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Lesson 3 and because it is mother's day over here I used a photo of a rose😊 All the papers are from a kit by Chantahlia Design Be Encouraged and the font is Hello Christmas.

Lesson 4 - Here I used some of the photos I took recently on my trip. Stanford University has a so called Arizona Garden with a lot of cacti and succulents. It is not big but worth while to see those plants outside in a more natural environment than a heated glasshouse. For the background I use a paper from the minikit Wintertropics by Jessica Dunn. The font is Cambria and I used a bevel on it.

Love your choice of colours, photo and Papers

I just love this. Your description of the pair was funny (smartest and naughtiest 😄)

Those are so neat. the ones on the right look like they are made of wood.

For lesson 2 I used 2 photos of my family's dogs. They are so cute and they remember me when I come to visit, even after a year! Dante is a poodle and the smartest; Koko is a schnoodle, a crossing of a schnauzer and a poodle, and the naughtiest. All the papers are from Jessica Dunn's kit Furry Cuddles, the title font is Berlin Sans and I used the adjustment layer HLS on the dark layer with diamonds to show the diamonds better. I wanted to use the adjustment levels as in lesson 1 but that didn't give a good result.

Thank you, for me that is often the most challenging part and it takes most of the time.😉

i have been playig with affinity again this time I have been trying to make a flower element but not sure about the results Your comments would be appreciated .

Susan, my art is tiny, about A5. As an illustrator many years ago, I managed to go to A4 although all my work was in black and white, or wash, as it was known. I have used some of my work in the workshops. I used one piece in the Greeting Card Workshop, and 4 pieces recently in this template workshop. I only used my graphite illustrations, with some watercolour, and pencils, also black ink.

My J is for Jugendstil. Many years ago we did a city trip to Berlin and visited the Hackesche Höfe (Hacke's Courtyards). This is a building complex situated in the center of Berlin and is designed in Jugendstil (Art Nouveau). It was badly damaged in WWII but is beautifully restored now. A lot of the buildings have magnificent tiles and those are remade and we bought one; we are still sorry we only bought one.

Template 6 Papers and elements from Digital Scrapbook (Gina Jones, Jessica Dunn, Sheila Reid and one paper that says ABM-Christmas Joy). the background paper is Creative Fabrica. I used also a pattern paper that i blended into the texture layer and added a PSP texture on top (Striation). I selected the light bulbs in the string and promoted them so i could add an outer glow to just the bulbs. Title font: Christmas Ink (CF) and I blended it into the background as if it was written with a felt pen. Journal: words of the song...oops I forgot the authors (in the layout) Lee Mendelson and Vince Guaraldi and it's one of my most favorite Christmas songs. Photos are mine from driving around the neighbourhood. The lights on the fence I didnt have to angle the photo to match, as the fence is on a street that has a pretty steep hill and it fit perfectly.

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.

I've kept a few of my favorites but the rest I donated to a local thrift store. I have a closet with shelves that I put them in when I'm done. When the shelves get full, I donate. Then I learned last summer that when the library has their annual book sale in August, jigsaw puzzles and games are also included. I was too late to donate but one of my genealogy friends (actually a 3rd or 4th cousin), has a friend that loves to do them but has a limited income. So I ended up selling her friend 20 puzzles for $10.00. 50 cents is the cost of a puzzle at the library sale where her friend usually would get puzzles. I still ended up donating another 10 to 15 puzzles to the thrift store.

I love to see another jigsaw puzzle fan! I have done so many and had an exchange scheme with my sister in law. But sadly puzzles are no longer for me, the strain is too much on my eyes and my sister in law died some years ago as well. During Covid my husband caught the puzzle "virus" as we call it and nowadays he exchanges puzzles with our daughter in law.

Can you really have "too many" hobbies? 🙃

Will we get to see some of your work as well. It's interesting to see the other creative endeavors that the members have.

JARS resonated with me. Here are a couple of my Mason jars...

I used a template to showcase the houses I've lived in. From 1941-1960 was my childhood home in Rutherford, NJ. From 1960-1966 when I was first married but still living in Rutherford. From 1966-1976, shown separately, we had moved to Wantage Twp, Sussex County, NJ. From 1977-1997 after my divorce and remarriage we moved to the Village of Warwick, NY. (It was a close comparison to my old hometown of Rutherford.) We then lived in New Hampton, NY from 1997-2008. We moved back to Warwick for the years 2008-2018. We then moved to a 2 bedroom/2 bath condo in Middletown, NY from 2018 to the present. My husband passed away in 2019, but I still live in the same unit.

J is for Jigsaw Puzzles. Dad passed away in June 2016. When the holidays came around later in the year, beside being in my seasonal depression, I was feeling very down about my first holiday season without either parent. I saw jigsaw puzzles at Wal-Mart and picked one up thinking it would keep my mind occupied. As I was working on it, I felt completely at peace. My dad also did jigsaw puzzles at various times of his life, quite often when he was in Florida for the winter. He'd start a puzzle and work on it a little every day. I even bought him a jigsaw puzzle carrier for Christmas one year before Mom passed away (bought one for me as well). He would put the puzzle on it then if needed, it could be put away without tearing it apart. I ended up buying more puzzles in 2016 and every year since then I spend the month of December working on puzzles as much as I can. This photo is just a few of the ones I have stocked up on. As I see puzzles I'm interested in doing, I buy them so right now I have around 12 to 15 in a box. There are times I will pull one out and work on it at others times of the year as well. I definitely have too many hobbies...Scrapping, Counted Cross Stitch, Genealogy and Jigsaw Puzzles.

Let it Glow Again

JK's recent trip by bike, shots taken by JK, my work with the documentation of the trip /a bit long trip;)/

Still "playing" with Affinity and my Scotland photo's 🙂 : Found psd files at Chantalia design.

Today I looked at text on a path, text on a shape (circle) with the text inside the shape on top and outside on the bottom. For wrapped text in a shape I choose I a heart and I'm so happy that in Affinity I can finally use this feature again! I like it very much and am still a bit disappointed that PSP 2023 won't do this any longer and that this bug will stay for ever now PSP is terminated. Furthermore I tried the tutorial from the Lily Pad about a simple warped shadow with the mesh warp tool. I used a journal card from Jessica Dunn for this, but I could have used a photo as well. I found it very much like the mesh warp in PSP. In Affinity you have to set all the lines for the mesh yourself, which is a bit tedious if you want to use many. Maybe there is a further setting that takes care of this, but I haven't explored the tool settings much further for now. However I have the same problem with both PSP and Affinity; my hands are not stable enough, I have to redo many times until I get something that is acceptable. I don't complain, it is a fact that I live with it for almost 30 years now and I make the best of it🥲