I would like to apoligize for not posting more tuts. It has been pretty crazy here. My father-in-law passed away very unexpectedly. Was a shock to everyone. He wasn't sick at all. He got up that morning and got dressed and while he was putting on his shoes he said that he was going to do some work around the house then he would be in. My mother-in-law got busy and didn't think much about him not being there, but when noon rolled around she was hungry and then wondered about Dad. They live about 12 miles out in the country, way off the beaten path. You can't see their house from the road. Mom wasn't too concerned at this point but as she got closer to the house she could see that Dad was laying on the ground. He was perfectly straight with one arm by his side and the other one was across his chest clutching his phone. He was already cold by the time Mom got there. In February they were in a car accident and Mom broke both her arms and Dad broke his knee cap. We thought that that was all the damage done to him. But apparently that wasn't the case. He died of a ruptured bowel and I believe that it all started with the car accident. Carl's family is very close and it hit everyone really hard. Carl and I are divorced but I still feel like part of his family. Carl and I are now just roommates. We were in Colorado a little over a week for the funeral, which had to be done on 2 different days. He was buried in the military cemetery and we could only get in there at 11:00am, noon, and 1:00pm. Since the service was held at 2:00pm we had to wait til the next day to do the graveside service. He had a full military funeral with the 21 gun salute and taps played. Was a very beautiful and moving service.

Also I fell again here at the house and I broke the bursa sac behind both knee caps. It is very painful to walk at times, and standing up is even a chore. I go back to the doctor on October 3, so wish me luck. I hope that I won't have to have surgery to repair them. Hopefully they will heal on their own.

So I will get some tuts up as soon as I can. Again, please accept my apology. Thanks.

I want to thank Daagor for the awesome job she did on my blog. I love it. Maybe one of these days I will get the nerve to learn how to do them.

Ok, so I started with a PTU scrap kit. This was for a challenge and when I saw the template I knew I had to use the Barbara Tube, so I got the kit to go with it. I hope that you like the first tut after my return. Here's to many more.

I make you go YeeHaw



This is entirely my own design. Any similarities are purely coincidental.

Supplies Used

Paint Shop Pro I used PSP9

Tube of choice. I used a tube from Barbara Jensen in her layered 20 pack
HERE

Scrap kit. I used Wild Cowgirls, a Barbara Jensen Exclusive by Crazy Carita
HERE

Template by Millie’s PSP Madness Template 270
HERE

Mask of choice. I used WSL_mask84
HERE

Font of choice. I used Bleeding Cowboys
HERE

Let’s get started.

Open up the template in PSP. Shift + D to duplicate template. Close out original.

Image, Canvas Size, 766 x 766. We will resize down later.

Starting at the bottom of the template, click on the background. Copy and paste pp2.
Apply mask, merge group. Add drop shadow of 1, 1, 50, 5.

Select all, float, defloat, copy and paste as follows.
Layer 1 -- pp1
Layer 2 -- pp 6 orange area
Layer 3 -- pp4
Layer 4 -- pp7
Layer 5 -- pp10
Go back to all layers, expand by 4, add black backgrounds,
add drop shadows of 5, 5, 50, 5.

Elements Used.
El7 original size
El8 Resize 75% Duplicate mirror
El12 Resize 75%
El25 Resize 75% twice Rotate L 45 degrees
El27 Resize 80%
El28 Resize 50%

Go back to all the elements and Sharpen more.
Then go back and add drop shadow 5, 5, 50, 5.

On the top line of words copy and paste a light color from the tube.
On the bottom line of words copy and paste a dark color from tube.
Merge the two new word lines together, expand by 4, add black background.
Drop shadow 5, 5, 50, 5.

I save it here as a psp image. Then I merge visible, Copy and paste
A new image. Resize 97% all layers NOT checked. Resize down
To around 600 x 600 ALL layers checked.

Add your copyright information, add a color background and drop shadow
Of 2, 2, 50, 5.

Save here in png form or jpeg form. Add your name or names, or snag saying.

I haven't posted in here in over a year. Kinda forgot about my little blog.

I have tons of free scrap kits and lots of tubes that I haven't used. So my goal is to write some tuts using them. I would love to be on some Creative Teams again, but I am going to start with the freebies first. Also I am going to try to change the background on my blog. I friend of mine did it the last time but she is no longer available. I really don't know how to do so I guess I am going to learn as I go. I sincerely apologize for not being here.

There has been lots of things going on with me medically. I have had 3 surgeries since I last posted. 1 on my left arm, moving my ulnar nerve so it isn't pinched all the time. It had been pinched for about 5 years and I lost feeling in my fingers. The feeling is starting to come back, but not as fast as I would like. The other 2 surgeries were on my right arm. I had the old hardware taken out and they put in new hardware in a different spot. I had 50 staples in so you can imagine how long the scar is, it isn't pretty. The pain is still there so this surgery was not a success. The other surgery was on my right shoulder. I had lots of pain and I couldn't raise my arm very far over my head. My shoulder was partially frozen. So there was a lot of tissue that was damaged and was removed. Also there are 2 tendons that go from the bicep to the shoulder, 1 long and 1 short. The doctor cut the long tendon to help the movement better. He said that if I was younger and into sports they would have fixed the tendon but since I am not in my 20's anymore they left it cut. If I thought I was in pain then it was nothing compared to the pain I have now. It hurts more now than ever before. I go back to the doctor the end of June for a checkup on my arm. I don't know what will be done now. I have been going to physical therapy but it really isn't helping that much, as far as I can see. The PT says that I have a good range of motion but the pain is so bad.

I also got a divorce last October after 19 years of marriage. I feel like a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. I think we only had 2 good years and for the last 17 I was very unhappy.

Now I can get on with my life and hopefully find someone who will make me happy. I think I may have found him, but time will tell. We have been together for a year and a half now but we are going through a rough patch right now. He is fighting his feelings, he does this every so often. He was single for 19 years and he isn't ready to give that up just yet. I can understand that but it also frustrates me. He is 67 years old but still works driving a cement truck. He does not look or act his age. Very sexy.

Last September another grandson was born to my youngest son. His name is Chizm David, and yes that is spelled correctly. He was named after a world class bull rider. So there has been a lot of change in this past year, some good, some bad. But that is life, isn't it? Everyone goes through lifes ups and downs. I hope that you will like my tuts and visit often.

I will do my best to post at least 1 new tut a week, hopefully more, but I'm going to start slow.