Sue Thomas

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.

I remember that technique. It was someone in the maniacs group, as you said several years ago. I can't remember who it was that posted it though. I use it often, I have the steps printed off. Fabulous work Michele!

These are super cool Donna!

Cristina, it took me ages to find this comment, anyway, thank you ever so much for your kind words. Likewise, what you have submitted is beautiful too, and typical of your style, which I love so much. There several contributors on here that I can identify by their unique styles, you being one of them.

Nicely done, I love the fill you used, with matching borders

These are lovely Corrie, more importantly they are all symmetrical. ?

Don't feel that way, we have all had to start at the beginning. Just focus on what you'll be able to achieve with practice, and hopefully we will have inspired you to persevere with our submissions.

Day 2 of the vector workshop. I used all of the techniques demonstrated in the 2 videos, and a few more, which I'm sure will be demonstrated throughout the week. For those that may be interested, I will often see a label or a tag that I like, invariably, they are either PNG or JPeg. I will take a screenshot, creating my own vector version.

(Michele, what size image do you start out with and what are the settings you use for the Grid? (Totally clueless about grids..) ) It would appear I completely misread your comment. The size of your image I interpreted to relate to the vector element Michele created, to use the settings she used for the grid. You didn't mention FB page layout sizes, or scrapbooking layouts. This workshop is all about creating vector elements, to be used in projects. I will refrain from sharing any helpful suggestions or advice.

Ann, the Ann, the size of the image, or page is irrelevant, as Carole would say it depends on the size of your page/element. There are many tuts and masterclasses where Carole has used the grid. I believe there is a tut in the blog on using the grid and guides. As Michele said, once you get used to using them, they prove to be very useful aids.

I'm like you, I'm very particular about creating anything symmetrical. If it's off by a fraction my eye will detect it. I see your lines are perfectly aligned. I wouldn't say it's an OCD, you just like to get it right, as do I, to the best of my ability.

By adding an even curve to my arrow, I used less nodes. I rotated it and added a small inner bevel and drop shadow after I changed it to a raster. For those that may be having difficulties. I find using the grid, or if you prefer the guide lines, to keep what you are creating symmetrical, and even. As that is the way I like to create. Uncheck the snap to grid/guides, as they are only there for you to place the nodes etc evenly, unless you are looking to create distorted shapes. Also, which I find is important, make sure you keep your vector shape in the centre of your page. I hope this makes sense to you.

There is always more than one way of doing anything in PSP. Perhaps you used a different technique, perhaps this one, place your heart on a paper layer, select outside the heart, expand by a pixel or two and then delete, you will get the same result. I'm not at the laptop at the moment, I'm outside. Try both of those techniques. By the way, whether you use contiguous checked or not, will determine whether you invert or not.

Finally, I have five minutes to read the first lesson email, and came up with this for the heart shape, whilst having a bite to eat. I'll do the arrow this evening. I didn't check out what participants have already posted, until after I posted mine. Great work everyone, each one is different, and inspiring. I decided to create a gold heart shaped pendant for a necklace. After creating the heart, duplicate, resize, created the chain link. Merge visible to a new layer. Added some gem stones.

Libera, I can't speak for Cristina on how she did it. Assuming she used a ready made paper. Open it in PSP, using the selection tool, select inside the heart, expand by one or two pixels, then on a new layer go to patterns, make the necessary size etc adjustments, and flood fill, deselect, and move it below the heart. If she created the text paper herself, then the same would apply.

I too have registered for this workshop. I’m also going to put in my two penn’orth. Whether you are schooling/training a young horse, or training a border collie for sheep dog trails, the key for success is to be consistent and repetitive, until a particular discipline has been mastered. When I was in school I was taught by learning everything parrot fashion, which paid off. I suspect Carole will be using the techniques used in her masterclasses, with possibly a different approach to some techniques. I’ve said it many times before to many newbies, learn one technique at a time, until it is mastered, and not dive in to try and learn everything at once. That just creates an overwhelming confusing feeling. Using vectors isn’t any different. In my experience it's best to zoom in to have a good view of the handles, and to not to move to quickly, when using them.

Suzy, Thank you. The template is a psp file, The text are on their own layers, which means I can select it, to change the wording, colour and size, font etc as the offset, centre etc is all pre set. As for the horse dung, I'm sure they must have a dung pile somewhere. Ask if you can help yourself to it. If you were to ask me, I'd say help yourself, just take what you want. I'm going to suggest you take old dung from the bottom of the pile, which has had a chance to decompose, as fresh dung isn't good for the garden. Also you will have a multitube of weeds to pick out down the road, as the dung will be full of unwanted seeds.

I don't have anything exciting to post. Currently making the most of the great outdoors, cycling, kayaking, gardening, horsing around with my girls, taking photos and plodding my way through creating 2023 calendars, and general greeting cards. I have created some of Carole's date stamps. This one I particularly like. I create the template, in psp format. All I have to do is change the text, as it's already centered, etc and change the colours.

For those that may be interested in the photos I've posted a much larger file on Facebook for better viewing of these living jewels.The background is a leaf element duplicated several times and a grass photo of mine, using the blend mode. Frames were done using the grid and vector shape. I rarely edit my photos if I do I use a touch of brightness and contrast, and the crop tool. These pics weren't edited, other than cropped. Wonderful work being created by all. Between my other outdoor interests. I've been shooting pics for future projects. Summers are short here.