Susan Ewart

Corrie, your background is so nice. all those techniques really add up to an interesting and unique background.

Ugh! I already see that I need to fix the shadow on TAIL. And when I fixed the kerning on TALE I didnt get it lined up with TAIL. I feel like I'm chasing my tail!

Masks Workshop Day 2 Diamond Extra. This is baby Squirrely White Tail. Her's (or His) dad used to frequent our feeder. Sadly he had a run in with a transformer and did not make it. I'm glad to see he has passed down his white markings. I know, I know, never point the subject out of the frame....but, in my defence, there are TWO ends to this little creature and one of them is surely pointed inward right at you. ? It's all about the base, 'bout the base, no treble (with apologies to the singer of that song). Fonts used: A: Quentara. Tale: Amnestia Normal. Of A: Allicia. Tail: Audiciti. All from Creative Fabrica. Photos: min. I used the plaid at 45 degrees and as large as you can make it (250 I think), with a black layer below and a reduced opacity on the plaid layer. I changed the sizes of the small masks (before they were masks). I remembered learning that if it's in a group I can resize all the group at once so before I made a mask I made a group of the black square and the frame, resized it, ungrouped it and made the mask of the black square. I also bring my photo into the layout and lower the opacity a lot to see the size against the raster layer (before it's a mask) to get the sizing. Once i'm happy with the size of the photo and soon-to-be mask I can then go ahead and make the mask and drag the photo in. It might be a long way but I found before I'd bring in the image and I always wished it was either a bit bigger or small or wider or taller. This takes all that away and I can make the best decision before I make the mask. Love all the layouts, you are all so creative. I'm learning a lot from you.

I'm going to try this.

Is it possible you are getting the texture "because" it's a jpg. Which is a lossy file as opposed to a png which is lossless file ( bigger and retains more pixel information). Make two file at the largest size, 1 - jpg and 1- png and compare them, there is a difference, look especially at the shadows, you'll see more detail in the png than in the jpg.

Mary, WOW! love your layout and your Kaleidescope images are so cool.

Love this one Anne. So sweet.

Day 2 Winter theme. Monochromatic with a little button (Janet Scott, Brown Button 2, Digital Scrapbook) to warm it up a bit. I'd forgotten how fun making plaids can be. I changed big mask for quite some time to fit what I wanted. And I had to (on the mask layer) take a brush and blot out (using black) some of the mask that extended beyond the photo edges. I duplicated the image of the bottom square and put it in the upper mask to fit the top of the tree in. Font is Adinda Sayang (Creative Fabrica). Slowly, I'm getting through. Time seems to be elusive right now, and there is no reason for it (except maybe my bad management of it).

What an interesting story. I loved the part about "veteran plant specimens uncovered". Does that mean they were still living? Unreal. I have always loved historical places that have been preserved, along with train/transportation museums. When my friend went to Scotland last year and send back photo's at various castles it humbled me to think 300+ yrs ago people were right there in the same spot she was standing. What were they doing, how busy was it, who lived there, who worked there. So interesting, all of it.

Oustanding Sue! The label with the curl and the shadows are really awesome. What a neat place to go.

Tonimarie, did you change those layers to black first. If you made it a mask while still grey you will get that haze. Cassel will probably explain it better to you.

Day 1 - Diamond Extra. This one is for Ann Seeber. You wanted a photo of me...here is me and my whole family (sibs and parents). ? My parents (Bob and Audrey - represented here by Western Salsify), are lovingly embraced while looking down towards us 4 kids. What? you say, how can that be, surely we kids, with those stunning hair-do's cant be from Western Salsify. You are quite right; we siblings are represented by Clematis Terniflora, which is another way to say, we are all Adopted! In the bigger of the small masks is my oldest brother and my older sister and in the lower smaller mask is my other older brother and lastly me (with the crazy hair). Incidently my older sister and the oldest brother are actually full blood brother and sister, but 2 years apart. Ann, I will try and get a picture up soon, even if it's not a great one, I'm on a mission for you. The important stuff: Font is NS Blackbooks Victorian (Creative Fabrica, I think), and back ground is Brook Gazarek - Crisp Fall Air (Digital Scrapbook) that I darkened and desaturated. Photo's are mine, photographed separately and composited using a blend mode (lighten).

I had wondered about that. I was going to ask it in the Q&A. Is it still a better practice to Defloat, then Deselect.

It took me a long time too. I had to write the instructions down and follow them every time...still do. But I noticed this time it's feeling more familiar. Sue Thomas is right, only LOTS of practice will make this something I can do without refering to instructions. Keep going.

Late getting started. Hopefully more from Day 1 tomorrow. I enlarged the mask quite a bit because I wanted the little star and bell from the fence to show. Fonts are Moma Love and Mama from Creative Fabrica. I textured the background but likely doesnt show here, it's a frosty sort of look. Photo's are mind from a quick drive around the neighbourhood Dec 23, 2022. I am really loving everyones mask layouts. I'm finding myself thinking, that's awesome, why didnt I think of that. Where did all the extras come from? Oops, I'm a dumby, I just found it, helps to scrool ALL the way to the bottom. yeesh.

I would love that. And everyone can watch the master class which will reach a wider audience for this technique. Your samples were outstanding. I wouldnt have gotten there on my own, especially the shadow part.

This is very cool Rene. The Q&A was fabulous. It's cool to know there is different routes to the same destination.

I will be there will bells on...and nothing else.? Good thing we arent doing this in person, eh?. I havent picked any photo's yet so I will wing it and choose randomly.

Nicely done Mary. What an accomplishment with the Labs. Is that an inner bevel on the title. I like the look of it.

That is very beautiful Louyse. And thank you for the links.

We are unseasonable warm. It is above zero celcius (32 F) for most of this week. We had a couple inches of snow overnight and now sunny and blue sky with pretty white clouds. We are lucky. Your wavy snow was very intersting. I wonder what makes that happen. I looked at our snow (before the snowfall from overnight) and it was flat and flat looking from weeks of no snow. It's like a crust of snow. It looked like fondant on a cake. Now with the new snow it's sparkly and pretty.