Anita Wyatt

Here is my Calendar page for October.

 

Castle Frankenstein in Mühltal, Germany, the birthplace of an eccentric alchemist and possible inspiration for the fictional re- animator of monsters. The Castle Frankenstein is now in ruins, with only two towers, a restaurant with a vegan and kid-friendly menu, and a chapel remaining. However, the perhaps mythical connection to Mary Shelley’s novel “Frankenstein” keeps it a popular destination, especially for Halloween. In late October and early November, the Castle Frankenstein Halloween party gathers zombies, witches, werewolves, vampires, and regular visitors for scary dinners and creepy shows.

 

I adjusted brightness and contrast a bit on the castle picture, then I found a sunset  background at Creative Fabrica, added Gausian Blur, and layer blend mode Dissolve, and reduced opacity to 40. Fonts are from Creative Fabrica , Spiderweb and Santika Font. I also used Old English Font on Windows 10.

Thank you Monique!

Here is my September Calendar page showcasing Castle Hohenzollern.

 

Hohenzollern Castle is the ancestral seat of the imperial House of Hohenzollern. The third of three hilltop castles built on the site, it is located atop Mount Hohenzollern, above and south of Hechingen, on the edge of the Swabian Jura of central Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

 

I used a background from Digital Scrapbooking - Gina Jones and reduced opacity to 79. The font for September is Samantha Upright and I used some kerning, so the glyph S (Samantha upright) was closer to the letter e.

 

The font for Castle Hohenzollern Germany is Gloucester MT Extra from Windows 10. Used drop shadows on both fonts. Added a cluster from Digital Scrapbooking - Jessica Dunn and added drop shadow. Colored dates, lines wiith same color as text and used different color on weekends. 3 more months to go plus the cover page. I will get this calendar done and I am having fund with it.

 

 

Thank you Corrie, I love all your layouts too. The beautiful fonts you use go so well with each image.

Here is my August Calendar.

 

The Nymphenburg Palace is a Baroque palace situated in Munich's western district Neuhausen-Nymphenburg, in Bavaria, southern Germany. Combined with the adjacent Nymphenburg Palace Park it constitutes one of the premier royal palaces of Europe. Its frontal width of 632 meters  even surpasses Versailles Palace.

 

I used  the picture of the castle as a background as some of you have also done, and I liked the effect. Then I used layer blend mode Screen, and reduced opacity to 51%. The Font is Glamour for the month and no glyphs were needed. The text on bottom left is Baby Valentine - no glyphs needed. Changed colors for dates and lines to same color as font for August,  except for weekends and text on bottom left where I used a different color. Picked all colors from the picture.

 

 

Thank you Monique, I am glad you are enjoying my castle theme for the calendar.  We do have a lot of castles and most of them have very interesting tales.

I played with Carole's Halloween Spider Web Frame and thought it would be perfect to frame the black cat and spooky castle theme I worked on with the Spark program at Creative Fabrica.

 

 

Here is my July 2023 calendar page.

 

Heidelberg Castle is a ruin in Germany and landmark of Heidelberg. The castle ruins are among the most important Renaissance structures north of the Alps. The castle has only been partially rebuilt since its demolition in the 17th and 18th centuries.

 

I used a gradient for the background and added the texture asphalt. The font is Samantha Upright with glyphs for J and y, plus the flower glyph that I added to the y, which is also Samantha upright.

 

I am busy at work, but I am trying to finish the calendar, so I can soon participate in other fun Campus projects.

Here is my Day 6-- Calendar - June

 

I used a picture of Castle Mespelbrunn, in Germany. I saw where some of you used a picture as the background and I liked the effect, so I tried it with the picture of Mespelbrunn and it was fun to do.

 

I used regular Blur, Gausian Blue, blended mode of Color Legacy and opacity of 55%.

 

The fonts are Cralione and I kerned  the J a bit (-25) to be closer to the e in June. The smaller font is Elegans.

 

I changed the dates and lines to dark green like the month,  then changed the weekend dates to a lighter color like the castle tower. I tried changing the color on the weekend lines but it resulted in dashes , so I left them a dark green.  Tomorrow, I will work on the July calendar page.

 

 

 

 

Here is my day 5 of the 2023 Calendar. I am a bit behind as I have been very busy at work. But I will be getting the calendar done one day at a time and having  fun with it.

 

I used a picture of the Mouse Castle which is located near the Cat Castle. Font is Samantha Upright and the texture in the background is gravel. I used a light color for the font to make it stand out more. I tried to use the picture with Gausian Blur as some of you have done, but mine did not come as beautiful as yours, so I used a textured background.

 

Burg Maus (Fortress Mouse) resides on a mountain spur overlooking the Rhine River. Originally called St. Peterseck and later Burg Deuernburg (Thurnberg), the castle came to be known as Burg Maus due to the cat and mouse rivalry between the Church and the powerful counts of Katzenelnbogen who owned nearby Katz Castle (Burg Neukatzenelnbogen).

Here is my April Calendar page showcasing the Fortress Marienberg in my hometown Wuerzburg, Germany.The Fortress is a prominent landmark on the left bank of the Main river in Würzburg, in the Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. The mighty Fortress Marienberg is a symbol of Würzburg and served as a home of the local prince-bishops for nearly five centuries. The original castle on the Marienberg, a hill which was first settled in the late Bronze Age, was probably a small fort built early in the 8th century by the Franconian-Thuringian dukes.

 

Font I used for April and description is Andalucia (Creative Fabrica)and I used a glyph for the last letter in April. I picked one of the colors from the picture for the background and added the texture "small stones" small stones. Then I removed number 31 and the line from the calendar. Added a dark green color like the tree leaves to dates and lines. I did not change the font for the date and numbers this time, will try it next time.

 

 

Here is my Calendar for March and as I love cats, I managed to insert a cat castle and paw into my theme. Katz (Cat) castle is located above the German town of St. Goarshausen along the River Rhine. There is also a Mouse Castle. The castle stands on a ledge looking downstream from the riverside at St. Goar.

 

It was first built around 1371 by Count William II of Katzenelnbogen. The castle was bombarded in 1806 by Napoleon and rebuilt in the late 19th century, in 1896–98. Katz Castle was used as bastion and military base to protect the Rheinfels Castle. (In German Rhine is Rhein). Together they formed a fortified bulwark with a barrier for levying of the Rhine toll

 

Fonts are Cat Paw (Creative Fabrica) and Georgia as in a smaller text size the font can be too busy. I used the brick texture for the background to look a bit like the stone castle. then used the blend mode "lighter". I alsoadded a darker background layer and played with that, but liked the lighter one better. Thank you Carole for the tips about the dropper and the texture tool.

Here is my day 2 February Calendar showcasing  Castle Linderhof.  It is situated in southwest Bavaria near the village of Ettal. This glamorous royal castle is 15 km from the Bavarian town of Oberammergau. It is the smallest of the three palaces built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria and the only one which he lived to see completed. It was also his favorite castle. Last time I toured it was in 1986 and I loved it. My January Calendar page shows Ludwig's Neuschwanstein castle. Thank you Carole for inspiring all of us.

Carole, you are right about the shadow  and the link. The text in my PSP X9 was so small so when I started with PSP23 last week I was able to increase the text and the link icon on the shadow layer was so much more visible now. I should have double checked my old PSP one more time. It just looked strange to me when I saw it. I will try to get my February page up soon. You mentioned the UWP character map, where can I get one of those. The character map I have on Windows 10 is hard to read the letters are very small. I may be behind a bit with my calendar pages as I just started a course in Criminal Justice at work, but I will do the best I can. I love looking at everyone's beautiful calendar pages.

I love Diana Gabaldon's Outlander books.

Thank you Lynda. I like your your January page showing the Mitchel Corn Palace too, it is beautiful. The castle is called Neuschwanstein and it is one of King Ludwig's Castles. It is nestled in the Bavarian Alps, south of Munich and inspired Walt Disney to create the  Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disney World.

Here is my Calendar so far for January. My theme for this calendar will be Castles and Fortresses in Germany. I used a background from Digital Scrapbooking and the Samantha Upright font. Found out that the drop shadow works a bit differently in PSP 2023. When placing the shadow on a new layer it shows that it is linked.

I have sorted through some pictures that I may use for this calendar. downloaded the templates and will start watching the video tutorial tomorrow. The Templates look really nice. and will be fun to do. Thank you Carole!

I have registered and look forward to start on a new calendar. I really enjoyed the calendar workshop last year. Thank you Carole. It will be fun to see what everyone will be doing. I have not decided yet what my theme will be.

Congratulations Fiona! I am very happy for you.

Hang in there Fiona and check Carole's hints again. I am sure you will find the answers. Sometimes when we look too hard we cannot see the answer right in front of us. Good Luck!

Just keep patiently digging through everything and you will find them.

Hi Susan. I also found a lot of interesting PSP tips that I am eager to try. I just finished putting the puzzle pieces together and that was fun too. I think we all picked up a lot of new and helpful tips by just hunting for the puzzle pieces. That was a great idea Carole had.

I just found Number 12 and have all the pieces. I just had to try and look harder. Now, I am off to my meeting. Will work on the puzzle pieces later. Thank you Carole, that was so much fun.

I stayed up late last night and enjoyed the hunt. I got all of them except Number 12. I looked and looked until my eyes were sore, but I am not giving up, it is too much fun. I just got home from work and wanted to hunt some more, but remembered I have a meeting, so I will continue the hunt later. I cannot imagine where that number 12 is hiding. Probably in plain sight. Thank you Carole for providing this enjoyable activity for us.