Sue Thomas

The UK and European badger are one of the same species. In canada they too are endangered, not through hunting or trapping so much but through loss of habitat. In the UK there is a totally different view to the badger, they have been persecuted for hundreds of years, through badger baiting as sport, which has been illegal for a long time now, but still goes on under the cover of darkness. It is barbaric. Farmers will trap and kill them as their cattle and dairy cows can contract TB. Farmer have to have their cattle tested every six months, at their own cost. Over 220,000 badgers have been culled to date, blamed for the disease. Actually the TB bacteria lives in soil and water. East Africa is the home to TB and it's human host. Yet, the badger bears the brunt of the blame for transmission. which I don't agree with.

It would have been wonderful to have seen them when they were much younger, and smaller. Still you can see that she is still suckling them, even though they are as big as mum. I was so excited to see them, a real treat.

Week 27. It is prooving difficult to single out a photo to showcase for this challenge. Never the less, I won't be short of photos to showcase down the road. North America sow badger with her 3 cubs. They are not closely related to the UK badger. American badgers breed between July and August. The embryos don't start to grown unitl December or February. They don't hibernate. I see their tracks in the snow throughout the long winter months. Also the UK badger is a social badger, whereas the American is solitary. Mother was keeing a close eye on me, and I wasn't going to antagonize her either, as they can be aggressive, espcially when felt threatened. Her set is impressive, just over half way up the drive, which also runs under the drive, with several entrances and exits on either side. A rare treat to see them out in daylight, as they are nocturnal.

Thank you Corrie, photos can speak volumes. Not only about the subject, but also the photographer.The fox cub is one of three out in the crop. I have photos of them playing while mum sits and watches over them. As for the ground squirrels, I wish I could tell them apart but I can't. Choosing a weekly photo is difficult, it would be easier to post them all if it was possible.

Susan, it is the tongue, just prior to lapping up a mouthful of jam. They are hilariously entertaining. Unfortunately, as much as I'd love to post far more shots, the campus isn't a photographic site, plus resizing down is time consuming. You will have to wait for when I create layouts, where I can add multiple photos.

The swallows are aerial acrobats, I never tire watching them. As for the ground squirrels, they never cease to make me laugh. Mind you they weren't amuzed to have jam on their faces and feet. They would rub their faces in the grass to get it off, then lick the jam of the blades of grass, once they had washed themselves. I decided to place a spoonful of jam on top of the jar for them. Such great enterainment all around, when one is prepared to look for it. Plus it is free.

I'm now caught up with this challenge.

I too have bird window prevention collision strips on all the house windows. Also all my feededs are out in the trees, far the house.

My goodness, there must be loads of them, if your crew is only a small one. On average cats will kill over one hundred million birds a year in Canada. Domestic and feral cats aren't native to any ecosystem. Not only on birds but other native wildlife. It has been estimated that cats in Australia kills an average of one million birds per day. About three hundred and seventy seven million per year. Same, for the UK. The numbers are staggering world wide. Although they make wonderful pets for some people, they threaten birds and other wildlife and disrupt ecosystems. Rarely, I will get a stray tom cat from the neighbours, as they will travel long distances. I trap and dispose of them, cruel as that may sound to some. At least numbers are trying to be controlled in your area. It is a controversial issue. Here is a shot of one of my Red winged Blackbird's (male) on a cattail. I haven't noticed any fledgelings yet.

Cool photo you took with your phone, better than I can take. You must have a body of water close by, as typically they like marshes, with cattails, sedges and bulrushes, nesting close to the ground. I'd be concerned for their safety from the ferel cats you feed.. They flock with the grackles during migration.

Week twenty six. Nestling tree swallows waiting for their parents to come with food. I took this shot along with many others of them, even being fed late this afternoon.

Week twenty five, fledged North America Robin siblings.

week twenty four, ground squirrel helping himself to the Robins and Orioles blueberry jam. I have run of my own jam. I have to wait until the new season of Bluberries come into the shops.

Week Twenty two, male barn swallow. Fox cub, around 13-15 weeks old.

Ants will farm aphids, as aphids feed on the sap of plants, they secrete a liquid called honeydew. Aphids are sometimes called plant lice, but they are not related. Aphids are closely related within the suborder Sternorrhyncha. Lice belong to the suborder Troctomorpha, in the order that also contain book lice, barklice, and bark flies. We look for aphid infestions in the crops. I studied the aphid when I was recording and documenting the life cycle of the ladybird several years ago. As Ladybirds feed almost exclusivley on aphids.

Sometimes it takes several attempts at drawing around the image to get the effect I am looking for. Also I will edit the mask after I have run the script.

Julie Magerka, there is youtube video on using the paintsplash script. https://www.google.com/search?q=cass+paintsplash+video+youtube&oq=cass+paintsplash+video&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqCQgCECEYChigATIGCAAQRRg5MgkIARAhGAoYoAEyCQgCECEYChigAdIBCTExMDk2ajBqN6gCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:7d7638c2,vid:MrEy7coigwE,st:0

There's a simple explanation Ann. Alicia clicked on the previous year's vector workshop to post her page, in error. The other day, I received 11 likes from Cindy, all from posts I posted in last year's vector workshop. It would appear Alicia, didn't click on the current workshop.

Undoubtedly, always a pleasure. I have been rather busy, and meant to comment on your last layout, as it escaped me until now. You altered the word bye using the kerning, which you specified in your comment as looking rather odd. May I suggest to you to get a better result, whilst the text is still a vector, STRETCH the word vertically and horizonally instead. As you will still maintain the shapes of the glyphs and letters as they were exactly written. Of course, stretching within reason mind. Apologies for not commenting on everyones outstanding pages posted. I will be getting around to doing this random challenge. I am currently preoccupied with the camera. Young badger and fox cubs. Nestlings and fledglings, all currently in abundance. Riding and cycling.

Stunning simplistic page. They are easy to create, providing there aren't any gaps in the text from edge to edge of the page. The correct spelling for the flower Lily is spelt with one l. As it comes from lilium which is its genus. A child's name Lily can be be spelt in several ways, including two l's. There are other variations on creating this type of layout in the no kit masterclasses if you are interested.

Something else I have been working on. I created a vector flame, used geometric effects to get the shape of the word happy to fit in the flame. The colours aren't the best, but when I come to create a card I will use colours and patterns to match. This is a trial run.

One little tip I'll give is to use a guide when you are manipulating the duplicate vector, to get the extra thickness on the curves. So the pen nodes are aligned to create both sides symmetrical. Also lower the width of the duplicate vector. I'm still making adjustments when I create a candle. I've done several templates The more I do the better they get, as will yours. Not that I could find fault with yours, but you are like me. I have to be happy with what I create.

It was my pleasure to share with you all, once I had played with it. You did an awesome job! I love it.

I can now post again. I hope that is the end of the issues, as Carole, I'm sure somteimes technology can be a nightmare. I created this for a friend, whose birthday was yesterday, using one of my bird photos, as she is also an avid bird and insect watcher, like myslef. (Barn Swallow) The colours used in the candle can all be found in the photo. I used one of my embosed cutout templates. It's a 5x7 ecard. Which my friend was able to print off. I'm currently unable to comment on posts in the campus. Corrie Kinkel I love everything about your candle! If anyone was going to try their hand in creating one, I knew it would be you. They certainly do have the potential to be used in a variety of ways. I only wish I had thought of it long ago. Thanks Michele Fineron, for the suggestive challenge, as without your vision I may not have had thought to take the candle to this level. By the way, everyone has been posting wonderful, inspiring pages!

I see that the posts I had posted, which disappeared, have been restored . I will now post the updated transparent wordart candle which I posted on facebook as promised. Anyway, after some playing I can create celebration, festive candles which I will be happy with. Which are ever so easy to create, yet the results are quite impressive. I will start with the base. Using the vector elipse shape create the shape, duplicate. Using the pen tool move the side nodes in on the top layer, merge down, after duplicating, any gaps can be filled with the brush tool. Using the feather tool in selections feather severeal times until you get a nice tapered gap. Of course you would create the base after you have created the candle itself. Once you have created the wordart, stretch it out horizontally, and and a little squidging down. In order to achieve a shorter more compact candle. If that is what you'd prefer. Always duplicate, then convert to a raster. I won't go through the instructions of using the warp brush to create the rounded effect and shadows. Check out the tube tutorial in the creative scrap. Instead of using the usual written verse inside some cards I intend using a candle. The candle flame came from CF. I won't challenge you , but give it a try, and post it. It really is that easy.