Keep Smiling Busy Bees

Bring some enjoyment into your time at home whether in lockdown or not.

Just have fun. 

Ignite your creativity, no matter what you enjoy crafting or making with your own hands and imagination. Taking time to be creative is good for the soul. 

In this image creating Digital Art, Digital Scraps, Buzzing Bee and African Mask. 

Keep smiling even in these crazy days we are living in, find something to inspire you to be creative. 

I used the 2021 Pantone yellow for the background. Enjoy your creative skills.

Kissing beneath the Mistletoe

"Bless us Lord, this Christmas, with quietness of mind; Teach us to be patient and always to be kind." -- Helen Steiner Rice -- Kissing under the mistletoe is first found associated with )the Greek festival of Saturnalia) and later with primitive marriage rites. Mistletoe was believed to have the power of bestowing fertility, and the dung from which the mistletoe was thought to arise was also said to have "life-giving" power. In Scandinavia, mistletoe was considered a plant of peace, under which enemies could declare a truce or warring spouses kiss and make-up. In some parts of England the Christmas mistletoe is burned on the twelfth night lest all the boys and girls who have kissed under it never marry. And for those who wish to observe the correct etiquette: a man should pluck a berry when he kisses a woman under the mistletoe, and when the last berry is gone, there should be no more kissing! by Sara Williams.

More Legend.... The mistletoe has long been considered a magical plant. It was believed to be conceived where lightning struck trees. It was worn as rings and around necks as protection from witchcraft, demons, fits, poison, and sickness. In spite of its toxicity, Germans called this plant Gut Hyl or "all-heal." It was used in various potions as a universal remedy and fertility drug. It gave strength to the athlete, the hunter, and the swordsman. Norsemen often gave the name "Mistelsteinn" to their swords because of the mistletoe's magical and strengthening effects. This plant is Oklahoma's state flower. Like other evergreens, the mistletoe is a symbol of immortality. Since it thrives in the trees rather than being rooted in the earth, it is considered representative of both the divine and the topsy turvy. Like other parasitic plants, mistletoe symbolizes the feminine need for masculine protection and provision. Its white berries make this plant a lunar, female, or fertility symbol. Diana (a.k.a. Artemis), fertility goddess of the Ephesians wore a crown of mistletoe as an emblem of fertility and immortality. [Acts 19:24-41] According to Crippen, any unmarried lady who is not kissed under the Christmas mistletoe will remain single for yet another year. A romantic symbol, this plant represents happiness, peace, and welcome. It is believed that ancient enemies, accidentally meeting under wild mistletoe in the forests, would embrace and enjoy a day of truce. A lot of this kissing may have its origin in the Scandinavian myth of Balder, the Norse equivalent of Apollo the sun god. According to this myth, when Balder was born, his mother, Frigga, goddess of love and beauty, obsessed with concerns for her son's safety, created charms and drew promises from every creature, plant, and object that they would do no harm to him. Unfortunately, Frigga forgot to extract a promise from the mistletoe and the evil god, Loki, tricked his blind brother into throwing a mistletoe spear at Balder and inadvertently killing this god of sunlight and vegetation. The death of Balder brought winter into the world and caused Frigga to cry so pitifully that her tears turned into the plant's white berries. Fortunately, the gods restored Balder to life. Then Frigga declared that the mistletoe must ever after bring love rather that death into the world. Everyone passing under this plant was enjoined to embrace as Frigga planted a kiss of gratitude upon them in memory of the resurrection of her son. Although its pagan associations often caused mistletoe to be banished from Christian festivities, it remained a popular Christmas symbol of love and eternal life. It was called Herbe de la Croix and Lignum Sanctae Crucis or "the Wood of the Sacred Cross" because it was believed to have been the tree which supplied the wood for the cross of Christ. For its part in the Crucifixion, it was condemned to the life of a parasitic vine, in the same way the serpent was condemned to crawl upon its belly for its part in the fall of man. Some believe that an additional penance was required: that the mistletoe bestow good fortune and blessings upon everyone who walked beneath it. Because it grew on the sacred oaks they worshiped, Druids believed mistletoe was of divine origin; brought to earth by a stroke of lightning. It was believed to share in the strength of the oak. After the winter solstice, they gathered the plant with great ceremony in a sacred fertility ritual. It was cut with a golden sickle and caught in a white cloth to avoid its contamination by contact with iron or the earth. It was then offered to their gods along with a sacrificial bull. With the coming of the new year, mistletoe becomes the legendary Golden Bough. Its withered yellow leaves were believed to assist its owner in the search for buried treasure. According to Virgil's story, Aeneas, leader of the Trojan refugees, carried the Golden Bough into the Underworld to seek news of his future from his deceased father. Other legends state that slaves might win their freedom by touching the sacred Golden Bough.

Digital Scrapbook Element Tutorial Needles

Above is my result of the needles elements made using the following tutorial.

Make some fun needles and threads using this tutorial as a guide

http://pspbuddies.com/pspTutor/CSGreen/needle/needle.html

See Shawna's tutorial to make thread here

Sequins Tutorial using Paintshop Pro

Sequins by PCArt Creativity
Created with Paint Shop Pro XI


After a number of requests for a tutorial to create digital scrap sequins, I decided to try and figure out a way to make them, this is my result.

1)
Open a 2 inch x 2 inch Transparent canvas 300 pixels per inch
Click on preset shapes and choose Dodecagon
Line solid width 2 Create as vector and Anti-alias checked
and Retain Style un-checked
On the materials palette foreground colour #808080
background fill colour #c0c0c0
Draw out your Dodecagon whilst holding down your shift key
Objects/Align/Centre in Canvas
Convert to Raster
Save as Sequin .psp image and keep open in your work space.
2)
Open another 2 inch x 2 inch Transparent canvas 300 pixels per inch
Go Back to Preset Shapes and with the same settings as before
and holding your shift key down draw out a Hexagon
Objects/Align/Centre in Canvas
Convert to raster
Save as Honeycomb .psp image and keep open in your work space.
3)
Duplicate Hexagon 6 times and move each to form a honeycomb pattern
Merge Visible
4)
Copy Honeycomb and paste onto the Sequin (Dodecagon) image as a new Layer
Move Honeycomb Layer to bottom and keep visible
5)
Go Back to the Dodecagon layer and click outside the shape with magic wand
expand by 1 pixel
go to down to honeycomb layer and click delete selection to get rid of the outside pieces
Move Honeycomb Layer to the top
Merge Visible
Save
6)
Use the Magic wand to select each area - clockwise - starting from the top one.
Top section - Adjust / Brightness and Contrast / Highlight/Midtone/Shadow / Absolute Adjustment
Shadow 0 Midtone 50 Highlight 100
Second Section change Highlight to 75
Third Section change Highlight to 55
Bottom section change Highlight to 40
Fifth Section change highlight to 50
Sixth Section change highlight to 70
Centre Change Highlight to 0
Cut a small circle out of the middle
Save
7)
Click outside your shape with your magic wand
invert and contract by 1 pixel
Keep selected
Add New layer
Layer Opacity set at BURN - fill selection with a linear gradient
Apply Noise at Gaussian Monochrome 12 if you wish
Merge visible
Re size as you wish.
SAVE as .png