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And on to Lab 11 Mod 2. Requirements: Letters dangling from a string - I chose to do Happy Birthday and I will save it to use later also - it was a challenging work; Cutout word on a letter - I chose Sammy who is the person celebrating with that humongous cake that spilled out candies - how sweet is that!!! Also required was a stitched vector shape: since I have used that tutorial in creating my alphabet for the 2022 Alphabet Challenge, I chose to use a round paper I had made previously which I had decorated with a crocheted lace (also made in a previous lab) and then stitched it (using a tutorial also). The candles were made in another previous lab; the ribbons are made from a Cass script - which I've colored and recolored and used over and over again in layouts; the stained glass brads I made from a stained glass pattern obtained from CF Spark. The background paper is Donna Sills Shimmer Paper which (if you recall) some months ago we colored and played with.

I had been wanting to use this pig picture I took a few years ago and with the grilling theme, I came up with this. The background and all other stuff are from Creative fabrica. The font is Viner Hand ITC. and I have no idea where I got that one.

Lately, I have tried (and failed) to work on a layout, any layout. I'd spend time on one, look at it again later, and then move on to another. Just no mojo happening. Then, I was thinking of Bonnie's pickleball projects and got to thinking about my aquafit classes which I began in January. For a small rural area, we have an amazing sports complex cum library that has beautiful pools on offer. I planned to start then the lockdown came along.I've never been a water person, but I am loving the classes. I started with a Cassel template (from Lab 12-11) and tweaked and played with it. All the ingredients come from somewhere online. Two pix are of the aquatic area here, and the two with people in the pool are just grabs from elsewhere. I'm not sure we would be able to take pix while using the pools. Now, about those water droplets (splashes)...I was trying to make my own using Lab Mod 12-8, but they ended up looking like amoebas b/c I had so much trouble with the nodes! So these come from Janet Kemp at DS. Bring on the Vector Workshop so I can beat those nodes into submission! P.S. I don't do Lab Modules in order as others do. I skip around and try what catches my fancy.

I just played around with it and got some nodes another way. Don't ask me how! Boy, do I need the Vector Workshop!!!!!

I had fun learning to make a pinwheel. Here's my first attempt.

Anne, LOL! Here is what I've been working on. Florals of my own. I have pages of these, but have only scanned one, and of the flowers on that one, I have only colored and fixed up one. (Thought I'd give Susan a run for her money in the Turtle race.) Now that I have done one, I'm not sure this is the looking I'm going for so I'm going to try to fill with some paper-grain instead.

Not sure though I think pin wheels could be used in a similar way to flower elements in layouts. I had another go because I wasn't happy with what I'd produced. Carole, I appreciate you producing these detailed tutorials because they really show the way things can be done in Paintshop - I always learn loads.

Mary, this is a lovely layout! Sammy looks happy with the cake; who wouldn't be? ? It's amazing all the great techniques and scripts from Carole are included. It made me think of how much I have learned since I joined the Campus... and still counting!

Very nice Mary. those hanging letters look really cool. You have done so well with the labs. It keeps me going. Tonight I'm working on my "game" Lab 6-12 (spinner, token and game board). My idea is a bit labor intensive, but fun. Hoping I get it done before the Vector Workshop. I still have several years (at my pace) before I get up to the Lab 11-2. What an accomplishment you have made. I like your candles. the texture on them look like the rolled beeswax candles I once made.

When I saw you posted about spiders I thought I might try to scroll right past your layout. But it's adorable and funny. I wouldn't be online searching for pix of those critters! You're much braver than I am!

here is my Image. It's a book review. Might be more of you have read the book. It was in 2019 America's bestseller. I've made all the attributes myself as background. And tubed the crawdad myself, which was enormously difficult. AI could not do the job. So it took some more time. But hurrah it's finished.

We went to the NC Zoo to celebrate our friend, Judy's, birthday. An amazing day from beginning to end. We were really looking forward to the Zoofari, an open-air truck ride to see animals in their natural habitat...up close and personal. All photos are mine. The text reads, " We visited the North Carolina Zoo to celebrate Judy’s birthday. The NC Zoo is the largest natural habitat zoo in the world. We were looking forward to going on the Zoofari. It was to be the big event of the day…we could hardly wait. As soon as we arrived at the zoo, we asked the first zoo volunteer we found how to find the Zoofari so we could purchase tickets. (They do not sell advanced tickets.) We were told that the Zoofari was closed. We were so disappointed…all our big plans and dreams…gone. Putting aside our disappointment, we began to visit and view the wetlands exhibit and were enjoying the cypress knees, alligators and such. We were taking pictures and talking about similar experiences in my childhood and we began to build a fun day. Suddenly, the zoo volunteer who had told us the Zoofari was closed appeared to tell us the Zoofari was open! The Zoo had changed the schedule. Johnny had come looking for us and also had several other volunteers looking for “3 ladies walking around”. He didn’t even use the word, “old”. Now this is customer service! Searching for 3 strangers while not knowing where they had wandered off to…just to brighten their day. Thank you, Johnny! We immediately went to purchase our tickets and had a wonderful Zoofari experience!" I used a template from Day 6, Journaling Challenge, August of 2022.

Well, guess what? I have one more QP for the Day 8 assignment. I downloaded a few from Digital Scrapbook and this one is from Marisa Lerin called QP-Slovenia03. I decided to combine this with the Random Challenge to tell a personal story. The title font is Corlita Sans; the journaling is in Droid Serif. Behind the text I brushed some dark blue with a brush called cass-Dispersion2. The journaling is a bit small so I'll repeat it here;

We are nearing the end of July. I'm going to post my QP Workshop layout that needed to have a story on it. Hope this will qualify.

We love to fish and so we started FISHO, I used Cassel Bingo Balls script and cass-Overlapped. Font Gill Sans Ultra Bold and Bodoni MT Black.

Here is a challenge to do something that might not be repeated in other months. Just an idea that popped like that (and you can also send me suggestions for occasional random challenges too). This time, let's talk. Use at least half of the space of the page to share a story. It can be a funny one, a serious one, or even an imaginary one. Here is one example of a large area for a story. For ideas for templates to add lots of text, check this article. Post your project in the gallery.

I'm in too. might be to skip a day or so, we are having our 55 marriage anniversary. the twelfth of July. But not a big party, my husband is not strong enough so our children want to arrange something. Don,t know when and where, etc.

That's a great tube you made!

This is really nice Julie. Great choice of papers and elements. I love blues of any kind. That building is really cool looking, love all those windows. As to the Labs, that's the great thing about so many of them available. You get set your own course through them. Forwards, backwards, from the first, from the last or bouncing around...doing them in any direction (or no direction at all) is all that counts. They are great for getting experience with PSP and they are in nice short tutorials (less overwhelming) so you have success. I get the "no mojo" thing. That's why I got back into the Labs. After the QP workshop, I had no idea what to do, it made me feel quite restless, yet unmotivated. I guess I really am "project driven". And believe me, the ideas for layouts dont come easily. Sometimes I "see" the vision right away (this is rare). Other times it's days trying to make one work and still I abandon the layout. Having a template available is really helpful to get us making/creating layouts despite our lack of creative energy.

I think I'd like to try a gradient or two.

thank you Mary. i dont think I'd ever had started if I hadnt seen your layouts and what you are learning. By the end, I'm hoping some of the techniques have soaked in.

Q = Quail - small bird, found wild or farmed. Great on a grill and featured in Texas. The ones pictured are sold mostly boneless because the birds are so small the bones are difficult to eat around.

Julie, those nodes can be really tricky to get.? Sometimes, I get them on the first try, but other times I keep clicking back and forth until they react as they should. Never saw Carole having an issue with them; I have to practice a lot to get to this level. ?

I am sure you are going to finish before me, Susan! ?

I've eaten food cooked this way. Delicious! The meat was so tender it fell off the bone and the taste was divine! My Grandfather also cooked this way in Georgia, USA.

I guess you are the "blue color" expert ?!

Yes, it seems to be an interesting cooking way. I saw this method in different documentaries on TV and every time I would have been there when the food was taken out of the pit, because it looked tasty somehow..... and I was just hungry ?!

I = Imu. In Hawaii, an underground pit lined with hot rocks. Kalua pig, a whole hog, is cooked in an imu. It is wrapped in leaves and/or wet cloth, laid on the rocks, and buried by covering the pit with dirt or sand. And, yes, I Googled it.

Me too Bonnie, I was reading so fast, my eyes hurt. And guess!!! My sis found it in such a bookcase as there is an item about here on this platform. ?

Back in the Labs until the Vector Workshop - I"m really looking forward to that! This is Lab 11 Mod 1. Requirements: Books on a shelf; pencil shavings (I made mine into a picture tube because I couldn't decide what to do with pencil shavings except put thin in the wastebasket!!! Circle Doodle - this was fun and I made several and think I might play with that again. One I put under the Cass folded flower and one I put under the Raggedy Ann Doll. The font is one of my favorites, Ballpark from CF.

I was experimenting with Adobe Express AI and created the raindrop background. The flowers are my own photos, the wood texture is from Filter Forge. I used a blend mode for the light aqua color on the background. I thought that the bright colors of the flowers sort of clashed with the background, but by accident, the first one added turned the aqua color. I sort of liked it, so I just left it. From the Adobe background, I created a pattern and added it to the font, Centaury Display which I also beveled. The masks are my own.

It has been a long trip, IMHO. Can I say about it "trip"?

Crawdads are crayfish...river lobster is a pretty close translation. "Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans belonging to the clade Astacidea, which also contains lobsters. In some locations, they are also known as baybugs, crabfish, craws, crawfish, crawdaddies, crawdads, freshwater lobsters, mountain lobsters, mudbugs, rock lobsters, signal crawfish, or yabbies." Wikipedia