Goldenrod

Every September, masses of Goldenrod flowers cover the twenty-four acreas of unplowed Stolley Prairie. The blooms last only a few weeks, but what a beautiful scene while in bloom. Stolley’s father encouraged him to preserve a patch of land from his farm saying that he “had kept it as a prairie because you only plow a prairie once. Then it’s no longer a prairie.” The purchase agreement stipulated that it would remain a prairie in perpetuity.

The effect of a sea of yellow is beautiful, but one photo doesn’t show all the striking detail in a prairie scene. Had I just created a one photo page instead of including some of the details I saw on my walk, the viewer would not have seen the Monarch butterflies attracted to Goldenrod when they are blooming. They would not have seen the flowers in detail. The detail photos clipped to the template enhance this page.

Clip Photos to Template Masks

• Place Solid Paper 2 from ArtPlay Palette Daffodil on a new 12×12 blank document.
• Open template 2 from Stitched Template Album No. 1.
• Reduce size of all layers and place on left.
• Clip photos to masks.
• Place one of the text boxes included with the template to the right of the photos.

Use Artsy Transfers to Frame Template

• Open file 3 of Artsy Transfers Daffodil.
• Place below template layers and group them.
• Adjust position so that the white layer lines up along the left edges.

Use Artsy Transfers to Create Depth Around Template

• Place layers of file 5 from Artsy Transfers Daffodil above the group of file 3. Turn off stain and adjust positions.
• Duplicate layers of file 3 and place below. Invert and adjust position.
• Place layers of file 2 from Artsy Transfers Daffodil on the right side. Turn off layers as needed and adjust position.
• Place the yellow and green stains from Artsy Transfers file 4. Adjust position of stains.

Embellish

• Open file 4 from MultiMedia Birds No. 1. Place above the template.
• Replace the bird with butterfly and shadow from ArtPlay Palette Embers.
• Replace button with button from ArtPlay Palette Crazy Life. Add Adjustment Layer to change the color.
• Add transfer paper from Artsy Transfers Daffodil file 4 below the multimedia layers.
• Tuck word art “Marvelous” from Amaranthine WordART Mix. No. 1 into position.