Rene Marker

Sharon, I always use the JPG Optimizer that you show here. Like you that is how I learned to save images years ago. Now whether that was back in the 1990's when I first started with PSP or when I started digi-scrapping in 2007/2008, I'm not sure since I don't have the early versions to check! But I've been doing this for years and it has always worked well for me. When I save my pspimage files using this, I set the compression value to 13 (always) and save to my folder for the images I will be printing. Since using this does not change the pspimage file by renaming it, I then resize it to 600x600. Then using the JPG Optimizer I adjust the compression value so that the Compressed number on top right reads between 200 and 250 kB then save the image to a folder set up for only 600x600 images. The only time I use the "save as" is when I start a layout using a psd template so I can save it using the file name I want (and to not overwrite the psd template).

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!

Day 3 are 2 more layouts for my cousin. Layout #1 used the mask by Melo although I added to it so that I could get more of the photo. The kit is a really old kit by a designer that retired over 10 years ago. The kit was called Christmas Time and the designer was A Work in Progress. Again, the font is Discover Beauty. Layout #2 used the extra mask from the 2022 Mask Workshop. The kit is called Around The World: Iceland and is available at Sweet Shoppe Designs. It is a collab kit from 2 designers. I again used Discover Beauty for the font.

All of my layouts for this workshop are being done for a book I'm doing for my cousin's family. So because of that I am using kits that I have in my stash so the book will look cohesive when done. I had the template from last year's workshop so didn't even try to download it. Layout #1 for Day 2, kit is a retired kit from Bella Gypsy (Christmas Cheer). Template from 2023 workshop. Layout #2 for Day 2, I used 2 kits, both retired from Bella Gypsy (Soul Sisters, Woof). Template is from 2023 workshop, extra for diamond members. Font is Discover Beauty for both layouts.

@Cassel I didn't use the template shadows. I used my own. All 3 photos were shadowed the same. The left photo is below the middle photo in the layer palette, that wasn't changed. I also used a mat behind the photos instead of whatever it is that is in the template.

Agree about raster to mask script. A good companion to it is the Merge Group Rename script. I drag my photos into the layer palette which keeps the image number of it. By using the Merge Group Rename, it keeps the image number which is useful if I have multiple photos of the same subject. I was doing the steps for my first layout for the regular photo spots and it wasn't looking right (was following the written directions but didn't scroll down far enough). So I used the script and realized that I had missed a step of changing the grey to black.

My cousin's daughter posted photos just yesterday that were perfect for the day 1 templates! I used a kit called "Plant Life" by Studio Flergs from Sweet Shoppe Designs. A kit I've had for awhile because I loved it but had no photos... until yesterday! I copied Allison's description from Facebook for the journaling.

Have you watched the Master Class on Masks? It touches a little bit on what you did and want to do.

Fiddle-Dee-Dee has done this collage template for several of the MOC challenges in past years. They are always free. I've used one of them to make a collage for my Document Your December layouts (31 layouts for the month of December) and for last year's October Daily layouts. She includes the letters and numbers on the template but I don't like the font that she uses because of the number 2. So I actually used the alpha that came with the kit I used and placed it where those spots were on the template. Here is the collage for the 2023 MOC. On this one I used the lettering she had on the template.

There are at least 2 places for preset shapes, program data and the documents folder. Same as for brushes. Look in your File Locations (File: Preferences: File Locations) to see what folders the program is looking at.

Quoting myself because just 2 hours after I posted this response, I came back to the forum and needed to sign in!

I have to log in every so often even though "remember me" is checked. Several times it has made me log in again when I was just on the site 1 to 2 hours earlier in the day.

I spent the month of January participating in the Month of Challenges at The Lily Pad. 31 challenges in 31 days. Even with 4 days away from the computer I was able to get them all done. One of the designers graciously provides a free template to showcase all of the layouts. I finished that today using a kit by Bella Gypsy. Also, all layouts must have only product currently on sale at the store or retired products by the current designers. Some challenges were a real challenge! Some challenges were easy because of things I've learned here at Scrapbook Campus (hello Mask Workshop). And some were full of ideas to use in future layouts.

This has happened to me in the past. Frustrating when it happens... once was an extremely long reply! The other problem I have had is not knowing if the reply actually posted. Just yesterday I replied to a post and hit submit reply. My post still appeared in the editing box and I didn't see a reply in the thread. I didn't want to hit submit reply again so I opened the thread in a new tab to see if my reply had posted. It had so I closed the tab that had the reply still in the editing box.

I agree about ink as well. My last few printers have been Canon printers so I always buy their ink. The off brand alternatives always come up when I go on Amazon to order and are much cheaper but I stick with the Canon ink. Even going back to the laser printer I had in the late1990's (an HP LaserJet 6P), I only ever bought the HP laser cartridges. I saw so many problems with the HP laser printers at work when off brand cartridges were used that I never ever thought about going off brand.

Several years ago, this paper was recommended to me for cards and other craft projects. Amazon.com : Epson Premium Presentation Paper MATTE (8.5x11 Inches, Double-sided, 50 Sheets) (S041568),Bright White : Epson Double Sided Matte Paper : Office Products I've never done cards so I can't vouch for it. If you would be printing 4x6 photos, I would go with a paper made for the printer in a glossy format. Colors tend to be more vibrant on paper made by the printer manufacturer. I have a supply of 4x6 paper by various vendors and will use them but I find that the photos are sometimes dull looking since the paper is not made for the ink of my printer.

My dad was not raised attending church. His mother was Catholic, his father never went to church and wouldn't allow the kids to attend the Catholic church. So all of the 13 kids that got married usually joined the religion/church their spouse attended. For dad, it was Methodist. For several others, it was the Catholic church. Grandma never forgot her upbringing and when she attended weddings of grandchildren that were in a Catholic church, she kneeled when it was appropriate to do so. The family is split pretty even between Catholic and Protestant. I told an uncle about what I found and he said that in the last couple of years when he converted to Catholicism from Church of Christ he had to know his baptismal date. So he checked with the church he attended the whole time he was married previously. He was also in his 20's. Mom and Dad had gotten married in Mom's church about 4 months before he joined.

I started researching in the 90's before information was on the internet. But Cyndi's List was an essential resource since the lady that did it compiled all known places to go to find information in a website. I made trips to several larger libraries to research. I did start out with a lot of information because my grandmother had done research back in the 1950's... all by writing letters. She wanted to prove DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) but never got the definitive proof needed. Word of mouth does have the ancestry going back to a man who served in the war. I actually started a project last summer of transcribing all the membership, baptism, marriage and death records for my church onto a spreadsheet. It's been on hold since October because of all my medical stuff going on. But when I'm done, I will give a copy to our local library's genealogy section (along with a copy to the church). I actually found out that my dad was baptized at the age of 25 and joined the church the same day!

The link is in the module right below the video.

No, I haven't posted any of them in the gallery. Honestly, I'm not a fan of the gallery here so I don't use it. Probably why I don't post many layouts. Guess I should also say that I also don't post my layouts to other galleries either. The gallery at TheLilyPad is the only one I post to and that is usually only in January during their Month of Challenges event since you can't win any prizes if you don't! I had mentioned it before in the thread Suzy had started about P52 in the Diamond section of the forum.

I signed up thinking I would have the week free to work on it. But, everything changed. I will be away from my computer from Wednesday until Sunday. I've taken it before so I'm not worried (and I've been using templates for 15 years anyways). I'll review stuff later on but won't be posting any layouts.

I finally finished my Week In Review layouts for 2023. I had one day left over so I did a final layout of just photos from Dec 31 with a title of "Goodbye 2023". I had thought about continuing on with the week on one layout and including the 31st there but changed my mind. I'm going to do a month in review instead and just highlight 5 to 7 photos from the month on a single page layout. I am still taking at least one photo a day so I will still have a few photos to choose from during the months that not a lot is happening. I am also continuing with my "5 on 5" project. I take at least 5 photos on the 5th of the month then do a layout. My final weekly layout for 2023 (all weeks had the same format with the cluster and month areas changing depending on what photos I used). I also used the same background papers throughout a month along with the same cluster items. I ended up with 6 different themes so July has the same theme as January. The December pages had the same theme as June. I love the cohesiveness of it!

My parents built the house I live in back in 1964 (I was 9 years old). Mom had learned how to play the piano when she was younger and wanted one for this house. Before they could buy one, the opportunity to get an old upright piano was presented to Mom. Mom was a teacher and the school district was getting rid of some of the pianos that had been in one of the buildings that were no longer needed. Mom said. Mom and Dad were responsible for getting the piano moved to our house and if I remember right, it cost $25. Another $25 was spent to have it tuned. So $50 for an upright piano. Mom's aunt taught piano so I started taking lessons with Aunt Irene. Those lasted 5 or 6 years and as long as I practiced I wasn't too bad. I did learn how to play some of my favorite pop songs of the day and at one time I could play "Stairway to Heaven" almost by memory. I was a Rainbow girl in junior high and took the position of "Musician" for a period of time. With being more active in other activities in high school, the lessons stopped but I still played for my own enjoyment. The activity that took the most time in high school was band. I started playing the clarinet in 6th grade and continued through my senior year. Our marching band was all brass so I had to learn another instrument for those 3 years. One was alto saxophone and the last 2 years was spent playing baritone (our high school only had 3 grades at that time). Lots of good memories from those days. I still have the piano and some of the music books (and sheet music) that I played back in the day. It doesn't get played at all but is great as a backdrop for photos of the dogs (Pepper and Paige when I had them and now Peyton). I also display several of my layouts on it. As for singing... I don't have a voice at all so I don't even sing along in church or elsewhere. I just mouth the words so people think I'm singing!

I can't use a phone. I need something more substantial and I hold it with both hands. Any phone photos I take are always blurry because my hand shakes since the phone is so lightweight. And, when I started this in 2008, I had a cell phone that didn't even have a camera!!! I'll always use a regular camera no matter how great cell phones get at taking photos. Just call me a dinosaur... And, I only use my phone for phone calls and texting as well. The screen is too small for me to get on the internet or play apps! LOL

There have been times when I haven't been able to take a photo so I do use one from a different day (like when I was in the hospital for 3 days). My whole reason for starting to take at least one photo a day was to get comfortable with my camera and learn more about it when I started back in 2008. Heck, some days I take photos of stupid stuff just to play with the settings on the camera to figure out how to get the best result!