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Carmen Sandiego picked up souvenirs from her recent adventure.

Day 6. No more Carmen Sandiego adventures - for now. Stumbling on these photos triggered some fun memories. My dad would plot elaborate routes from Alabama to Minnesota, but Gooseberry Falls was always on the list. The elephant picture reminded me of the many times when I felt inadequate in my quest to be The Favorite Uncle but fell short. They always had a good time, which was what it was all about.

Here is my postage stamp.Somewhere along the line, I must have hit the wrong key, but it seems as if some of the flowers are moving, or my eyes are tired. I have to tweak my sheet of stamps, will post them when ready.

This is the last double page for this workshop. This one has a little story of the area and its Apache roots. Their great seal and the left necklace come from the internet, the bracelet I bought over there and I engraved a red gemstone which is a picture tube and is included in one the versions of PSP. I used the template from day 6, but a bit altered for my photos and again with a photo as background. I must admit the engraving was much easier to do this time round, I finally understand the cutouts! I hope you all enjoyed my trip and for me it was as if I was there. I would love to come to Arizona again, because there are much more fantastic sites to visit (this trip was only 3 days). The rest of my time was spend at my daughters home and I was happy to be part of their day to day live; spending time with the grands, like attending a school concert where my youngest granddaughter played in the band. It always is hard to leave not knowing when we shall see each other again. Of course we have video calls, which is great but a substitute.

AND here is my final Travel Tale open book page. I used the template from the Day 7-Extra. There was one oddity buried in the template: the small white strips on the right-hand page turned out to be layers that ran all the way to the bottom of the page and beyond! The top had the strip and so did the bottom which was off the canvas. This was true for both white strips. I replaced them with copies of the others that I flood filled with white and deleted the original layers. I used earth tones from the photos and Crumpled and Blinds textures. The photo stamp is from Marisa Lerin. I did the cutout lettering on the large tortoise photo on the left. This started as a double page, but I cropped it which made it much more workable with my computer. The title font is Birdy.

After some thought when I was outside, I came up with this for the Random challenge. I created round beads for the numbers, and a label specifically with a place to put the numbered beads. After looking at Julie's cut out page, I decided to do a cutout for the word Robin. Scalloped edge is always effective, and simple to do. I wanted the labels to be together. I thought to pin them, tape them, thread sting though them to keep them together, and thought no, it might look to busy. Any suggestions would be great, but for now I'll leave the labels as they are. This random challenge was ideal for creating a page on the cycle of the Robin, as I said I was going to do, after doing the Oriole page. Only the Wrens are left to showcase in a similar fashion. Once the Robins have fledged, like many of the Blackbirds, and some other birds, they spend several days on the ground, before taking to the trees. They are able to fly short distances, but when on the ground they aren't to far from low cover, to dash to when they feel under threat. Within 10-13 days they go from hatchlings to fledglings. I have documented that process too.

Would this layout count? I will do another one, more in keeping with your specs, using numbered labels.

Days 4, 5 and 6 - Continuing the Thailand theme. Page 2 is actually Page 1 and Page 1 is Page 2. I numbered them incorrectly. The pineapples and coconuts are from AI. The shells are photos of shells picked up on the beach, except for the middle one which is from Marisa Lerin. Pictures on the stamps are pngs downloaded from favpngs. Palm tree is a tube, and the coconut string is a directional tube that I made with the cass script. Background papers are mine. Fonts are Hallmark fonts.

That’s interesting , Sue. Robin goes back and forth when I look at it. A few seconds, maybe 3-5 seconds it’s a cutout always a cutout first, then for 5 seconds it's puffy, then a cutout again, just back and forth.. It finally ends up being puffy, 8 look away for a minute or two and like magic! it's a cutout again. ? Progressive lenses….. I go through about 25 pairs of glasses a year. Those cheap blue light magnifiers. Just random things break them, really, except the following which happen kind of a lot. getting into a car, I hit the ones sitting on top of my head (I do this a LOT). I bend over to pull a weed, they fall off and I step on them. (or more likely cannot find them at all in the flowers because they flip and land 5 feet away). I lower my head and lose them on a bike ride and the rider behind me rolls over them. Or a car. I clean them with the edge of my tee shirt and the lens ends up in one hand and the frame in the other. I can’t afford anything better than the magnifying readers I get at QVC where I buy in bulk. I have an appointment later this year to see if I need a prescription, but fingers crossed I don’t or I’ll have to wear a sports band at all times or wear the with a little chain neckless around my neck instead of as a headband. .

I don't recall if I showed you the gnome house I got for my aquarium. I needed a pop of color...

These Carmen adventures are only five episodes. They have others, but I steered clear. It's too addictive. I forgot to include the clues that got us from Dubai to Sydney. She wanted to know if a platypus is a mammal. She was headed to Earth's smallest continent. A suspicious person left in a speedboat flying a flag with white stars.

The postcard which is hard to read on the template.

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 count. Create a layout or another project, that will include numbered elements. They could be photos, numbered for their sequence, but they could also be numbered tags for other types of information. Here is an example to inspire you. This is a layout from Sharon-Dewi Stolp I will let you simmer that idea in your head a little, and look forward to seeing what you will come up with. Post your project in the gallery.

Thank you Suzy, the texture is Crumbled not crumble (sorry for the typo earlier.) It is under Effects - Texture Effects - Texture in PSP 2023.

You explained it perfectly, in only one sentence. You are awesome!

It is just an optical illusion trick our brain plays. Once you look at it and it is "cut out", but if you want to look at it differently, you can tell your brain that it is lifted with the light from the other side.

Screen shot, of enlarged cutout. I think it may be how the eye perceives it. Look at the curl on the R, and then the rest of the word.

Yikes! I also have an astigmatism, so i'll say no to the fix in the future. I have had this really weird somthing in the back of my eye that my (now retired) eye doctor tracked for almost 25 years that I went to him. It hasnt changed but I have to have visual field tests every 2 yrs, which I fail everytime. Arent genetics fun. I'm adopted so I have no idea what's in store for me.

I had cataract surgery last year and, in the process, suggested he also do the correction on the astigmatism in my left eye at the same time. Surgeon said at the time I'd only need readers after the surgery. HAH! I need really strong progressives but what I think happened is my left eye was bad from birth, the so-called "lazy eye" that appeared crossed. So at age 3 or so I had to wear a patch over my good eye to train the bad one to focus, plus I had eye exercises. This technique worked well. I was stupid to tell the current doctor to "fix" my left eye, which he agreed had astigmatism (not truly round). I think my early training is now working against the "fixed" left eye. It wants to pull it to the outside. ?

Wow, Corrie, that is quite a condition. Isnt it amazing what the brain can do, let you see something familiar straight again. I know, there are times in life where I've had to alter what I do, and still do. I'm just grateful I can still do the stuff I like, even with a few alterations. Having any surgery on or near the eye is scary. All the hobbies I do require use of hands and eyes and body (if I count working out/being active) as a hobby. I dont know what I would do if something permanent happened to me eyes. Good luck with lesson 5. Looks like we will tackling it around the same time. Now I get ready for work. I dont know if I'll be home after 9pm or midnight. They dont tell me if I have to stay until the end of the one job. It's a bit annoying, do i bring a meal or a snack. Would love a job with a proper start and end time.

Yes, I was thinking the same thing!

ugh, I hate getting used to new glasses. My eyes get so tired. When I first got progressive lenses my head was moving all over the place trying to find the right focus point to look through. Even after 10 yrs of progressive lenses, I still cant tell if the photo I took is blurry or in focus. I'm about to delete it and I move my head a bit and it's clear. I need AI in my glasses. Some things look wonky to me when I first look at them. Like my eyes and my brain arent communicating and it just looks odd and I dont know why...at first.

They are very thin. Also, one of them even opens. There is also the fact that the trunk is round so I didn't want to add more thickness in the middle of the doors for them to stick out even more. With pieces on the sides, it makes them a little more "flush" to the bark.

I must be brain deficient, I only see it as a cut out. Maybe because It's on my second monitor and i'm at an angle to it. I tried to see it puffy. What I see that is puffy is the really cool moon tonight. I went outside....did you know mosquitos fly around at night. Why arent they in bed like the rest of the critters. Only moths should be allowed out after dark. In 6-7 minutes I got over 10 bites.

Love the colors in this and that background paper is gorgeous!

I've done some research on the fireflies, here is my result. It's from Wikipedia. there are more than 200 firefly species. I did not have time to do anything with the photos. It's more informative. The text is from the first photo. I've got them from the internet: Close-up view of a bioluminescent beetle Elateroidea (Lampyridae Ototretinae Stenocladius or Rhagophthalmidae), on a leaf. This specimen measures about 20 mm (0.79 n). The species produces and emits light, via a chemical reaction during which chemical energy is converted into light energy. The principal chemical reaction in bioluminescence involves some light-emitting molecule and an enzyme, generally called the luciferin and the luciferase, respectively. Oxidation of organic compounds induces photon emission. The intensity of this light can be perceived by the human eye in a radius of 2 m (6.6 ft). This is a long-exposure photograph (1.3 s) made with a tripod and a macro lens, in the middle of the night (2 am). In conditions of ambient darkness, the adjustment of the manual focus is difficult, and the camera settings (ISO and depth of field) should be done according to the mobility of the living organism, which may lead to motion blurs. At any time, the insect can also decrease the intensity or even completely stop emitting its light (example here). A soft and diffuse auxiliary lamp has been brought to reveal the details of the animal. Bioluminescent beetle species are in regression in the world because of the phenomenon of light pollution, insecticides, and climate change. This specimen comes from the island of Don Det, Si Phan Don Laos, a wild area far from any major city. This image won the 1st prize in the Wiki Science Competition category Wildlife and Nature from France.

Day 7 Imprint. I wasn't successful with the images I had chosen using the tutorial for the imprint. In the end I used Cassel's script: cass-imprint which gave a slightly different effect but is very easy to use. So glad I purchased it. Thank you Carole. My sand background image and my starfish are from Digital Scrapbook and the font is Swiss721HV BT. I intend to use the image I have created on another of the templates supplied. As I ran out of time at the weekend to complete each one I hope to have them ready by the end of the week.

As I speculated, I did change my final Open Book Page 5 & 6, by swapping the pages. I also rearranged the Ripley's Aquarium page by centering the top label and the bottom Stingray date stamp. Plus, I moved some of the stamps around to put the stingray photos near that date stamp. I also enlarged the postcard and the leather tag.

Here's my postcard for Day 6. I updated my Day 3 date stamp by adding some wavy lines I see in most postmarks. I drew a straight line, converted it to a raster, and used Effects: Distortion: Wave.

I started the Masks Workshop and decided to combine the August Palette Challenge. The pictures are my own of the heavy flow of spring melt which flooded some properties like the lumber yard in town. The Template is from the class courtesy of Alinamaria. I used the Wet Fall Leaves texture scaled to 250 to give the background a tumbling water look, and used Tempus Sans font with some kerning near the end on a vector path to give the look of the letters going over the falls. ? Both are included in PSP. Thank you Carole for all the lessons taught that I managed to learn to create this page. @Sue Thomas your Humming bird layout is beautiful and your back stories are always so interesting.

What difficult colors to mix. But I found one and another that comes rather close to the required ones. I made just some outer bevel shadows from a selection around the attributes to suggest a template.

A simple minimalistic, earth tone colours page. Word art: I weaved some of the swashes over and under. I had intended to use the split photo technique on both the photos, but decided to use that technique on the overlap of the one photo.

A drizzly day today, after sorting through some photos, I decided to showcase some of them. I'll do the same with the Robins and Wrens. The birds will become mature adults, when they grow their breeding plumage next year. The juvenile is just starting the moult, they always start with the head feathers. This year I had 3 pairs of Orioles, that raised 5 young ones. As you know I feed home made blueberry jam, and put out other berries which are going off. Created the labels, for the one I used a font swirl, which looked rather wispy, like the feathers on the fledgling. Carole's tatting tubes. Decorated the frames with heart fonts, and inner beveled them. The background paper is a photo I took of leaves on a tree. The mottled look I used was a technique that Carole used in one of the Christmas masterclasses, and then again in the border mania masterclass. I like to use the stencil technique in the creative scrap, which creates a similar technique

I made this one for the Aug do it yourself challenge.Whew, it was hard to use all those layers. I was tempted to skip a couple of them, but then it would not have been right for this challenge because it says to use all of them. One problem I had was with that many layers going ( I guess I should have reduced the picture file sizes before using them) I wound up with such a large project that my PSP 21 program was taking forever to do anything . Even when I just clicked on (file save as or resize image etc. it was taking so long I though it was frozen. When I was about to give up on saving it as jpg so I could post it, I finally just left the program run while I did some chores and when I came back later I was able to save it. Yes, Penny is my nickname and Tom is my hubby of 54 years.

i will not probably participate in this challenge but I have been tried to play with a very, very simple mockup. I used a free template and a shot of my friend. He plays guitar. I've played a bit with the photo.

That's so sweet! Contrats on the house.

This was a quick easy one, once I found photos that had similar colours to the Palette. The norm for me is firstly choosing photos, and not the other way round. the B7b44e was used in the bottom element, where I used a photo, overlay soft light, luckily it retained most of the colour in the palette. The frames around the photos and the text paper is dce6e7. Decorative frame is 9bc0de. Background papers are 40524b and 618a84. Out of bounds, inner bevel on decorative frame, a little noise on the background papers to give a little texture. The little female in the middle photo, (I think she is a juvenile) is in a state of torpor, all fluffed up. I put their feeders out at 5.45am, as I fetch them indoors at night, as the evenings can get quite chilly, and the last thing they want is chilled feed. I gently picked her up, warmed her in my hands for a couple of minutes, placed her back on the perch, next to the feeder. She was fine, ready to start the day after a long feed of sugar water. I don't scimp on the sugar either. Every year the hummers arrive by the 3rd August, they stay for the whole of August before embarking on their long journey south. The feeders stay out until mid September just in case stragglers pass through. They are truly flying gems, with amazing powers of flight and often glittering iridescent colours. To me when they arrive, I know that Autumn is quite literally around the corner.