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A little late, but here's my Day 2. My trip was in February 2002 and people were still very rattled so soon after 9/11 (as you can well imagine). Some of them told me not to go, but I said, "If I don't, they win."

Here is my Travel Tale Day 2. I took me a while and my PSP kept freezing up and I had to start all over, but I finally made it. I used some items from Creative Fabrica and Digital Scrapbooking. I had some issues with drop shadows on 2 of the smaller pictures, but still had a lot of fun with it. Ann Seeber asked me about the Red Hats. Thus is the quote on line: "The Red Hat Society is a worldwide membership society that encourages women in their quest to get the most out of life. We support women in the pursuit of Fun, Friendship, Freedom, Fitness and the Fulfillment of lifelong dreams. Our signature red and pink hats symbolize a movement of women determined to celebrate every stage of life.

I forgot to add the Dallas - Frankfurt to my Day 2 Travel Tale project, so here it is again. I had so many draft copies open so I did not realize that I had somehow lost that part.

Day 2. The elusive Carmen Sandiego slipped away to Tokyo. Argh! Where will she go next, and can this gumshoe find her and return the Crown Jewels? The flight path on the map is outdated. Russia closed its airspace and the current route is over the North Pole. The change adds at least two hours to a flight that is already twelve hours long.

This is the RV park that we are staying at while waiting for the house. It is pretty nice.

Here are two datestamps I did with scripts for Lesson 3. And here are two tags I made for Lesson 4; the flag of Canada and the CN Tower in Toronto. I'll add cords or chains when I know where I'm placing them. @Cassel I followed the written directions in the email and didn't watch the video until after these were done. The technique in the video is completely different from what I did. ?

Too late. (I'm just kidding).

I think there is a big difference between "Learning Python" and "Learning to script using Python". In the scripting course, only "useful" stuff is taught, while in learning Python, unless you are a programmer, a lot of things are totally unrelated to PSP and scripting (I tried that too). So hopefully, nobody's head will explode! LOL

I wouldn't call a preying mantis a stick insect. They walk, jump and fly short distances. The females are renowned for eating the male after copulation. A neighbor boy brought in a cocoon on a stick and ended up with hundreds on his enclosed porch. Of course, they eat each other as their first meal. I'm surprised they're not prevalent in your area as they are very common here in NY. Lately there has been an influx of an "invasive" giant version that is not as benign as our native one. They are known to "prey" on hummingbirds so I watch to keep them away from my feeders.

Here is my take on the DIY. I should have called this Pink Power (or rather...Magenta Power in my book). I went outside one morning and this stem was all wrapped up in spiders nest. It looked like it was holding it together. I've learned these are Cosmos. I grew some in pots which turned out to be a good thing. Then i can move them around for photos. I have some in my tiny flower bed too. Please dont think I actually know how to grow flowers. This is a first for me. I put a lot of stuff in the flower bed. The packages all said to THIN THEM OUT, when the seeds come up. I thought NO WAY, what if I thin them out and ones left dont survive. Well, it looks like a jungle, the little LBJs (little brown birds) love it. I also tried growing sunflower. the package said 6-7 feet tall...mine is reaching about 9 feet and still no flower. It's a mutant. Here's the details on the supplies Font: I love Myself (Creative Fabrica) Paper for Scallop strip: DiHiller PSSep20 Paper 6 Paper for bottom straight strip: Espy Background 2C (Espinoza Paper for top strip: cpjess-campout wood paid paper 08 All papers from Digital Scrapbook Photos: mine PSP techniques/tools etc: graidents, bevels, texture (from Effects>Texture Effects>Texture and Texture from the Materials Palette), lowered opacity. I like the DIY challenges. They are hard but it's nice to come up with a plan and make it different than everyone else's (that's quite hard when there is a lot of layouts).

Day 2, showing the road.

Nor would I. I should have looked harder at the picture. It proved my point of not knowing anything about them. Other than they are not native to Canada or the UK. They were introduced into North America on the east coast, and then into BC on the west coast to control insects. There are native and introduced species in the US.

Years ago when I went out to get into my car to go to work, there was a preying mantis on my side view mirror. I drove all the way to work (some of the time on a highway) and it was still there! Talk about stick-to-itiveness.

This has nice balance with the two arrows and of course always dynamic is diagonal lines leading you to the payoff in either direction (my eye tends to to go up rather than down), each end has a crawly payoff. I like those spring colors. Nice to see you back in the saddle.

I'm finally getting back in the game. I kept looking at this challenge and had the hardest time to make something work. Too many bits for my taste, but good for me to try. I did not cadge any pix from Sue T (who is back for a while, I see - nice!) only picked them up online from Pixabay. Some insects are more "lovable" to me than others, but I would never hurt one or use any sprays. I kill only mosquitoes. Everything else gets trapped in a bug catcher and taken outside, even if my skin crawls to do it. Shiver. I just played with this, threw a bunch of colours and arrangements of layers around, and this is what I got. I'm not delighted, but I just wanted to DO IT! I have been watching all the amazing layouts and creative work going on. So much good stuff, and so uplifting to see. And some new names and faces too. That's great.

Thank you, Carole. If it weren't for your classes and workshops, I wouldn't be able to make my own elements and papers. I haven't been downloading so many kits since there is so much I can make myself.

DAY 2 - LEFT HAND MAP PAGE - 3 Photos: Ripley's Aquarium Canada; The Pink Floyd Exhibition at the Canada Day Fair; my 2 travelers showcasing the Toronto harbor with the CN Center. (There are two different shots like this; the other has the city skyscrapers out the CN 360 windows. I suspect the backgrounds were changed but the women remained the same! ? ) This map was treated to a soft light layer effect. I snagged the Ripley logo and used multiply to place it on of our photos. I used various metallic gradients on the photo frames. I used Cassel's Datestamp 13. I'll probably be adding more elements later in the class as I recall we get to create some that are appropriate to the trip.

Day 2 I needed to look up how to make parts of the template into masks but did so in the end for the photos. That same thing-'practice makes perfect!' I didn't need to do a trail of where we had been as my journey was from England to Oludeniz, Turkey however I must admit I likewise found the instruction to layer the routes difficult to understand should I have wanted to do trails here and there. This is when a video of how it's done comes in handy. I think it's just me though, not grasping the idea, not your instructions, Carole!

Day 1. In 2017 we went with friends to Innsbruck in Austria with our dogs. Poncho and his brother Pacco, who lives with our friends with another dog, were 1 year old at the time.

Daughter Laurey and granddaughter Jackie flew today to Toronto, Canada, for a 4 day vacation. I insisted they send lots of photos so I can use that for my travel layout. I told them I already have a few basic shots...

Day 3. Carmen stopped in Rio. I'm closing in, but she is wiley.

I try to write in English but will make here and there an error. I apologize for that inconvenience. I always had trouble with the start of a new PSP edition. Mostly I wait till the updates arrived. Not this year, Corel came with an extraordinary discount. So I suspected trouble again. This time to my surprise the installation went very well. I had some difficulties. Like crashes so now and then. But mostly when I was trying over and over again. And had made a mistake the first time. "To my opinion". I had added something wrong and the PC made a wrong memory. The nowadays computers make memories. PSP does this too. It is for working faster. As you know in the PSP Tool cupboard are hidden draws. Screens for more. We have an extra screen when we are working with the layer palette. I saw to my surprise in the last Q&A Carole was clicking IN her layer palette. (not on the little triangle) . And the hidden secret draw opened. I have to click in the little triangle to open it, I v tried it a hundred times like they said but it doesn't work in the '23. I don't know or I made the first time a wrong memory or its up to a bug in PSP. not that it bothers me. I get it opened. Strange isn't it.

When I look at nature I always take into consideration the positive side first. Praying Mantises are beneficial insects to humans only outside of it's native habitat. Hence introducing them into parts of the world where they are invasive, as the native creatures aren't aware of how predatory they are, and can do untold damage to the fine balance of the eco system. They are also an important food source for other creatures, such as birds. Can they hurt humans, I would say no, or very unlikely. As they don't have venom or a stinger. A bee/wasp with a stinger is far more dangerous to humans than a praying Mantis.

@Susan Ewart Don't know if you are familiar with an art "installation" called the Spiral Jetty that was created back in the 1960s on the edge of the Great Salt Lake in Utah. The "artist" was Robert Smithson and he was well known in those days for his innovative creations that were, even then, addressing climate change. Well, he's the "boy" who lived upstairs from me in New Jersey who brought home the Mantis cocoon and thrilled his mother with thousands of baby bugs on his porch. ?

Actually Julie, I am the least technical person I know...and know at least 3 people! I bet you'd do way better than you think. I was thinking after the first and second lesson I might not get this and was not feeling confident with the 3rd. But when I sat down and follow both the written and video tutorials it was actually better than the first two. Not sure if it's because I am getting used to the odd words/language or not, it just seemed less daunting. I just read the lesson for lesson 4 and it seems very doable. And now I'm feel much more hopeful and learning to not think to far ahead. If I dont understand something right now, it might covered in the coming lessons (as was the case with the results of one of the tests we did as homework, soon as a started reading the lesson the explanation was right there). I think this really could be a doable course for anyone.

I've had many different versions of PSP installed on both a desktop and a laptop at the same time. I don't have as many versions as Carole but every version I have had has been on both and it has never been a problem. Like Carole I mainly use the desktop but for a few years I would go to scrapbook retreats with my laptop so it was needed to be installed. Never been an issue. I think at one time I had a version installed on a desktop and 2 different laptops since I had gotten a new laptop and wanted to make sure everything was working OK.

dozi's-brushes-01 (archive.org) I had this site saved in my bookmarks.

I had all versions of the Carmen Sandiego games. And I never missed the live game show. It was silly, but the actors played it straight without taking themselves too seriously.

Sloooowly. I just made myself use it. Still much to learn, but it can wait. I can shoot and change setting easily now and that's the important part. Still need to tweak some user set up to stop some annoying things from happening. Nice to see you back. I was wondering where you were.

Day 3. Cassel, There is a disconnect on that Dozi bear brush you used at the end of today’s video. She is no longer at Deviant art, or anywhere at all on the internet that I can find. Not a store, not a shop, Facebook, Insta, Etsy….no where. Could you blow that brush up to about 600px, or even 1000px, stamp it in a color, and show us what it looks like so we can try to make our own? I know it won’t be the same, but I can’t figure out what it looked like. Is it B&W, or translucent, for example? Were those little round dots or irregular dots? Or were they even dots? Evenly spaced, or irregular?

@Anja Pelzer That is a fun way to show the two-way travel!! @Corrie Kinkel It is quite alright to blur faces for displaying them here. You will likely keep an unblurred version to share with them! @Donna Sillia Isn't it nice to see all that you can create from scratch now? I love that! @Marie-Claire Nice map. I thought the other map you used was great too. I think that Google map is one resource but there are many others too. @Gerry Landreth My kids used to have a computer game of "Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego". That brings so many memories! @Michele It is ok if you don't remember the source of something. I have also been collecting supplies for almost 15 years so you can imagine that I don't have the sources either. @fiona cook I had plans to make videos but ran out of time. Maybe next time around? @Ann Seeber You are correct: throughout the workshop, you will get a chance to go back and tweak the previous layouts to add elements.

I always say I've lot my "mojo" when I don't scrap for awhile (unless there are extenuating circumstances for not doing it).

@Gerry Landreth Honestly, your Carmen Sandiego looks like she belongs in one of Michele's Fabulous Divas games. That double layout is fabulous! "Scrapbookers Block" indeed...?

@Cassel second attempt of day 1. This time I used google maps, and I think I followed the explanation well. ?

I'm a bit late but I'm doing this workshop (or the former challenge) for the 3 time now and I used knowing what is coming to make day1 and 2 before I submitted my layout. Now I haven't have to come back to it later to add some more things like the route we took. I used the template from day one but changed it for my needs. As embellishments I used the state flags, colors, seals, flowers and birds, which I already had downloaded for my album about my journey to America earlier this year. I will use my photos and I'll try to pick different ones then in my album. As usual I won't use photos from my family, I don't like to blur their faces.

here is my day 2

Before I go to the Travel Challenge Workshop, I finished my work with Lab 11 Mod 6. Stitched Shape, Double Scallop Rectangle (I really wanted to make one as a circle, but wasn't able to manage it), surfboard (I did 3). All done. I used the title from one of the Vector Workshop layouts, the sun sticker from another lab. The background water paper was one I made in my Chattanooga album. The picture was taken by Laurie.

Here's my Day 1. I had absolutely no inspiration so it's pretty boring. LOL

Back to my gaming group now. I've had the illustration for years so I don't remember where it came from; I used a mask to frame it. In order to balance it out, one of Cassel's corner punches came in handy. The font is 11S01 Black Tuesday Offset; I got it free from somewhere about ten years ago. I didn't have a system for saving information about the fonts, etc. back then. I'm doing a better job now. lol

Here's a card I made for an old friend. I used a mini kit from Gina Jones at PS. The musical element is a nod to how we met years ago...Concerts at Jones Beach Theatre. The font is Blaster and it's in my system fonts.

I decided to have a go at the mock up page in the blog. Choosing a photo adding text, and fitting it to the book mockup page was easy enough. I failed to change the colour of the pages, and the back cover , as for some reason it wanted to be the same colour as the spiral, which I colourized green. I wanted the back page to the same brown, with a bit of texture, and the pages to be an off white. I think I'll stick with Carole's spiral tubes.

You can turn OneDrive completely off but if you use the sync settings, it will turn back on. I had problems with my new laptop not letting me into my dropbox account because it had me going to a dropbox account that was linked to through onedrive. I had to unlink onedrive to get to my dropbox account I've used for a long time. I followed these instructions (found here) : 1. Open OneDrive settings (select OneDrive cloud icon in your notification area, and then select the OneDrive Help and Settings icon, then Settings 2. Go to the Account tab. 3. Select Unlink this PC If those don't work, try the other suggestions at the link I posted above.

•✿• Me too! My first workshop!

Challenge.

Thank you Susan, perhaps others will make their own log tower hotels. The photos are degraded due to having to resize down to post. The logs I use are dry, around 2ft tall, with a diameter of anything from 9 inches to 13 inches. I drill 10-20 rows of 20 holes in each log close together. I don't drill all the way around only the front.( purely for photographic reasons, also positioning them in direct sunlight, for most of the day) I have them standing upright. Once the season is over I put them in the garage for the winter, taking them back outside in late Spring.

These delightful interesting bees have consumed a great deal of my time this summer, observing and macro photographing them. Which is very tricky as they are super fast and really tiny. Every year I create more and more bee log tower hotels for them. Drilling hundred of holes in each one to accommodate the residents. This year I had well over a thousand leafcutter bees to home. For those that are interested :The drill bit size is 5mm, with a depth of 2 1/4 inches. Each bee can lay up to 6 eggs. They collect pollen with the " pollen brush" on the underside of their abdomen. Starting at the back of the nesting chamber, the female bee builds a protective leafy wall, which she will pack with a loaf of pollen and nectar (or paste). She then lays a single egg directly on each loaf and seals the chamber with another protective leaf wall. Typically, the females will lay eggs that will become females towards the back of the nest and males near the front. This behavior provides an extra layer of protection for the female eggs.

These pieces were definitely a challenge for me. I like my layouts spare and uncluttered usually. I combined some pieces and doubled up on others. The central circle is white reduced to 10% opacity over the background photo. The top border is the scallop clipped to a lace ribbon. The red borders are strips filled with a red pattern called 5Geometry. I filled the beads with a gradient. The top flower is named AHA-hygge, from my stash. This is my grandson Brad and his girl, Livia back in July at an event.

Bonnie you did great! This is my contribution and it is showing a couple of photos I took just the other day. When on a weekly walk with a friend, we came along a street that had a row of small trees that had hanging flowers like hop bells and we joked that the trees must be called something like "beech hop" or "hop beech" as the leaves were like beech leaves. We both didn't know those trees and so I looked in the plants-app on my phone to see what it could be. We had a good laugh when I discovered that those trees were really called Hop-Beech; we will never forget that name! For this layout I used my photos, made a ribbon with lace and colored or filled the other elements. All the colors are taken from the photos and some elements are recolored to match. The background is white with a frosted glass overlay (Inky deals) which I have in my stash. Font is Brellos a freebie by CF.

This was very difficult for me. I don't put a lot of elements on my layouts and getting these to fit in a way I liked was a challenge. Not sure I like it now but it's not too bad. I am looking forward to seeing how others interpret.