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This afternoon's project for the insect challenge. I can remember seeing a layout quite some time ago, and have been wanting to replicate my own, in other words scarp lifting. Using vectors, I created a template first. I chose an insect which is out of the ordinary for most yet common, that would't be posted on here. Again, my own macro photo. A plain layout.

I've got 2 old layouts for this time period. Layout #1 was one of the first layouts I ever made (July 2008) thus the weird shadows on the photos! I didn't know any better. I would guess the paper and tags were freebies since I hadn't started buying kits yet. I think I used an old tutorial for older versions of PSP for the title. Layout #2 was a more recent layout. I did it in January of 2019 and the kit is from Kristin Aagard available at The Lily Pad (License to Drive) and the template is from Scrapping With Liz available at Hey Scrapper (Swirl Templates).

They are aphids. The North American Ladybirds predominately lay their eggs on the Kochia plant (also known as the tumbleweed, which rolls across the North American landscape during the winter). Their diet consists of aphids. A gardeners best friend.

Another technique I like to use. This is a Ladybird larvae. Ladybirds go through 4 stages, 5 if you incluse the adult stage. (Macro Photography)

I often use masks to blend two, or three photos together. Here I used two photos. Mind you it makes it a dawdle when I take this technique into account when taking photos. Shadows, etc. It also helps when the insects are within the same vacinity. (Macro photography)

@Sue Thomas Instead of commenting on all your layouts one by one, I just want to say they all look stunning and of course they are in your so unique style. It learns me a lot of insects that I don't know and most of them aren't living in my part of the world, or when they do it is often another variety.

LOL! May I suggest that the photos be showcased, and posted in the insect challenge instead.

Oops! Sorry, I'll stop. 😁

I have been playing and trying some things; here I placed some of my experiments together on a backgroundpaper. There is a tutorial from the LilyPad on how to use jpg pattern tiles and I have some jpg pattern tiles by Carole that placed in a folder called Assets (in the Window menu on top). Then I made a custom shape, outline no fill and with the gradient fill tool (I had to find that via customize and placed it on the lefthand side toolbar) active click on the pattern and by magic it is inside the shape. Afterwards it is possible to change the size of the pattern. That was the heart, then I tried it on a text and it works the same. Then I used a text and filled it with a photo which works just like we did in the Bootcamp with text filled with a paper. The word Spring has a small bevel and Coming has a very thick one, just to get more familiar with the settings and both have a dropshadow as well. Before using two different effects on a same layer(text) I had to duplicate and use the bevel on the top and the shadow on the bottom layer of the two. The heart has a shadow and a reverse shadow, also on a duplicate layer and then group them. This is something I have to get used to, more duplicating layers! I have a lot of abr. brushes imported in PSP but luckily I kept the zipfiles too and now I can use them in Affinity as well. I tried to use 2 of them as a stamp and recolored them just to practice. I find the colorpicker very difficult to use, especially picking a color from a photo because it uses 1px by 1px size. Not doable with my unsteady hands but in the lefthand toolbar is a colorpicker icon too and if you click on it, there is a toolmenu on the top where you can set the size of that picker to your liking or needs. That is it for today, I think next I will try text on a path and reverse text, wrapped text and whatever comes up to explore.

What kind of critters are the little black round things on the leaf?

I may have to give up on this month's game if people keep posting pics. LOL

Wow, I've never seen one of these, it's really breathtaking

I really love the one of your parents. I love them all, but your parents one is just so perfect.

Lovely layouts, Julie! Again, you are mastering this artsy way of scrapbooking.

S = Silverfish / Firebrats Domestic species such as silverfish and firebrats may cause extensive damage to household goods. They often feed on wallpaper paste, bookbindings, and the starch sizing of some textiles. Cardboard and other paper products may also be damaged. The species is particularly long lived, some as much as 6 years.

Love the shadow. What you have here is a Katydid, and not a grasshopper. Katydids are in the suborder Ensifera, while hoppers are in the suborder caerlifera. The best way to tell them apart is that Katydids have the longest of antennae.

What a great capture Corrie, it is not a beetle of any kind. At first glance, and after reading your comment on its size, it is a bumble bee. My guess is that it is possibly a carpenter bee, or a species of black bee. I hasten to add, that they are completely harmless, unless unduly provoked.

Playing with Carole's pixel stretch script.

Sue you know so much about insects and I wonder if you could help me. I took this photo when I was in California in the end of April last year and I have no clue what it is, I think it is a beetle but I'm not sure. It was rather big, a couple of centimeters. I searched a bit on line but couldn't find anything similar. I don't think it is rare it was just in the front garden, but my granddaughter who is always interested in everything living said she hadn't seen it before.

Here's some layouts I've worked on lately. I have no particular focus, just react to photos I have or get and try something with them. I am dabbling and rather scattered, but I like to work on something everyday. The last week to ten days of each month is a busy time for me, so I am not able to comment/react/post very much. But I do check out the wonderful layouts that appear in the different topics. This place is my "stay sane" place. (However, I have to scroll quickly past the spider pix! 😛) The fellow on the bike is a good friend of my (older) sister from 'way back. I've bugged him for a long time for a copy of that photo. The couple are my parents just after they were married. And the blue layout is about my yearning for Spring which is still elusive here. Photo in that one from Pixabay. The designers whose materials I have used are: Vicki Robinson, Anna Aspnes, ET Designs, Marisa Lerin, Rachel Jeffries, and maybe some others.

Many of you will know that one of my passions is the wonderful world of insects. I observe, macro photograph, document and showcase them. Here is one I previously did.

I do have another magazine layout to show you. This was from 2021.

Several years ago, the kids called me outside as they found a huge butterfly. It was my first encounter with a Luna Moth. Unlike most moths, this one is quite colorful. I noticed that the moth was on the ground, and our cat was about to pounce on it. I grabbed it and it kind of hopped on my sweater and crawled on my face. It was likely injured, but it ended up flying away (and we brought the cat inside, to give it a chance). This moth has a life span of about one week.

Recently Anna Aspnes was retiring a lot of her older products and had those on sale with a big discount and I bought just a small kit and in this kit was a butterfly and lovely backgrounds and elements. With this month's theme I had to try to make a layout in Affinity and I used one of my own butterfly photos and put it inside the frame from the kit. Then I had to use a pin from my stash to "hang" the frame on. The font I used is called My Butterfly and has lovely swatches and although I have found a way to use some I couldn't figure out how to use others. There is so much to learn.......

This was from our Text Workshop last November.

And then I was into spiders. The challenge topic was "FEAR"

It seems I was really into bees 2 years ago! 🐝

I used a bootcamp layout for a Bee festival that my daughter was involved with.

A few of my photographs taken over the years

Even though my bookmark says this is still February, I will post my new March Wild Cat Calendar. The template is from our calendar workshop last Oct. '24. They have unusual masks that add to the surrounding frame, and a separate layer which can be colorized. This is an action shot of a powerful jaguar attacking a caiman, which is a relative of the alligator. I get my information and photos from Panthera.org. The background paper is from Marisa Lerin. It started out purple but I changed that with the Change to Target brush using the dark blue color from the caiman's skin. The greens are from the photo. The March title font is Aviation Cocktail. I will post a full size version in our Facebook group Scrapbooking with PaintShop Pro and Affinity that is suitable for printing. I put mine on my refrigerator.

Just for fun

One for good measure

Lesson 7 page 1 and 2

I have finished Day 7, and it's a double page again. Maybe there will be a Day 8, to use the last photos I have from this 2023 Malmö tour.

I chose A Winter's Tale by Freddie Mercury and Queen, recorded just prior to his death. The background is a winter photo from Beacon, NY, by Sforza. The font is Bahnschrift. The text on the photo reads: "A Winter's Tale" is a song by Queen, from the album Made in Heaven, released in 1995 after Freddie Mercury's death in 1991. It was written after the Innuendo sessions, inspired as Mercury was staring out the windows of his apartment, in Montreux, Switzerland. The song has a psychedelic, dreamy feel, and describes what Mercury saw outside the windows. Mercury wrote and composed the song, and also performed the vocals and keyboards (although the track is credited to Queen). In the 1995 documentary Queen: Champions of the World, it was stated that this was, if not the first, then an extremely rare style of recording for Mercury, as it was all performed in one take live in the studio. It was stated in the film that Mercury had always insisted upon music being completed prior to the vocal arrangement beginning, but acknowledged that he had little time left and there was not enough time to work on it differently. The song was released as the second single from the album. In the UK the single was also available in a special limited edition green paper CD case which resembled Christmas wrapping.

Lesson 5. Shadow just for visibility in the forum. I wanted to try doing the diagonal version mentioned in the tutorial. With a little luck I'll get this done by the end of the weekend.

Here is the Right side.

Here I am, the turtle bringing up the rear. Lesson 4. I added an reverse shadow to the page so it shows where the white page ends (it's only on this smaller forum version). After I am done all the pages I'll decided about the background or added more frames. I kind of like the white, last year I added backgrounds. Also the blue boxes I'll have to decide on a color. here is the left side.