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There is now a lawsuit pending charging one of the tech companies with luring children in with addictive content. I think this is a wake up call. In my youth, everyone smoked cigarettes. It was normal behavior. Little did we know they were manipulated to be more addictive than heroin. A cautionary tale...

I gave a simple explanation of what the KP index means in the comments of the first aurora image I posted on Tuesday.

My daughter also uses an ipad for Xavier. It is not all the time, but it is a "tool" to keep him quiet/occupied. When he is with us alone, i don't know how the pad works, so that is my excuse (it is true though). Also, at their place, when we would babysit, he would want to watch TV (streaming) or get music playing from our phones. I still use the same excuse: i don't know how to work the remote, the streaming, etc. and my phone does not work with their TV or his speakers. He made a fuss the first time I said that, but now, he does not even ask anymore!

My Halloween themed 123 challenge.

I agree with Christina. The images you all have posted are super. What I like especially are the chit-chats where the techniques used to make the images are discussed. I learn so much from them. Now I will have to try some of them to create an image for this forum.

We had another clear night last night. This morning it's overcast, giving possible snow showers. I'll wait to see what tonight fetches.

When our grandchildren were still young and came to stay with us, we always found ways to keep them busy without resorting to mobile phones and tablets. On the dining room table we would have a jigsaw puzzle that we could work on together. I would sit and work on a puzzle and before long they would join me. That was good for having light conversation and doing something together. The other thing we did with them was play board and card games. First we started with the simple ones like Crazy Eights, and Snakes and Ladders. Now that they are older, we still play games together but more complex ones. We are lucky that they still enjoy coming over and doing things with us instead of sitting on the couch with their devices. For full disclosure, now that they are teenagers, they do get time to use their devices, but we still play board games after dinner.

Children do what they see. If their parents use their devices, their kids will want to also.

I think it is too young for a child to get addicted to a mobile, even with mobile games for young kids. If that child learns to explore other areas on the internet, they could find things that are not suitable. There was a survey done a while back and most 10-15 year olds had come across unsuitable content on the internet.

I took last year's class and my family loved the result. So here I am again! Thank you, Carole!

Thank you so much Corrie. It is a challenge and I'm quite enjoying it; trying to do something different or use a different background with different techniques. And of course making or adjusting them with PSP. I think that's where the big difference comes from, layering techniques or textures on top of each other. Everything I've done with P52 I've learned in the Campus, isn't that awesome? I notice the beginning weeks were kind of boring to what I'm doing now. Won't that be fun when it's all over, to see the progression all at once?

Love both you new layouts and admire all the work you put into the weeks. There haven't been a background the same and they all go beautifully with the colors of your cups/saucers or teapots.

Whateveer Mother Nature does or creates, one never ceases to be amazed by her! Again the word ineffable come to mind.

Carole, last night was again spectacular, not anything like the night before, nor for anywhere as long either. I would have it was more of a KP3 or 4. As the light show was much further north. I stayed up until around 1am, then decided to go bed seeing as I didn't get to bed the night before until around 5am.

Gonna try this one more time. Papers PBS-Escale amoureuse- Talie and Flolinette-PBS-EscaleAmoureuse. Rest is original and off the internet.

I did another one. I've been collecting fog photos and just recently got a river fog mini kit from Jessica Dunn. I used Segoe Script and Learning Curve fonts. The stars are glitter, colorized.

boy, I'm lovin' week 41, hope it goes on for several weeks! This is amazing. Sometimes, do you look up and think, "I can't believe I'm so lucky to be seeing this". nature being so dazzling is also emotional isnt it?

Oops. I had not seen it. And by the way, it looks like the KP will be 8 tonight and tomorrow! At least, in my area, of eastern Canada. HOping for cloud breaks!

It turned out that I had just updated the lesson pages when you "joined" so what you see there, is likely the latest content.

Twelve

I'm there already! And lovin' it!

and me! 😉

When our kids were young, (pre-mobile phones), we bought "learning" toys, ie my son loved play phones which made noises, talked, and played tunes, as well as his cooker, (mini kitchen). We loved board games, and creative toys, ie Lego and alternatives to Lego. I would also let them help with the washing up, with a bowl of warm water, and their plastic dishes, cutlery and plastic cups, (not toy, but crockery they eat from), whilst I wash the china plates and glasses. They loved doing that, and it allowed me to get the chores done. They learnt to do their own washing too. Also, when they are at their nan's, she did not have many toys, they played with the button box, and saucepan and wooden spoons etc. They would also find things to play with. The photo is one thing they did at their nan's house, with her dressing gown that was hanging on the door! (their feet hanging or tip toed!). It is a great family photo and memory. (not great quality photo, it was also pre mobiles). One thing I hate seeing is my great-nephew, now aged 7 relying on playing games on his mum and nan's phone to keep him "quiet", since he was a young toddler, rather than learn by playing with ordinary games. He does have other games, but he gets bored of them and wants the phone all the time, which keeps him "quiet"!! To me it is a bit like a dummy as a pacifier! It does not increase his learning skills and ability to be creative. Some of the schools now have made a pact not to give mobiles (cell phones), to kids under 14, it gives them a chance to grow, and learn without being dependant on the phone! Mine did not get a phone till they went to senior school.

Week 39 Background is two textured papers blended (from Creative Fabrica) then I added a texture and noise from PSP. Fonts used are Nuri Regular (either CF or Google fonts that came with my font viewer) and Hortense from Monotype, thanks to Michele F for I.D'ing it for me. It the first font I bought with a licence (other than CF with my soon-to-be-over membership), for a project that required that font.

An occurance like this doesn't happen very often, well, certainly not with such intensity. The last time was in 1976 in Saskatchewan. A long awaited occurance happened last night. KP7 (a measure of geomagnetic activity index). Was it worth being outside taking pictures, until I couldn't feel my fingers any more? Yes! It most certainly was. We also had our first frost last night. The Aurora danced intensely overhead and south throughout the night, from 9pm til shortly after 5.30am this morning. Needless to say I didn't get to bed until shortly before 5am. With your permission I'd like to post an image per day until Friday. (Which is when my P52 week begins) Each one being different. Auroras occur when charged particles launched along the Earth's magnetic field collide with gases in the Earth's upper atmosphere. Those collisions produce tiny flashes that fill the sky with colourful light. What does KP7 mean, you may ask! Well, it means a strong storm, bright, dynamic and colourful aurorae, which is clearly visible in the southern sky. KP8, would be a severe storm, bright dynamic colourful, clearly visible again in the southern sky.

From National Geographic magazine. Our shared hobby is good for us. (And pickleballers? You're in there too!) https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/hobby-health-benefits-exercise-art-outdoors?rid=F706D92997827DA4EC860DF81A10247E&cmpid=org=ngp::mc=crm-email::src=ngp::cmp=editorial::add=Daily_NL_Tuesday_Health_20241008

I wish that this kind of hobby was recognized by health insurance! It has great mental health benefits!

I wanted an autumn feel and few places are as beautiful as Central Park, NY during this season. These are stock photos that I wish I'd taken. Cass's polaroid script came in handy, even if I did edit them a little. The elements and backgrounds are from a bunch of different sources including PS blog trains, CF, and Boo Land Designs. Again, the Change to Target brush was a lifesaver. The font is AutumnEmbrace for both the title and the little leaves.

I am posting this layout (without my own approval) to get it over with! I have started and stopped so many times with different attempts at using the 1-2-3 elements required and I just couldn't get it to work. So I figured - glitter? must be for a celebration, right? So I made a kid's birthday (photo from online) layout using some stuff from my stash. Bits and pieces from Billie Irene (the folded edges on the corally-coloured background paper); Rachel Jefferies for much of the birthday things (e.g. balloon sketches and striped paper at the far right); also some glitter bits from Marisa Lerin. The only piece I was involved with was the striped folded-corner paper in the background. The whole effort felt forced and unnatural to me, but I really wanted to produce something I could post and live with. If anything is missing or not according to instructions, please don't judge me too harshly. I have to let it go!

And here is mine and I am not so fond of glitters either! But I have managed to make 3. I used a background from the recent ACD freebie template because it goes nicely with what I had in mind. I already had polaroid frames and because of the background and my photos I made leaves confetti from a photo with cass-Custom Confetti script; the new script from this week would have come in handy, but that is on my wish list for now. I have used the same extracted leaf to make a frame around my text and used it again to make 3 glitter leaves. The folded corner is done with cass-Folded Corner script, after I had to ask Carole why my script wasn't working as expected. It happened to be one of the older scripts that doesn't work in the more recent versions of PSP. So if anyone has a problem with that, there is a new script, thank you Carole. Of course I know how to make a folded corner manually but I still have some problems with my eyesight and those very precise actions are still difficult for me at the moment. Besides that I have the script to use it!

My daughter just sent me photos of some of the mushrooms that see saw on a walk in a Fredericksburg park. The background is called Wood Art from FF. the folded paper is one of mine with a mushroom background created in AI and blended. The big mushroom in the center is from Adobe Express AI. The title was also created in Adobe Express, imported into PSP where I converted it to a vector using the selection to path script so that I could add a glittered stroke with a layer style. I used a star sparkly brush to create the glitters. I used Carole's polaroid lab video to create the polaroid frames. The rusty nails are from Canva. I love glitter, and the stars brushes are great for creating scatters.

I must say I'm most definately not a glittery person. I rarely use glitter in my layouts. Saying that I turned my paperclip I created some time ago into a gold glittery one. The leafy elements I turned into a soft glitter, along with the wording. It is glittery, as I used the glitter 2 tutorial from the creative scrap, but toned it down somewhat. All my own work. 1 folded corner on a polaroid photo. For the papers I applied textures and blend modes, after selecting colours from the photo.

ORANGE YOU GLAD IT'S FALL? Folded paper, Polaroid frames and glitter leaves and word art from Merisa Lerin. Corel fall overlays are freebies this week. Font used is Segoe Script. I got most everything on Digitalscrapbooking.com as daily freebies today. The photos are by Chuck Calio on the Hudson Valley in Pictures Gallery.

Week 40 This is a photo of an installation called ‘Stars for Eternity’ inside Hexham Abbey. There are 6,000 paper origami stars made by local people and suspended in the chancel.

Oops... thought I’d posted this but hadn’t. Week 39 I wanted to photograph a rather majestic tree but this bull settled himself in my shot and wouldn’t move so I photographed him instead.

Sometimes, depending on the wind and weather conditions we have hot air balloons coming over our house. When we hear the sound of the burner we will have a look where the balloon is. Today was such a day and I went to look at the back on the patio if I could see the balloon which was quite low and just right over our house but already to far to take a photo, so I quickly went to the frontdoor, which was still locked.... I was on time to take a couple of shots, but I had backlight. Luckily there is a little tree and by standing a bit in the shade I could take the photos.

Here's my Week 39 for Sunday October 6. I call it "Hello, October!"

An ever changing landscape! I drive through this valley en route shopping once a week, or once a fortnight. An incredible display of colour as the sun was rising yesterday morning. Well worth leaving early, even though I had to wait for the shops to open.

It is going to look a bit like autumn with the Hydrangeas slowly getting browner. In one to two weeks time all its flowers will be brown and stay so over winter. Most of the leaves are still green. When I was taking a short stroll I noticed this autumn beauty. My own plants are getting brown too, but I haven't taken a photo yet.

Week 38 for Sun Sept 29. Finally seeing some fall colors!

Week 39, I do two per week, one wildlife and the other landscapes. Seeing as we are now into Autumn I thought I'd post a shot taken the other day. I love earth tone colours.

Week 39

Week 38 This is a close up a Chrysanthemum bought as a houseplant. I just love the delicate colouring to the petal edges.

AND Week 37 for Sept 22 - our Mid-Hudson Bridge in the recent fog. It is VERY foggy here most mornings lately.

Running a bit behind here. This is Week 36 which for me was Sunday Sept 15. The apple season is in full swing here and Applefest will happen here on Oct 6. It's a one day affair in the Village of Warwick and I steer clear while 30,000 tourists clog the streets. 😵

Over here this week it is 80 years ago that the airborne landings that were part of operation Market Garden in WWII took place. There is a special monument to commemorate the droppings on the Ginkelse Heide in Ede where they landed with their materials and vehicles. It is made out of Corten steel, 6 meters high and has 5 panels. At the bottom of the panels are plaques that tell the story. A couple of weeks ago when I visited my son we took a look at it when we were passing by on a walk on the heath. It was impossible to get all the panels in one photo because there were way to many people. In this photo is a full size para in his harness with the planes and other parachutes around him. The other panels all have planes and parachutes with all their gear and some other much smaller figurines. Besides that you could take a walk that had a great number of info panels at the side with the complete story of the Battle of Arnhem. The book "A bridge too far" and the rather famous film with the same title tell that story in detail. In the end operation Market Garden failed and the Netherlands had to face a terrible famine in the winter before we were liberated in1945 and the war ended. Sorry for the history lesson, but otherwise there isn't any context for this photo.

Week 37 Kings = Tall Tea Pots The background started out as the Striped Ribbon (2) tutorial in the latest lab. I added noise, and a gradient layer below and used a blend mode. still wasnt happy with it, so I duplicated the noisy striped paper and used 90 degree angle so it was horizontal and added the same blend mode as the previous. Then grouped the 3 layers, duplicated the group and merged that group. then I could add the blinds texture (it did look like much if added the texture on the layers that were not merged). In the end I was wanting it to resemble fabric. The fonts are Kings and Kingstone Roman from CF I think.

here's the full opacity effect. It might not show well, surprisingly this effect layer is a really big file.

Week 36 Jacks = Creamers This background was fun. Just wish I could remember how I did it. I started with a gradient then I remember adding repeats. Then trying out various effects, ripple then kaleidoscope but then I chose the orginal gradient with less or no repeats. Even when I went back to the different texture effect with saves the last setting, it wouldn't do the same thing so I wont be able to repeat it. Wish I had made a 3600x3600 paper of it. This paper has the effect lowered in opacity to 26%. I'll post the full opacity one so you can see it. Fonts are Antonia Retro and Fascinate. I think these are google fonts that came with my font viewer because they are the only ones that have tags on them, I looks for retro type fonts. Was actually looking for art deco style. I am surprised I am still finding so many different backgrounds.

Week 35 Aces = Sugar containters! Hmmm, I've got a pattern going (with the cutout effect). I did the tight diagonal from the Lab 14-9 with the preset shape (clubs). PSP was being persnickety when I was doing the math it was making up it's own math, I finally got it to math-ify correctly and that became my tile for the background. I used the cutout effect and turned off the actually layer (clubs overlay) so the cutout is on the background layer. BG layer got a texture added (sandpaper). I keep the merged cutout layers(white and black layers) separate in case I want to change the cutout. I made dups of it and the background layer so I could merge the cutout and the paper so that I could select "from Vector Object" when I did the text. I promoted the background/cutout layer, added white around it and gave it a shadow. The 2024 and outer frame was is white, and blended into the background with a blend mode. Font is two from the Gill Sans line up.