Susan Ewart

Wow Mary, they are wildly different.  Hard to imagine them coming from one square.  Ann, that is a beautiful FB header.

Thank you Corrie, that means a lot.  Both you and Ann do themes that inspire me, and it's making me think in those terms.  It really does help to decide on photo's and layouts when you have a theme in mind.  It will be 1 year in May (Bootcamp 2021) that I started my PSP journey.  It was the start of this year that I really started to put the time in, thanks to the workshops. I have come a long way and have a long way to go, which is exciting too.

I was inspired by Corrie and Ann to make a cover page.  What a pleasure to still see so many beautiful pages coming.

 

Ann, that's a beautiful page.  I saw a show about people that go around the world rescuing big cats from circus's.  they live in horrid conditions and are treated inhumanely.  I cried my way through the whole thing.  Sad to say but humans are a scourge on this planet.  I hope that bill gets passed.

 

This layout is much darker looking than when I have it in PSP.  Is that because of it being a jpg file not having as much image information as the full size PSP file?

 

Fonts are ABeeZee (I think might be google font, was in my font viewer I got) and Samantha Upright from Creative Fabrica (it finally came on sale - the full version with many many glyphs).

Lynda,

 

I love art in many forms.  There so much to be inspired by and motivated by to give me ideas (this includes mother-nature's art, she never gets it wrong-especially the colors).  The loss of a child is the worst imaginable, no parents should have to endure that.  I am sorry hear about your son.  His art is a treasured piece.

Ann, I'm blown away by your Big Cat Album.  Jerry, I love your cats.  Do they have the same sense of humour as you?  Who ever said cats are aloof has never spend time in the company of cats. It's really nice to come home from work and get to see everyone's layouts.  They are so beautiful and creative.

 

 

Thank you Lynda for your comments on the wood/glass pieces (#74493).  I believe these glass face beads were likely fused in the kiln.  they are beads,  Melanie would first carve a face in wax then used a refractory mold mix to paint over the wax, (many thin layers) then burn out the wax and the mold would be left and can be use with hot glass in the flame (Lampworking) and pressed into the mold or fused in a kiln with layers of glass with a mandrel (stainless steel rod coated in a bead release) in the middle, more glass on top and put in the kiln to melt the (fuse) the glass together.  Melanie and her twin sister (Leslie Rowe-Israelson) are well known glass artists in the world of fused/cast glass.  They were selected  by the Czech govt to come and teach their techniques (in the 70's or 80's).  They have taught at Pilchuck (Dale chihuly's school), had residency's at Corning Glass amount many other accomplishments.  I was blessed to know Melanie.  They do life size heads too.  The wood is left over pieces when I worked for my brother who made custom Japanese shoji doors and furniture.  I loved the knots in the wood and thought they looked like little museum plinths (stands).  And the collaboration was born.  You can find Leslie on FB or see her glass art if you ever find yourself in Jasper or Banff, Alberta.  I sold all my glass supplies and kiln when I moved to Alberta (from BC), but I still love glass.

 

 

Thank you Carole!   What a fabulous and comprehensive workshop.  Having 3 great workshops back-to-back was just the immersion I needed.  What a huge undertaking for you, and I truly appreciate all of your work and guidance.

 

This is my final layout.  Photo's and wood stands are mine, glass is the incredibly talented Melanie Rowe.  the two background papers are Digital Scrapbook and font is Aclonica, not sure if it's windows or Creative Fabrica (CF I think).

 

I have learned so much this past year and dare I say, I might be getting a wee bit better at it.  I took my first workshop (Bootcamp) in May 2021.  My pace is slow, but I'm coming along thanks to the Scrapbook Campus, Carole and all the students and members.

 

Now I get to grab a tea and look at the amazing creativity of all the students.

Holy Bonnie, you are really productive.  6 layouts in the time it took me to do one ?.

 

Here is my first one for day 7.  I broke from my artisan theme.  On the way to get groceries the radio was playing old 60-70's songs that were in movies.  To Sir, With Love came on and it's been an earworm (albeit a good one) in my head all day.  What's a girl to do...well, do a layout of course.  It's the first time I used a photo in the background (okay, almost the background), enlarged a lot, already grainy from high ISO, but looked cool to me.  Rest of the photo's was my view from my living room (good thing for removeable screens) when living in Chilliwack, BC (CAN). I flood filled actual background layer, the yellow and the strips.  I made good use of the Hue/Saturation/Lightness to change the buttons from white to a Cyan tint and for the yellow circle to slightly change the saturation and lightness.  At first I was intimidated on what I would do to change the template but once I got started it came together.  I am not a moon photographer by an means, my lenses aren't long enough, but I take the shot anyway.  Good practice.

Lesson 6 Diamond extra.  I found out my problem with the magic wand.  The "all layers"  was "magically" (read: something dumb I did somewhere along the way) checked.  I unchecked it and all was right with the universe again.

 

This layout is a beaded and foldformed (copper part) bodice made by Megan Parks for an exhibition about breast cancer awareness I believe.  I cant even comprehend the amount of work in this piece.  I used the kit (Digital Scrapbook) for the papers and the elements except the yellow strips that I took a selection from to get the flowers centered.  the font is Cinzel Decorative (CF). I liked the part in the videos about changing the paper color, which I did with the dark Magenta-blue (purple) paper and the Green I used a blend mode, but I forget which one. I had not used blend modes until this class.

Corrie, I love the photo of the balloon shadow.  Great touch.

 

Day 6 layout.

 

Font is Mystery Quest (CF), photo's mine, bead art, Megan Parks.  I promised I'd do a lighter layout and here I am dark, dark, dark.  wish I'd noticed the blue paper off centre before I did stuff with it.  For some reason the magic wand wouldn't work as it did before.  don't know what I was doing wrong.  I had to click it twice then invert the selection then go up to the paper and hit the delete key.  Hopefully I will get to the second layout.  I must go "adult" now and get groceries and do errands.  It's a beautiful spring day....if I ignore the 2 inches of snow I woke up to ?.  papers and elements are Digital Scrapbook.  I tried adding more elements but I couldn't settle on anything that made sense to me.  I need to alter my ideas of it not needing to make sense, such as the flowers that really have nothing to do with beading, but they are cute.  So I added owls, cause who doesnt like owls.  I added an inner bevel to try and make them more plump and played with the shadow, not sure if I got it.  There was too much shadow at the toes and I played till the shadow was smaller.

 

 

Rene. Thank you!  what a great amount of information for me.  I come from a photographic background and I'm always thinking about the "inverse square law", specifically, the light source to subject distance and subject to background distance.  In scrapbooking and photography it's all about the shadows isn't it.  thank you again for taking time to tell me about your methods and sharing your many years of experience.

(#74159) Trish. I haven't been watching. Now I am intrigued.  I will ask my husband as he watched the show and read the books years ago.  I love fantasy, but not if there is too much drama, I like adventure so I never got into Game of Thrones (I tried).

 

My internet and computer is acting weird today so I'm posting before I lose it.  I used Digital Scrapbook papers and elements for both layouts and the same font (Magdala Script - it has lots of glyphs).  The layout called Metal and Glass has some issue's.  I see the far left frame is thinner than the other ones, I don't know what happened there, but I did have a weird lag in the computer at that time.  I didn't shadow the title either, it looked weird and I'm going to pretend it was done with ink.  I turned the layout 90 degrees to get portrait type layout for the photos.  Photo's are mine, glass/jewelry is Melanie Rowe.

 

A question for Rene.  When you said you changed the shadows because as you go up the layers the papers would be farther from the base.  Do you base the shadowing on it's relative nearness to the paper directly below it or to the very bottom layer (further away).  I was wondering because a paper layered on another paper (even several layers up) would be the same distance to the paper right below it as the first paper up from the base would be to the base.  Does this makes sense.  I like to hear about how people tackle shadows and make note of their techniques.

 

 

OMG! Trish, so cute.  Have you seen the show ARCTIC VETS?  It's a Canadian Show about veterinarians and keepers at the Assiniboine Park Conservancy in Winnipeg, Manitoba.  It has lots of polar bears featured and they have an exhibit where you go through a glass type tunnel in the pool that the polar bears are swimming in.  It's a dream of my hubby and me to go there.

 

here is my Day 4 layouts.  I didn't add drop shadows because they didn't really show up and really looked weird on the Font (Lover Brooks Sans Outline from CF).  I liked the frame technique.  I really like the Clip to It.  I will have to go back to the long way after the workshop until I can do the steps as fast as the script (hahaha, I'm obviously wearing my "rose-colored-glasses" again).  I did add frames to the Faces-2 smaller photo's to separate them a bit.

Lesson 3 plus extra.  Clip-To-It is so fast.  I had previously bought it but didn't know how to use it, time goes on and I forgot I had it.  It was like getting a surprise gift when I looked and saw it.

 

Geometric: PMC clay beads by Melanie Rowe, photo by me.  Font is Christmas Glee (from CF) papers from Digital Scrapbook.  I used the doge and burn blend modes on the elements and reduced the opacity to look like a watercolor wash.

 

Mask: PMC Mask by Melanie Rowe, photo by me.  I should mention the metal clay and glass masks Melanie first carves a wax mold and then uses a refractory mold mix (mold mix 6) and brushes on many small layers (letting it dry in between) of this mold mix over the wax (I've done it, it's painstaking). Then burns out the wax and the mold is ready for hot glass or metal clay to be pressed into.  I have two mask layouts, one shadowed and one not.  No shadow it's as if it was a poster.  The fonts are Ernestone Script ("Mask" with glyphs-M&L) and quote is Viner Hand. I used flood fill for the colors, was playing around and keeping it simple.

Day 2 Diamond template.

 

Background papers: Digital Scrapbook

 

Fonts: De Artloy and Madira Braciela from Creative Fabrica

 

Photography: me

 

Glass Art: Melanie Rowe

 

I really enjoy the video tutorials.  Everyone has fabulous layouts.  Thank you Carole I will check out that tutorial (after a good nights sleep).  Becoming a Diamond member was the best thing I've done for myself in the last couple years.  I'm off work the rest of the week so I hope to catch up.

 

 

Day two template.  Background, scallop element and yellow paper from Digital Scrapbook, others I used flood fill.  Fonts are Better Brush (I am a leaf on the), Hello Safana (Wind) and the journaling is Bembo all from Creative Fabrica.  This was the first time doing the mask without my instructions nearby.  I'm sure tomorrow I will forget again, but pretty happy I remembered today.  I am getting better at remembering to "lock the transparency" when i want to flood fill a layer.

 

I didnt put a shadow on the title as it was supposed to be painted on.  and I think I forgot the shadow on the little journaling paper.

I'm a little behind (tough work week), here is my extra Diamond member template.  Sticking with the goddess theme.  Glass art by Melanie Rowe, photo by me (wood stand is even by me).  Papers from Digital Scrapbook.  Fonts are from Creative Fabrica, Rachel Brown ("sun") and Peaceful Heart ("goddess").

 

What creative and inspiring creations from everyone.  So enjoyable to come home from work and be able to look at them all.

Lesson 1.  I've never used templates so this was a wonderful lesson.  Glass art by Melanie Rowe, photography by me. papers from DigitalScrapbook and Creative Fabrica. Font is Mystery Quest (Creative Fabrica).  Reduced opacity on the dots, they are moons.  Was glad we learned how to change the papers, I need some more practice to get the right hue and saturation I was after.

 

 

 

 

Lynda, those Mardi Gras layouts are outstanding!

I'm posting this, it is a work-in-progress.  We are having intermittent power outages today (I used a torch to finish cooking the grilled cheese sandwiches!) and I wanted to post this sketch layout before I lose the computer for the third time.  I want to re-do the dark brown layer.  I cut a rectangle selection from a paper and manipulated it with the pick tool.  Now I cant add drop shadow.  I would like to make a torn paper for this so I will look for a tutorial.

Bravo Ann, Bravo! And who knew there was a U?

U - U forgot to do U. ?

Wow Mary, I love that layout and the blue snowflake paper is devine.  I think it's a wonderful idea doing the Labs, it is like taking classes and it looks like you are learning a lot of techniques.

 

I'm still pluggin' away with masks.  Today is  our torbie, Emi.  We called her our Beautiful Blessing (some sources on google said it's the Japanese meaning for Emi - google knows all, right? ?). We got Emi when Pye passed away on the operating table during a dental procedure - they had called me to come pick her up and in the 8 min drive her heart stopped.  Tesh went downhill without her lifelong sister.  We searched and searched and found Emi, at the Humane Society, they called her a "cattitude" cat, meaning she had behavior issues and might never want to be handled.  They couldn't have been more wrong.  She was a cuddle bug after settling in and had this amazing zest for life and play.  If a cat could laugh, that was her.  After about 6 months Tesh warmed up to her and they started sleeping together regularly.  Sadly, Emi was very lethargic and weak one Sunday (the day before completely fine) and we rushed her to emergency. After 24 hours in an oxygen chamber we said goodbye to her.  It was believed her heart valve failed.  This was the hardest page to make.  Tesh, who we found out had pancreatitis (through ultrasound)  and who had a fabulous pain-free year thanks to our wonderful vet (NOT the same vet as Pye) passed over the rainbow bridge 2 month later.  Still to come are my current (living) gals and our very first cat who lived a long full life.

 

The fonts for Beautiful Blessing (using the character map) is Octagon and I forget the title font.  I made dots in two colors and was deciding which I liked and I could see the other color slightly offset (I made two separate images for the dots, for the practice) and liked the effect so I kept it.

Here is another one with masks.  And my second post of this...a furry friend jumped up and hit the delete key I think.

 

This little gal, QeTesh (Tesh), was adopted at the same time as Pye (prev. layout in this forum).  She was surrendered when she was 3 months old and remained at the SPCA until we adopted her at 7 months. People said she was too talkative.  All the more reason we loved her.  We miss our tiny talking tabby, with a big beautiful personality.

 

I used the tutorial to make about 5 different plaids and went with this very light one (based on the background of the lower left image).  I did have a wee issue when I forgot the bigger mask had a lowered opacity.  I couldnt figure out why my image was dull.  Thankfully I had the video to refer to and I saw my error.  I was able to make the two smaller masks into a mask group without having to resort to the directions.  Same with the plaids, as I had made them over and over.  By tomorrow I will have forgotten the steps but today I'll take the win.

 

The font is Sunroll from Creative Fabrica and I used a combination of the upper/lower case for the different variations (no private use characters with this font).

 

 

How can you not smile at your G.G. niece.  So cute.

 

I am still working on masks and greatful I had the video to watch again, as I was missing a step (forgot to put the opacity back to 100 on that one mask from day 2).  This page is one of my sweet cat girls, QeTesh (Tesh) who has passed over the rainbow bridge.  She was adopted along with Pye (Pyewacket) from my last layout.  A sweet tiny girl who was surrendered to the SPCA at 3 months and she remained there until we adopted her at 7 months.  People didn't like her because she was "too noisy". We loved that about her.  A big personality in a little tiny package.

 

I used plaid background (opacity is not reduced, it's that light) and tried 4 different plaids with the browns in the fur, but it didnt look good with background in the photo.  The font for both is Sunroll from Creative fabrica, using uppercase/lowercase for different characters (no private use characters for this font).  I tweaked the mask size/shape and the placement of the small masks (before they were masks as instructions explained).  I made the brown plaids and the two small mask from memory.  A wee bit of progress.  Tomorrow I will forget I'm sure.?