbits are adorable, especially when wearing  their thick winter coats. I would dearly love to entice them to come to me, but I  dare not, being at the bottom of the food chain they must remain wild, and not become tame.

Edited Friday at 04:01 PM by Sue Thomas

[Corrie Kinkel]

  On 3/14/2025 at 3:53 PM, Sue Thomas said:

In all honesty, I  appreciate your kind words, from the  bottom of my heart.  I now have a template  which can be modified and used over and over again. I always  use vectors for the circles. To maintain smooth  clean edges. From vector shape comes in handy to make clean round deletes. It is imperative  to make sure that each delete is done in sequence. All in all it wasn't  as much of a challenge as I  thought it was going to be.  Perhaps  Carole would  consider doing a masterclass  on similar  layouts.

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Besides you having done this wonderful layout, the idea of a masterclass on doing such layouts would be great! 

[Sue Thomas]

  On 3/14/2025 at 4:01 PM, Corrie Kinkel said:

Besides you having done this wonderful layout, the idea of a masterclass on doing such layouts would be great! 

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I agree, although I can create such layouts, after some thought, I hasten to add. I'm  certain that  Carole would approach creating such a layout in a different way I than I do. Saying that how I do them works for me. I use techniques I  have learnt over the years in the campus. It's good to challenge one self.

Edited Friday at 04:11 PM by Sue Thomas

[Corrie Kinkel]

  On 3/14/2025 at 4:13 AM, Susan Ewart said:

I had a little time to play around and I wanted to try the tutorial from the blog.  a pumpkin isnt quite the right subject but it was handy, so, be assured you all can build yourself a pumpkin now.  I have other things in mind that I want to try though.  And once it's nicer out (we are in the midst of big dump of snow) I will take some pictures of the house.  It's faster than trying to find them in my files.  Thanks for pointing this one out Carole.  I'll review that masterclass and see what other gems are in it.

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This is such a lovely masterclass and it has more ideas that are worth looking at. I have used those on many occasions and this was the last time I used a blueprint for the AAM-Careers challenge.

[Corrie Kinkel]

  On 3/14/2025 at 4:10 PM, Sue Thomas said:

I agree, although I can create such layouts, after some thought, I hasten to add. I'm  certain that  Carole would approach creating such a layout in a different way I than I do. Saying that how I do them works for me. I use techniques I  have learnt over the years in the campus. It's good to challenge one self.

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I agree with you! For me it is always difficult to explain how I do things, especially when I have to do so in English. But in doing it in Dutch and then use a translate app doesn't do justice to my thought process either. 

[Susan Ewart]

  On 3/14/2025 at 3:53 PM, Sue Thomas said:

In all honesty, I  appreciate your kind words, from the  bottom of my heart.  I now have a template  which can be modified and used over and over again. I always  use vectors for the circles. To maintain smooth  clean edges. From vector shape comes in handy to make clean round deletes. It is imperative  to make sure that each delete is done in sequence. All in all it wasn't  as much of a challenge as I  thought it was going to be.  Perhaps  Carole would  consider doing a masterclass  on similar  layouts down the road.

All the  rabbits are adorable, especially when wearing  their thick winter coats. I would dearly love to entice them to come to me, but I  dare not, being at the bottom of the food chain they must remain wild, and not become tame.

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this is one thing I remember you telling a couple years ago and it has stayed in my mind.  Such good advice.  May I ask, you use the Vectors as long as you can until the moment you need to add any effects to it, like a shadow or bevel or some other effect that prompts us to change the Vector to a raster?  (and keeping the vectors as hidden files as always?)

[Susan Ewart]

  On 3/14/2025 at 4:11 PM, Corrie Kinkel said:

This is such a lovely masterclass and it has more ideas that are worth looking at. I have used those on many occasions and this was the last time I used a blueprint for the AAM-Careers challenge.

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This looks fabulous.  I'm going to try it on some buildings as soon as I can find them in my files.  They are much older.  But I' have some ideas of ones I'm looking for.

[Susan Ewart]

  On 3/14/2025 at 4:15 PM, Corrie Kinkel said:

I agree with you! For me it is always difficult to explain how I do things, especially when I have to do so in English. But in doing it in Dutch and then use a translate app doesn't do justice to my thought process either. 

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It's not always easy to explain in English either, especially if I'm using the wrong terminology or I dont know the right terminology to be asking or explaining about.

[Sue Thomas]

  On 3/14/2025 at 7:33 PM, Susan Ewart said:

this is one thing I remember you telling a couple years ago and it has stayed in my mind.  Such good advice.  May I ask, you use the Vectors as long as you can until the moment you need to add any effects to it, like a shadow or bevel or some other effect that prompts us to change the Vector to a raster?  (and keeping the vectors as hidden files as always?)

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I certainly do. The templates remain as vectors.  I don't change any vectors to rasters until I  get to the stage of, as you say, adding textures, shadows and the like. Even then I  will duplicate the vectors, hiding  one of the layers. I almost never reuse a layout, but one never knows.  I can remember commenting on how I  use vectors with circles or elippse with a similar layout.  That was  removing  backgrounds from around photos. 

Edited Friday at 10:14 PM by Sue Thomas

[Corrie Kinkel]

  On 3/14/2025 at 7:34 PM, Susan Ewart said:

This looks fabulous.  I'm going to try it on some buildings as soon as I can find them in my files.  They are much older.  But I' have some ideas of ones I'm looking for.

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I'll wait for you to find your files and hope you show a blueprint with them.

[Julie Magerka]

I had a look at the blog post too, and gave it a try. I didn't follow all the directions precisely, but  I think it came out OK.

This layout used a photo of the actual school which was quite impressive for a tiny village near my hometown. The smaller rural schools had SS (School Section) designations with a number and then the Township name.

This was different to do and fun! (The colours faded a bit when I resized the layout.)

[Julie Magerka]

  On 3/14/2025 at 2:26 PM, Sue Thomas said:

My goodness, everyone has been ever so creative, far to many to comment on individually. Awesome!

I'm feeling rather proud of myself, after looking at a template for some time, I was wondering how I'd  be able to create it myself. Well, after  some thought I came up with this.  The layout is one of AnnieC. I must say do like many of her layouts, especailly those that include circles. Scraplifting. I have chosen a few that I like that I will be replicating.  Rabbits making the most of the heat of the sun, out of the cold wind  under the banks along the Lake.  Again I used two ice photos for the background papers. I added my own elements.

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The various shapes move the eye around the whole layout. Wonderful!

[Susan Ewart]

  On 3/14/2025 at 9:26 PM, Julie Magerka said:

I had a look at the blog post too, and gave it a try. I didn't follow all the directions precisely, but  I think it came out OK.

This layout used a photo of the actual school which was quite impressive for a tiny village near my hometown. The smaller rural schools had SS (School Section) designations with a number and then the Township name.

This was different to do and fun! (The colours faded a bit when I resized the layout.)

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That turned out well.  the background paper is nice as I can see some cool designs on the upper right and middle left side.  I never thought of that.  I could use an technical drawing type background (low opacity).  

[Sue Thomas]

  On 3/14/2025 at 9:26 PM, Julie Magerka said:

I had a look at the blog post too, and gave it a try. I didn't follow all the directions precisely, but  I think it came out OK.

This layout used a photo of the actual school which was quite impressive for a tiny village near my hometown. The smaller rural schools had SS (School Section) designations with a number and then the Township name.

This was different to do and fun! (The colours faded a bit when I resized the layout.)

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You did a wonderful job, I particlarily like the background paper, with the subtle elements overlayed. I can remember giving it a try after the masterclass, quite some time ago.  I found that you can not use just any image. Here you  chose the perfect image obtaining  sharp defined strokes.

Edited Friday at 10:23 PM by Sue Thomas

[Corrie Kinkel]

  On 3/14/2025 at 10:14 PM, Susan Ewart said:

That turned out well.  the background paper is nice as I can see some cool designs on the upper right and middle left side.  I never thought of that.  I could use an technical drawing type background (low opacity).  

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  On 3/14/2025 at 10:14 PM, Susan Ewart said:

That turned out well.  the background paper is nice as I can see some cool designs on the upper right and middle left side.  I never thought of that.  I could use an technical drawing type background (low opacity).  

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Maybe you can use a floorplan of a house, or a street map and if you feel fancy a drawing of some sort of machinery, a Farris wheel etc. It depends on what you can find.

[Anja Pelzer]

I made also a blueprint 

[Susan Ewart]

  On 3/15/2025 at 12:21 AM, Anja Pelzer said:

I made also a blueprint 

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This turned out really well.  

[Susan Ewart]

  On 3/14/2025 at 10:59 PM, Corrie Kinkel said:

 

Maybe you can use a floorplan of a house, or a street map and if you feel fancy a drawing of some sort of machinery, a Farris wheel etc. It depends on what you can find.

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These are good ideas.  Now, I need to get some time to play.