Calendar Workshop 2024

[Cassel]

I don't know where yesterday's post went (there must be gremlins again).

@Shirley What breed are those boys? Siamese? I notice that when you put their names with a script font, the characters don't align properly on a couple of pages. Are you using PSP2023? I noticed that it does that with SOME fonts when there is an outline. You can tweak that by adjusting the Kerning or skipping the outline if you want. And don't worry about the order of the images. We can read!

@Julian Adams That is a lovely picture you used for February. And the gradient for the background is very well set.

@Michele I like to collect fonts, but I am now limiting myself to those layered fonts or with extra glyphs. I have enough of the other "ordinary" ones!

@laurie solaas The only "fast" way to set guides to multiple pages is to code a script. It is easy when you know, but you can't RECORD setting up guides, so you need to code it (or copy/paste it from another one). So you are likely stuck having to set them manually. As for making more than one calendar, you will see that it is still easy to do. The biggest time-consuming part is choosing the photos! I love all those "quotes" that go with the months. Very unique!

@Cristina I am working on a blog post for this coming Monday so it will still be soon enough for anyone to get it and use it for these calendar pages if needed. I am recoding it to adjust for PSP2023 (and an additional feature too).

@Leslie Gifford Cook Don't worry. Nobody has actually finished ANY page yet since the tutorials will be applied one after the other on the same page so I would not be surprised if some people might be waiting to show their finished pages.

@Donna Sillia That is an interesting tweak to add gems to the month!

@Ann Seeber We are always going on a safari with your photos!

@Corrie KinkelI apologize for giving you more work since my calendar dates started on Sundays and yours start on Mondays.

@Anja Pelzer That was a lot of work for your April dates!!!

@Jannette Nieuwboer Don't worry. You'll catch up. Keep up the great work!

@MoniqueN. That little space will be filled soon!

@Lynda DiGregor Did you replicate the technique from the Freaky Filter class with the same images?

@Susan Ewart So many ideas, and only 12 pages to work on!!! 🙂  As for the notes, I so wish I could write prescriptions for the Campus. For some members, this is cheaper and better than therapy/meds (and in a serious way too). As for the size, it does not matter which one shows. Points and pixels are like inches and centimeters. It does not change the length of a piece; it is just a different unit. And sometimes, it is a little glitchy I find. I tend to always use Pixels for a unit because that is what I started with when I used the JASC versions, and then they added Points as a unit, but for me, I think in pixels.

@Dan Greenwood We'll call you when we have our first FA meeting 🙂

 

[Susan Ewart]

7 hours ago, Shirley said:

Calendar 2024 My boys July and August

They are so beautiful.  Are they ragdolls?

[Cristina]

11 hours ago, Susan Ewart said:

Lesson 4 - July & August

Not exactly a vintage camera in these shots but accessories to the cameras are important too.  Okay, maybe not cases.  Who uses them?  I remember starting out and always used the case (on the SLR) and it would flop around and get in the way when I was taking pictures.  They don't even give you those types of cases anymore, heck Canon doesnt even give you lens hoods unless you buy the "L" series lenses - after you mortgage your house to buy them that is!.  The big case in the back is a polaroid 800 Land camera I forgot had.  I might photograph it and switch it out with the other Land camera in month 4.  I'm on a roll and having fun.  Just got a text to head to work 2 hours earlier so my fun is over.  Never enough time for PSP.  

Carole, as my teacher can you write me a note saying "Susan can't work today, she has important assignments to finish.

Oh, and a question:  In PSP 2022 if I open the calendar template and activate the Month vector it showed the size in points (32 points), and when I changed it to pixels is showed the correct pixel of 133. But, when I use PSP 2023 (which is what I'm using for the workshop) and activate the month vector is shows its in pixels and yet still says 32.  Clearly it's not that size.  Is it supposed to know and show the size in pixels once you double click on object ("T") layer inside the vector layer?  

 

Susan, I am enjoying very much seeing your calendar with the different cameras... And I agree, a vintage or grungy background would fit perfectly.

[Cristina]

3 hours ago, Cassel said:

I apologize for giving you more work since my calendar dates started on Sundays and yours start on Mondays.

Is it possible to have this option in the script? I haven't the script yet, so I don't know how it is coded... Have to correct this soon 😄 

[Cristina]

March and April calendars... I made some changes, as usually happens after I have posted...

Sometimes, seeing the pages here calls my attention to a detail I didn't see before, even after working with it for a long time.

CREDITS:

DiHiller (DigitalScrapbook.com): HAPPY EASTER - DiHiller_April2020_HappyEaster

Corel freebies: Easter chick clipart

Edited November 18, 2023 by Cristina

[Cassel]

12 minutes ago, Cristina said:

Is it possible to have this option in the script? I haven't the script yet, so I don't know how it is coded... Have to correct this soon 😄 

The script generates a perpetual calendar so you can start however you want and in any language too!

[Ann Seeber]

I'm testing out how to fill the extra space. I do have some related photos, and in this case, I applied the Luminance layer filter and I like the monochrome effect. 

 

Edited November 18, 2023 by Ann Seeber
small tweak

[Jannette Nieuwboer]

3 minutes ago, Ann Seeber said:

I'm testing out how to fill the extra space.

It's great Ann, 👁️‍🗨️fine this way too.

[MoniqueN.]

11 hours ago, Corrie Kinkel said:

After the "font" discussion back to my calendars and these months are almost done now. I didn't like the black date numbers and have changed them to a middle/dark grey color for all the months; the outlines of the boxes are very thin and I kept those in black to keep them visible. In the lesson from today was the option to color the boxes mentioned and I gave it a try but didn't like it. All my pages have a gradient and then some part of the boxes has a slightly different color than another part, which didn't look great even with the opacity lowered or a blendmode. But I wanted something to fill those boxes and it should not be very obvious too. After some trying different options I took the same photo as in the page and in the scripts I have inside PSP I choose the find all edges. I know how to do this manually, but the script is much quicker. After that I put the resulting image in the date boxes and played with the blendmodes and opacity until I liked what I got. More work now to do this for all the other months! 

 

 

Looks great!

[MoniqueN.]

53 minutes ago, Cassel said:

The script generates a perpetual calendar so you can start however you want and in any language too!

I have the script too, but when I used it a long time ago, I had some trouble  with it. Will have look and try again.

[MoniqueN.]

7 hours ago, Donna Sillia said:

1700+ Open Source Fonts (OFL) › Fontesk  A good source for open  source fonts.

Oh my, Oh my! This site was a new one for me and I have d/l  more (Celtic) fonts! And now will change some of the calendars fonts😎

[Michele]

On the subject of fonts, which font managers does everyone use? I desperately need one. I currently add the different categories to the zip filenames. It's a terrible method as it simply brings up the zip files which don't show the fonts. I'm sure (?) I would download fewer fonts if I could organize them better.

[MoniqueN.]

6 minutes ago, Michele said:

On the subject of fonts, which font managers does everyone use? I desperately need one. I currently add the different categories to the zip filenames. It's a terrible method as it simply brings up the zip files which don't show the fonts. I'm sure (?) I would download fewer fonts if I could organize them better.

I use Nexus font. Like it, because the text you want, you can type in a box and then scroll thorough your list till you find the one you like🙂

[Jannette Nieuwboer]

1 hour ago, MoniqueN. said:

Oh my, Oh my! This site was a new one for me and I have d/l  more (Celtic) fonts! And now will change some of the calendars fonts

I had a look too marvelous. I didnt came further than number 2 and downloaded it. I'm scared to look further. 😜

[MoniqueN.]

Finished, but will have a look at the calendar script I have from Carole, because I would like to start the week on Monday, so the weekend dates are next to each other 🙂

[Jannette Nieuwboer]

4 hours ago, Michele said:

On the subject of fonts, which font managers does everyone use?

I had for a certain time InkScape. They are very strong in fontshowing. InkScape has a rather big font window. You can see immediately how your fonts looks like, in alphabetic order. My opinion is that InkScape is not as good as PSP is. They are weak in layers and in shadows. Les colors too. I missed terrible the Corel's colorpicker. And more. So I went back tot PSP.   

Edited November 18, 2023 by Jannette Nieuwboer

[Corrie Kinkel]

12 hours ago, Lynda DiGregor said:

 

 

Thank you Lynda, if you mean the date boxes: Yes that is a script from Carole and I have used before because I do more calendars as gifts and wanted those to look all differently. And for the script that made the background behind those boxes: it's one that comes from Corel and I don't remember if it was one of the weekly freebies they offer or that it was already inside my PSP when I bought it initially.

Edited November 18, 2023 by Corrie Kinkel

[Corrie Kinkel]

58 minutes ago, MoniqueN. said:

Finished, but will have a look at the calendar script I have from Carole, because I would like to start the week on Monday, so the weekend dates are next to each other 🙂

The script for the date boxes is really convenient and gives you many options to customize to your liking. But you have to understand how it works and read the instructions carefully. Because at the start you have to "draw" in a small box how your boxes will look. I'm very bad at drawing by hand but I discovered that I could use a preset shape too and convert it to a raster layer and merged it down so I had one little box with my design. After that I just follow the script. Good luck!

[MoniqueN.]

April🙂

[Susan Ewart]

8 hours ago, Cristina said:

Susan, I am enjoying very much seeing your calendar with the different cameras... And I agree, a vintage or grungy background would fit perfectly.

Thank you Cristina.  I found some grungy backgrounds I'm working with,  hope they are too grungy.  Yours along with everyone else, has such beautiful cohesive calendars.  They are doing really interesting changes to them that I would never have thought of.  I'm getting lots of ideas and inspiration.  

[Susan Ewart]

7 hours ago, Ann Seeber said:

I'm testing out how to fill the extra space. I do have some related photos, and in this case, I applied the Luminance layer filter and I like the monochrome effect. 

 

That luminance filter layer is cool.  I never even noticed there was one.

[Ann Seeber]

10 minutes ago, Susan Ewart said:

That luminance filter layer is cool.  I never even noticed there was one.

It's the one feature of PSP2023 that I really appreciate. I can just scroll through the filters and see the effects quickly. Similar to scrolling through the fonts. 

[Susan Ewart]

5 hours ago, Michele said:

On the subject of fonts, which font managers does everyone use? I desperately need one. I currently add the different categories to the zip filenames. It's a terrible method as it simply brings up the zip files which don't show the fonts. I'm sure (?) I would download fewer fonts if I could organize them better.

I use Font Base.  I use the paid version (I think it's about $50 a year) so that I can get the glyphs like you see on the 3rd picture, you just click the one you like and it's copied to the clipboard and you got back to PSP text layer, highlight the letter and right click and paste.  Google fonts came with it, I think you can go to google and download a ton more of their fonts too.  I usually have them turned off.  In fact you can turn them all off and just click on the ones you want active.  I always turn the viewer off when I'm not using it (it's always on the bottom task bar on windows using a short cut icon).  You need to remember to turn it on when you are using PSP or you get a pop up saying the font isn't available.  Actually, I forget to turn it off a lot and I haven't noticed a decline in speed or lags in my computers performance.  There is more features I'm sure and a different view that shows more fonts at a time but I seem to forget how to get that view again.  There is some tutorials on utube about font base if you want to see it in action.  I do believe they have a free version too, but you don't get the ease of using the glyphs like in the paid version.

[Susan Ewart]

1 hour ago, Ann Seeber said:

It's the one feature of PSP2023 that I really appreciate. I can just scroll through the filters and see the effects quickly. Similar to scrolling through the fonts. 

I'll look for it and give it a try

[Ann Seeber]

37 minutes ago, Susan Ewart said:

I'll look for it and give it a try

It's at the top of the layers palette.