Sue Thomas

Susan I can only repeat what I replied to Cristina's comment. If nothing else, some of my pages may inspire you and others, to do something similar.

Cristina, you are always so kind. Although the little details are subtle, they do make the page stand out, which is why I like add them. Of course I have Carole to thank for me being able to do such little things, as without the campus (tutorials etc) my pages wouldn't be as interesting for the viewer.

For the most part the prairies is treeless. For the greater part it's a sea of grass. Where native trees do grow, they are low growing, such as the choke cherry, and Buffalo berry, which to me are more like bushes.

Sunrise sometimes creates a beautiful red hue over the landscape. If you aren't quick, you'll miss it, as it only lasts around 30-90 seconds. My trees out back, and my garden shed.

Another shot.

I will start the ball rolling, with a coincidence. I frequent Danielson Provincial Park, to cycle, hike or snow shoe, the trails. The Trans Canada walking trail also runs through the park. Today I went for a bike ride, taking the camera with me to take some colourful shots. Mother Nature didn't disappoint either. The Park is a 20 minute drive away. You can also see Lake Diefenbaker. Where I love to kayak the many isolated bays. This shot is a Panoramic shot.

We all have different approaches to starting a page, and seeing it through to its fruition. You and I couldn't be more different in our approach, from start to finish. I always start with a photo or photos, from there the photos determine the colours, and layout of the page. I have very few resources. Probably a dozen kits. I do have a nice small selection of elements. Also a small collection of fonts that I favour, and use repeatedly in projects. I like to create my own elements, and papers. So in a nutshell, my way of working is to select photos, and see where they lead my creativity. My aim is always to focus on showcasing the photos, with a minimalistic, and relevantly plain no fuss papers. That doesn't mean I don't like busy scrapbook pages, on the contrary, I do. It's just not in my nature or my style to create pages like that. You must sometimes have a heck of time deciding what kit etc to use. Only joking! I never started out a scrapbooker, which may have something to do with my style, and approach to showcasing photos.

Well Susan! You saw what I was trying to achieve. Movement! I watch the leaves on the trees and on the ground, as the wind blows them in all directions, until they settle in their final resting places. Like myself, you do more than merely look at a page, you interpret what it's trying to saying.

You know, I had my doubts about using the font, before I started the page. Putting off doing the heading until last. I'm sure I'm not the only one that, when having doubts, or not overall happy with something, it reflects in ones work, as this one did in my page. Thank you, I have to agree with you. I much prefer this one.

I changed the font for the main text Heading. As I didn't like the font used for the font challenge. Although it isn't Halloween themed, it is a very seasonal, appropriate page, for this time of year.

Jannette, you did a lovely job. Do you have anything in mind to use it in a project? I suppose you'll have to do the whole alphabet. Also time consuming.

I did another word art for the page too. To be in keeping with more my style, with fonts that I like.

I have posted the page on facebook, for better viewing, especially to make the tickets legible.

This font isn't one I would have chosen myself. I can see that it would appeal to some for a particular Halloween project. Halloween has never appealed to me, probably because it isn't that popular at home, certainly not when I was growing up, as it is in North America. I wanted to participate in the challenge. I edited some of the letters to my liking, added leaves from another font. The letters A and E, I resized, moving the letters before them closer, by changing the text to character shapes. Inner bevel. Photos were taken yesterday. Background paper is a photo, 2 overlays, and a texture.

Very nice indeed!

Spooky 2 masterclass is my favourite Halloween masterclass.

Halloween is something I don't celebrate. It's not new to the British. All hallow's Eve comes from many Pagan traditions. Introduced in to America by the Scots and and the Irish, who then commercialized. I used a photo of a Welsh Church and churchyard, used effects photo effects time machine, added the cats and lady, added glow to them. Bats and a moon.

I have never ever watched reality shows, they have never appealed to me. Nor the American drama shows like NCIS, Law and order, Blue Bloods and the list goes on and on. I have Shaw TV provider, with PBS( PBS has 3 channels) and Vision channels (which are part of the Shaw package) are what I watch. I agree with Chris, about the British shows, they are very down to earth. Both channels have an array of classic British programs, most of which I grew up watching, and they never get old. I'm currently watching Shetland, which I haven't watched before. Silent witness, with Amanda Burton playing the pathologist. Death in Paradise, Inspector Morse, and Endeavour. Last of the Summer Wine, Keeping up Appearances, New Tricks. The Sweeney with John Thaw, who also played Inspector Morse. Van Der Valk, Heartbeat. Unforgotten. Meet the Midwife, Agatha Christie murder mysteries. The list goes on. I have watched Murdock Mysteries, which I like, mainly because Thomas Craig plays the inspector. I remember him in his younger days in Inspector Morse, and Coronation street. Plus it's also semi educational. PBS airs NOVA, and many nature documentaries. That's the extent of my TV viewing. I grew up watching Upstairs Downstairs, drama series in black and white, there were three series I think in all. Starring Gordon Jackson. I haven't watched Downton Abbey at all. I watched the first few series of Outlander, which I enjoyed, but then lost in interest in it. I have to say my favourite American detective series is Columbo. Which airs on Vision on a Thursday night.

I didn't go back as far as the Roman Empire. And skimmed over history. Like All Empires they were driven by power and greed, by their leaders, at the expense of their subjects. They invaded Scotland and Wales, but were confronted by hostile tribes, some they got on with and others they didn't. England was where they were able to put down roots. Evidence of their presence in Wales is visible today with Roman roads and artifacts which are found by metal detectors. All Empires eventually fall. The British Empire fell some time ago. The US super power (Empire) is now falling. It's debt to China is 33 trillion dollars. It's overall gross debt, which includes interest, and other costs is 128 trillion dollars. The US is collapsing around them. Ukraine is mobilizing men between 60-65 yrs of age. Ben Wallis former defence minister of the UK is asking Ukraine to draft youth ASAP. It's a proxy war, instigated by the US, back in 2008, and then the coup in 2014. Russia was provoked, into the special military operation, to denatzify Ukraine, and for NATO (run by the US) to move troops from it's borders. UKraine is one of the most corrup countries in the world, run by the Azof battalion Natzis. The Russian federation under Putin today isn't the old USSR under Stalin and Lenin. I can't for the life of me understand why all those in power in the collective west has such a visceral hatred for the Russian people. Churchill, after WW2 created Operation paperclip. The Secret Intelligence Program. That brought over 20,000 Natzi war criminals to North America. Many Western governments, US government in particular is a cess pool of corruption, run by the Military Industrial complex. President Eisenhower warned against the MIC in his farewell address.

I had a great deal of difficulty understanding the Canadians when I first moved here. Especially when they spoke, as they leave out letters. They don't' say Toronto, but Torono. Under the bonnet is the engine of the car. I'd often say, he's tinkering under the bonnet. In other words working on the engine. When the settlers arrived in Johnson in 1621, they came from all over Europe, with the intentions of starting a fresh. They wanted to leave behind the turbulent history, of inter country fighting dating back hundred and hundreds of years. Border wars etc. They adopted the English Language, as their primary language, but Greek and Latin makes up a great deal of the English Language. So, they decided to change many of the words. Changing a letter or omitting a letter in a word. Such as Tyre (tire) Colour (color). It didn’t stop there, they would change words like bonnet and boot, to hood and trunk. That is why we have (old) English and American English. North America has done it’s best to eradicate everything related to the settlers native countries. They believed that a continent like North America would be untouchable by invading countries. It was true. North Americans have led sheltered lives. Since WW2, the US has instigated over 200 wars in European and Asian Countries. Including dropping 2 atomic bombs. Russia has been involved in a total of 4 wars by invitation of the respective invaded countries. How the US has changed since those first settlers, they wanted a peaceful new life. My mother lost 2 of her eldest brothers to WW2, and a cousin, my dad lost an uncle. Today I say to myself, what did they die for. Hollywood has portrayed the US as the heroes of WW2. Not true, Russia was the primary army that defeated Hitler and the Nazi. With the highest mortality numbers. I can remember to this day, how my gran spoke kindly and fondly about the Russians. As they were allies of GB and the US. I knew the second the house speaker of the Canadian parliament, introduced a Ukrainian Canadian officer who fought against the Russians in WW2, that he was a SS Nazi of the worst kind. It worries me, that if the neocons of the US government, and governments around the collective western countries aren’t reined in, I fear for what is in store for the future of generations to come. I've gone off on a tangent here. It can be deleted if inappropriate.

Here is another one. The sign post was ideal to be placed in the small snow drift., rabbits in close proximity to the white tailed hares prints, same for the deer, as Antelope had passed through the yard earlier that day. With the right photos, they work well with clip art to create a page.

Carefully choosing one of my photos for the background, I then added some clipart to create a card. The prints in the snow are either from the white tailed hares or other resident four legged creatures. Placing the dog where some print are visible. No one would be any the wiser who made those prints.

We spent a great deal of time at the beaches, and National Trust (houses, buildings, gardens coastlines and countryside). I certainly had my money's worth from that membership.

Another one.

This year my little girls requested their very own calendar. Using photos I took when I was home last year, here are a few pages for the calendar.