Julie Magerka

My passion for perennials in the garden has faded (just going with what I already have), but I am finding tropical plants to be something fun. We have a garden centre not far from here that has been around for many years and specializes in cacti, succulents, and tropicals. Picked up this one (photo) which is just so eye-catching. It's a member of the turmeric/ginger family and therefore very tender in our climate. It will have to come indoors. I also have two orchids which require very little of me. I tried (and tried) to work some picture tube around part of the frame, but I just don't have the hang of drawing the lines yet, and have a limited choice of tubes. The pen tool lines look too irregular and jerky, even when I try to adjust the nodes. I CAN, however, do the interlacing part. More practice is necessary. Sigh, it's always something....

I'm with you Corrie. Instagram holds no appeal for me.

I really enjoy these song challenges. So many to choose from that inspire different ideas for the layout. Then I don't have to worry about a shortage of my own pix. The pic of Bob Marley is from online, maybe Pixabay. I made the reggae colours with a small canvas with three colours, blurred the results, and and then masked it for a messy background splash. Then added text on a torn piece of paper. Film mask from Katie Pertiet. Font at bottom is 1942 Report. Some background elements thrown in too.

Great background paper blending! Works perfectly with your image.

Nicely done Fiona. I've been working on interlacing some tubes around a frame, but not happy with any results yet.

Isn't that amazing to see?

Handsome fella!

Huh? Whatcha mean manually?

I heard something on the radio about giant creatures like this that roamed (or swam) long before dinosaurs. Wouldn't want to meet this one or any of those others!

I just realized I spelled the state wrong! Good grief!

U = underwater (cheap trick)

I've only ever had goldfish in my life, and those when I was a kid. It broke my heart then to flush them away when they were found floating on the top. I preferred cats; they seemed to last longer. Seahorses, now, are absolutely fascinating to me. Sometimes I forget they're real and think of them like I do unicorns. Sadly, they are also endangered. (What isn't anymore?) Just a simple layout to showcase a photo (Daniel Clode) from Unsplash. Most elements from Katie Pertiet Designs.

There they are - the July 4th gnomes! Glad to hear you're getting better Michele. I've heard about lots of pneumonia going around lately. Kinda scary.

Sounds as if your garden centres are more general purpose than the ones we have. I love to visit them in the winter for something warm to do, but most don't offer much more than plants and garden supplies. It would be great to have a cafe in them! I also usually come home with a new plant! Glad you made it home safely with the larger plant. Here, fish and accessories are available at separate pet supply stores.

Marking that date on my calendar! Congrats again.

You did something great with this. I would never have thought of a garden centre with fish to get something! Clever you!

I sent them all on to you Ann. So we here in Ontario would have some clean walkways at the waterfront!😉

Those slipped-in corners look really good. When I tried using that script I didn't get such a good result. Love the colours.

Oh, she's a pretty one.

That wee fox had his eye on you!

I made a couple of layouts for friends after they sent me some pix of things going on in their lives. Which tells you not much is going on in mine! 😁

Thanks Sue. I don't know why that one mask gave me trouble. Usually using masks is easy for me. But I was also rushing and that doesn't help.

Thanks for filling in the tough letters Sharla!

I had some time to wait yesterday and wanted to make a vector something. It turned into a duck! 😆 Totally unexpected, but hey, my layouts are often not what I thought they'd be. Just for practice and for fun.

Lesson 7: A bit finicky working with those "star nodes" but I finally got it! I think after I participate in the Vector Workshop maybe a dozen more times, I might get good at this! In case it isn't obvious (ahem), that's a lightning bolt. I traced the shape from a clipart to make the vector/path. I have a very limited number of picture tubes so the bolt got stars.