Susan Ewart

I'm still rummaging through photos and seeing if a theme comes to mind, and if I have enough for that theme.  Might be Wednesday before I get a WIP (work-in-progres) project up.  Mondays and Tuesdays are long days at work.  Not much left in the tank sometimes afterward. But enough energy to see what's happening in the forums.

 

Nice to see one up already.  yay, Sue!

Lab 6-1

Puffy Paint

Cathedral Window Pattern

Wood Frame

Suki is Japanese for the moon and means "having beauty in it's simplicity".  I thought that was pretty.

 

This looks darker on the screen than when I had it in PSP The photo is mine but it's a composite.  the middle of the moon was white with the really orange edges, but the white overpowered the rest, so I used another moon shot I had of just the moon and put it above the orig shot (with the tree silhouettes) and used darken blend mode to preserve the black in the leaves and fill in the white of the moon below it.  I must remember to check that all the settings are correct, I had a few issues with the puffy paint not looking right at all, I had a box checked that I shouldn't have.  I was going for a regular scrapbook layout, and I had the frame/photo and cathedral paper on the layout.  I was deciding which papers to use with the cathedral paper when I kind of liked what I was seeing and wanted to do a frame in a frame.  All of it is my work except the font which is Franklin Gothic Book.  the cathedral window paper is really nice and so many options for it.  I need to practice the wood frame more and the puffy paint.

Bestsy, Thank you very much.  That means a lot.  I love that song and the movie of course.

 

Lynda!  OMG! ??

 

Rene, Fabulous Super moon layout.

 

Looks like everyone over the moon about the moon.  We are in good company.

 

Suzy, what an eye-catching flyer, The colors are perfect for spring.

 

 

Sue, thanks for the name.  I called it a circle at the bottom, but really, I usually call it another name, resembling the view of a cat with it's tail up walking away from me.  But I'm a lady and can't say such words in a forum...ah hem...if I WAS a lady I wouldn't be looking at the back end of a cat would I?

 

Rene, I love clouds and the moon, the moody shots are so cool.

 

Anne, wow, is all I can say!  Okay, I can always say more.  How cool is that to have a "moon" setting.  I think it's perfectly legitimate to be late for work if you are taking any pictures.  Wouldn't you agree?  BTW, I have said it before, I love the day moon.  White against blue is so clean and pretty, and with all that light it always seems crisp and sharp.  Yours it wonderful.

Sue, I never thought about the moon rotating (I know, Duh!).  Your version is the rotation I like best, with the circle at the bottom.  Just seems right that way.  I did use my tripod...in the middle of the street no less and cable release..later because I forgot it in the house, and I was down the street.  Eventually went back to get it.  I use a cable release a lot working in the studio.  Wish I had the wireless variety though.  I did use the self-timer, but it takes longer and can also cause vibration.

 

Your shot is beautiful and crisp.  And I remember that layout you once did with all the moon phases and information on it.  It was brilliant.

Here are some moon shots.  I love the moon and the sky and clouds.  I don't have a long lens for this as I shoot mainly in the studio these days around 35-85mm.  I have a very old zoom lens, not image stabilized and not a sharp lens to begin with.  But I shoot the moon for fun anyways.  My favorite is the "day" moon, when you see it as white against the blue sky.  The layout shown here is from the templates workshop and they are old shots of the moon from when I lived in BC (Canada). Out my front window if you can believe that.  The other two are the same moon seconds apart on Sept 9th around 3:45am when the moon was on its way down.  here's the funny apart about the color.  I had been shooting in the studio, so I had a custom white balance (5500K approx) set and forgot to switch to auto white balance.  The darker yellow was more accurate for what it actually looked like.  I like the lighter version better as I like the moon when it's whiter looking, except for the beautiful red ones in this forum.  They are gorgeous!

 

Well, aren't I slow of brain today.  I put up the wrong photo's, here is the right two, with my oops-I-left-it-on- custom white balance and the camera's AWB (yellow!  too yellow for me!).

Those are beautiful Betsy.  I never get tired of seeing the moon.  I love your layouts.

 

 

Wow, Shirley.  Those moon shots are stunning.  that red one is especially awesome!

Corrie, I'm going to make reading those older blogs a part of my routine too.

 

Congrats to Pirkko, Harmony and Hank.

At first I had the normal, "I cant do this" thoughts.  then I just started poking around and found some, and that made me want to keep going.  I also had to look at the clues from not from a narrow focus point of view. I had to broaden what subject was.  eg.  Photoshop brushes I was looking only for "PS brushes" when in fact I needed think more in terms of what is a brush...it's a file "type", that led me to "types of files".  That helped me to realize I was being restricted by my own bias of how I read the clues.  so I started using the search function using different words/phrases and also just going way down in the blog or other areas.  that's where I found the pieces.  I cant think of any other way you could get us members to look in those areas.  Just telling us to, isn't going to necessarily get us to do it.  So, if it was a bit painful, the outcome was very satisfying (learning about new things and completing the puzzle).  I will start looking to older blogs (before I joined) as there is a wealth of information; lots that are tutorial and tool based that non-Diamond members could really take advantage of.

Beautiful Ann.  I like the ripped paper with the flowers showing through.  Nice touch.

 

Sue, it's great to see your beautiful layouts again.  I have missed them and was thinking about you and here you are.  Love the touch with the lifted 'S'.

Very nice Corrie.

 

 

Yay Fiona!  Great news.

 

Carole, I kinda thought I gave too much away.  the funniest part for me is...I've never blogged a day in life.  hahahaha

 

 

Fiona: #9.... I have often wondered with blogging being the new way to communicate...if "BLOG"ers "SEARCH" for the "OLD WAY" just to see how us old folks communicated.

Fiona,  #5:  I wish I knew "SEVEN" yrs ago about which "FILE TYPES YOU CAN USE" .  I would have "BLOG"ged about it.

Michele, I was getting that error too.  I thought it was something I was doing wrong.

 

Anita, I agree, I'll be looking around more often now. I liked doing the puzzle too.  Like getting an reward.

 

 

Registered and ready!

Anita, I couldn't sleep last night either as I work in a noisy environment and got home later in the evening.  I can usually still hear/feel the machines for awhile after I get home.  I was surprised to see the Treasure Hunt posted and ready to go.  After a 4 hr sleep my brain was rested enough to find the elusive two I needed (#5, #9).  Did you also see some other very interesting stuff along the way.  I had just posted a question for the Q&A about the "history" and low and behold I found a blog post about it.  I'm going to read it and look for that brush that I used on my watercolor layout.

Keep going Rene, do a DEEP dive and you will find it.  This was a blast.  I spent more time being distracted looking at stuff I wanted to know about, than hunting and I had to keep reminding myself what I was doing.  One clue that stumped me I was thinking about it too narrowly and then after I was doing something else that it occurred to me that I need to think in terms of what it "was" and not what it "does".  Sorry, I'm being cryptic, cant let the cat out of the bag.

 

 

I'm stuck on the last two pieces....I'm going back in for a deep dive now.  Cool thing is, I downloaded some stuff that I was wondering about.  Now I can read it and get my answers.

Jannette, that's wonderful.  I love old pictures like that and the cut out looks fabulous.

 

 

Let the hunt begin....in two days.

Oh wow! Ann, that is very nice.

 

 

Lynda, love Lucy, all pets are million dollar pets arent they.

 

Ann, I love your framed works, they look so real.  That is really pretty.

 

Bonnie, I learn so much and had to laugh at some of Wisdoms of Picklball....Get to the Kitchen/ Stay out of the Kitchen -hilarious.  I really love that Words of Wisdom, it's very pretty.

 

Here is a photo layout.  The top 1/2 is the actual top 1/2 of one of the three photo's used.  The bottom left and right magpies are two separate photo's and I lined up the power line.  They all kind of look like they are extracted but only the middle bottom magpie is extracted, which was sitting on the green corrugated fence.  I desaturated to make more of a black/white/grey layout and to match the magpies with the crows. I left a touch of blue in the sky.  My friend (since I was 12) is actually 57, the 7 is a joke on our age and also the days of both of our birthdays (7th - different months).  The extraction took a long time, there was stray marching ants everywhere.  It's the one bird least looking like it was extracted.

X=XENOCURRENCY

A currency that trades in a market outside of its domestic borders. The prefix xeno is derived from the Greek word xenos, which means foreign or strange.