Sue Thomas

When I look at nature I always take into consideration the positive side first. Praying Mantises are beneficial insects to humans only outside of it's native habitat. Hence introducing them into parts of the world where they are invasive, as the native creatures aren't aware of how predatory they are, and can do untold damage to the fine balance of the eco system. They are also an important food source for other creatures, such as birds. Can they hurt humans, I would say no, or very unlikely. As they don't have venom or a stinger. A bee/wasp with a stinger is far more dangerous to humans than a praying Mantis.

Nor would I. I should have looked harder at the picture. It proved my point of not knowing anything about them. Other than they are not native to Canada or the UK. They were introduced into North America on the east coast, and then into BC on the west coast to control insects. There are native and introduced species in the US.

Lovely, refreshing layout. The 7 spotted ladybird is a European and British species. They were introduced into into North America, which makes it an evasive species. I don't know anything about stick insects, nor have I ever seen one.

Suzzy, there are 4 marble brushes which come with PSP. Marble 2 will create a similar effect. I have the brush that Carole has. If you scroll through the brushes you will find other brushes that will create the same effect, once you have adjusted the settings.

Michele, Although every page you create is uniquely different, your style resinates through. Whether it's a greeting card, scrapbook page a Diva page, or whatever. You can turn your hand to creating anything.

If it would help you at all, don't adjust the size, use them as stated.I use the guides, and zoom right in to get them precisely aligned. Like Michele, I like to get every detail right.I have also done templates of all of them. I agree with you Michele, the more you use them the easier it gets. You have to be constantly repetitive to master most tools in PSP to become proficient. So don't give up Suzzy, as those punches are an invaluable asset to any project.

Thank you Suzzy. I have all of Carole's corner and border punches, which I've been using for years. I believe there is a video on how to use them. Saying that I've never had a problem using them. What issues do you encounter when using them? Perhaps I can help you achieve what you are looking for. I use the brush and the eraser tools, depending on the effect I want.

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.