Sue Thomas

I bought the new Punches in the store earlier. I simply had to have them and try them out. What photos shall I showcase tonight I thought. Anyway, this is what I came up with, using one of the new brushes, as a label. I also used one of Carole's corner punches on the strip. Instead of putting a frame a round the photos I embossed the background paper around them for a change. Of all the Blisters the Epicauta sp. is my favourite, and I call them velvety greys, not only do they look velvety, they feel ever so velvety to the touch, as does the tan blister. The velevety grey's legs also reminds me of the parts of a Meccano set. Julie, we had the same idea, I too used a photo of one of the Blister Beetles on a Goldenrod plant. It's one of the Blisters favourite flowers. And one of the last flowers to bloom here.

what a lovely tribute to you dad! The simplicity of the layout is perfect. I trust you have saved the layout as a PSP file. As you have a typing error. I think you meant to type then, and not than. Even then I could go on.

My mum died just before her 70th Birthday. 23 yrs ago. I don't know about you, but as I have got older the more I miss her. Out of the blue I would ask her a question pertaining to something I was doing at the time. Or something that I'm doing would remind me of a memory of her.

This one is 8 1/2 x11 inches , it depends on the layout I have in mind. My preference for most of the covers I do is 8 1/2 x 10.

I can never understand the logic in anyone flapping and running around hysterically at any creature. The most sensible thing to do is to stand motionless. That goes for bats too. I grew up in a 600yr old vicarage turned farmhouse. The stone walls were 3ft deep, with a spiral stone staircase. We had bats in the attic, which would occasionally fly through an open bedroom window at night. They are the Pipistrelle bats. Of course you have heard of the saying bats in the belfry. It's very true, and most churches and chapels at home are occupied with bats. Since I was a child their numbers have diminished greatly, and they are now protected in the UK If you have them in your attics, you have to live with them. Also, the UK is one of the very countries in the world that is rabies free. It doesn't stop me handling them out here without gloves. I agree they are very much misunderstood creatures. Hollywood and Disney has a lot to answer, for the way they portray many creatures in their productions. I had a wonderful up bringing on a Welsh hill farm. I would go out in the morning, and wouldn't be seen until tea time. I was allowed the freedom to be a child, and if I wasn't in by tea time, there was a row. Great times, and some many happy memories, surrounded by animals.

What a beautiful creature, look a the expression on it's face, and those eyes, melt the heart. I Love bats, I had many as pets when I was a child, as we had an old disused barn when they used to hang out. Also we had bats in the attic of the house. They are protected in the UK. They are mammals, and not even remotely related to rodents. They are in a class of their own. Chiroptera, which in Greek means hand hanging. The framing is perfect, it draws the eye to the bat.

Creating a magazine cover is another way I like to showcase my photos, and I enjoy creating them. They are quick and easy to create, as they don't require shadows, textures. Whilst getting all the information that a scrapbook page will contain. Title, date, location and so on. They are flat pages. Although the toads are amphibians, I still added them to the cover. The snakes are reptiles of the suborder Serpentes. The Plains Spadefoot toad are small, this one was an inch and a quarter, as I measured it. The other one wasn't much bigger at 2 inches. I love everything about snakes. This on I picked up to take a portrait shot, looking around for a non busy background.

I love your page, I like the uniqueness of the numbered squares. I'll have to remember to lower the opacity on a suitable page, it's a cool idea.

Well Susan, I'm rendered speechless, as I am totally overwhelmed by your comments, and others on here and on Facebook on my work. We have an appreciation for the art of photography, and displaying those images, giving them pride of place in layouts. We all have different styles in our presentations, yet in those photos and layouts our passions resonate through. I must give credit to Carole, because without the campus we wouldn't be able to achieve our goals, to the high standard that we do. Or the close knit international family that we have become. Next Spring and Summer you will be looking at your garden and it's occupants ( the world of insects and other creatures) in a whole new light. I loose all track of time when I'm outside crawling around on the ground. I'm going to suggest you put out a hummingbird feeder in early Spring. Hopefully, you'll have visitors passing through. Then again, in late July for the ones stopping off, en route South. The solitary bees , have pollen brushes either on their legs or abdomen, depending on their species. Bumbles have pollen baskets on their legs. You are sure to have fun observing the leaf cutters too. I will look forward to seeing photos of your visitors. You'll have 2 photographic studios, one indoors and the one Mother nature has provided.

Thank you! I have mentioned you in a comment on facebook, along with some photos off the camera. I've cropped them using PSP.

Ann, Font. I often use swashes from fonts to create my own. Often copying raster's/png's that I see. I used 2 fonts for this one.

Thank you for your kind words on the Robin layout. I'm pleased I was able to inspire you. Mind you that's one of ge many reasons why we are part of the campus. What a lovely memory layout you created. I like the framing, and the vector petal shapes. May I make a suggestion. Your plaid background paper is lovely, but try making the pattern smaller, and see what you think. I feel it's a bit of a distraction from the lovely photos. Find the pattern in the material pallete, instead of flood filling 100%, lower the %.

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.