Sue Thomas

In case the label isn't legible in the layout , due to compression.

This is a page I started back in June, when I saw the first Ambush bug of the season. It's still a work in progress. I thought I'd post it anyway. It had recently merged. At the time of shooting the Ambush bug, little did I know that there was also a male mosquito in the frame, until I downloaded the photo onto the computer. (Macro shot) . Did you know that only the females feed on blood, requiring the protein to produce eggs. The males feed strictly on pollen, which is what this one is doing. Humans are generally a host of the females as a last resort. Most mosquitoes feed on other animals like birds, and my horses. If you want to cut down on the mosquitoes around you, dispose of all water collecting objects. I change the water in the birds baths twice a day, to prevent any larvae from developing. They are more active at night because the sun dehydrates and kills them, that is why they select shady wet areas. As for the Ambush bugs, I find them adorable prehistoric looking creatures. The top pic is a handsome male, and the bottom pic is a beautiful female. I used the original photo for the background paper. Edited. I've posted an uncompressed layout on Facebook, for those that are interested.

I didn't think of the pen tool. I used the magic wand before the point to point tool, on the shape below, like you suggested above, but again it doesn't create nice smooth edges. I'm going to try the pen tool, as it is a vector. Thank you.

The only way I could think of around this is to use the selection tool, point to point, flood fill, and then negative image. The only problem is the edges aren't sharp, but a bit jaggy, due to the selection tool, especially on lines on an angle.

I could do a work around, by lowering the opacity greatly, and precisely aligning the photo to the book. Doing rounded corners would be more difficult. This book mock up doesn't have rounded corners.

The mockup links you sent me, are not working for me. The mask you used in the tutorial is how it should be. In this mockup and the others, you'll notice the mask is all white, I've included a screen shot. Being a PSD file, how would I overcome this blip? Changing the mask isn't that easy. I decided to create some books to use in future projects. This particular mock up I found on creative fabrica. I'd appreciate some suggestions please.

Natalie, thank you for your kind words on my page. The spring melt and run off is as impressive as your layout. Superb work! I have to drive across the South Saskatchewan River to go shopping, when the rive starts the thaw, and the ice can be up to and more than 18 inches thick in places, to watch the ice flows, and to listen to the cracking of the ice and the thunderous sounds of the ice colliding with each other and the roar of the water is powerful. The old bridge is now a walking bridge, each year I take videos of ice and water flowing. I see that the melt waters can cause a lot of damage in your area. I hope there wasn't anyone hurt. Buildings can always be repaired. The South Saskatchewan river starts in the Rockies, so we also get the run off from the Rockies, which also feeds Lake Diefenbaker.

I haven't seen any for a several years now. If I'm not mistaken, it's the males that flash in flight to attract a mate, the equivalent of our Morse code I suppose, and the brightness of his flashing. The females stay on the ground until a flashing male catches her eye, and she will respond with a flash.

You explained it perfectly, in only one sentence. You are awesome!

Thanks Rene, perhaps I could have used a heavier shadow, but it was paper, and I wanted it to be in keeping with the other shadows. The shadowing is the same on all the letters. As I shadowed it as one word using the ' from vector shape tool' Sizing down does have it's drawbacks. My brain knows it's a cutout, and that is what I see. If I hadn't have said anything, on one would be any the wiser, they would see what the eye tells them. Thank you, I appreciate your comment.

Screen shot, of enlarged cutout. I think it may be how the eye perceives it. Look at the curl on the R, and then the rest of the word.

I used the cut out technique, the direction of the shadowing I used is cut out. It would be puffy as you put it (raised) if the shadowing was in the other direction. Resizing down doesn't help.There again, I may be wrong.

After some thought when I was outside, I came up with this for the Random challenge. I created round beads for the numbers, and a label specifically with a place to put the numbered beads. After looking at Julie's cut out page, I decided to do a cutout for the word Robin. Scalloped edge is always effective, and simple to do. I wanted the labels to be together. I thought to pin them, tape them, thread sting though them to keep them together, and thought no, it might look to busy. Any suggestions would be great, but for now I'll leave the labels as they are. This random challenge was ideal for creating a page on the cycle of the Robin, as I said I was going to do, after doing the Oriole page. Only the Wrens are left to showcase in a similar fashion. Once the Robins have fledged, like many of the Blackbirds, and some other birds, they spend several days on the ground, before taking to the trees. They are able to fly short distances, but when on the ground they aren't to far from low cover, to dash to when they feel under threat. Within 10-13 days they go from hatchlings to fledglings. I have documented that process too.

What a magical layout you created. I like the tilted frames, and the background paper. To answer you question, yes we do have fireflies in Saskatchewan. We have 9 species, there are over 2,000 species world wide. I have seen them at night. Not as many any more as there used to be. With all the beetle and bug species I have found and photographed, I have never come across a firefly beetle, which is a member of the Lampyridae family. When we first moved here I was mesmerized by their sheer numbers and the light show they displayed.

That I am, I'm up and out at sunrise every morning, regardless what time sunrise is. It's the best part of the day. Come 10pm, my bed is calling, only to get up again during the early hours to view the night sky.

Would this layout count? I will do another one, more in keeping with your specs, using numbered labels.

Well that's good, I'm pleased you grew some flowers, they should reseed themselves for next year. People are aware of butterflies more as symbols than real living creatures. They more often than not escape public notice most of the time, in plain sight they lead secret lives.

For this page used half fold greeting card 2550x1650pixels. No, the pictures are as they came off the camera. When insects are in a state of torpor, I'm able to carefully and quietly clean the area around, removing anything that will create a shadow, or obstruct the view. Without disturbing the subject. Macro photography creates a lovely natural depth of field. For the background paper I used the blinds texture.

I've posted both pages on Facebook for those that are interested in seeing the large uncompressed layouts. They are best viewed on a computer, to zoom in to see the exquisite details of the butterflies and dew drops. The only editing I do to my photos are to crop and occasionally add a little brightness and contrast using PSP. Not on these though.

A simple minimalistic, earth tone colours page. Word art: I weaved some of the swashes over and under. I had intended to use the split photo technique on both the photos, but decided to use that technique on the overlap of the one photo.

I'm so pleased to read that you like both the photos and the layout, wait until I post this evening's page. Yesterday morning I was in my element, I counted 23 White butterflies. Crawling on the ground shooting them whilst they were still in a state of torpor, the dew drops on them was a bonus. It never ceases to amaze me to see the positions insects spend the night sleeping the night away. Adding swashes and glyphs are ever so easy. There are several tutorials on how to do it. It's a simple case of replacing the letter with a fancy one. Copy and paste, from Character map into PSP.

Thank you, and a pleasure that you have learnt something new from me. I work a lot with vectors, as I love their versatility, in comparisons to rasters. I used text on a shape to add the swirl font to the ellipse shape. I had to adjust the settings to get the swirls to touch each others, which can be a bit fiddly, but worth it. I have been know to give constructive criticism, helpful advice, and tips which has on most occasions been gratefully received. We are all here to be supportive, helpful and inspirational. There are many tutorials on how to use text on a path and using vectors. You'll find many of those tutorials in the blog. For creating frames, I almost always use the rectangle tools, as the edges always remain crisp and sharp.

A drizzly day today, after sorting through some photos, I decided to showcase some of them. I'll do the same with the Robins and Wrens. The birds will become mature adults, when they grow their breeding plumage next year. The juvenile is just starting the moult, they always start with the head feathers. This year I had 3 pairs of Orioles, that raised 5 young ones. As you know I feed home made blueberry jam, and put out other berries which are going off. Created the labels, for the one I used a font swirl, which looked rather wispy, like the feathers on the fledgling. Carole's tatting tubes. Decorated the frames with heart fonts, and inner beveled them. The background paper is a photo I took of leaves on a tree. The mottled look I used was a technique that Carole used in one of the Christmas masterclasses, and then again in the border mania masterclass. I like to use the stencil technique in the creative scrap, which creates a similar technique

Susan, I'm chuffed to bits that you have made an insect hotel, and thrilled that my passion for the world of insects is rubbing off on you. What you need to remember is that insects are generally shy, and fear humans and their predators far more than you will ever fear them. it's only when they are crushed or threatened, that they will with sting, bite or whatever. Humans have a lot to answer for with regard to introducing species for the their own purpose, as they really do upset the delicate balance of nature. I have failed to eradicate the House Sparrow, but succeeded with the Starlings, which take nesting sight that belong to native woodpeckers, such as the Northern Flickers, and the Downy/Hairy sapsuckers.

Never fear, that's the beauty of PSP, you can always change the photo. As katydids are also large and a beautiful foliage green, and will blend in perfectly with the colour scheme you used. The true katydid is the famed singer of Katy did, Katy didn't. They are also called Longhorn Grasshoppers. I have several species of them here, all of which I have macro shots of. I'm sure there will be an opportunity for you to use a Katydid in a project. It really wasn't my intention to put a spanner in the works with my initial comment, as I did think it was a lovely photo of foliage, and then got the 2 insects mixed up.