AprilDawn

This post is for anyone who might have an old software called Craft Artist 2 created by Serif but was discontinued and not supported a few years ago. Although the programme still continued to work it seems to be having problems working on Windows 11 from comments i have see on the internet. I started to have problems with it working a few months ago and recently it started to cause bigger problems so i uninstalled it. I kept all my Craft Atist Digi Kits that were made for it and purchased from Daisy Trail ( no longer exists) hopeful for a time when there would be a way to convert these .pack files to something that i could use in other programmes. Happily and by accident i came across youtube channel Juney Martins Rua and she had a video called Craft Artist Digi Kits to Affinity Designer Assets where she explains and shows how to convert these .pack files to pngs. I have tried her instructions on 2 .pack files so far and the process works. You do not have to put them into Affinity Designer or Photo if you don't want to, i keep mine in the folder in Pictures on my computer that way can access them for any programme as they are converted to png's. After file is converted one thing extra i do is delete any of the images i know will never use or don't like, to keep the file size down a bit. Also when following her instructions used a copy of the oringinal pack file to use for converting so to keep the original intact for future need if necessary. i am so happy it worked for me because i have a few kits now that i will be able to continue to use in projects here in the campus. i forgot to mention that there are 2 videos for this on her channel, 1 was about 2 years ago and 1 that is about month old, the month old video is the best to use, that is what i chose to follow. hope this info can be helphul to anyone who has these .pack files from Craft Artist, as I did ask Carole if it would be OK to post it. Dawn.

Hi Susan, i have in the past posted some cards where have used line art drawings that i have pencil coloured. I intend to do more of them some time in the future and will use them again and some new ones when get them scanned into my computer. Hello Jeni , I also use Prisma ,Polychromos and Inktense pencils i really find it relaxing to colour with them. as i can't freehand draw i use old tiff lineart floral drawings that are in my stash and also line art digital stamps that i have purchased and some freebies .. just enjoy sitting down for awhile and colouring them up and use them in my cardmaking.. i can highly recommend Kit and Clowder here in Australia for classes using Pencils or Markers . Best wishes to you both, Dawn.

Thank you to everyone who left kind comments on my Bird Paintings really appreciated it. spent many hours back then learning how to paint with oils, but enjoyed it. Thank You Anne Lamp for your post with comment about thinners, it was very thoughtful of you to do that. These days i have chosen to paint with Watercolor Pencils and Prisma Color pencils for my little bit of artwork. find it better for my health and it is relaxing and enjoyable , mainly colour florals now, have not attempted to colour birds with pencils yet... maybe one day. Best wishes, Dawn.

Hello everyone, well i finished the lessons. here is Lesson 7. The sleeping Koala photo from Pixabay and the Koala awake photo from Unsplash. Flower freebie from Chantahlia Design. Leaves from an abr brush set. For the 2 white circle places in the template i replaced them with an element created with the Star Shape tool in Affinity from a tutorial by Andrew Buckle on his youtube channel Graphicxtras.com titled Affinity Photo Create colorful Curved Designs. i have enjoyed doing this workshop with Affinity Photo . will be using it a lot more. Best wishes to everyone, Dawn

Thank you so much Jeni, yes my hubby of 53years has alway supported me in my craft endeavours he is a real blessing in my life. The papers are from the template itself just re-coloured. after i did paint those birds i became allergic to the thinners used for oils so had to stop using them. . have 2 bird paintings hanging on our wall and gave 1 as a gift to a friend . hubby took photos of them and we scanned them into my computer so could use them for card making etc. and for use in my campus projects. Best wishes to you Jeni, Dawn

Firstly would like to say Thank You to all who have left me Hearts for my projects they have been a great encouragement and appreciated very much. This is Lesson 6, the ribbon elements are freebies from Chantahlia Design, the floral elements are from a purchased Digi Kit that i got for Craft Artist software quite a few years ago. The Birds i painted in oils many years ago now from instructions in a book called SongBirds. The font is Brock Script. did not know what to use for this template but my hubby said to me, what about your painted birds and he was full of encouragement for me to use them.. so here it is. Still using Affinity Photo. Best wishes to everyone, Dawn

hello everyone, here is my Lesson 5... slowly but surely i am getting to the finish 2 more to go. the flower is a freebie from Chantahlia Design. Photos.. parrot with bottlebrush from pixabay by Buntysmum and the 2 pink bottlebrush from pixabay by Sandid. the top one have had a long time and can't remember where i got it from. Font is Broadway. leaves used from an abr brush set. Middle green paper i created in inkscape using a filter called cracked glass. Background paper created in Affinity Photo using Procedural Texture filter and a youtube tutorial by Graphicxtras.com by Andrew Buckle called Affinity Photo Eye Popping Diamond Pattern and i tried various layer modes to get this result that i really liked. I am enjoying using Affinity very much. thank you again Carole for this workshop. best wishes to all,

Thank you Jeni and Cristina for your words of encouragement i appreciate it very much. my 71year old brain is not as quick in the creative department as it was 9 years ago when i joined the campus. Lesson 4.... as i could not find a way to create a border with a repeated angle gradient that i was doing in PSP decided to create it in PSP as a png file and import it into Affinity Photo. Wattle Photos.. the bottom one is from Unsplash by Megan Clark the other i can't remember where i got it, so long ago now. The Australia map was created with Carole's Hammered Metal script in PSP. The font is Bodoni..... Now on to lesson 5 Best wishe to all, Dawn

hello everyone!... finally got to do lesson 3 after having to get new computer. Beige painterly stroked paper free from Rita at the Coffe Shop Blog, recoloured the original. Plaid pattern paper free from Chantahlia Design. Heart shape created in PSP from a shape preset and glow, 3D and shadow effect done in Affinity Photo. Font is the same as Carole used in the lesson. Now on to lesson 4.. i will get to finish eventually. best wishes to all, Dawn.

Everyone has created such lovely template pages. Iam very behind, had a few bad days with health and to top it all off i had to get a new computer and transfer all my stuff. However hope to finish this workshop, but it may take some time. best wishes to everyone, Dawn.

still using Affinity 2.6.2 and finding it a joy to use. This is lesson 2, i am a bit behind though due to some more life issues but i will get to finish. The photos are from pixabay and created a colour swatch from it in affinity photo and used those colours on my project. Beige coloured paper created from a pattern, teal blue paper free from Chantahlia Design, foliage design is an abr brush imported into affinity. again i give thanks to Carole for the templates and the video as they are well explained. i have been looking at everyone's projects for this workshop and you all have created lovely work. best wishes to everyone, Dawn

a very Happy Birthday to you Carole, you are very much appreciated for all that you do for us here in the campus and i hope your special day is a filled with much joy.

This is a photo that my sister in-law took a few years ago of Derby a town in the Kimberly region of Western Australia. i have used it before but thought to use it again for this workshop. Not toally happy with how the text ended up but it is my first go and hopefully will improve. Carole thank you for a well explained video i will have to keep practising on the text part. best wishes to everyone, Dawn.

I am also going to give this a try and i will be using Affinity Photo.

well done Cristina. i too have Designer as well as Photo and i am really keen on the fact that they can be linked together for the assets etc. there are also a few other folk who have good tutorials on youtube for both ... me and hubby have been watching them as he also has Designer . best wishes as always, Dawn.