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Day 4...an old photo...blast from the past. There is a "Tank Farm" nearby. Old military equipment is restored there by volunteers. Once a year, they bring out everything to display to the public. They even fire the big guns a couple of times. Somehow, I lost my photos of the tanks, etc. A friend took this one of the motorcycle and sidecar.

My day 5. I did something different. I used a heart brush set to white on the mask and also star shaped brush. I then used the same heart brush set to white on a new layer and put it behind the mask group to make it show up better because it was on the dark background. The moon pick is mine. The background paper was created from a screenshot taken on an Explore.com live cam. It is so much fun to play play play.

Day 1 - Yes, I am just getting started. The pictures are from Creative Fabrica. I saved the full size image also as pspimage as I should be able to change the pictures and add things as I want. For the short term, there is a family member who loves cats and I am thinking of changing the cat pictures to actual pictures. Thank you to all who are sharing their creations.

L2.

Lesson 5. I made a kaleidoscope pattern originally to use with my garlic photo but it didn't suit it. I was so fascinated though with the way the colours and shape from my original photo of an Easter cake worked in the pattern, I saved it for viewing. For my garlic photo: Brush tip ' Twirly Star. Text: Mama with white inner bevel and black shadow. Off to make my dinner now. Looking at garlic has made me hungry.

Good evening, phew, I don't understand why working in the layers is so complicated in PSP? In PI and PS you can work with each individual level separately. I don't understand what "floating" means and why you should constantly move a layer somewhere in between. That's when you get on your nerves. I was able to easily insert and edit the small photos in PI as a PSD file. I hope that the end result should look like this. Titel: Girls & Horses

Day 2 I really like what the background has done. It looks really nice. Thank you, Carole, for the turorial.. The Dog images are from Creative Fabrica.

now here is my day 4 , font is Arnold Story

my day 3 fonts are Arnold Story and Handwriting

DAY 3 Template: Lady22 (lady22.eklablog.com) - Butterfly: Janet Kemp (Digitalscrapbook) - Cluster: Jessica Dunn (Digitalscrapbook) - Wordart: Freebie (Creativefabrica) The kaleidoscope patterns were always overpowering, so I solved it this way.

LESSON FOUR - MY CHILDHOOD HOME - I didn't get to do this in January so I used it for this mask lesson. The title fonts are am_intex for the decorated ones and Before the Rainbow for the san-serifs, treated with an inner bevel and shadowing. I found the bearded iris with Google Images and removed the background. The background paper is from Circle of Life mega kit.

Day 5. The mask was made using Summer Punches from Cassel. The waves were made using the Waving script, also from Cassel. The beach background is from Pixabay. I used the Sand Writing tutorial in the Campus to create the title. The "treasure" is my oldest great-nephew, Brelan who will be 16 in a couple of months.

Day 4. A very simple layout that has the mask in the right hand corner because that suited my photo best. The font is Better Brush and I used a greyish background with an inked edge. The only extra embellishment is a paint splash that is in my stash and recolored.

Day 4 - Am a bit behind but hope to finish 2 assignments today to catch up. I used a watercolor brush from Sweetpoison over at Deviant Art (they have such intriguing names there). It took a couple of tries to get it right and I did cheat by placing the photo to one edge. Then I got the bright idea of using another photo as a background paper. The background that was being masked out was a bit dark so it doesn't really blend that well with the background photo but at least I got the concept right, I think.

Lovely tribute to your Mother. She was a lovely lady. What you said about calling her on Mothere's day made me think about my Mother. My Oldest Sister would call her on her (my sister's) birthday and wish Mom a happy Mothers day. The first time Mom was confused and said it wasn't Mothers Day, and my Sis said well it was the first day you were a Mother. Sis did that for years.

I am continuing with the amazing food the my daughter and I had in Fredericksburg at an Italian-Mexican fusion restaurant. One dessert is a goat cheese panna cotta and the other was a chocolate pot with hazelnuts. The background is actually a wood background that I made, but when I used the textile fill, this is how it came out. The pictures and the arrows are my own. The black border is from Creative Fabrica. The font is called "Los Pinata" from Creative Fabrica. I converted the text to curves as character shapes, duplicated them and now I can't remember the next steps, but I know that I did not use stroke. I guess I will have to keep experimenting and save my steps.

This one depicts random thoughts. If it needed a title, it would be My Mother's Day. Years ago, I started calling my mother on my birthday to thank her for being my mother. I called it My Mother's Day. When I moved back to Alabama to be with her, I would take her to dinner to celebrate (usually at a restaurant that gave a free dessert for my birthday!) This will be the first birthday without her. I may still go to a restaurant. After all, she wouldn't want me to miss out on a free dessert! The mask for my mother was made using a watercolor brush from Rikard Rodin. The raggedy edges and the gold from were made using Picture Frame in PSP.

my Day 4 The photo was from the Black Sands Beach area on Hawaii Big Island. The background paper was adjusted from "Ocean-Water-Background-Digital-Paper-27720793 10 " I have no idea where that was downloaded from years ago.

.... looking at this too often.. it seems. Plaid is by Jessica Dunn as is most of the rest, except a strip by Marisa Lerin and the frame mask by Rachel Martin. Fonts: Omnia, Pinky Funky

Day 4. I used a brush from the Brusheezy download, #21. It was a lot of trial and error since a part of the photo was very close to the edge and I kept getting the hard edge. I did a lot of fiddling with the size and jitter settings but finally got it. Kit used is called And Bake by Clever Monkey Graphics and is available at Sweet Shoppe. I again used the Discover Beauty font. A note about the cake. My cousin's granddaughter (age 12) has been cooking and baking for about 4 years. She has figured out how to bake using gluten free ingredients since her mother has 2 auto-immune diseases and can't have gluten. Essentially the whole family is eating gluten free in support of Mom. At the age of 10, she knew that she wanted to open a bakery specializing in gluten-free items. And, sweet Caroline is a big fan of Taylor Swift thus this cake!

Lesson 3 My first Great Grandchild. Unfortunately the only photos I have are sent through messenger. The quality pretty much stinks. I just copied Carole's setup. The background was made according to lesson 3.

You make me hungry!!!!

Day 2 again, Thanks Carole for pointing out my mistake with not replacing that placeholder with something else. I used a bird from the Escale Amoureuze kit but recolored it to yellow.

Love the moon pic and the stars leading to it.

I added shadow to the text which I think makes it stand out better. After converting the text to character shapes and duplicating, I colored the bottom letters and then moved the top letters which kept black slightly using the pick tool to expose part of the bottom layer.

My youngest grandsons ski and the oldest snowboard. I used the younger ones since snowboarders haven't sent me any good pictures yet even though there is snow in the mountains near Las Vegas. The photos and background are my own. The snow was made with a cassel script and the flakes were made with a brush. The font is Christmas Flakes which is a free download. This mask was not my favorite since the pictures were too close to the edges.

That plaid turned out great, and I agree it really sets off this page.

@sharon thompson The difference with the compression is that you are likely using the File > Optimizer > JPG. In older versions of PSP, that was the only place to adjust the compression but since a few versions, it is available (like Julian illustrated) just in the Save as... dialog window when you choose jpg format. @Harmony BirchThat is a fun way to combine different tools to create that background paper. And that font is so fun! @Emerald JayAnother kitty picture. That background is great to showcase him. @fiona cookThat is a very creative way to showcase that tree! It is fun to hear that you had two mask groups. @Rene Marker Yes, when you have a sharp edge on a photo, it can be tricky. Depending on your preferences, you can consider placing an edge on the edge of the page, so that makes one less to worry about. But it won't always work out. Just an option to keep in mind *IF* it can work. @bina greeneIs that "due today" actually written on the wall? @Julian AdamsThanks for your help about the compression. I had forgotten to point that out. @Anne LampThat is a great idea to layer a colored version on a faded copy of the photo. The effect is very interesting. @Gerry LandrethThat is such a cute tradition. I am sorry for your loss, but she surely would love to see you enjoy that dessert (free or not!) @Donna Sillia Before reading your description, I thought you had used a sort of layered font! @Anja PelzerThose colors are so vibrant! It really makes that bird even more colorful! The layered papers really allow you to use a pattern that would otherwise be overpowering. @Corrie KinkelThat extra paint splash is just one element but really suits that layout to emphasize the flowers. @Bonnie BallentineYour adventures never cease to amaze me. There must never be a boring day for you!

Lesson 4. I had a little trouble locating the image to brush the mask with white because the mask completely blanks it but by trial and error seemed to work out. I made two masks groups including an additional background one for the green bits. The main photo is a colour one of mine that I made monochrome. For the text I used Effects/3D Effects/Chisel (with solid white colour). The words are extracted from the poem 'The Oak' by Alfred Lord Tennyson. Artistic licence requested for the shape of the leaves, not being oak!

This was a good refresher for me. Font used is Perfectly Imperfect.

Here's my lesson 4, 2 photos, 2 masks, made the background with a selection from the girls dress, applied balls and bubbles and seamless tile and used as a fill, then put a beige layer on top with an opacity of 50 to tone it down a little. The font is Eyeballs. Then just a couple of scatters and a ribbon to finish it off. .

I said that I didn't care for the Kaleidoscope effect but that doesn't mean that I didn't try it out. Interesting results but too busy for my papers. The 600X600 pixel jpgs were large for some reason & would not load so I resized the to 400X400.

Day 3 - Still can't figure out how I locked that color palette for my project but decided to work around it. If anyone can help sort that for me, I will redo the project but with a colored background paper as originally planned. I flattened the image & exported to a jpg and then reopened it, treating it like any other jpeg & then finished the lettering & border. That restricted my background to b&w instead of the red bloody splattered grunge paper that I wanted but, it seems to work. I did have to change the quote though as my original choice went better with the bloody paper. The film style mask is a snag from Pinterest, the monster collage is from a horror movie archive, the paper texture is from Freepick, and the font is Anger Styles from Dafont. I am not a fan of the kaleidoscope effect but that is just a personal preference. I am too busy making more plaid patterns from yesterday's lesson.

Day 5 and again a photo of a plant that I saw on my trip from last year. I used a hexagon brush to make the mask with some imprints of a leaf brush. A hexagon frame with a bevel and the font is Bahnschrift. The background and the corner punches I have in my stash and I don't know where I got them from.

You are right on the money. Doing what you are used to. I am a "Save As" girl, which is how I learned with general computer stuff. I must admit to cringing when I have to compress files. Throwing away detail and pixels; might as well throw away all my money. I'm a dinosaur, I think in terms of photography from back in the "film/slide" days. I will compress to the least amount for the forum (Sorry Carole, I'm probably being a space hog) every time. I don't limit myself to specific numbers since every layout is different, more compression is more loss of detail. I get that it's just for the forum, but with such fabulous layouts (from everyone) I'd love to see them in all their detailed finery. Not everyone posts on FB, I'm bad for even remembering to do that myself. I also do that Rene, where I will open a template or image and if I do do shift D (because I'm too lazy to re-type the name when I do "Save As"), I'll just do Save As right away and usually I add WIP (Work in Progress) to the end so can find it right away. When I'm finished I take the WIP off or I'll put FINAL in it's place. I really enjoy seeing how everyone's work flow, flows, it's quite interesting to me.

@sharon thompson When you save a jpg there is a slider in the dialog. I pointed it out with a red arrow in my attached screen shot. Higher Quality makes for a bigger file size. The file size is shown too, so when saving to post on the forum, you can adjust the slider to make sure your images are less than 300kb which is the maximum size allowed. If I remember correctly Cassel recommends a quality setting of 12 as a general guideline but a little lower won't matter very much if that's what it takes to get your work at or below 300 kb.

Hello everyone🙋‍♀️, I'm also there now because I also want to use the masks in PSP. I can already do it in PI. I just need challenges in order to learn as daily as possible so that it sticks in my head. Thank you Carole💞 , for all the learning opportunities and making the material available I have now received the first three lessons, translated and now I'll do one and, if I'm not tired yet, the second lesson to catch up. Here in Germany it's only 2 p.m.

Beautiful, Lynda. Did you intend to use the large photo on an angle like that or did it get tilted when you angled the frame? It makes me tilt my head when I'm looking at it. 😉

Lesson 3 I added some grunge around the edges. I'm not too crazy about the kaleidoscope method.

Font is Omnia, graphics Marisa Lerin, Jessica Dunn and myself. Haiku myself. This somehow sits better with me.

Day 2 starting off great. I actually had that template that is no longer available (large stashes confuse but are can be helpful if you know exactly what you want). I think I have mastered the whole raster to mask group conversion enough to start altering the mask since I wasn't too keen on some of the streaky bits once the photo was added. Went back and forth several times and, between a paint brush and an eraser tool and the pick tool, managed to get rid of the offending streaks. Because of the theme that I was using, I couldn't make my plaid from the photos so I used a another photo of a greenish grain field.... lots of small edges and muted colors in it. That way it wouldn't clash with the plaids in the main photos (all snagged from free photo sites). Added a few very thin borders. Font is Brush Script. I tried using that trick of brushing behind the text to make the words more distinctive but, because my background plaid is so small & tight, the brushing was too obvious. When adding a shadow really didn't work either, I changed the color of the drop shadow to a mid green color from the plaid and it brought out the text a bit. The nice thing about these structured lessons is that, if you make enough mistakes & have to redo things, you get more confident & adventurous (though you still need post it note reminders on your monitors for the command sequences).

Love the plaid here! 🙂

Lesson 2 Oh, Carole, you must have posted while I was working on mine. I found a different template by Lady22 that I used that was similar. I love the plaid idea! Font used was Moonlight Sonata.

I have now used the extra template and some supplies that Carole gave us to practice the technique. It did help to question with each move what I was actually trying to achieve with each layer. Thank you Harmony for your help there. For this template I found it easier to rename the Stroke layers (1-5) to differentiate them. The main image I created from a picture tube I created of hearts and placed it on my photo of an old painted wall. The wall image fell short of the Mask window so I duplicated the wall image to fit, and used the Smudge brush to blend the join. Then Merged down to one layer.

Lesson One - Magic in Colorado (with her dad, my grandson, Will) trying out an Arctic Cat snowmobile, called a "Kitty Cat" and her first skis. Background paper, Marisa Lerin; font is Mama.

Corrie, I have note taken on paper like you which I find easier for me to digest. Susan, your idea of screen shots of the steps I will take up. I had made a mistake on the last photo for this lesson and still don't know what I did wrong (See snip of my layers) I rectified by deleting the offending layers and replacing by dragging across from the original template and redoing just that last photo. My theme is back to my local tree project and because the main tree image was not wide enough for the mask , it caused a sharp edge where it fell short. I used a black brush stroke inside the white area of the mask using a splodgy brush tip (a-dozi's background-08 003) to blend the edge in. The 2 background layers were blended with Multiply having used Adjust\Colour\Colour Mixer to change a red to blue. The main title font is Mama which Carole gave us the link to download

Masks Workshop - Lesson 1

Took Judy shopping for new pickleball shoes. While she has played PB for years, this is her first pair of pickleball shoes. Our DSW has Sketchers PB shoes in stock which means we can try them on before buying. Judy is very difficult to fit, so being able to try shoes on is a real treat!

Day 1. The script is Shocking Script from Creative Fabrica. The paper is from Pet Papers by Marisa Lerin on Digital Scrapbook.

The mask bits are getting easier. However, choosing papers & fonts to go with the layout is more difficult for me. I somehow always end up in scrap kits by Brown Owl & Cathyk for papers and then adjust the colours. Script fonts are a **** at times as they never turn out quite like you want even when using Fontrunner for previews. I kept getting error messages when trying to attach my image. It was 600 pixels but exceeded the max kb size by quite a bit. It took me several minutes to realize that I had saved it as a png rather than a jpg... rookie mistake.