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V is for VFW aka Veterans of Foreign Wars. My father was a member all of my life even serving as the commander (aka like a club president) in the late 60’s. A lot of fun times were spent with my parents at the VFW and we ate a lot of meals there with friends of my parents. Definitely a big part of their social life when I was growing up. The VFW is just one of the veteran organizations in town that perform Taps, a 21-gun salute and fold the flag at funerals for veterans. They did this for my dad’s funeral. I became an auxiliary member on my 21st birthday. My parents gave me a lifetime membership that day.
Monique I don’t see any links in this thread at all. Even where you say File –> photo blend is just plain text. Cannot click on it to go anywhere.
I looked at the master class pdf on blending. I’m not sure that this was the method in the newsletter that was mentioned. I would actually like to see what was in the newsletter because I’m thinking it might have been more of a mask situation using blend modes.
Susan, I found the answer in the Masking In PSP master class pdf.
Layers menu -> Load/Save Mask -> Load Mask From Disk
Could you show how to shadow an element when the layer below it is dark (either black or dark blue). I avoid using dark papers for my backgrounds because of not being able to see shadow differentiation.
If not in the Q&A, maybe a blog post about it?
FWIW, I don’t see Patricia’s image in post #84635. It shows a broken image link. But I can see her image in post #84555.
Thank you Corrie. I’m not sure if I mentioned it in the beginning but all my layouts were done with templates that came in a set. It had 26 letters and a title page. So that’s why they are consistent. I was on the designer’s creative team at the time and got them for free. Being on the creative team, it was required to post layouts done with at least one of the templates from the kit. I ended up doing the whole alphabet and had a book printed at Shutterfly.
U is for (First) United Methodist Church. The church that I grew up attending. I only remember the current location. The congregation moved into this building when I was less than 5 years old. My parents were married in the previous location and I was baptized in that building. I joined the church after confirmation classes in the mid to late 60’s. I always considered it my religious home even though I may not have attended regularly. One thing about the pandemic though is that it brought me back to the church.
I don’t send cards but I will say that most of the ones I do receive that are not store bought are either 4×6 or 5×7 size. Some of my digi scrapping friends design their own, others use the templates available at places like Shutterfly.
10 or 12 years ago I did a few Christmas cards that I made in PSP using a template I had purchased from a digital designer. They were 4×6 and I could print them on photo paper at home and stick them in a regular envelope.
However, I will say what I get the most of during the holiday season are newsletters. I even have templates for making those!
T is for Telephone Service Company. TSC was started in 1895 and is still a part of the town in 2022. They evolved from being just a phone company to an internet service provider and a cable TV provider. I no longer have a landline phone but I still have internet and cable TV service from them. Best part about them being local is that the service department is located right here in town and if service is needed, it can be had within 24 hours. This past spring I was having cable issues and a tech was here in 3 hours.
I didn’t know what their shipping would be to Canada but if it is a flat charge no matter how much is ordered, it could totally be worth it. That’s why I wait until I have over 100 layouts to print. I hope you can find something that works for you.
Susan, I used another printer for awhile but once I tried Persnickety Prints, I never looked elsewhere. I don’t know what their pricing is for Canada but shipping is very reasonable for the USA. They charge a flat fee no matter how many prints you order. I usually order over 100 prints and only pay $8.99US for shipping. They also have sales where you can buy print credits for a discounted price but not actually order prints at that time. I do that then order the prints when I have at least 100 layouts to print. And, if you are not satisfied for any reason, they will work with you to fix it.
And, they are fast! My last order I placed on a Saturday morning and had an email that the order was printed and being prepped for shipment just 3 hours later. Shipment was picked up on Monday. I fully expected that the order wouldn’t be printed/processed until Monday.
I do always print 12×12 but they do have other sizes as well. They actually have a lot of different items besides prints. I’ve heard good things about the other stuff but I’ve only gotten the prints.
Susan, I have all my 12×12 prints done by a company in Utah called Persnickety Prints. For books, I use Shutterfly. Persnickety Prints was started by a photographer and graphic designer that was frustrated by the quality of prints she was receiving. I have ordered hundreds of layouts from them and every single one of them is just what I created color wise and very little is cut off the edge. Very satisfied customer of Persnickety Prints.
A long time ago I did print some of my layouts as 8″x8″ using my at home printer on photographic paper. They were OK but for my actual books, I prefer having them printed by a company like Persnickety Prints that uses archival paper and ink.
I also learned a long time ago to never put anything important on the edge of the layout, always leave about 1/4 to 1/2 inch for journaling or photos. So I’ve stuck with that and have found that I don’t lose much at all when printing. Maybe edges of elements but that is not that big of a deal to me.
Many scrapbookers will do double page layouts that have a photo carry over from one side to the other. I don’t do that so that I don’t have to worry about the printing and having some of the photo cut off.
Carole I rasterize all my text layers before using the jpg optimizer because I add a very small shadow (1-1-50-05) that makes the text appear more readable for my old eyes. So I don’t have the problem you mentioned. I just don’t save the pspimage file after I’ve done that, I make sure to save before rasterizing the text. My original pspimage file still has the text as a vector so that I can go in and make changes if needed.
I also don’t use text wrapping. I get an error that shuts down my program whenever I use it in 2021.
After reading more in the thread I’d like to add that I do keep 3 versions of all my layouts 1) pspimage in a folder called “PSP Layout Files”; 2) a full size 12×12 jpg in a folder called “Layouts”; and 3) a 600×600 jpg in a folder called “600×600 Files”. These 3 folders are in a folder called “Digital Layouts”. I also organize my layouts by theme so each of the 3 folders have the same theme folders where the files get saved. So any layout for my “Book of Me” is saved in that sub-folder in each of the 3 main layout folders.
I move older layouts to a couple of EHD’s after I have printed them either as individual prints or in a book. So basically current projects are all that are on my main hard drive.
Using the jpg optimizer, you do not have to do the merge to flatten the layout step at all. And your pspimage file are unchanged.
My steps are: 1) resize to 600×600; 2) use jpg optimizer by adjusting compression value until compressed size is less than required size (in this case 300kb, other galleries are less than 250 kb); 3) click OK to save file in desired directory with desired file name.
This is just another way to save a layout. I’ve been using this method for at least 15 years if not longer so this is my preferred method. Thankfully PSP gives us more than one way to do something 🙂
S is for “School”. Wapakoneta City Schools to be exact. I attended this school system for 13 years, K through 12th grade. My grandmother taught in this system as did my mother for 29 years. The building that is now the middle school on this layout was the high school when I graduated. The elementary school I attended was demolished in 2010. The junior high school that I attended (which was the high school both of my parents attended) is still standing but now has several apartments in it.
I’ve had a love affair with the moon since 1969! But I didn’t start photographing it until I had a digital camera. I try quite often to take photos, not always successful. A couple more really old layouts featuring moon shots.
My church had a camera club that would meet once a month from Sept to June back in 2009/2010. The guy that led the group was always entering photos into exhibitions and winning awards. That is where I learned a lot about taking the camera off of auto. One night when I walked out, there was a gorgeous harvest moon. I had my camera with me but not a tripod. I will admit that I used Auto on this photo since it was the beginning of my journey learning. And, my camera was a Canon S3IS so nothing real fancy. I leaned back against my SUV, held my elbows tight against my body and took a photo. Being dark I couldn’t tell how good or bad it was. I took more when I got home then I downloaded and looked at them.
The ones at home were not good, but the one at the church…
I’ve been talking with Susan in PM’s but I’ll post what I told her here as well about my process.
I have 3 copies of every layout I do. A pspimage file, a full size 3600×3600 file and a 600×600 sized file. I have a folder for each type of layout where I save them. Those folders are called “PSP Layout Files”, “Layouts” and “600×600 Files”.
When saving my print size layouts, I always use the jpg optimizer. I never use Save As to do this. In all of the years of scrapping I have found that my 3600×3600 layouts in an uncompressed file are over 49MB in size. My preference size for printing is around 3 to 3.5MB. Using the jpg optimizer I can set the compression value to a value that gets me to that size. Then when I click OK, it asks where to save the image and uses the jpg file type. This is the file that gets uploaded to Persnickety Prints or Shutterfly for printing.
At this point, I still have my pspimage file open on the workspace since using the jpg optimizer it is not saving over what is on the workspace. I resize the image to 600×600. Then I repeat the process of saving the file again using the jpg optimizer. Only this time I adjust the Set Compression Value amount by seeing what setting brings my image down to a size of between 200 and 250kb. Once I’ve found the size, I click OK, choose where to save the image (my 600×600 layouts folder) and it saves it as a jpg. This is then the file that is used in galleries.
I’ve been posting in galleries for over 12 years and have found this works quite well for me. Using the jpg optimizer is one of the first things I learned to do when I first started using the program. The only time I use “save as” is when I first start a layout to save it as the pspimage file.
So is there a kb size limit on the images? Most forum galleries require 250kb or smaller with a size of 600×600 pixels.
I know I really wanted to say… keep looking in the blog but look at the REALLY OLD posts! But I just said “on the right track but old”. I’m not sure that helped anyone.
When it came down to it, there were several blog posts that did answer some of the questions which is what confused so many of us. Especially that material palette one!
Question?
Could we post links to items used in the “credit” section under the image? I think this would be helpful for those that might be interested in looking at any kits used from other stores instead of just listing a kit name/designer name/digital store (website). I know I will click on a link but may not look for the supplies if I have to search for it on my own.
Cindy the keywords for #13 is BEGINNERS and LAYERS. Note the italicized words in Carole’s clue
Hint for #13:
The “sandwich” helps teach beginners about layers.
I will admit that I only thought about bootcamp for this clue and never found it. Once I forgot about bootcamp and poked around sections about beginners and learning to use layers I found it.
Julie First off, you are so close don’t quit!
As for the puzzle pieces you don’t have to do anything to them. If you look at the file name of each piece they will go into the puzzle frame nicely with piece #1 being top left corner, #2 next to it, #3 next to #2 etc with the last piece being the bottom right corner.
Clue #9 has been mentioned multiple times in this thread. Suzy has even posted screen shots where the answer was given in the blog but no balloons. As I told her… go “older”. She was in the right area.
And, from Carole’s post #82583 “– some pieces will be in the blog, but several will be in other sections available through the menu.”
For all those struggling… did you know that there are some tips and tricks available outside of classes and Diamond membership? I didn’t but I do know that now!
Kathy like I told someone earlier in the thread, for #12 think “spooky”
Again without saying too much, some answers may show up more than one time but not necessarily in a “newer” area of the site.
Deana think “spooky”
Fiona without giving away too much… go “old” (using what Carole said)
