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Carole, I had been thinking overnight about your comment about making the text stand out as it would if it was laid across the photo. My problem was that the text was part of the background image that I had obtained from DigitalScrapbook (a design by Marisa Lerin) and not a separate text layer as my Lily & the bear’ text is. Thank you for the suggestion. I made some notes and this is what I did for V2:
– On background layer (copy!) Magic Wand set to ‘colour’ made selection of ‘Sweet’ text & Selections>Promote Selection to new layer
– Did the same for coloured hearts to make separate layers so could move and alter them separately
– On background layer used Smart Clone tool to cover areas where the hearts & text were
– Added drop shadows on separate layers for text. ‘Sweet’ had to be a raster layer as it was effectively an image of text rather than vector layer as my ‘Lily & Bear’ text is.
Thank you for all the tips and solutions from those in the know. I have experimented some more with the techniques from the Masks course in my revision. This image with my photo of a rose combines Carole’s Kaleidoscope effect background with the creation of my own mask using embellishment brushstrokes that we learned in Lesson 5.
It’s a hopeful image so as words fail me I would like to dedicate it to Pirkko whose life in Finland must be so worrying.
After the Masks course ended I have started to go through the lessons again and at Lesson 4 have created another image to share with you. I know how some of you like baby pictures. This one is of my Great Niece Lily, who was born last year in Cape Town and lives there with most of my family. I made the little crochet bear that she is quizzically looking at. It was one of the first signs of her exploring with her fingers apparently. I think she was really thinking ‘what on earth is this!’
The photo is of her on a black cover so that is why the faded mask area is black.
I had the same problem this time as Julie had with the transparent area showing through. I hadn’t seen Sue’s solution at the time but managed to amend by creating a new raster layer and pasting the photo to that.
I love what Julie has said particularly about Sue’s advice and Susan also (like me) taking up the suggestion of practice makes perfect; reworking a technique until the method sticks! Thank you Mary for the compliment on my last design. Got there in the end. As there are a few of us cat lovers in the group I practiced today making an image from one of the masks supplied in the tutorials to create this picture of Connie Cat. Feel slightly more confident now. I am now going over all the lessons like a revision. Thought you had gone a bit uncharacteristically quiet Carole in the last days. Thank you for your summaries.
Thank you Sue for your sensible solution for mending my bare patches on my mask. Just a bit of retouching after all! Yes I was having trouble with creating the mask from the deckle edged frame because I made a fundamental mistake and was not creating a Floating Selection. Hence nothing much happened except I got frustrated. With a fresher approach today I finally completed Lesson 7. For the last design in the series I used a graphic swirl that was given to us at the start from Escare Amoureuse and a frame from DigitalScrapbook.
Thank you Carole for a very worthwhile series of lessons and to see the variety of designs on the forum with all the tales and support that goes with them makes it extremely enjoyable.
Lesson 7
I’m afraid my attempts for this last lesson have been disastrous so I have nothing to show yet. I can’t work out what I am doing wrong. I have created the frame shape more or less ok although there are some bare patches in it. The mask I tried to create just blanks out the photo and does not take on the frame shape. I intend to have another go tomorrow with a fresher brain perhaps but if there are any pointers for me, I would be grateful.
I agree with Sue when she thanks Carole for the effort she puts in for us all. Thank you so much.
Lesson 6
Nice marbly background and I tried the unchecked Mono alternative and didn’t like it as much for my design as it tended to dominate but can see it would be good for more vibrant images. To focus a bit more (and for a sort of binocular effect I added a circular frame from Marisa Levin of DigitalScrapbook. The AI setting for resizing seemed to take ages so I used bi-cubic in the end. The ladies in my photo were braving the autumn weather but seemed to be really enjoying themselves. I was developing a cold when I saw them so wasn’t inclined to join in. (That’s my excuse!)
Lesson 5
I used a background paper by Jessica Dunn, from DigitalScrapbook, called Relax. The brush is called Clover Floer and I found adjusting the opacity of the brush setting helped create a variety. It looks better viewed larger.
Lesson 4
Decided to make a slightly whimsical image of the bird twitchers apparently peering through larger than life reeds. (Screen Layer effect set at 85%). I took these photos at the bird sanctuary and used the watercolour brushes Carole kindly gave us to model the mask and to create a blurred background to set off the body text.
Lesson 3
I must admit that I don’t find some of these techniques quick to do and like some others here have to go over the instructions/video a few times. However usually it works out and I hope practice improves it all. Thanks for all the help and the resources. I am continuing with my Devon theme from recent visits with friends.
Lesson 2
Ann, thank you for your tips on how I could achieve the colouring I was after for my blue plaid background and thank you for taking the time to make me a special plaid. So thoughtful and helpful. I have copied it and used it directly in a version 2 of my design. Later I will try the techniques that you suggest for making the plaid square in the first place. Here below for comparison.
Lesson 2
I struggled with making a plaid to the colour selection I really wanted as I would have preferred to use blue of the sky and brown from the smaller photos. but the strip selections didn’t pick up the range of these colours to make enough of a stripey effect. I don’t know why but after several attempts, abandoned this and took my selection from the main photo. Looking at it now, reduced down, with the darker plaid, I think the yellow aura around the text should extend more to under the main title.
Hi, thank you Carole for the first lesson and for the resources. I made a muck up to start with as I didn’t realise there was a video but later discovered it. If I had started with that it would have been easier to understand. I got very stuck on the little squares and had to go back to the original template to start them again. Having the written tutorial however did help me work out for myself where I had gone wrong so all good.
Loved the varied designs and subjects that people have come up with which makes the study more interesting. Thanks all again.
Lesson 1
Hi, I followed the written instructions before realising where the video was so made life difficult for myself but got there in the end.
In the process though I noticed at step 8, ‘Deselect’ on its own seems to work without having to previously ‘De-Float’. Am I right or is that version dependent? I am using PSP2021.
I have been quite literal to the template but like Sue’s idea of changing the main template mask to be larger to gain more emphasis, Given more courage, I may have a go at that.
Hi all. Yes I’m in too and find a reiteration of the techniques always helps as well as discovering new things. Just need to find a project now to practice on!
Looks like Hook near Basingstoke, England is already there so I guess that is me from before. Quite amazing to see all the contacts and know during the webinars, particularly, that we are connected worldwide. This photo is of a lovely pavement mosaic made of pebbles, in the centre of our village.
Love the wintery scene Ann and an unusual composition. I want to share with you an edible cake topper I have had made from my design for my godson’s 21st birthday. I made the cake and added the topper. He is studying Japanese and he said the translation was correct. (Thank you Mr.Google). I cropped the photo and in PSP applied Instant Effects/Retro Pop . To fade out the edges, I then used Cassel’s freebie template with a mask ‘Watercolour Page’. (Thank you Carole).
My goodness what a difference your suggestions made! Looks better in PSP than on the JPGs though. I don’t know whether I made more work for myself or not in the way I managed to add the drop shadows to each of the photos to make them stand out from the background. My problem was the square photo displayed is a crop from the much larger image beneath the mask. So for each square photo I made a selection of it and promoted the selection to a new layer. Moved that layer to above the mask group that it came from then added a ‘paper’ type drop shadow. A bit laborious so I suspect there was an easier way.
The background blur idea worked from Adjust, ‘Average’ blur setting with a blur filter of 27. Anything less on that photo didn’t make enough of a difference.
To make the date 2022, I did as you suggested Sue and only deleted the old figure ‘1’ after I had repositioned the duplicated ‘2’.
Thank you all for your comments.
Thank you Michelle and Sue. Given a bit of spare time this week I will try your suggestions. Yes, the background is a tad busy yet it needed something with a bit of interest I thought, rather than plain. Let’s see how it goes! Glad you like my piccies. I love flowers and I loved Corrie’s wild flower photos too.
Thank you Carole for the template. I can’t believe how quickly others have got their ideas up onto the forum. So clever.
I have pinched Ann’s idea of showcasing work from last year and have used photos I took that to produce a calendar for this year. The background is a close up of a sunflower seed head and like Ann, have reduced the opacity to set off the photo squares.
Some techniques I could try, having seen your examples is, like Minka, changing the year text to 2022. I hadn’t realised that was possible but maybe I have that font installed. I like the way Corrie, Sue and Bonnie for example have used the text as a mask to show a photo beneath. I could try that if I used a plain background perhaps.
Hi everyone. I had sent out digi cards to family and friends via my mobile phone around new year’s day based around my design here. This one’s for you though and to thank you all for your on-going encouragement.
Hi Carole, Yes I understand about the global time differences being a problem to get just right for everyone and am grateful that you provide a replay each time. I thought I’d mention it because of the concentration aspect.
I always see the worth and quality of what you provide but not sure that I would get the most out of full membership as it stands. I do not think that I would be able to use a Diamond membership to its fullest and instead would waste periods of access as a result with my ad hoc approach. I realise that the masterclasses can be bought singly. Something to think about…….
Thank you again and happy new year. Not long now.
Thank you Carole for asking for feedback and join you in wishing a great 2022 for us.
I particularly like:
- the community encouragement and tips and Carole’s close attention
- webinars of varying subjects with Carole’s unique themes throughout.
- the regular e-mail newsletter updates
Wishes:
- a Part 2 of the Bootcamp as a follow up from the beginners’ Bootcamp but with extra time to complete
- Diamond Membership on an adhoc basis to make the most of my free time on PC
- at the moment I do not wish to have a Facebook account and wonder if I would be missing out on the Campus as a result and what the advantage is on the Scrapbook Facebook pages compared to the main site
- the biggest problem for me is being alert enough for the webinars that I love as they are late in the evening for us who live in the UK. Not sure what can be done about that though! Having the recording available afterwards has been a great help.
Gain:
- I have gone from knowing nothing about PSP to being able to achieve, in a relatively short space of time, at a basic level, an objective to be creative using my existing photos
- the free activities, competitions and freebies have been hugely beneficial and applicable within the context of the community
- have gained knowledge and in case I have forgotten a technique have reference to the projects I have completed or tutorials available
Thank you Carole for today’s Christmas countdown frames and of course a big thank you to Ann and Corrie for their artwork. Fiona
It’s taken a few days for me to complete my design and like Anne, I had difficulty deciding which frame to use for my digital Christmas card that I intend to personalise and send via my mobile phone. I have family in South Africa but the postal system is too unpredictable to send from the UK to them to ever guarantee greetings get there in time so I can go digital this year.
Along with the Christmas wreath photo of my own, I have used a selection of frames from Cassel’s ‘Christmas Countdown Scrapbook Campus’; one each from the designers: Trish, Sue, Sheila & Betsy. Thank you all so much.
I used a background paper from Maris Lerin of Digital Scrapbook.com (Pixel Scrapper).
Wishing you all a happy & safe festive time.
Fiona
I had been experimenting with playing with masks after Cassel’s tutorial and created this peculiar image of my cat. I used a couple of masks and my cat photo.
PS Sue and Corrie, I’m an F1 fan too! The Dutch crowds that day were amazing.
I found the perfect application for me for the ‘out of bounds’ technique after a friend was admiring an oil painting I created way back. She said I should get it framed. It is her birthday today so I have made her a greetings card of my painting and now it’s framed albeit poking out of its frame!
I love the title Big 10 ‘Show-off’ Thread although always hesitant to show my creations when you see such competence from others. I have used my PSP skills learned mainly from Carole’s Scrapbook Campus to create a lot of greetings cards for my family and friends throughout the year. The extra advantage of creating your own means you can create both a hard copy to post as well as sending via whatsapp or such like. With my family living 6000 miles away from me, this has been so successful. To join in with tentatively ‘showing off’ I am posting a selection of my cards.
Well done Carole for your initiative and skill starting up Scrapbook Campus. You are a resourceful and gifted lady. Thank you for the encouragement to us all.
I’m sorry Cindy for your sadness. What a terrible time.
I want to use PSP to showcase my photographs in various ways. I am hoping to have more time in the future to be able to join in more. Just over a year ago I registered for the Basic Scrap course 1. This is one of my favourite images from having completed the course a couple of times. It is from Module 3 where we covered, shadows, inner bevel and vertical text.
Finally I got around to Day7 and making my own templates. This did help me to understand the process a little more. I also went back to each of my pages from the previous days and decided they needed the frame and liked Cassel’s from her templates. I just dragged the layer across to me artwork. Then I made a summary of all of them on a storyboard like other members have done. I have not yet used my own created templates but this is something I could do for another project perhaps.
Thank you for sharing Gab’s First Cookbook with us from your message Carole to me. I had a quick look and think I may try out the Guacamole recipe for myself. If he wants he could add my ‘Jenny’s Carrot Cake’ recipe as posted. Please keep the name Jenny in the title as it is in her memory. I always make a little more of the gooey filling when I make it!
My projects centre around my photos and I can appreciate the trees photos of Libera. Trees are fascinating.
Here’s my storyboard with my templates (yet to be used) at the end.
Thank you Carole for a packed tutorial.
