Cassel

@Jenny MacKay Simple but effective. Such a nice memory with that 14 year old photo! Is the shadow missing on the scalloped circle in the second project or maybe it is due to resizing? @Carolyn Rye That wooden "paper" is very interesting. Did you adjust the color of the paint or was it already blue? @Jean Naumann That starburst paper really puts the focus on the photo! @Cristina Have you considered using the "text on different surfaces" for the datestamp? Since it is "printed", there should be some "misses" on the edges of the papers/photos. @fiona cook I hope you don't have any more issues with the sites today. Yesterday, there was an issue with the Campus but the store is on a different server so that is surprising me (unless there was too much traffic due to the birthday sale!). @bina greene Did you use a kit with wordart for the kitties title? It is cute! @MoniqueN. You are correct: sometimes, resizing will blur, but there is even a better way (that I discovered afterward): when you export a jpg version, you can set the size to 600 directly on that dialog window so you don't have to resize separately. There might be a way to handle the resizing in a better way, but at this point, adjust the size in the Export command and it will even save time. @Sue Thomas Interlacing is so much easier to do in PSP. Once I find a satisfactory way to do it in Affinity, I'll do a tutorial for it. So far, I find it still convoluted. @Euka Which font viewers are you using? For me, TheFontThing allows me to see fonts in Affinity, and others use NexusFont. @Jacques Your titles/taglines make me smile. I can just imagine Brian exercising. I heard once, of an instructor who copied all the moves of a 2-year old as a workout: she had a hard time keeping up with the toddler! @Leslie Pugs When you have small text, avoid contrasting stroke as it tends to distort the main color and makes the text much harder to read. @Donna Sillia The circle almost appears like a path going from one image to the other! @Hank Sobah Paste from Clipboard is only available in the Affinity program. In PSP, we don't need it. @Sharla Great choice of a font for your title. @Deana Davis Did you end up getting the emails? Even if you registered late, you should have received the emails with the lesson links. On the other hand, as a DIAMOND member, you can access all the lessons in the Workshop Index. For NexusFont, check out this article. @Bonnie Ballentine Hey, you find heat where you can!! This type of photo with a story can be a conversation starter over time! @Jeni Simpson Since your title as a nice outline, you could likely add a shadow to it as if it is cut out of cardstock. Especially when you have your title overlap the edge of a 3D element (with a shadow), it would be more consistent as it would give it also a 3D effect. If you want it to look like it is painted (no shadow), you have to make sure it does not touch the edge of any element. For anyone who wants to START using Affinity and you want to have more than the regular 7-day trial, let me know (someone emailed me but I lost the message so I don't remember who it was). I was given permission to give anyone participating in these workshop, a 90-day trial (of course, you can only use it once!)

Great to see many more projects posted in this thread. @Linda Rexford Are all the kittens "single-colored" while mom was "striped"? They look so cute!!! @Jeni Simpson That is a very nice set of papers that you used. I love that play on word! @AprilDawn That is such a beautiful photo! And well showcased! @Carolyn Rye It will be interesting that our Australian members might recognize things from that adventure. @Cristina Yes, copying and pasting from one image to another works just the same as in PSP. I guess some commands are pretty universal in most programs (you could even copy and paste into a Word document!) @Sharla Those white dots really match the image like snowballs! @Leslie Pugs I love the title! Have you tried adjusting the Levels on the photo? It could make the colors pop out even more. @Euka Very appropriate to use a wavy pattern for the title. @Ann Seeber That Blind effect matches very well the details in the photo! @DianeM The Float is still available under Window > Arrange > Float. I don't know if there is an actual difference in the result of dragging from Window into the Affinity program. It is not something I am used to do in PSP so I don't do it in Affinity. Maybe someone else could chime in with their experience. So far, if you are able to drag and drop, continue doing that. Maybe you will find some differences, or maybe you will find it works just as well. @Jacques Maude is the same age as my daughter (March 1989)! 🙂 @Susan Ewart The faint dots add just enough texture without being overpowering. That is the beauty of the dots being on separate layers, right? @bina greene Great interpretation and tweaking of the original template!! Is it just the resizing or are some shadows missing in the second template (on the photos)? @Hank Sobah That Earth Day layout made me smile! 🙂 @Anja Pelzer Meow! I love all animals, but I have a sweet spot for cats! @Sue Thomas Yes, some things are very easy with Affinity. Some of those were previously suggested for PSP but never got to the implementation stage! Keep those projects coming! And remember to update your profile so we know what program you are using. It will be easier to give suggestions and ideas knowing what program you are using.

What is your go-to type of "birthday cake"? I like the plain white cake if it is a baked cake (even if I love chocolate, I still prefer white chocolate). I love ice cream cake. I love the cheesecake that my husband makes. Share your favorites.

Thank you Cristina, for those great wishes. I really appreciate everyone here, in the Campus and in the store. You are all such a friendly extended family!

I am glad to see you all. We have almost 100 registrants. Based on this thread alone, I see that we will have both PSP users and Affinity users. For those who will be using Affinity, if you find any issues with the tutorials, things that are unclear, etc., let me know. It is the first time the Affinity tutorials will be in use. @Anne Lamp Even if you don't use templates typically, you will hopefully still gather some tips along the way. @Corrie Kinkel We will be looking forward to your projects upon your return. In the meantime, you can chime in. @Sue Thomas You will see that templates can be easy to use with Affinity. @MoniqueN. Are you referring to another Affinity Bootcamp? If so, yes, I am planning one for September. @Jacques I hope we will see more photos of your grandson!!! @fiona cook There is a basic template, used in the tutorial, and another one for DIAMOND members. Did you download the extra? @Hank Sobah Did you apply a pencil effect to the photo? It looks interesting! I would suggest that you check your drop shadows. It looks like they are even all around, which would not be the case if the light source is on the top left. @Donna Sillia Did you duplicate the dots layer to get the different colors? That is an interesting idea. @Bonnie Ballentine That layout made me smile. Looking at the "Bokeh" dots that you replaced with stars and pickleballs. It is so you!!!! @Jeni Simpson Great start. Are you new to Affinity or already familiar with it? @Anja Pelzer You tweaked that layout beautifully by adding lace and a cluster. For anyone participating in this workshop, make sure you add your program version in your profile so we can help you if you ever have any issue. You can follow this tutorial to update your profile. See you tomorrow!

Yes, as far as I know, 7 days is the default trial period. I will double-check with my contact at Affinity to see if I can still offer the 90-day trial that they offered in January.

Learning scrapbooking is often done with practice, looking around for inspiration, and trying to recreate projects we admire. Sometimes, we can be inspired by finished projects, but sometimes, we also have to use our imagination to interpret something. This challenge will allow you to envision something from a “boring” base, and you will have to imagine the end result differently. The sketch is only a written idea, and you can fly with it, modify it, and customize it to fit your vision, your photos, and your supplies. And if you want more information on using sketches, check out this article. Post your project in the gallery.

Over time, that must take a lot of space to keep all those bits and bobs!

Whether you qualify yourself as a hoarder or not, maybe you still hold on to some things that "you might use later". Over time, I am sure some of those things you have stored have found some use, many years later. Share some of those stories!

Let's continue this challenge for another year. We might be the ones taking pictures but we are not the feature of our layouts, so let's change that since we ARE important and have lots to say. Every month or so, the layout will be about YOU, and a prompt will be given. If you have taken the Story Week Challenge, you will find some similarities but it won't be the same. For the April layout, tell us about fears you had as a child. Did you ever have common fears when you were a child? Maybe fear of a monster under the bed or in the closet? Did you have a particularly unusual fear that you outgrew? That could be interesting to hear about. Remember that if you want to create pages for previous prompts, those threads will stay open. There is no right or wrong order to share about YOU.

The idea of one photo a week was quite popular in 2024, and it encouraged participants to take photos and showcase them without having to create a whole layout for them. In 2025, I will offer you a little twist on this. Again, the idea is only to showcase a single photo at a time. You can showcase them as a flashcard, emphasizing the letter (you can use these free cards as a basis to create your own). Of course, if you want a different format, you can use a polaroid frame, a slide, or a playing card (like Susan was doing in 2024). Choose the format you want, and keep it throughout the year. But just make sure to emphasize the first letter! Every 2 weeks, you will be asked to take a picture of something, at home (or around your home) that starts with a specific letter of the alphabet. The goal is just to be on the lookout for ANYTHING that can be photographed. You can stage the object however you want, or just take a picture of it in its natural environment. For example, you can showcase your favorite Mug, or your Pillow, or your Fireplace. You can practice your photography skills if you want, but you can just capture things as they are. Let's just encourage each other. This is a no-pressure thread. And if you skip a letter or two, you can always come back. You know your alphabet so you can easily catch up, whenever you need to. Let's continue with the letter H. It could be your favorite Hairbrush, a reliable Hammer, your cozy House slippers, or the handy Hot pad in the kitchen! What will you showcase?

Same thing for me. The bottles of ink were different (and I had JUST bought a new bottle of black). The "new" printer came with four new bottles. I still had some of the older ones, so I posted on a Facebook group for free stuff and found someone who could use those leftovers (there was about 1/4 left in each bottle).

When I called the second time, it was on Thursday afternoon. The agent said she would send me an email confirmation for this offer the next day, but still asked me to "pay over the phone" now. I thought that $45 for a new printer was "too good to be true", but I had called the number on their site twice and both times, they said the same thing about the counter that could not be reset, so I suspected I was talking to a legit agent. I decided to go ahead and gave my credit card number over the phone. I rarely do that. Unlike what she told me about the email notification, it didn't take that long since I got it within about an hour. Luckily for me, I didn't have anything urgent to print (like the Letters from the North Pole) so I was going to be out of a printer for a few more days (I was already out since the previous week). On Friday morning, someone knocks at the door (not the doorbell) at 8h30. I was still in bed so I rushed out of bed to put on a housecoat, and run to the door. A delivery person was there, in the process of filling out a paper: it was my printer being delivered. The guy had apparently tried to ring the doorbell (which I never heard), then knocked, and since it was taking a while, he thought there was nobody home. So it turned out that I got that new printer in less than 24 hours!! And yes, it cost me only $45 (+tax) Have you ever had some unexpected deal?

A new workshop will soon start. Are you in? It will start on April 21st, 2025. This workshop is FREE for everyone, so spread the word. This workshop is meant for beginners and advanced users alike. Beginners will find a simple way to get started to create their scrapbook projects. Advanced users will find that templates can spark your inspiration and help you complete projects on a deadline. Did you find this thread before the registration page? Here it is. This workshop will include tutorials for PaintShop Pro and Affinity Photo. You can follow along with the program of your choice. Supplies will be provided for both programs.

Yes, I have seen such a tutorial and I am amazed at what it can do in such an easy way!

Yes, that bug affects some fonts and not others. It was reported, documented, and replicated. That is why I know it was a bug. I had just mis-read your description in the first place as I thought you were talking about a layered alpha instead of a layered font.

Looking at it closely, I think this is an actual bug. If the grey layer has 0.0 stroke, it might be the issue. To overcome this, set it to 0.1 and in the same color as the grey so it won't show, but it might fix the bug. Worth a try.

It is possible that you could have moved it accidentally. If that is the case, it would be easy to move it back using the arrow keys while the Move tool is active. Another thing is that maybe that outline should be on top of the grey fill and might look like an offset on purpose?

And that is ok too!

Let's make things a little fun for you. Are you looking for ways to spark your creativity and still create something meaningful? This will be a fairly regular challenge for you. Every time, you will be given instructions to use 1, 2, and 3 of something. Would that be more than you usually use? or less? Let's see. Create a layout using : 1 doily 2 handwritten words 3 pieces of tape You can create those elements or use what you currently have in your stash. Showcase any photo, use any template (if you want). Just make sure you include the required elements.

All the workshops end up being great for "crowdsourcing" resources! We have a fantastic community now!

I always had a hard time remembering which spelling was which. So I created myself a visual mnemonic: the "ee" looks like two eyes, so it refers to "looking" the "A" in "peak" is like a mountain, so it refers to "the top" Now, I think I am good!

@Jeni Simpson You are on a roll!!! Great layouts.

Did you ever watch a partial solar eclipse? Without glasses, it is not even noticeable. But even without glasses, there are other ways to "see" it, like with a projection box or another way to project its light. If you want some pictures of this recent eclipse, check these Facebook posts: Photo from Marc Guitard Photo from CJ Bernard The Valley Eye Photography

It is a new month and new projects. Show off what you are working on in April be it a scrapbook page, a collage, a tutorial, or anything else you want. We are curious and want to see, learn, and get inspired. These threads are quickly becoming a fantastic source of inspiration, support, and friendship. Keep them coming! Remember to size down your image to about 600x600 pixels and save it in .jpg format before posting it (if you are creating a double page, you can resize it to 1000 pixels in width if you don't want to post the pages separately). Here are a few guidelines for everyone: when you post a project, give as much information on your sources or techniques used. It will help others who are curious and would like to do the same. if someone uses something that you like on their page, ask where they got it. Sometimes, you can go get it too and it will be better quality than trying to extract it (as it would have been resized to post in the forum anyway). if it is something that they did from scratch, ask how they did it. It would be so helpful to everyone! if you like a photo and would like to “play with it”, ALWAYS ask permission. Sometimes, there are some limitations and the person is not allowed to let others use it. Don’t get them in trouble. Usually, people are happy to say yes (if they can) when you ask politely. And if you get permission, you might get a better-quality image than the resized image anyway.