Rene Marker

Where I am is finally back to seasonal temperatures for the month of September. In the first 21 days of the month, 19 of them set new temp records. We had quite a few days in the high 80's and low 90's. That is August temps, not September. We've also had very little rain and went into drought declarations. My grass is brown but the weeds are as green as can be. The last time my neighbor mowed was my lawn was August 23rd. We did have about an inch of rain Monday night locally but some of the drought areas of Ohio didn't even get that. However, due to the tropical storm that is predicted to become a hurricane overnight we could have rain all weekend. As for the foliage, there have been trees in town that were turning in late August. My neighbor's tree that I love to watch in the fall is already changing colors. Extremely early! Even the leaf pickup in my neighborhood is going to start in mid-October due to leaves possibly falling early. I started doing an October daily album of fall colors in Ohio several years ago. I took photos of the leaves changing throughout the month. My neighbor's tree was still green at the beginning of the month and had changed and was losing the leaves at the end of the month. Last year it was already half changed by the 1st. That could possibly happen again this year and it might not have any leaves by the end of the month. So much for documenting the changes throughout the month... However, I will be out of state for a week and could see fall foliage on my trip.

Very nice layout but the text on top of the post card is not very realistic IMO. You can fix it by having the text go around the postcard or resizing the postcard a bit smaller.

My main hobby back in the 1980's was doing needle work projects like counted cross stitch or using plastic canvas and yarn. I did mostly counted cross stitch. I did a lot of birth samplers for the births of cousins' children or wedding samplers for friends. I got a magazine with patterns every month and they were usually quick and simple projects in series that were released over the span of several months. One of those series was for the 50 states. I made 3 of the Ohio (one for Mom, one for me, one for Grandpa). I made a Florida for Grandpa. Other states I made for gifts included Texas, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Michigan. Then I got the bright idea to make each state and have a quilt made from them. My step-grandmother had done quilting and was willing to do it. So I started making the states in 1990 and got 13 of them done. Then I left the job I had (it was a 2nd shift secretarial job in a hospital and during slow times the tech and I would cross-stitch). Then I went back to school and got a different job. No more time for this hobby. Then my step-grandmother passed away. So I left the idea of the quilt behind. A couple weeks ago a scrapbooking designer friend kept posting about a cross stitch project she was doing and it got me interested in it again. So I dug my stuff out and found a sampler that was about half completed so I started working on it again. I also found that I had actually started my 14th state for the quilt and will work on it next. I do want to finish all 50 states and will have to figure out how to display them since I don't know anyone local that quilts. I was thinking of a wall hanging but I saw an idea yesterday in a cross stitch sub-reddit that really intrigues me. That person showcases projects they don't frame in a portfolio. So now I'm thinking of using a scrapbook for this project! As for DIY stuff like your project, I don't do things like that!!!

15/15 for me. Did have to think a little more on 2 of them. Glad I signed up for it, learned a few tricks. Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks? LOL

Thanks @Michele and @Corrie Kinkel for mentioning going top to bottom for drawing the ribbon shadows. I tried it this afternoon and it went a lot better than going bottom to top. And, that was with a mouse. Now I at least I can do it if needed but I'll probably still hide curly ribbons inside a cluster.

Had a heck of a time at first. For some unknown reason, the Gaussian Blur was showing on the settings preview and the Overview Pane but not on the actual canvas. Kept undoing and starting over and it never changed. Finally closed the canvas (which actually closed the program), then restarted PSP and pulled the canvas onto the workspace. Then it worked. I did do the 2nd pin and did the shadow to the left for practice. Since it is practice, I didn't consider light source. I wanted to get to know the steps. Now off to think of other items this would be used for...

Exactly! Just looking around my office I have shadows coming in from all directions. Some are harder than others. And they go all directions since some are from windows and others are from lights. One item on a wall actually has shadows on both the left side and right side. Window is to its left and a lamp is to its right. As one scrapper told me once shadowing is subjective and to develop a personal shadowing style. She also said that there isn't always one single light source... unless you are in a controlled environment (like a studio). Also coming from a paper scrapbooking background, there were differences in shadows when looking at the page depending on something as simple as how you are holding the page as well as what time of day or whether you are inside or outside which have different light sources. She uses PS to scrap and always starts with the same basic settings but tweaks them as she builds her layout. I always used to stick to the top left light source on my layouts but as I've progressed and learned from those I admire over the last 15 years, I've become more subjective about shadowing. Funny thing is, when I give the books to my cousin that I do for them, the layouts that get the most compliments are my more recent layouts where I've experimented with shadowing. That makes my heart happy. This workshop though has taught me some new tricks that I can use to further refine the shadows on my layouts. I used the warp trick today on a butterfly on a layout. It looks like it is flying!

Yeah, I know that but once it is on a layout, it won't be as noticeable.

I first did it the way I used to shadow (but am not posting it) because I wanted to see if there was any difference in how the shadows worked. To my eye, I saw no difference on the elements so all the extra deleting above elements was just extra work. On the practice I used pretty much the same shadows as Carole for this posted version. The only difference between her version and my other was the shadow on the flower and the frame was a different opacity than Carole's settings. The second image is a cluster I made using elements from a Christmas kit. The shadows used on it were the shadow settings given to me by Jill with some tweaking as I felt needed. As you can see I had a base of a journal card then started layering above it and even included a curly ribbon. This is how I use curly ribbons on my layouts... hide most of it in a cluster. One piece of advice I got about clusters was to always have an odd number of elements in the cluster. Carole's has 5, mine has 11. My cluster will be used on a cover page layout for a series of layouts I do every December called "Document Your December". A layout for each day of the month. I've done this every year since 2017. I also spent some time looking at layouts with clustering in a gallery and I could not see that any of them went the extra steps of deleting parts of shadows. And, they all look realistic to me! However, I can see that it could be useful in some clusters so won't rule out never using it in the future.

I don't usually have a problem figuring out which drop shadow in the edit history is for which element. I do all shadows as the last thing. And, I always go from the bottom to the top of the layers palette. So when looking at the edit history, if I scroll all the way to the bottom then scroll back up slowly, I can tell what shadows (or bevel settings if I used a bevel) that I used on each item... last drop shadow = top layer of layers palette. Thanks for the compliment on the shadows... I still don't like them!

Well, I have found something that I don't like. My hand is just not steady enough to draw a shadow. IMO, mine look like crap and this is not my first try at it! I did also try just using the push brush on those areas (not shown here) and I can live with how they look. When I use curly ribbons on a layout, they usually are encompassed within a cluster or as a base for a flower/foliage so only the end shadows are what need to be tweaked. I'm sticking with that from now on!

This is a good idea. Another way to find the settings that works only if you save the file as a pspimage... check the edit history in the image information. Yes, it is a little overwhelming to see all that stuff at first but once you know what you are looking for, it is easy. I just wish that the edit history had a search function! I prefer using that easier than the history palette.

Thank you about the cluster! I've struggled for years to get them to look right. Jill, the gal that I got the shadow settings from said she never uses a warp on her shadows. Another scrapper that does fantastic clustering does (she uses PS). Both look great so I think it is a personal choice.

I used settings very close to the video for the 6 flowers in the tutorial. For the extra 4 flowers, I used the settings shared with me by a creative team member of a popular store that uses PSP. She does a lot of flower/foliage clusters and I asked her how she shadowed them. She also does not use any warp on the shadows but you wouldn't know it because of her settings. She has a basic setting that she tweaks as she scraps each element. Her cluster (flower/foliage/etc) is 25-42-61-66. I started with this setting then tweaked if needed. I then positioned the 4 flowers into a cluster and used the warp brush on each of them. I used to use settings much like Carole's but was never satisfied with my clusters (and I like to cluster although not as elaborate as many creative team scrappers). Once I started using Jill's settings, I loved how my clusters looked. Clustering is not for everyone though. I'm just sharing what works for me and the way I scrap.

I think the selection area of the top photo is the issue because I used the exact same setting for both photos. I'm still confused about how you decide where to make the selection like how close to where you want the lift to be. I did play with it some more last night and the results were a little better. I even played with the brightness on the photo and that really did help on the top photo. I also played with doing a lifted shadow on a butterfly. I avoid using them but with a lifted shadow, I would use them more. Still need more practice! As for the reverse shadow, I tend to use papers that are very similar in color so they end up looking flat. The reverse shadow gives just enough depth and helps to show the subtle texture. I always use very subtle texture papers as well.

@Daniel Hess Guilty... still have bulletin boards with photos thumbtacked on them with turned up corners. One photo is from 1971!

OK, Day 3 done. This is one area that I struggle with... the lifting of the photo or element or whatever. I've seen some great photo lifts on layouts in galleries but I just have never been able to do it. Practice makes perfect and I guess I just don't practice much. Admittedly, my style of layouts would look weird with lifted photos. I used a basic shadow of 10-10-60-10 for the shadows. For the warp brush I used a push size of 800. For the feathering I used 90. The Gaussian Blur was set at 30. This is for both of the photos. I then added a ribbon from a kit to try the lifting of the end. The drop shadow is 10-10-60-10. I lowered the push size to 600. I again used 90 for the feathering. Gaussian Blue was set at 40. With the 2nd photo and the ribbon, I did have to move the shadow like Carole showed on the top edge. I did it but there is lots of room for improvement!!!

Yes, I do use reverse shadows on my layouts. Learned about them from a blog post and one of the master classes. I have 2 presets for them. 0-0-30-5 and 0-0-80-10. I tend to use the last one the most. One of the times I use them is if I have a paper layer (say a scallop) on the bottom edge of the layout. Since it is right up at the edge a regular shadow doesn't show. So I give it a reverse just to add a little depth. Same for a paper layer that is at the edge of the right side of a layout. A regular shadow would show on the bottom of the paper but not on the right. The reverse shadow helps give it a little depth. Another way I use it is if I have a bunch of paper layers and some of them are to the left side but under other layers where the right side/bottom of the paper don't show. Reverse shadow again adds just a little depth to it.

Not a camper! However, one summer when I was in college, a friend borrowed her parent's small camper motor home and 6 girls went to Cedar Point campgrounds for the weekend. Cindy and I were Pam's high school friends. The other 3 girls were her friends from college. That is the closest I ever got to camping.

Probably not going to have a PSP 2024. IMO, they need to fix the problems in PSP 2023 first.

One layer was completely hidden under the other rectangle shapes so I moved it lower on the canvas so it could be seen. I also replaced all layers with layers from a kit I have. I used 10-10-70-20 on all elements. The reverse shadow was 0-0-80-10 on all but 2 layers. Those layers had the top edge hidden.

Since I've been using PSP for digital scrapping since 2008, I have set up presets for my drop shadows. I currently have 28 presets. Over the years I have learned and changed the way I do shadows. Which is to say that my shadowing on my actual layouts is quite different than what we are learning here. That being said, I did try to do the lesson as Carol presented with a few tweaks of my own. I used a basic shadow of 10-10-70-20 on the 2 papers. This was my basic paper shadowing for years. For the string I used a shadow setting of 15-15-60-15. For the button, I went off script and used a setting I got from a scrapper that is on the creative team at a store that uses PSP. It is 20-32-67-59. For the sequin scatter, I used a setting of 3-3-70-20. This gives a little definition but it still appears to be flat on the paper. For the ribbon, I used a setting of 15-15-50-25. With it being a thicker ribbon, I felt it needed a larger shadow setting to show depth. With the photos being on top of the ribbon, some depth needed to be added. On one of my normal layouts, there would be additional elements nearby in a cluster so I have no problem with the ribbon being under the photos. My setting for both photos is 20-20-50-20. Lastly is the chalk. I did nothing to the top chalk. But I did add a small shadow to the bottom chalk just to show the difference. That setting is 2-2-35-1. That setting happens to be the setting I use when using washi tape.

I never put in a dog door when I had Pepper and Paige. At that time I didn't have any fenced in area in my yard so there was no way to contain them or keep other animals out. When I got Peyton I thought about it but decided not to. I do now have a fenced patio area and when it was put in, a section was made for her to use to pee and poop. I just let her out the sliding door or she can go through the garage if the door to the patio is open. I also set up an area right inside that door that leads to the patio from the garage. I prop the door open enough that she can get in and out. The area is inside an exercise pen that I can close off if I want to have the garage door open. Inside the area on one side is a pillow she can lay on. The other side has pee pads. Yep, I trained her to use pee pads. In the nice weather months, whenever I go away, I put her out there. She can be out on the patio in the sun if she wants (on the patio furniture quite often) or in the shade of the garage.

Yeah, it is the beginning creative scrap tutorials that don't show up in labs (for example in paper patterns from Plaid paper 1 to Chevron pattern). I worded it wrong... should have said that many of the creative scrap tutorials are from the labs in my reply to Michele since she said she was doing the tutorials first. I'm guessing that the reason for tutorials not being in the labs is because you started the tutorials before starting the lab section of the website.

Many of the labs are in the creative scrap tutorials. So you can find them referenced in both places! I actually have a spreadsheet that I have them cross-referenced but need to get it current... I'm a few months behind.