Susan Ewart

40 minutes ago, Bonnie Ballentine said:

Template 203 of Lady 22, AKA Bourico Casper, Digital Scrapbooking.

Font: Raccoon

Cookie Alpha from Creative Fabricia.

What a wonderful experience.  Interacting with wildlife (the kinda that doesnt kill you in one swipe of paw I'm talking about) makes you want to protect them more and more.  For me it was walking amongs 100's and 100's of Canada geese on my daily walks around the tiny pond in Chilliwack where I used to live.  One time my hubby and I and a stranger attempted to loosely count the geese as they took off from the pond to spend the nights in the farm fields, we stopped at 800, the pond was still 1/4 full of geese, ducks and other waterfowl.  they would all come up on the grass and lay down and we'd have to step around them.  I loved it.  

4 hours ago, Jannette Nieuwboer said:

That quote is so true.  I love the colors in your layout

2 hours ago, Mary Solaas said:

And now to the Garden of the Gods.

I admit I was expecting a Greek garden or something.  this garden is magnificent.  What an experience you had back in '56 when you got to walk on the rocks.  I love that they are trying to keep it pristine and preserved.  Better that we can see it from a vehicle on from a path than not be able to see it at all. Mother Nature never gets it wrong (something I've said for a long time).  Funn thing, I was reading an article on mushrooms and a researcher said a similar thing: Nature doesnt make mistakes.    

2 hours ago, Sue Thomas said:

Did someone mention Northern Lights!!!!!!!   September and October is the best time of year  to see the Northern lights, although they dance throughout the year. At this time of year  they are  overhead in my area. Only last night, I was out watching the  lights.   They weren't  green,  but white, still  a mesmerizing sight to behold.  Prior to moving here, I had only ever seen them on the telly.   Photo taken 20th September , looking north, out back  amongst the trees.  It's a good idea to take shots with something in the foreground. Manual, F2.8,  aperture mode, shutter speed varies, 1000 plus.  It is  imperative that you use a sturdy tripod, with weights, to  maintain absolute  stillness.  Taking loads  of shots, to get one half tidy one.

Sounds like you live in a lovely area Michele, and happy where you are.  

 

 

Fabulous shot!  Thanks for the settings.  I've never tried shooting them before.  

21 hours ago, Ann Seeber said:

BOOTCAMP 7-SANCTUARY -The title font is Belisha treated to a Chisel effect. The text font is Franklin Gothic Semi. The background is a photo of a local field treated with the Luminance layer effect. The bird is from "cpjess-tomorrow" kit and the top and bottom elements are from "ID-Face in the Photograph" kit. A bit of explanation about the center photo:  It was taken by my security camera which is mounted on a pole at the corner of the porch. You can see the pole's shadow on the left of the photo. Those stray cats are very skittish and hard to photograph.

Ann, what a beautiful thing you are doing.  Such a shame these cats have to end up in a life like that.  thank goodness there is sanctuaries for them.  Probably not enough though.

6 hours ago, Michele said:

@Sue Thomas and @Susan Ewart I'm lucky right now to live in a small town on Long Island just outside of NYC. It's pretty quiet around here other than the alarm from the fire station around the block (all volunteers out here so when they need the firefighters, the alarm is loud). I love listening to the birds in the morning, especially in the spring when the babies are chirping for breakfast. Even when a train from the LIRR (Long Island Rail Road) passes by, I only hear the whistle which makes me feel like I'm out in the country. Nothing I can do about the light pollution, though. When I lived upstate, we could easily drive over to Lake Ontario and the sky was beautiful. On a clear day, we could see Canada. I even saw the northern lights one night.

Michele, your words paint a beautiful image.  It's sounds like a wonderful place to live.  When I lived on the Westcoast  (British Columbia) I lived on thoroughbred breeding farm and we were on zero avenue....that was a gravel road that separated US from CANADA.  There is even a marker ( 3 foot high obilisk) that says USA on one side and CANADA on the other side.  it's in the shallow ditch between the two roads that you can literally straddle (which i did) with your legs. One of my legs was illegally in the USA for the time it took to take the picture (less than 30 seconds).  

1 hour ago, Sue Thomas said:

Not really, as  the majority of the song birds fly south. When it does go silent when they are here, it means that a predator is at  large. The nights  are always noisy, between the Great Horned Owls,   coyotes howling, and foxes barking, they make their presence known. Their sounds travel well in the night air.  Susan you are only  an hour and  half flight away from me. Or a 6hr drive.  You and anyone else will be made most welcome at anytime. 

Oh wow, that is so kind of you to open up your home to us.  It's been years since I heard an owl.  And never have I heard a Gret Horned Owl.  It's official, we were just finishing up with outside and me preening about making sure the birds have perches near the new winter dust bathing area and just some perches (dead branches) in the garden area because it doesnt get as much snow up against the wall.  There are a number of birds (and squirrels) that cling to the 60's glass/rock walls that were so popular back then (I find them rather lethal and unforgiving when you scrape yourself on them).  So I added some natural perches too.  Must be bugs on the wall as they are often picking at stuff and the flicker does that to the house walls, sounds like it's pile-driving his beak through the walls.  And it just started to snow as I got my herbs put inside the garage.  Winter is fast upon us.  Your kind of noise is nice though.  I love to hear you talk about farm life, it's really interesting.

12 hours ago, Michele said:

I grew up in Brooklyn, went to school in a small college town upstate, and then lived in Rochester, NY for a while. I moved back downstate to Long Island to be near my family. While the convenience in the city or the suburbs is great, I've often longed to live a quiet life on a farm. At the very least I could see the sky without all the bright lights hiding it.

You must have crows in the city!  They are the best. Corvids are so much fun to watch.  If you want an appreciation for your neighbourhood city crows just sign up for June Hunters Urban Nature Enthusiast blog.  June lives in Vancouver, BC (Canada), right in the city and she will show you an appreciation for city nature that you didnt know what unfolding in front of you.  I do know what you mean about the night sky.  I live in this city for 3 years about 40+ years ago.  And we could see the northern lights and tons of stars.  Now I see only the very brightest few stars and would need to go pretty far out of the city to get a starry night sky.  Sue is very lucky to have crisp beautiful skies as they are meant to be.  I loved living on the farms (horses) that I did live on, even if it was close to the city.  Where I live it's noisy, I hear the traffic 24/7.  Winter is the worst as the city does it's snow clearning all night long.  This is a small city and i hear snowplows scraping the roads and back up beeps.  Not conducive to a good nights sleep.  I'll join you and Sue in a quiet life of the farm.....or we just go visit Sue for a week or 2 or forever.  😋 How good are you at pitching a tent?  I suck at it.

5 hours ago, Sue Thomas said:

 

Although the bright lights of the city skyline  is a beautiful sight.  It does hide the beauty of the  sky.  Unfortunately, noise and light pollution goes hand in hand with  city living.  Without any exaggeration,  I  listen in awe to the silence, especially on  days when there isn't a breath of wind or a bird sing. Do you have any parks close by, which enables you to escape the city to get back to nature?

Dont you find it erie (sp?) when you dont hear the birds singing.  When it's dead silent.  It's neat but kind of apocalyptic feeling.  During Covid when we had lock downs, my job continued and I'd drive to work and there would be no other cars at all some days and some of those days the birds too, were silent and  it felt like some kind of post-apocalyptic world.  I work at a noisy place so I do love when the world is silent....except nature, I like to hear leaves rustling, raindrops landing on a tin roof, birds etc.  Yesterday some geese flew over...I heard them honking and went outside to see.  As they past over my house they stopped honking and I could hear their wings, magical..  I miss that so much.  My house in Chilliwack, BC was right on the flight path to the park the geese came to every day (a 10 min walk from the house).     

1 hour ago, Ann Seeber said:

This is especially true for me if I use a script. I was surprised to see how the settings were totally different from the last time I used the tool manually.

I didnt know this, but yes, that makes sense.  And I should know this as I'm in the scripting course.  The take away, is set to default first, which is funny because if I use a photo editing type tool, the first thing I do is set it to default.  Where is my mind this days?  

2 hours ago, Sue Thomas said:

As you go through Carole's tutorials, you'll find that she  often changes settings within tools, to achieve the desired effect.   Which is probably what has happened.  In those cases,  it is then a good idea to reset to default.   Once you have learnt how to use those settings through here tutorials, they can they be adopted  in other projects that you are working on, as you will have a much better understanding of how those tools work.

This to good to know because I was doing tutorials.  

19 minutes ago, Cassel said:

I find that the Ambiance tends to brighten the colors even if it is set to 0 as default. I often bring it down until I see the color on the preview panes to match. Usually, it is around -20. Then, I leave it there until I NEED something different.

Thank you Carole.  this is the first time I had a weird reaction like that.  I will try the ambience too.  Hopefully I'll find some time today to test it out.  I need to get back to Scripting too, I took too many days off.  It's best to keep at it, especially until it feels natural....hmmm....how many years will that be?😩 

2 hours ago, Sue Thomas said:

You have perfected the  art of studio lighting, your shots  and layout  is ineffable!   

Oh my goodness, THANK YOU for your words.   I'm learning a lot with my very inexpensive set up.  I am happy to be back to my first creative passion.  Learning to using lighting in the studio has been challenging but I tend to lose myself it it (in a good way, like you, when you are laying on the ground photographing insects).  I have learned from looking at all styles of photography and there is such fabulous photography right here in the Campus that I'm always thinking, Wow, what a great shot, what a great angle, look at that light, etc.  Your words mean a lot and make me feel inspired to keep learning.  

10 minutes ago, Sue Thomas said:

I'm going to suggest to you that once you have finished with the  inner bevel, restore it to default, like you do for the brush variance palette.  Certainly for now anyway, until you are more familiar with it.   Try lowering the elevation to 30, which is the default setting.  I see the angle is slightly off, unless that is what you want.  Again, the default is 315. 

I will try these suggestions.  I looked at settings and wondered if I did something without knowing it (or had in the past). I didnt even realize I didnt have the right default numbers.  Good idea of restoring to default after using it.  I've only done that with the brush variance palette.  Never thought to do that with the other settings, but sounds good standard practice to do that for other settings too.  

Here is my 1-2-3 Challenge.  

I did the tutorial for the paperclips and used the search in the campus to learn how to use them.  The tag is one I made in the vector workshop.  I remember to use shift when I was sizing the tag to keep the original shape. The polaroid frames (I oops'd and did three) were also from the tutorials in the campus.  And even the 1 lonely sequin is from the tutorial.  It is really bad, so there is only 1 and it's small.  I did have an issue with Inner Bevel.  I had wanted to use it on the title but it turned my title almost white and I'm not sure why.  this is the setting I used.  Does anyone know what I did wrong, you can see with the preview of what it did to the pink.  I used the inner bevel on the frame around the edge of the layout and it was normal.  I need to give that sequin another try.  Mother Nature was busy making a grey sky and lots of wind, so I did these photos in my studio under artifical (constant) light.  

Fonts used: Molabrista and Abigail (Creative Fabrica)

10 minutes ago, Ann Seeber said:

Anja - That shadow on the left stork looks so realistic. Never thought of doing it like that. Thanks for the inspiration!

I agree!

1 hour ago, Sue Thomas said:

Even after all these year, the vastness still never ceases to overwhelm me. From someone who's homeland is  small Island.  You can put 3 UK's in Saskatchewan alone. A population of over 70 million.  Saskatchewan has a population of just 1 million.

I found myself imagining you riding up the hill to take that picture.   This would be a site to see, all cattle in line like that.  One thing great about all prairies is the sky is as vast as the landscape.  And when there is clouds in the blue sky it's awesome to lay on your back and watch the clouds.  My parents had roots in farming but rounding up the "crops" didnt require horses, just mechanical horsepower (combine).  I much prefer the sounds of nature and the cows/horses as they move through the grass.  I dont like noise.

Sue, did you ever work with herding dogs? (here or back home?). 

3 minutes ago, Ann Seeber said:

DAY 5-PROJECT 2-ADVENTURE PARK- I asked Ru Choi if I could use his chipmunk photo from the Hudson Valley in Pictures Gallery on Facebook. I dimmed the hand a bit and sharpened the chipmunk. My title font is Aviation Cocktail with inner bevel and shadow while the info on the right uses the font High Tower Text. The background paper and the birds I found in my stash without labels. The flower is by Marisa Lerin in a kit called Delight.

Ann, what a delightful photo.  I love your title and bottom "With Pockets!" .  Hilarious.  I should have joined the bootcamp.  Thought I'd have too much on my plate though (other than my sandwich and tea that is?).

5 hours ago, Angelo Cacciari said:

I tried to make another one but it doesn't work well. I don't know how to use the forum help.

Angelo, you can ask your questions here in this Bootcamp forum, if you need help with the lessons in The Bootcamp.  Carole or another member will see them and will be able to help you.  Elsewhere in the campus you will see other forums with other topics.  I had neve been on a forum either, before I started with PSP.  It will take a little time and you will understand how to post in various forums based on the topics of such forums.  For now, you are in the bootcamp, so any questions about that can be posted here.  Hope this helps

22 hours ago, Angelo Cacciari said:

My partner Sabina chose the name, I call her Nika but it would be Nike "victory"

I didnt know Nike meant Victory...now I know why Nike chose that name for their brand (Shoes, clothes, etc).  

On 10/18/2023 at 9:15 PM, Anja Pelzer said:

my image is linked to gallery , there is the kit info

I used a kit named Lily Pond made by Lynn Anselc, all in the layout is from the kit. 

Thank your the information.  I love that kit and found it at oscraps.com.  What a great website.  I did put it on my wishlist hoping it comes on sale since it's in pounds (1 pound is $1.60 CAD).  it's adds up once you get over 5 pounds.

3 hours ago, Mary Solaas said:

And now into Colorado - travel day.

Rattlesnakes!  Yikes is right.  I was hiking very early one morning (years ago) and was about to take a step when I saw something move and it was a rattle snake recoiling.  It was colder so he was slow moving.  I'm glad I did not step on him.  On the same hike we came across a spot where there was flattened grass that a large animal must have been sleeping on.  Whatever slept there slept on a rattle snake, he was sadly no long with us. We suspected it was a bear as we had to walk by this very large bear, just sitting on it's butt with one leg sticking out to the side, super relaxed looke.  We on the other hand were not feeling very relaxed as he was just off the trail about 10-15 feet away.  A runner and her dog had come by us a few minutes prior and told us about the bear and that it's likely gone because the dog was barking at it.  Nope, it wasnt.  We didnt make eye contact, just walked by and a distance away we high tailed it back toward the car.  Later that week the local paper was warning people that that bear was fake charging people.  it was a the biggest bear I'd ever seen (living in BC we did see a number of bears when camping or hiking) and not a smaller black bears were were used to.  You layouts are so fun to read.  What an awesome trip that must've been.

45 minutes ago, Angelo Cacciari said:

Hi, unfortunately I don't know English, I don't write much, for this reason I rely on Google translator, hoping that it translates well.
This is my cat or rather it is my partner's cat, her name is Nika, she has a variable character but by now I have gotten used to her liveliness, she is part of the family
My works are simple but I like them that way.

Welcome to the Bootcamp and Campus.  Thankfully Google translate is here to help everyone take advantage of this wonderful workshop.  What a sweet beautiful Nika.  Many of us in the Campus have cats.  I have two, one looks very much like Nika (her name is Saya) and I have a black cat named Sumi.  You will see lots of posts in the Gallery section of the (Scrapbook)Campus of members cats.

1 hour ago, Ann Seeber said:

Here's my entry in the Bootcamp's first project: Waiting for the Great Pumpkin. This is great-grand Jonah James, born June 20 this year. I've done this exercise several times so I use old ones as templates. Here are the details: Title Font = Gil Sans Ultra Bold;  ID Font = Freestyle Script; Photo = by grandson-in-law Maverick Paolucci; Scatters = cass-frosty fall scatters; Oak leaves, tree and pumpkin are all cliparts from my Fall stash; Background plaid = PS-Janet-Scott-Gingham; tag and brad from Marisa Lerin and Vertical strip = AHA_somewhereintime_papers11-colorized. 

So cute.  I love Gil Sans Ultra Bold, especially the 'i'.  It's a great go-to thick font isnt it?

3 hours ago, Sue Thomas said:

Over the years I have been fortunate enough to  ride the Grasslands National Park, East block and  the West block, which extends into the US.  I've seen the  Prairie Dogs, burrowing Owls, and  of course the Native Bison, which are free to roam, without human intervention.  Here is a shot I  took back in  2016.  The North American settlers, committed  immoral atrocities of genocide on a mammoth scale of the  Native Indians, and it's  wildlife.  This Bison is allowed to be free, and roam the vast grasslands, as Bison do instinctively  migrate.  They were introduced on  1999. Look closely at it's eye, it's free and wild.  Now look at the  next photo.  Their eyes are dull, oppressed.  I pass this large herd  once a week, (raised for commercial use) to go shopping, they are confined,  handled by humans, they graze on stubble, and hay.  

What an experience this must've been.  What do the horses think of them?  And the cows (were you hearding cows)?  

3 hours ago, Sue Thomas said:

Photo taken this July.

I'm shocked that I can see that difference.  How sad this is.  I wonder how "tanked" on drugs these ones are.  It reminds me of wild fish and farming them, prisoners in their own habitat which isnt natural (to be confined)  at all.  It seems like when we take wild animals and farm them, they require more drugs to keep them "natural".