August 2022 Monthly Challenge Game

[ladyscrapalot]

Here's mine for dynamic brushes. I did play around with the settings but I didn't like how the changes looked (or didn't look) so for my layout I left them as is especially since Brandy's Twinkle lights hit the wine bottle perfectly. lol! I also tried my hand a making a dynamic brush using a leaf embellishment from Marlene's GrapeWine Collection. I wasn't super crazy about it but I left it in. I bookmarked all the tuts and hopefully will get a chance to play around some more with them.

[ladyscrapalot]

Oh goody masks! LOVE THEM!

Mikelle, on your last layout with your daughter you had extracted her from the photo. I know you've mentioned that you are new to PS CC (like me). Did you know that under the "Select" menu you can choose Subject and Photoshop will attempt to make a selection of the main subject in the photo. It has usually down a great job for me. You can also choose Sky but I haven't tried it let.

[Mikelle]

19 hours ago, ladyscrapalot said:

Oh goody masks! LOVE THEM!

Mikelle, on your last layout with your daughter you had extracted her from the photo. I know you've mentioned that you are new to PS CC (like me). Did you know that under the "Select" menu you can choose Subject and Photoshop will attempt to make a selection of the main subject in the photo. It has usually down a great job for me. You can also choose Sky but I haven't tried it let.

No, I did not know this!  I did find the "Object Selection Tool", a third option under the selection tool that wasn't there in CS6, and that helped immensely.  I'll have to play around with the subject and sky functions this weekend.  Thank you for pointing them out!

[Mikelle]

Friday, Week 3 (Aug 19th, Masks) :

Once again, yay Friday!  It's still super hot here, and a little smoky - we've got a couple of small brush fires burning not too far away; several miles, but one is inside of city limits.  How is everyone's mask work going?  Ready for today?

Today's Tasks:

1.  Choose one of your photos to use with a mask.

2.  Choose one of the tutorials below to concentrate on (hopefully one that offers something new for you), and use it  on your photo.  

A Little Photo Mask Magic

Fun With Photo Masks

Technique Tuesday - Quick and Easy Mask Tip

Using Layer Masks

Using Layer Masks to Create an Out-of-the-Box Effect

3.  Place your embellishments on your page, and a title if you wish.

That's it for today!  At least 3 of the tutorials above give me new techniques, so I will have to choose which one to use.  I think maybe the quick and easy mask tip - this one addresses how to handle it when your photo doesn't fit well in the mask you chose.  I have to head into work for the day, but I will be back to post my layout progress later.  I hope everyone has a wonderful Friday!   

[H Keith]

Here is mine for dynamic brushes

[mimes1]

On 8/18/2022 at 2:32 PM, ladyscrapalot said:

Oh goody masks! LOVE THEM!

Mikelle, on your last layout with your daughter you had extracted her from the photo. I know you've mentioned that you are new to PS CC (like me). Did you know that under the "Select" menu you can choose Subject and Photoshop will attempt to make a selection of the main subject in the photo. It has usually down a great job for me. You can also choose Sky but I haven't tried it let.

This is unfamiliar to me, so I just checked it out! This is huge - the test I just did was pretty remarkable and the extraction was lickity split! Thanks for the tip Kelly!

[MariJ]

On 8/18/2022 at 2:32 PM, ladyscrapalot said:

Oh goody masks! LOVE THEM!

Mikelle, on your last layout with your daughter you had extracted her from the photo. I know you've mentioned that you are new to PS CC (like me). Did you know that under the "Select" menu you can choose Subject and Photoshop will attempt to make a selection of the main subject in the photo. It has usually down a great job for me. You can also choose Sky but I haven't tried it let.

Oh my gosh!  I just checked PSE (I work in 2020) and we have this tool too!  I tried it on the first clear photo I could find and it worked very well.   The photo I chose was the Statue of Liberty so it was an easier select since the background was sky and not busy, but it worked excellently!     As Amy said, "Huge!".     I'm so glad to learn this THANK YOU, Kelly!  ?

[Florida granny]

4 hours ago, MariJ said:

Oh my gosh!  I just checked PSE (I work in 2020) and we have this tool too!  I tried it on the first clear photo I could find and it worked very well.   The photo I chose was the Statue of Liberty so it was an easier select since the background was sky and not busy, but it worked excellently!     As Amy said, "Huge!".     I'm so glad to learn this THANK YOU, Kelly!  ?

Omigosh! I just figured we PSE users were out of luck, but I'm so glad you tried it and that it works! Yay! I can't wait to give it a try. Thanks!!!

[Mikelle]

?  Yay for extractions!  I was pretty excited to find the "Extract Object" option under the magic wand tool, but I want to try the way Kelly said.  I have some time today to catch up, I'll give it a try.

[Mikelle]

Saturday, Week 3 (August 20th, Masks) :

Tasks for Today:

1. Hmmmmm...   since Kelly pointed out the easy extraction ability, and Marilyn says it's also much easier in the newer PSE, let's have this optional task.  It IS optional though, so again, no stress.  Find something on your layout to try extracting - it doesn't have to be from a photo, it can be from a background paper, or embellishments, etc.  One thing I've done sometimes in the past is extract a design from a background paper and copy the selection to a new layer, then I apply a shadow on the newly extracted object.  This gives the paper a little more texture and depth.  

It's a little difficult to see, but I extracted two of the apples on the base paper, copied them to a new layer, and then applied a shadow.  This also can be done to create a new embellishment, for the purpose of "repeating" elements on your page.  Here is a tutorial about shape repetition on your layout, although the photos aren't working, so I hadn't posted this tutorial earlier:

Shape Repetition for More Engaging Layouts

2.  Add the finishing touches to your layout (whatever other additions or changes you'd like to make), journaling, date, etc and upload your layout to the Hodge Podge Gallery, then come back here and leave a link to your layout.

I think I have neglected a couple of things this week - last week's prize drawing, and announcing this week's prize.  I will be back soon with that info! 

[Florida granny]

This has been another wonderful week. Thanks, again, Mikelle, for all the good info you've provided! I wound up using the Quick and Easy Mask tutorial and, although my photo is framed, I painted the colors of the photo onto the mask behind it. Fun!

Here's my finished layout for masks: Maine

[ladyscrapalot]

Here's mine for masks. I explained what I did with my layout. I wanted to try the Quick and Easy Mask tut as this is always a problem for me but I couldn't find a mask that I could try it with using this photo, but it great to know for future reference!

I'm glad others found the extraction tip helpful. I wasn't aware of the one Mikelle mentioned so I gave it a try. I also tried "Focus Area" under Select. For this photo choosing "Subject" worked best but again it's good to know different ways to do things for different situations.

[Mikelle]

Congratulations, @H Keith, you won the drawing for week 2!  Pick a brush set ($4.99 max value):  Brush sets in SG shop then email Angie at prizes@scrapgirls.com or hello@scrapgirls.com and let her know your choice.   

Woo hoo, great job on week 2, everyone!  LOL, I know we're almost done with week 3, too, so we'll have another drawing on Monday.  Remember, you'll get one entry into the weekly drawing for each of that week's layouts you post prior to the Sunday night midnight deadline, so get both of week 3's layouts done by midnight ET tomorrow night (Sunday night, Aug 21st) for two entries, if you can.  The prize for Week 3 is a set of masks of your choice ($3.99 max value).  There isn't a good way of filtering for just mask sets in the shop, but if you search "Masks" you'll get the mask sets (plus the associated collections).  Try this link here:  Masks (and the associated awesome collections!)

Side note, every time I go into the SG Shop, I see so many things I want.  Gaaaahhhh!  Don't forget about the $2 sale section of the shop - I've picked up some beautiful things there this past year, as well as some great basic layout supplies, like masks and layout templates!

[Mikelle]

I wanted to show my masking growing pains...  I decided to do the Quick and Easy Mask Tip tutorial, because I've struggled with "fitting" my photo onto a mask in a way that includes what I want in the photo and doesn't cut out important parts.  A lot of masks out there are pretty easy to adjust to fit whatever photos I'm working with - as in, I can adjust the height or width of the mask without making the mask look distorted - but even doing that doesn't always work perfectly without cutting out parts of the photo I want, or causing parts of the mask to show outside of the photo.  

I'm using a mask from Sekada Designs' Hello School Collection.  After clipping the photo to the mask, I did widen the mask first thing to include the dog in the photo (even if it's just a shot of her little doggy behind), but doing this made more of the mask show outside of the bounds of the photo.  I also wanted to make sure both of the girls' chalk boards were showing so that you can read them.  So that's when I started in with the tutorial.  Here is my starting point, after I widened the mask:

Following along with the tutorial, I made a new empty layer on top of the photo, and clipped the empty layer to the photo.  This is the layer I'll paint on.  I used a soft round brush and blended various green and white shades, and ended up like this:

I like this fine, but I'd like to add some texture to my brush layer, so I applied one of Brandy's Ultimate Artist Watercolor styles (Watercolor Light).  I think I'll go with this!

 

[Mikelle]

Here is my mask layout:  First Day of School 2021

[Belle]

Week3 masks. Loubsers

[H Keith]

20 hours ago, Mikelle said:

Congratulations, @H Keith, you won the drawing for week 2!  Pick a brush set ($4.99 max value):  Brush sets in SG shop then email Angie at prizes@scrapgirls.com or hello@scrapgirls.com and let her know your choice.   

Woo hoo, great job on week 2, everyone!  LOL, I know we're almost done with week 3, too, so we'll have another drawing on Monday.  Remember, you'll get one entry into the weekly drawing for each of that week's layouts you post prior to the Sunday night midnight deadline, so get both of week 3's layouts done by midnight ET tomorrow night (Sunday night, Aug 21st) for two entries, if you can.  The prize for Week 3 is a set of masks of your choice ($3.99 max value).  There isn't a good way of filtering for just mask sets in the shop, but if you search "Masks" you'll get the mask sets (plus the associated collections).  Try this link here:  Masks (and the associated awesome collections!)

Side note, every time I go into the SG Shop, I see so many things I want.  Gaaaahhhh!  Don't forget about the $2 sale section of the shop - I've picked up some beautiful things there this past year, as well as some great basic layout supplies, like masks and layout templates!

Thank you

[H Keith]

here is mine

Created my own out of bounds frame masks following the tutorial.  Using Layer Masks to Create an Out-of-the-Box Effect (scrapgirls.com)

I am learning so much from these tutorials and sometimes I need something visual to fill in the blanks with PSE that YouTube PSE videos additionally provide.

 

[Florida granny]

Congratulations, @H Keith! Have fun shopping!

[MariJ]

On 8/20/2022 at 2:55 PM, Florida granny said:

This has been another wonderful week. Thanks, again, Mikelle, for all the good info you've provided! I wound up using the Quick and Easy Mask tutorial and, although my photo is framed, I painted the colors of the photo onto the mask behind it. Fun!

Here's my finished layout for masks: Maine

Diane, your link goes to the whole gallery, not your layout.  But I found it.  

[Florida granny]

2 hours ago, MariJ said:

Diane, your link goes to the whole gallery, not your layout.  But I found it.  

Thanks, Marilyn, for letting me know. I changed it now.

[Mikelle]

Monday, Week 4 (August 22nd, Journaling/Text) :

August is just flying by, but thankfully we still have 3 more tutorial blocks I'd like to address.  For the first half of this week, let's talk about journaling!  

I don't journal on every page I create, but I journal on many of them at least a little, and sometimes I journal a lot.  The reason I journal is related to why I started scrapbooking in the first place:  To document my children's lives as they are growing up.  I know we all scrap for different reasons, but we all also have stories to tell, and every single one of us leads lives worthy of the telling.  

Journaling on your layout can be overwhelming.  If you normally find scrapping relaxing, but trying to find the "right" words for your layout is stressful, that can really contribute to scrapping procrastination.  I've listed several journaling tutorials below, a few of which give you tips that can make journaling easier.  Other tutorials give you ideas on actually HOW to journal on your layout.  The tutorial "Journaling Inside a Shape" was a game changer for me specifically; up until then, I wondered how other scrappers were wrapping their text around elements on their pages.  Nowadays I find myself using this technique on most of my layouts, including Project Life layouts.  Here are a few examples of layouts where I used the technique of journaling in a shape:  Puppy Play,  Why I Scrap, and Project Life Week 30 2020.

A few tutorials to check out about journaling:

Photoshop Quick Tip: Placeholder Text

Tips for Easier Journaling

Five Tips for Creative Journaling

Drop a Drop Cap Into Your Next Layout

Making Your Digital Scrapbook Pages More Meaningful

Journaling Inside a Shape

Tasks for Today:

1.  Choose your photos and papers for your layout.  Try to find photos from an event that begs to tell a story - journaling is our goal for this layout, and we're going to aim for two bits of journaling (more practice!)

2.  Arrange your papers and photos, leaving some room for one spot of journaling directly on your background paper, but don't journal yet (check out the tutorial "Photoshop Quick Tip: Placeholder Text" above; this is helpful when you're still building your layout but you don't yet want to journal!)  We will address the second spot of journaling later.  

That's all for today.  Happy Monday!  ?

[Florida granny]

I just read the Photoshop Quick Tip and am excited to know about the PSE workarounds. It's great to learn all this new stuff... and to remind us of what we (used to) know but have forgotten, LOL.

 

[Mikelle]

4 hours ago, Florida granny said:

I just read the Photoshop Quick Tip and am excited to know about the PSE workarounds. It's great to learn all this new stuff... and to remind us of what we (used to) know but have forgotten, LOL.

 

I know, I agree - in going over all of these tutorials, I've discovered a few things that I used to know how to do, or remember learning before, but I forgot about.  If I don't use it, I lose it!

[Mikelle]

23 hours ago, Florida granny said:

I just read the Photoshop Quick Tip and am excited to know about the PSE workarounds. It's great to learn all this new stuff... and to remind us of what we (used to) know but have forgotten, LOL.

 

Diane, I just realized you mentioned the PSE workarounds - is placing placeholder text a lot different in PSE than it is in the PS tutorial?

[Mikelle]

Tuesday, Week 4 (August 23rd, Journaling/Text) :

Today's Tasks:

1.  Choose embellishments for your layout, and place them.  As one of your embellishments, include a journal card, tag, etc.  This will be your second area of journaling.  Make sure as you place your embellishments that you maintain the area of journaling on your background paper you designated yesterday.

      -   Side note, you don't have to follow the steps exactly in the order I list them. Of course we all scrap a little differently, building our layouts in different ways.  Some of us might choose photos first, then papers, embellishments, etc, and do journaling last.  If journaling is important to a particular layout, the text might be one of the first elements placed on the page, then you build the layout around it.  

2.  Journaling:  Go ahead and do the first bit of journaling, directly on your background.  If you haven't yet, check out the Journaling Inside a Shape tutorial - this is a great way of journaling on your background, between and around other elements on your page.

*******

So let's talk fonts!  Yikes - I've got thousands.  I didn't start collecting fonts until I'd been scrapping for several years, but once I discovered how awesome varying the appearance of text on my layout could be (well, awesome in my own mind), I went font crazy.  At first I installed every font I owned, as I downloaded them.  I figured out that bogged my computer down a little, so once DH set me up with a newer computer, I decided to install fonts only as I needed them.  

Most of the time, I don't necessarily need "the perfect" font, I just need one or two that work well for whatever my goal is - if I'm telling a story on my page, I need a font that's easy to read at a smaller size.  If I'm creating shorter journaling on a page about my kids, I often use a fun and funky font.  If I'm creating an art journal page, then I like to have several more decorative fonts popping on my page.  Which means, I have a few "go to" fonts that I use quite a lot.  But there are LOTS of fonts out there, if you're looking for them.  

SG did sell a few fonts years ago (I have several of Syndee's that I love), but the shop no longer offers them.  Happily, there are lots of sites where you can grab fonts, both for sale AND for free. I won't post links outside of Scrap Girls here, but two sites where you can find a ton of free fonts are Creative Fabrica, and Kevin & Amanda (this second one is a blog, but specifically search for Kevin & Amanda fonts).  She's got a lot of wonderful handwriting fonts.  There are also programs out there that will convert your own handwriting to a customized font, but I have not yet tried that.

Here are several SG Tutorials that discuss fonts - the different types of fonts, how to identify a font, installing and organizing fonts, etc.  Great info!  Remember too, you can always decorate your font by using brushes on them, clipping papers, using styles, etc.  Fun!

Common Font Questions

Using and Organizing Fonts for Digital Scrapbooking

Identifying Fonts

I will be back later to post my layout progress.  Have to run into work, but my caseload is light today, so hopefully I'll have extra scrapping time today.  I am also trying to get two quilts done for a quilt show in October... but that's another story.  ?

[Florida granny]

Aren't fonts wonderful? I could happily browse through them for an hour. And it's good to know about those free font sources. (Since I'm in need of more fonts! ) 
I've also had good luck with the free fonts from dafont in case you need more, too.

Journaling on the background and on a journal mat added.

[Mikelle]

7 hours ago, Florida granny said:

Aren't fonts wonderful? I could happily browse through them for an hour. And it's good to know about those free font sources. (Since I'm in need of more fonts! ) 
I've also had good luck with the free fonts from dafont in case you need more, too.

Journaling on the background and on a journal mat added.

Dafont, I knew there was another site I wasn't remembering!  Thank you!

[Mikelle]

Wednesday, Week 4 (August 24th, Journaling/Text) :

Today's Tasks:

1.  Place journaling on your second journal area (journal card, tag, etc).  This can just be the date, names, location, etc.  The who, what, when, and where!  I find that creating a "shape" (or a text box) works well when I'm placing text in a smaller, limited space.

2.  Put the finishing touches on your layout, then upload it to the Hodge Podge Gallery, and come back to this thread to leave a link to your layout.  

Hair Dye

Did anyone download any new fonts?   

[Belle]

Here is my Week 4 Font layout.