Sue Thomas

I decided to have a go at the mock up page in the blog. Choosing a photo adding text, and fitting it to the book mockup page was easy enough. I failed to change the colour of the pages, and the back cover , as for some reason it wanted to be the same colour as the spiral, which I colourized green. I wanted the back page to the same brown, with a bit of texture, and the pages to be an off white. I think I'll stick with Carole's spiral tubes.

They don't nest where I am. They pass through in the Spring and Autumn, en route to their nesting ground, much further north. They are such a joy to watch at this time of year.

I have all of Carole's edge and corner punch brushes. They an an invaluable asset to any layout.

This was a quick easy one, once I found photos that had similar colours to the Palette. The norm for me is firstly choosing photos, and not the other way round. the B7b44e was used in the bottom element, where I used a photo, overlay soft light, luckily it retained most of the colour in the palette. The frames around the photos and the text paper is dce6e7. Decorative frame is 9bc0de. Background papers are 40524b and 618a84. Out of bounds, inner bevel on decorative frame, a little noise on the background papers to give a little texture. The little female in the middle photo, (I think she is a juvenile) is in a state of torpor, all fluffed up. I put their feeders out at 5.45am, as I fetch them indoors at night, as the evenings can get quite chilly, and the last thing they want is chilled feed. I gently picked her up, warmed her in my hands for a couple of minutes, placed her back on the perch, next to the feeder. She was fine, ready to start the day after a long feed of sugar water. I don't scimp on the sugar either. Every year the hummers arrive by the 3rd August, they stay for the whole of August before embarking on their long journey south. The feeders stay out until mid September just in case stragglers pass through. They are truly flying gems, with amazing powers of flight and often glittering iridescent colours. To me when they arrive, I know that Autumn is quite literally around the corner.

Very nice layout. The bee is a bumble bee , genus Bombus. I don't know the species. The dragonfly is actually a damselfly, what species I don't know, but they are considered the kid sisters of the dragonflies.

That's a great envelope Michele. Over the years I have created a vast majority in template form of the creative scrap and lab tutorials. They are then readily available to edit to suit a project I'm working on. Without having to start from scratch each time. Plus, I have learnt so many techniques that can be used in creating other elements.

I downloaded the freebie template in the creation cassel blog. I started it, but then I did my own thing. I won the border frame brushes a short while back, and hadn't had a chance to use them until this evening. For the large photo of the Yellow warblers I created a watercolour effect. It's background paper is a photo of some trees out back, which I took the other day. Overlay. I created my own date stamp, copying the latest date stamp script in the store.

I checked in 'more options', and lo and behold, they do translate to and from Welsh.

Hahaha! No! But then I don't need a translator for Welsh. ?

It changed the comment to English. Even less steps to take when doing a translation.

Using Google Chrome, I just right clicked on the text, and translate to English is one of the options, something I didn't realize. I have learnt something new today.

I have google translate bookmarked. I highlight the text I want to translate, right click, copy. Then in Google translate paste. You don't need to use the clipboard. I don't need to select the language, it automatically detects it once I've pasted it .

I had a feeling I would have to use Google. I thought there may have been a function somewhere within the campus to translate, that I wasn't aware of. Thanks.

Occasionally I've popped into the campus. Everyone has been very creative. My family at home have said the same thing about the weather, they too have had a great deal of rain. Not the summer they were hoping for. I was home this time last year, and the heather on the mountains were blooming then. Rachael sent me some pics of the heather on Mynydd Yr Gaer only yesterday, which she took whilst out exercising the horse.

How do I translate Jannette's comment into English or even Welsh, to enable me to read it.

It has been a hot, dry summer, we've had less than a 1/4 inch of rain since last year. With less and less snow each winter these past 4 yrs. Between my outdoor activities, kayaking, riding, cycling, photography, gardening I've been ploding away doing cards, 2024 calendars, and advent calendars. As I'm going home for December and January. I'm also doing calendars for my little granddaughters using the photos I took of them when I was home last year. Sifting, sorting, and selection photos to keep from this year's many thousands of shots is a laborious, time consuming job too. So all in all it's been and still is a busy summer, but I will continue to be active while I'm still able. The hummers have arrived for 3-4 weeks, making their long trip back south, some birds are already starting to flock too.

That's wonderful, you'll have to go back with the camera. Ground squirrels are Prairie mammals, they prefer the short grass.

I like to create magazine covers to showcase my photos.

Challenge.

You must be relevantly new to the campus. I have been quiet for the past few months, it is summer after all, and where I now live in Canada, the season is very short, but guaranteed to be hot and sunny, unlike my homeland Wales. I've been active in the campus since late 2015, and seasoned members have become accustomed to expecting my layouts to be of all kinds of nature. Here are some recent posts. I thought my posts would automatically go into the gallery, but I see obviously not.

Insect Macro photography is one of my many outdoor hobbies. I find the wonderful world of insects fascinating. To put your mind at rest, Less than 25% of solitary bees and wasps don't have stingers. Those that do (females) will only sting when threatened. Even then it doesn't have the same effect or hurt as much as a honey bee sting. They usually don't sting when being handled, and I handle them all the time, fishing them out of the bird baths, picking off my clothing, they buzz in my hand, which tickles until I release them. Only bumblebee workers and Queens have stingers, even then they are only used in defence. Like the solitaries, they don't usually sting when being handled. To answer your question I have never been stung.

I didn't comment on my layout in the initial post. Anyway, I used the embossed technique on the text in the two shaped elements. I must confess, that I was itching to resize down many of the layers, but I refrained from doing so. Lol.

Thank you Susan, perhaps others will make their own log tower hotels. The photos are degraded due to having to resize down to post. The logs I use are dry, around 2ft tall, with a diameter of anything from 9 inches to 13 inches. I drill 10-20 rows of 20 holes in each log close together. I don't drill all the way around only the front.( purely for photographic reasons, also positioning them in direct sunlight, for most of the day) I have them standing upright. Once the season is over I put them in the garage for the winter, taking them back outside in late Spring.

These delightful interesting bees have consumed a great deal of my time this summer, observing and macro photographing them. Which is very tricky as they are super fast and really tiny. Every year I create more and more bee log tower hotels for them. Drilling hundred of holes in each one to accommodate the residents. This year I had well over a thousand leafcutter bees to home. For those that are interested :The drill bit size is 5mm, with a depth of 2 1/4 inches. Each bee can lay up to 6 eggs. They collect pollen with the " pollen brush" on the underside of their abdomen. Starting at the back of the nesting chamber, the female bee builds a protective leafy wall, which she will pack with a loaf of pollen and nectar (or paste). She then lays a single egg directly on each loaf and seals the chamber with another protective leaf wall. Typically, the females will lay eggs that will become females towards the back of the nest and males near the front. This behavior provides an extra layer of protection for the female eggs.