Jan — Page 10

Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)

September 26, 2023 by Jan

Quick Trick: Special Effects Brushes

I was yesterday-years-old when I learned that Special Effects Brushes are well… special. Some of them don’t behave the way most brushes do. For example, the butterfly Special Effects Brush doesn’t use the foreground colour, it uses its’ complementary colours. It also gives you random sizes and rotates itself between clicks so you’re never exactly sure where it’s going to pop up on your canvas, or what colour it will be. That can be fun! If you want to click>hold the mouse button and draw a curlicue with the brush, it’ll give you a flight of multi-coloured butterflies in all sizes. Try it! It’s fun!!

What I learned while I was experimenting with these Brushes is that they can be really useful for adding some oomph to those reads-as-solid papers we were making a few weeks ago. Let me show you what I mean.

Start by creating your background paper using a colour from the kit you’re using, or from a photo you want to coordinate. Size is up to you; I scrap 12×12, so that’s what I’ve got. I just randomly picked a light green colour. I’ll go with a slightly darker, grungier avocado for the zhuzh. As I always say, put this zhuzh on its own layer so you have ALL the control.

Now grab your Brush Tool and look for Special Effects Brushes in the pull-out menu. These are brushes that you got with your software, like the Basic Brushes and the Drop Shadow Brushes. You may be able to see in the screenshot that I’ve gone into the Presets>Brushes folder and put a period in front of all the PSE preloaded brushes so it sorts them to the very top of the list. Advanced users might try that. Anyway. Let’s click on the Special Effects Brushes and take a look.

You can hover your cursor over the Brush thumbnails to see what they’re called. I’m going to use the one described as Scattered Flowers Mums. It doesn’t actually look like a chrysanthemum when used, so I’m a bit confused. Some of these brushes do have an identifiable shape, like the daisy, roses, rubber duck, leaf and butterfly. None of the Scattered Flowers do, they’re all variations on texture. I’ve set the Size to 2500 pixels (maximum) and the Opacity at 100%.

This is an entirely optional step. I decided, after playing with the various brushes in the set, that I’d use Guidelines to help with positioning of my brush clicks. To create a horizontal Guideline, click-and-hold your cursor somewhere inside the horizontal Ruler (if you’re using them) or the top edge of the canvas then pull the cursor down to the place where you want the Guide and let go. To create a vertical Guide, click-and-hold inside the left side Ruler or at the left edge of the canvas, drag the cursor laterally to the spot where you want the Guide and let go. I’ve made my Guidelines thicker for visibility, You’ll see in the next screenshot how skinny they really are.

If you don’t want to be precise, you can randomly click your brush over the background, or drag it in a pattern, change the size and orientation of the brush or pretty much whatever appeals to you. It’s 100% up to you!

The brush cursor is a large circle with crosshairs in the centre. I used this bounding box to position the brush in each of my squares: the bounding box intersected with the inside corners of each square, which gave a bit of overlap where the brush fades. I can’t show you an example – I didn’t think of it while I was working this all out, and now Elements is PMSing on me. Sorry. Suffice to say, I covered the whole canvas with this splattery texture.

To turn off the Guides, click View>Guides and they’ll vanish. Or if you’re a keyboard short-cutter, CTRL/CMD>; will take care of it.

You could stop here and be very happy with your work. Of you could play with Blend Modes to see what might look better for your purpose. This is the Dissolve version. Once you’ve moved off the Normal mode, you can scroll through the Blend Modes using the Up and Down arrows.

If the result is too bold, you can adjust Opacity. That might be all you need. Here I’ve left the Blend Mode on Dissolve but decreased the Opacity to 10%. Now it’s subtly textured.

The following screenshots are pretty self-explanatory. I’m not going to show you Modes that really didn’t change the background green – that would waste all our time! Here’s Darken.

Multiply. The only change I’ve made from my original sample is to a new Blend Mode. It’s fun to see what they do.

Color Burn is really subtle, so I felt I should Zoom in so you could see it. This might be my favourite.

On to Linear Burn.

Darker Color seems softer, don’t you think?

Screen lightens and softens.

I didn’t expect Color Dodge to lighten and alter the colour this much.

Linear Dodge is just Color Dodge but MORE.

Vivid Light changes the avocado to more of a chartreuse. It’s hard to see in this image, because it’s so subtle.

Hard Mix is similar to Screen, but MORE.

Difference changes the colour completely and darkens it too. You can see the tic-tac-toe effect a lot more clearly here.

Exclusion has turned the avocado colour to a deep, almost purple blue.

Last is Luminosity. It’s more delicate. When you’ve found the look you like, you can adjust Opacity, enlarge the brush layer and rotate it, or any other thing you might want to try. CTRL/CMD>Z will Undo if you’re not happy. Don’t be afraid to experiment! Nothing is permanent in digital scrapbooking until you decide it is.

I couldn’t resist trying another of the Special Effects Brushes, this time Petal Crystals. I used an aqua colour and really like this one!

We’re getting some of the rain from the big storm coming up the west coast right now. Looks like it’s going to bring some snow to higher elevations, and will linger around for the next couple of days. Maybe the two fires close to us will finally be snuffed out. A girl can dream, right?

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Creative Style, Digital Scrapbooking, Tutorials Tagged With: Tutorial Tuesday

Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

September 19, 2023 by Jan

Challenge Spotlight: Minikit

September is surely flying by, isn’t it? It’s already almost the autumnal equinox and the slow slide into winter here in the Northern Hemisphere, while our GingerScrappers down under are looking toward spring. And life goes on…

This month’s Spotlight Challenge is the Minikit Challenge, hosted by Joy of Memory Mosaic. As the name implies, the Challenge is to use the pieces of a supplied (free) minikit to create a unique layout. This type of Challenge showcases individual style very well, since all participants are starting with the same tools. This month’s mini is shown below.

Now I’m going to share each of the layouts that have been posted to the Challenge Gallery as of noon today PDT. They’re in the order they were posted, and I’ve linked each to the Gallery so you can get a closer look and leave some praise for the Scrapper. Just click on their Forum handle.

KAPOH has created a calendar with the mini. I see today is Talk Like a Pirate Day. I guess we should brush up on our “arrrhs”.

Alasandra has blended the papers to give herself some more options and flexibility, and flanked the ornate frame with two simple clusters.

As most of you know, I’m a sucker for heritage photos. I LOVE how trinanne has adapted the frame to encompass each of the people in her photo. The emphemera she’s added are scans of her aunt’s actual teaching diploma and license… precious!

MarilynZ has used the frame very cleverly here, with one being lightened without losing detail. The diagonal placement of the ribbon, with the key centred and the repeating small paper squares, gives the layout balance.

Pippin chose the perfect photo to coordinate with this mini! The purple sunset behind the house is a very close match to the purple paper. Her simple cluster and all that white space are very effective at drawing the eye to her photo. Brava!

NHSoxGirl has reversed the order of Pippin‘s papers to create a minimalist layout where the photo is the star. Good choice to go with black and white. The white stroke around the purple paper is brilliant.

This is something I would do! Those old keys in the photo play with the key in the mini so well. I see angbrey has also recoloured a flower and has used the frames as mats. Creative!

AnnieA has used everything but the tape, and kept her layout minimalist, with strong diagonals. I like the rotated purple paper, it’s exquisitely shadowed. Very eye-catching!

What an interesting layout PixyGirl has created, with a very vintage feel. The patchwork effect with the papers is beautifully executed. The slight tilt to the frame mimics the slight tilt of her great-grandmother’s head for a very effective focal point.

It took me a few minutes to deconstruct kabrak1207‘s layout. She has used additional elements and papers from the coordinating Buffet bundle from Memory Mosaic – totally allowed! – and has created an outstanding piece. That centre cluster is perfection.

CathyS has also added some elements from other designers in the September Buffet. I like how she’s faded the papers together and mirrored the brick behind the flowers in her photo with arty paint.

Oh my! Look at that beautiful dissolve/fade effect lulumoon has created with the papers!! The clusters provide a pop of colour and the entire layout is a showstopper.

The mini is cleverly disguised in nimble4u‘s layout. The only element from the mini that I couldn’t find is the tape. She’s added some elements from other kits, which are included in her credits.

Lastly, this layout from hkeith87 has included the whole mini, pairing it with a stunning sunset photo. The purple clouds in the photo look like they just merge into the purple paper strip. Beautiful!

It’s always a learning experience to browse the Gallery. Next week it’s Quick Trick time again. I’ll have to see what I can pull out of the ether to share with you all. Have a great week!

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Challenge Spotlight, Creative Style, Digital Scrapbooking, Digital Scrapbooking Freebies, GingerBread Ladies, Tutorials Tagged With: Tutorial Tuesday

Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)

September 12, 2023 by Jan

Using Alphas for Titles – a Technique Tweak

PDF Version : https://bit.ly/3LJ2wZo

A newish GingerScrapper whose user name is rmcd100 asked this question in the Forum:

“I am looking for a tutorial on how to easily add alphas to a layout. It seems really cumbersome inserting each letter individually and then trying to place them all on the page in a uniform manner. There has got to be an easier way than the way I am doing it.”

I replied with some links to some tutorials I’ve already posted and gave her a brief description of my workflow. But then I got to thinking about it and recognized that my technique has been fine-tuned quite a bit since those tutorials were new. I also want to be sure she understood what I was saying, so today’s tutorial is an updated alphas-for-titles workflow breakdown.

I knew exactly what she meant by “cumbersome” and could feel her frustration, because I’ve been that person! Elements can make it so much harder, because it seems to drop objects where IT wants them and not where I want them, especially the newer versions. This title technique grew out of all of that.

When I’m planning a title, I usually have an idea of what I’ll call my layout before I even choose photos, template or kit to work with. I choose the photos first, then a template that will work with the number, orientation and importance of my photos. Only then do I choose a kit. I love using alphas and have quite a stash of them so I can always count on having an appropriate one on hand. For my Back It Up Challenge layout, the prescribed theme is books/reading/library so that helped with making my choices. I opted for the GingerBread Ladies Must Love Books kit. I had 4 photos I wanted to use and chose a retired template from Connie Prince as my basic layout.

As you can see, the template’s title spot is a good-sized rectangular area, which makes the process a LOT easier! I like to work BIG, so I can see easily what’s going on; resizing later is a snap. I also like to reduce repetition if possible. So I’ve created a bunch of preset project formats: a 12×12″ Scrapbooking canvas, a 6×1.5″ Title Strip and a 6×3″ Large Title canvas are some of them. So when I click New>Document [CTRL/CMD>N] I can choose one of them. I’ve planned a two-word stacked title so I’m going to use the Large Title canvas. One important note: ALWAYS work on a TRANSPARENT BACKGROUND when creating titles with alphas using this technique.

So here’s the canvas. I’ve opened all the letters I’ll use for my title into the Photo Bin.

Then I started dragging and dropping the letters onto the canvas. Remember I mentioned that Elements does what Elements wants? Well, I can guarantee at least one letter will be out of order. It’s just a rule. 😉 Before you move on, check to see that the letters are all where they should be. Elements will stack from bottom up, and it’s easier to move one or two letters than rearrange all of them. Also take note that all the letters are aligned by the centre of the letter. That’s easy to address.

Before we continue, if you want your title to have a wandering baseline, you can skip a step – the one where we Align the letters’ bottoms. Also, if you want some letters to overlap others, you can adjust your workflow accordingly. For MY title, I want the baseline to be a single straight line. So I’ve activated all the letter layers except the “g” – it extends below the baseline and will need special attention. To quickly activate multiple layers, click on either the top layer or the bottom. Then hold down the SHIFT key and click on the layer at the other end of the stack. BINGO!

Using the Move Tool, Align the letters at their bottoms. If you don’t see the Arrange, Align and Distribute menu, click on Tool Options at the lower left of your workspace.

Now the “g” can be nudged into place. I use the top edge of another lower case letter as my guide for this part. Nudging with the up and down arrow keys is the most accurate method for this.

This is a step I’ve recently added to my technique, and it’s made a big difference. Activate all letter layers again – click>SHIFT>click – and move the whole bloc of letters all the way over to the left. The first letter of your word will be along the left border. Don’t worry about the size of the letters just yet.

Activate the very top letter layer (or the last letter in your word, if you’ve rearranged them) and using the left and right arrow keys, move it to the right until you can see the entire edge of the letter right next to it. My word is Raising; see the “g” and the “n” are no longer overlapping. Decide how much of a gap you like between your letters.

To start moving the second-last letter along with the last one, hold down the CTRL/CMD key and click on the layer. Now both letters are active and can be moved to the right until the third letter from the end is entirely visible. Pick up the third letter, the fourth letter, then the fifth letter in the same way. Move the train of letters over as one piece until they’re all nicely separated. If you have room! 😀 Now I can see that the letters are indeed much too big.

To fix that, activate all the letter layers again then estimate how much to shrink them. Then using one of the corner handles on the Bounding Box, move the handle toward the letters until you’ve got the size close enough to fitting. I’ll just go with 75% for now, and ensure I’ve Constrained Proportions.

There! All my letters are neatly spaced. Since my title is going to be two stacked words, I’ll move them all to the top of the canvas and turn off Visibility to eliminate distractions. Click on the little eyeball icons.

I took a little detour here. My title is alliterative, so I want to see how I like it with just a single GIGANTIC “R” at the beginning of each word.

I’ll use the same drag-drop-align process for the second word. I’ve got “eaders” here to go with my giant R and have ensured the letters are in the correct order.

None of these letters extend past the baseline so I can Align all of them. Then, while they’re all still active, I Resized them to the same 75% I used before. They may need further adjustment later.

Hmm. Let me show you another way to make the title fit inside the canvas by Resizing the Canvas! Image>Resize>Canvas Size… or CTRL/CMD>ALT/OPT>C

The dialog box shows the Current Size, New Size, Anchor point and Canvas Extension Color. I want to make my canvas wider, but the height is fine. Remember, the background must be transparent here too.

I’ll just change that “6” to a “7” and make any tweaks as needed.

Alrighty. Everything fits on the canvas but it doesn’t look right yet.

So I activated all the letters for “aising” and moved them in a group to the left. That looks better.

***If you’ve chosen to have your letters overlap, you’ll need to add shadows to your individual letters at this point. You can later shadow the whole title on the layout but where those letters overlap, the shadow style isn’t going to get the overlapping areas and it’ll look funny.***

Now to get the title onto the layout! If you don’t think you’ll need to do anything other than some resizing, you can activate all the layers [click>SHIFT>click] right-click and choose Merge [CTRL/CMD>E]. Then the entire title is a single layer and can be dragged and dropped onto your template/layout.

Alternatively, you can choose instead to Link Layers… but you’ll still only be able to resize it on the layout.

All that’s left is to slide it into place, adjust the size to fit your chosen space and make any other minor adjustments you want. Add a shadow to your title layer and you’re done! It sounds like a long process but you’ll be surprised how well it flows and once you’ve done it this way a few times, you’ll never go back.

Next week is the Challenge Spotlight. Will you see YOUR layout here? Swing by and see!!

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Creative Style, Digital Scrapbooking, GingerBread Ladies, Tutorials Tagged With: Tutorial Tuesday

Tutorial Tuesday (Potpourri)

September 5, 2023 by Jan

X-Fonter – a Powerful Font Manager

PDF Version : https://bit.ly/3Z81CLe

First off, I apologize in advance for the lateness of the hour. I’ve had a MILLION interruptions today and am desperately playing catch-up. Now, on to the tutorial!

There has been a lot of chatter about font managers, both for digital scrapbooking and for Cricut users. I’ve used High Logic MainType for a few years and ran a tutorial on it a while back. Recently I got this PM from Kathi (aka granny5pics):

Hi Jan,
1) I have used the free version of X-Fonter for awhile and last month bought version 12.0.1 because I could no longer find it on my computer! Now I have forgotten how to load a font sample into a “Collection” I have created. Are you familiar with X-Fonter and how it works? Do you or designers have a font management program you like?

2) Why do some font folders show an example of the font and others do not?

3) Which is better to load–a .tff or .otf font file?

So, of course, I downloaded the free trial version and took it for a test drive. Let’s discuss.

1) The reason why Kathi couldn’t find X-Fonter on her computer is because it has a self-destruct after 30 days. Every time the app is accessed, it has a countdown timer and a reminder that if you plan to continue to use it, you have to buy it. The most recent version is 12.0.1, as she said, and today’s price is $35 (discounted from $40). Follow along for the Collection part.

2) Font folders on your hard drive may not always show a thumbnail of the font. I haven’t found an answer to why, but I looked at my own folders and there are quite a few that didn’t come with the thumbnail. So a font manager can be a handy way to see what those fonts look like before deciding to use them. Or try wordmark.it which will pull all your fonts and show them to you online. It doesn’t store any of your information so don’t worry about it being safe.

3. The difference between .otf and .ttf formats starts with where they originated. Microsoft/Adobe created OpenType – .otf, Apple created Truetype – .ttf. I always choose .otf format because the fonts are somewhat more complex, with all the glyphs and library options right in the file. TrueType has better screen quality so is more suited for electronic documentation while OpenType is better for print. The difference in file size is negligible. So it basically comes down to planned use and personal preference.

Now, how does this X-Fonter work? If you’ve used MainType you’ll see the interface is pretty similar, but the features are quite different.

I went through each tab and button one at a time to get a good look at what’s under the hood. Under View, the first two choices are pretty self-explanatory. Other than moving the boundaries of the windows, these are the only interface adjustments. First big advantage to X-Fonter is this! Font Compare lets you look at 2 fonts at the same time so you can choose the one that works best for your purpose.

The display windows are your access to the comparison. The first font you choose will automatically go in the top window. Click on the bottom window and choose your second font.

Options… hmm. There are Options? Browse Folders just takes you to your operating system’s directory.

Default Settings look reasonable to me. Check for Update on Startup keeps you running the most recent model.

Installing gives you control over what your computer does when you install fonts, either from a download or from a storage device. It might be worthwhile to Copy Files to an dedicated X-Fonter folder.

And then if you decide you’re never going to use a specific font again, you can Uninstall! By having a copy in your X-Fonter folder, you can load and unload without installing if you choose to later.

Under View Fonts there are several options, including what you want for your Preview Text. It’s handy having system fonts colour-coded so they can be skipped over easily.

Unless you’re a real IT maven, the Database tab is purely ornamentation.

This Settings tab is where you can customize what you see on your screen. You can change the Text Colour, Background Colour or leave it black on white.

Have a look at the Text menu. Another advantage to X-F! I use French text all the time and have memorized the most common ASCII codes I use, and others I look up on a table, but having this ability is huge!

This is what I mean.

But how do I get the ASCII character onto my project? Choose the character – let’s use a GBPound symbol – and right-click, then choose Copy to Clipboard.

Then with your Text Tool active, click on your project where you want your Pound symbol then Paste (CTRL/CMD>V). Easy peasy!

On to Pangrams. You can choose from 4 different sentences containing every letter of the alphabet.

Don’t you love Filters? You can winnow 1000 items down to a few dozen. Just be aware that when you end your X-F session by closing the app, all your filters will go too unless you Save Filter…

Aha! System fonts can be filtered out!

Are you familiar with Font Families? X-F uses Roman (Serif), Swiss (Sans Serif), Modern (Monospace), Script (Cursive), Decorative (Fantasy) and Unknown (Other) and will filter for either of those terms.

Font Type has already been covered above, somewhat. Raster Fonts and Vector Fonts are used by a range of text-based applications such as Photoshop and Cricut.

Then there are Font Styles… how handy is this?

These Tools aren’t typically applicable to digital scrapbooking, except maybe Duplicate Font Search…

I’m not sure why someone would want to rename a font, since the creator chose its name, but maybe changing it to something that makes sense to the user?

For the people who like to have hard copies, under the Print button you can print out all the fonts on your system, or only certain ones. You can choose just a sample of the font, or the entire character map. Hey… school supplies are on sale – grab a binder and some page protectors!

Next to the Print button is the Create Font Book button. Yes, you can group all your fonts into categories and create an online library of your Font Books.

Third from left is an Options button, and it’s identical to the Options tab.

In the middle are a Filters button and a Clear Filters button. Self-explanatory.

Now to Collections, as Kathi was asking about. Here, YOU decide what your descriptors are. I’m going to create 2 Collections, Creepy and Fairytale, as part of my test drive.

I scrolled down my font list until I found my first Creepy font. I right-clicked on the font’s name then chose Add to Collection>Creepy. Then I continued scrolling until I found another font that met the criteria, adding it, and so on. I ran into a snag with some of the fonts I have, because X-F wasn’t able to “locate the path*” to those fonts, which meant it couldn’t add to a Collection. I’m not sure how it found the fonts in the first place without a path, but what do I know?

That’s where Tags* come in. Font Tags lets me search for the type of font I’m looking for by yet another method. Edit Font Tags doesn’t mean the font already has a tag; it’s how you access the Tag process.

I chose this cute font called Beyond Wonderland to Tag with Fairytale by right-clicking on the font name and choosing Edit Font Tags then typed in Fairytale.

To use Tags to find my desired group, I had to push the boundary of the font preview box over until I could see the Tag heading, then click on it.

Now for the critique. I wasn’t able to get X-F to run on my laptop simply by opening it once I had it installed. I had to Run as Administrator. I shut it down when I was done with my screenshots, but wasn’t able to get it to run again. I got a message that I had 29 days left on my free trial, it read my font files then disappeared. Multiple times. Even after I added it to my Taskbar. I tried all the tricks I know to make it work, without success. Windows Troubleshooter declared it incompatible with my operating system (Windows 10) and tried running it in Windows 8. Again without success. So I’m doubtful I’ll pay $35 ($50 in Canadian currency) for it. It’s impressive when it works, but…

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Creative Style, Digital Scrapbooking, Fantastic Fonts, Theres An App For That, Tutorials Tagged With: Tutorial Tuesday

Tutorial Tuesday (PS Elements 2020>)

August 29, 2023 by Jan

Quick Trick: Guided Edit – Pattern Brush

PDF Version : https://bit.ly/3OXkpUV

Hey, GingerScrappers! Thanks for all the kind thoughts and support for those of us in the fire zone. For me, the crisis is over, at least for the time being. Fire season won’t end until we get some snow, so we can’t really relax. But we didn’t have to evacuate, like so many of our community did. The tally on structures lost is ongoing and most of the people who have lost everything have been notified. They’ll need so much in the coming weeks; I can’t even imagine.

But enough of that. Today I’m building on our paper-making lesson from a couple months back. I’m using a Guided Edit only available to those using Elements 2020 through 2023, so if that’s not you, I apologize.

I’ve created a solid black 12×12 paper on my workspace. Black is a good background for this tutorial since it makes the patterns much more visible in the tiny screenshots I’ve been forced to use.

Click on Guided up at the top of your screen and Elements will take you to this interface.

Click on Fun Edits, then on Pattern Brush as shown.

There are 15 Patterns to choose from in Elements 2020-2022. There were a few more added for Elements 2023. Here, you can see 9 of the Patterns. There are 2 ways to use this Edit and I’ll show you samples of both. If at any time you’re not happy with what you’ve done, you can Undo (CTRL/CMD>Z) back to your background paper, or click the Cancel button at the bottom right. Cancel takes you back to the Guided menu and you can start again.

First, I’m using the Fill edit. I chose the random hearts and clicked Fill. The Pattern is at 100% Opacity against the black. I like it!

In the Fill option, the Opacity slider is active. So here I’ve decreased to 85% just to show you what you can do. I’d probably leave it at full bore.

Oh, and… you can Erase some of the Pattern!! Using the Pattern Eraser Tool, I removed some of the bigger hearts from my sample. There’s also a Blur option that I didn’t play with. You can try it and see what it does. I think it would be perfect with the bokeh Pattern.

I Undid my way back to my plain black and this time I chose Paint using the default settings to Paint a diagonal from the lower right to upper left. See how the positions of the hearts randomly shifts?

I played with the settings, decreasing the Size from 150 pixels to 75, increasing the Scatter from 25% to 50% and dropping the Opacity to 85%. Then I Painted all over the black to create a tiny, overall pattern. There are so many ways this can be customized!

For this sample I used the random stars and Fill. If you don’t like the colour of the Pattern as Elements provided, you can definitely change it once you’re back in Expert mode.

Here’s a glimpse at the other 6 Patterns. I love this confetti cannon look!

Yet another Pattern… but really, who wants red, gold and brown snowflakes? Let’s click Next down at the lower right and move out of Guided mode.

Here, I chose Continue Editing In Expert and clicked Done. If I was happy with my paper at this stage, I could choose to Save it As a .jpeg and use it again and again.

In Expert mode, you can see the new layers Elements has added to the paper. The top and bottom layers are the only ones that matter. You can activate that pattern layer at the top and add a Layer>New Fill Layer>Solid>Clip to change colour, or you can play with the Blend Mode for that layer to see what works best for you.

Here’s a close-up of the pattern so you’ll easily see the Blend Mode change.

Switching to Luminosity took all the colour out of the snowflakes, but not the shadowing! I could increase the Opacity of the pattern layer to 100% to brighten the white. And that’s all there is to it!

Sorry for the formatting glitches. When I mix up my screenshots and have to move them around, WordPress plays with me, hard!

This is a bit of a milestone for me. My very first Tutorial Tuesday Blog post appeared August 30, 2016 – SEVEN years ago!! Today’s Tutorial is #315… that’s a lot of words! No wonder I’m hoarse. (Although that could be the smoke…)

It just started raining here for only the second time since July 24th. Rejoicing!!

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Creative Style, Digital Scrapbooking, Tutorials Tagged With: Tutorial Tuesday

Tutorial Tuesday: Interrupted

August 22, 2023 by Jan

UPDATE!

We are safe. It was pretty hairy over the weekend, but today, they’ve classified the two fires on this side of the lake as being held. The closest evacuation alert to us was about 2 1/2 miles, but seeing how far fire can move in no time flat when blown by high wind, we were packed and ready to go. The bigger fire is still burning out of control, but thankfully, it’s moving away from populated areas. Almost 200 properties are partially or totally destroyed. Rebuilding will take years. I’ve learned so much about the science of firefighting, logistics of mass evacuation and disaster recovery than I ever wanted to know. But I’ll say this: The people on the front lines of these fires are heroes. And they don’t get nearly enough recognition for the work they do. We all know about firefighters, police officers and paramedics, but we don’t know much about the people who keep them going: mechanics, pilots, food services, utilities management, emergency support personnel and so many others. We need to stop taking them for granted!!

Thank you all for your kind words and concern. We GingerScrappers in the fire zones appreciate it more than you’ll ever know.

Jan

This isn’t what I had planned for today. I have no tutorial written and to be honest, I haven’t given it much thought. Some of you will have seen stories on the news without knowing you knew anybody in peril… I live close to Okanagan Lake – on a clear day, I see it from my favourite chair without even turning my head. On Thursday a wildfire burning some distance west of the lake, blown by high winds, very quickly became a real threat. More than 30,000 people were evacuated via the few arterial roads we have here, within only a dozen hours or so. Then the fire jumped the lake in two spots and started consuming fuel on this side. We watched in horror as the evacuation orders crept closer and closer to our neighbourhood. Ash and embers were blowing around like leaves in the fall. We’re still packed and ready to go at a moment’s notice but we are safe and the threat is gradually diminishing. I know you’ll all understand that I’ve had other things on my mind… Thank you!

Filed Under: Digital Scrapbooking

Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

August 15, 2023 by Jan

Challenge Spotlight: Inspiration

How is it already the third Tuesday of August? Of course, this month has FIVE Tuesdays, so we’re actually smack-dab in the middle of the month. The Okanagan valley in BC, where I live, is having a heat wave and we’re blanketed with wildfire smoke again. I feel very bad for the movers who are emptying a truck across the street in this heat and cruddy air. Our Level 4 drought is quickly moving to Level 5. Seems like it’s bad news everywhere. To all the GingerScrappers in Hawaii, you have all our love.

I chose the Inspiration Challenge for this month’s Challenge Spotlight because the Challenge Joy (Memory Mosaic) has tossed our way is something I love to do: take a photo from an “odd” perspective and scrap it. The alternate Challenge is to scrap a photoless layout from someone else’s perspective. When I looked at the Challenge Gallery, I was a little surprised to see only one person chose the photoless option. But what a great choice it was! Let’s have a look at the entries. As usual, they’re in the order they were uploaded to the Gallery and they’re linked to the Gallery so you can take a closer look, leave some praise or whatever. Just click on the scrapper’s user name and you’ll be right there. (I have participated in this Challenge, but decided not to include my own layout, because the focus of these Individual Style posts is on YOU!)

Here, greenfiend27 has two photos and perspective is a feature in both of them. These stainless steel balls see, to be everywhere these days and offer endless potential for interesting photos. They can be a lot like funhouse mirrors, right?

GrannyNKy has a really carefully-framed photo for her layout. There are millions of photos of Christ the Redeemer near Rio de Janeiro, but not many like this one!

Look at TBear‘s layout… the lone outlier! Here’s what she said about it: “DGD, who thinks outside the box as second nature, asked me what I thought an alien birthday cake would look like. I tried to create something from her perspective…outside the cake mix box.” I LOVE it! Kids are so clever.

I had to look very closely at this layout by MeleahG to decide where the “perspective” was… and then it hit me: the depth and breadth of variety! Shakespeare, Narnia, The Count of Monte Christo, The Witch of Blackbird Pond… I read that one when I was about 10 and had completely forgotten it.

For her layout, bumblebeee chose a photo taken from HER perspective of her family canoeing in an idyllic spot. Sometimes looking at the back of someone’s head can be magical. (This PICU nurse’s heart is happy to see life jackets on those precious babies.)

One of the cardinal rules of obtaining great photographs of kids and animals is to get down on their level. And Karen Diamond learned that one well! She also has an aerial view of the farm and a downhill shot of cows in a pasture, so she’s used many perspectives. Good job!

JAMSquared80 has skillfully used up-shots for her layout. That perspective gives a sense of just how tall those buildings are.

Here’s another good example of getting down on their level from photocrazy. Not only do we get better images this way, but they’re more natural and uninhibited.

I’ve NEVER seen a real peacock with its tail fanned out, never mind from the BACK! Props to gmae for this unusual perspective!

This makes it look like the subject of the photo is either walking on water or walking up a glass wall. It’s a bit disappointing to know it’s a glass balcony wall and gadawg83‘s subject is seated, don’t you think?

If you’re new to digi-scrapping, GingerScraps’ Challenges are a perfect way to find inspiration, learn new things and build up your stash. Several of our designer-hosts include freebies with their Challenges and there’s a Challenge Reward kit for completing 10 Challenges. (Missi keeps track of everybody’s totals. When you reach 10 completed you’ll automatically receive the download link for that month’s Reward via Private Message. However, the counter stops there until a new month starts, so if you hit your 10 layouts on, say, today – August 15th, but you keep going and complete 5 more layouts, those ones don’t carry over to September when the counter starts again. Clear as mud?) Here’s a look at the August Reward kit.

See you all next Tuesday!

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Challenge Spotlight, Creative Style, Digital Scrapbooking, Digital Scrapbooking Freebies, GingerBread Ladies, Tutorials Tagged With: Tutorial Tuesday

Tutorial Tuesday (Potpourri)

August 8, 2023 by Jan

Inspiration: Song Lyrics

PDF Version : https://bit.ly/3OwWJGE

When Cindy Ritter said she sometimes takes her inspiration from song lyrics, it really resonated with me. I’ve used lyrics as journaling – a LOT – and song titles too can stimulate my scrapping mojo. So today, I think we should take a deeper dive into that topic. (I’m going to be VERY wordy… so prepare yourself!) I’ve gathered some examples of lyrics that lend themselves well to memory-keeping. Some of them are from 70s pop, some from folk music and some from country because that’s what I listen to; they’re meant to be examples to help you think about YOUR favourite tunes and what they mean to YOU.

My first verse is one that can be adapted to almost any situation. Time in a Bottle was written by James (Jim) Croce. It’s so meaningful on so many levels. It could reflect romantic love, love for a parent or from a parent, and even the relationship between close friends.

If I could save time in a bottle
The first thing that I’d like to do
Is to save every day ’til eternity passes away
Just to spend them with you.

Another verse with similar sentiment is from Remember You Young, written by Ashley Glenn Gorley, Thomas Rhett Akins and Jesse Frasure.

And no matter how much time goes by
And no matter how much we grow up
For worse or for better, from now ’til forever
I’ll always remember you young.

For layouts about children and growing up, another song by Ashley Glenn Gorley and Lee Williams comes to mind: You’re Gonna Miss This. Trace Adkins‘ rendition is so moving.

You’re gonna miss this
You’re gonna want this back
You’re gonna wish these days hadn’t gone by so fast
These Are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you’re gonna miss this

This verse from Light on in the Kitchen is a blueprint for moms and daughters. Written by Jessi Alexander, Connie Harrington and Ashley McBryde, the entire song is full of love and wisdom.

Honey, trust yourself
You better love yourself
‘Cause ’til you do, you ain’t no good
For anybody else
And, honey, boys are dumb
But you gonna find your one
Love him hard and bless your heart
You’ll need someone to listen
That’s why I leave a light on in the kitchen

To carry on with that theme, Mothers and Daughters, by Troy Verges, Carolyn Dawn Johnson and Melvern Rivers Rutherford II, speaks for itself.

Mothers and daughters
Daughters and mothers
For a few years they’re
Like oil and water
Then one day they discover
That they need each other
Mothers and daughters
Daughters and mothers

For those of you who miss your mothers, Theodore Harris has the words your memories may need. My favourite version is by Glen Campbell.

There ought to be a hall of fame for mamas
Creation’s most unique and precious pearls
And heaven help us always to remember
That the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world

I’ve always felt this song recorded by Rascal Flatts represents what each parent wants for their children. It was written by Stephen Paul Robson and Jeffrey Allen Steele and is called My Wish.

My wish for you is that this life becomes all that you want it to
Your dreams stay big, your worries stay small
You never need to carry more than you can hold
And while you’re out there getting where you’re getting to
I hope you know somebody loves you and wants the same things, too
Yeah, this is my wish

This one, Strong Enough to Bend, was recorded by Tanya Tucker; it would be a great way to commemorate a long and enduring marriage. It was penned by Paul Davis and Bobby Emmons.

There’s a tree out in the back yard
That never has been broken by the wind
And the reason it’s still standin’
It was strong enough to bend

For years we have stayed together
As lovers and as friends
What we have will last forever
If we’re strong enough to bend

Another Rascal Flatts song could be an anthem for those who have survived their worst struggles, and an anthem for those still conquering them. It’s called Stand, written by Dan Ernest Orton and Eric Blair Daly.

‘Cause when push comes to shove
You taste what you’re made of
You might bend ’til you break
‘Cause it’s all you can take
On your knees you look up
Decide you’ve had enough
You get mad, you get strong
Wipe your hands, shake it off
Then you stand, yeah, then you stand

What lyrical lexicon would be complete without something by Carole King to round it out?

My life has been a tapestry of rich and royal hue
An everlasting vision of the ever-changing view
A wondrous, woven magic in bits of blue and gold
A tapestry to feel and see, impossible to hold

Let me show you some examples of how I’ve used lyrics to inspire my layouts.

Blue looks good on the sky
Looks good on that neon buzzin’ on the wall
But darling, it don’t match your eyes
I’m tellin’ you
You don’t need that guy
It’s so black and white
He’s stealin’ your thunder
Baby, blue ain’t your color

Hillary Lindsey, Steven Olsen, Clinton Lagerberg

Well, the road rolls out like a welcome mat
To a better place than the one we’re at
And I ain’t got no kinda plan
But I’ve had all of this town I can stand

And I got friends out on the coast
We can jump in the water and see what floats
We’ve been saving for a rainy day
Let’s beat the storm and be on our way

And it don’t matter to me
Wherever we are is where I wanna be
And honey, for once in our life
Let’s take our chances and roll the dice
I can be your lucky penny, you can be my four-leaf clover
Starting over

This might not be an easy time
There’s rivers to cross and hills to climb
Some days we might fall apart
And some nights might feel cold and dark

But nobody wins, afraid of losing
And the hard roads are the ones worth choosing
Someday we’ll look back and smile

Mike Henderson, Christopher Alvin Stapleton

and one last one…

Come by the hills to the land where fancy is free
And stand where the peaks meet the sky and the lochs meet the sea
Where the rivers run clear and the bracken is gold in the sun
Ah, the cares of to-morrow can wait ’til this day is done

Oh, come by the hills to the land where life is a song
And sing while the birds fill the air with their joy all day long
Where the trees sway in time and even the wind sings in tune

Ah, the cares of to-morrow can wait ’til this day is done

Come by the hills to the land where legend re-mains
Where stories of old fill the heart and may yet come a-gain
Where our past has been lost and the future has still to be won
Ah, the cares of to-morrow can wait ’til this day is done

W Gordon-Smith

I’ve used song titles for layout titles too. There are so many ways to make them work for you! What song inspires YOU?

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Creative Style, Digital Scrapbooking, Tutorials Tagged With: Tutorial Tuesday

Designer Spotlight: August 2023

August 3, 2023 by Jan

Cindy Ritter Designs!

Remember my comment about updates in Tuesday’s Tutorial, that they mess things up? Well… it happened again. I couldn’t find my notes for this post. <fuming> All is not lost though. I’ve been able to recreate them. Now, let’s get to know Cindy Ritter a bit better!

Cindy and I chatted at length last week over margaritas on the patio. We got the housekeeping stuff out of the way early, so we could really dish later.

J: What do you use to create your designs?

C: I primarily use Photoshop but am trying to learn to use Illustrator and a tablet. I also use various types of paints, pens, papers and my scanner to create unique products.

J: It can be really challenging to learn new software. I’m trying to wrap my head around Cricut Design Space right now and really wishing there was a common lingo for these applications. I mean, what the heck does “weld” mean, and why didn’t they go with “merge”? I think I’ll need a glossary… Okay, now that we know HOW you work, let’s talk about WHY. What motivates and inspires you as a designer?

C: Most often I am inspired by music, my emotions and color. I absolutely have to have music when I’m working.

J: Oh, me too! I’m often inspired by song lyrics I find especially resonant. Tell me about your favourite kit in the GingerScraps store. Let me guess… it came to you in a song. 😉

C: My favorite is the Beautiful Struggle collection. It WAS inspired by the song “Beauty in the Struggle” by Brian Martin. Like many women, my life has been a series of struggles and challenges, so for me it was very personal. I collaborated with Aimee Harrison and Cheré Kaye and really enjoyed working with both of them.

J: It’s amazing! I LOVE IT!! (I linked it for our readers – just click on the title above and you’ll go right to the collection.) Honestly, who among us hasn’t struggled at one time or another? I think I might be able to guess your answer for this next nosy question: What are your most favorite and least favorite colors?

C: My favorite colors are greens, yellows and orange, I really don’t like pinks and purples.

J: Ladies, take a look at the collection… See any pink or purple? Me neither! Cindy, since you love green, do you have a green thumb? What do you grow?

C: I have a fairly green thumb and do pretty well with green and blooming plants but I don’t have much luck growing anything edible. I live in an apartment so I do container gardening and love growing anything blooming that can survive the heat of Mississippi summers. My current favorites in my garden are Hibiscus, Rock Trumpet, and Bromeliads.

J: In Mississippi you get heat AND humidity. Here, we get the heat but it’s tinder-dry, which is why there’s so much smoke in the air all the time. <sigh> Our HOA has very strict rules about planting anything that isn’t drought-tolerant and every house has drip irrigation to minimize water use. Water is one of the necessities of life for everything. Aside from necessities, what is one thing could you not go a day without?

C: My cats! All 3 are rescues who weren’t old enough to be away from the mama cat when I got them. Bowie and Ziggy have both been with us for over a year now. Our most recent rescue, Phoenix, was only 4-5 weeks old and under a pound when we got him recently. He was brought to us on July 18th by a neighbor who found him injured in her driveway. Apparently she knows I’m a crazy cat lady. Lol

J: I’m not a cat person, but I get the desire to take care of living things who can’t take care of themselves. That’s why I was a nurse for 25 years. 😉 Perfect segué… What did you want to be when you were small?

C: As a child I dreamed of being an artist. I spent most of my working years as a floral designer and also worked as a graphic designer. After I retired I taught myself scrapbook design. My childhood dream is my reality.

J: That’s fantastic! Who says dreams don’t come true? As a fellow retired person, I have so many things that fill my days. Are you a sports fan, or a gamer?

C: I love to play Cribbage. My grandmother taught me to play when I was young and now that she’s gone it brings back pleasant memories of time spent with her. I’ve taught my grandson to play and I hope that years from now playing cribbage will hold pleasant memories for him.

J: Ooh, yes!! I learned to play Cribbage when I was about 10, but I don’t play it well. My late father-in-law skunked me almost every time. When we had a family retreat for my parents’ 60th anniversary, we taught our son-in-law to play. He’s brilliant and caught on right away, now he loves it too! We also got him interested in curling. Such a Canadian thing. If you could have a super power, what would it be?

C: I’m torn between teleportation and time manipulation. Having ADHD, I get distracted very easily and am usually running behind schedule. Both of those would be helpful in getting things done and getting where I need to be on time.

J: I grew up in a military household, so if you’re only 10 minutes early for something, you’re already late. Teleportation would really be a boon for that! I’m also a serious procrastinator, which means I spend a lot of time in conflict with myself. What would you do if you won the lottery?

C: Give each of my kids a house and the money for college. Anything left I would use to help the homeless.

J: Every time I ask that question of designers, I get a variation on those answers. Which leads me to remind everybody that Cindy is providing this month’s Daily Download (and it’s a-freakin’-mazing!) and has already posted a template freebie on the GingerScraps Facebook page. If you’re on FB and haven’t seen it, LOOK FOR IT! You won’t be disappointed! Of course, Cindy is also hosting the Designer Spotlight Challenge this month, in addition to her usual Real Moments Challenge. But if all of THAT wasn’t enough, she’s also put her entire store on sale at 40% off (with bundles and collabs excluded, naturally). But wait! There’s even MORE… Spend $12 or more and you can get an ADDITIONAL 15% off with the coupon code SD_cindy_8-23. What are you waiting for? Go shopping!!!!!!!!! (If you see me with a cartful, just look the other way, okay?)

Cindy, thanks for letting us have a peek into your world. Have a fabulous Spotlight month!!

WordPress is being snarky today… no signature line. Love JAN

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Creative Style, Daily Download, Digital Scrapbooking, Digital Scrapbooking Freebies, Feature Designer, GingerBread Ladies Tagged With: Designer Spotlight

Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)

August 1, 2023 by Jan

Going Right Back to Basics: Preferences

PDF Version : https://bit.ly/3OFlCRH

I’m glad I showed you all how to make your thumbnails actually work for you. Now I think it might be worth it to walk through ALL the settings that might make your scrapping more fun, less frustrating and you more productive. So let’s talk about Preferences.

To make this tutorial as useful for beginners as possible, I reset all my Preferences back to the Elements defaults… which don’t work for me in any way. You’ll have to Edit Preferences when you upgrade to a more recent version of Elements, or when you change computers, so maybe bookmark this for the future. 😉 We’re going to work our way down the list.

These are the basic or General settings. You have control over what Elements will use as a Color Picker, the keys used for Undo/Redo (CTRL/CMD>Z and CTRL/CMD>Y) and a host of other options. You can change any or all of them, but be careful. If you change something you end up not liking, you might have trouble remembering what it was.

These are my preferences. As you may already know, I really don’t love Smart Objects, so I Disabled them. On the other hand, I DO like to have the Move Tool activated when I commit to my text so I can position it properly. A lot of people DON’T like that so here’s where you get to decide. The other settings depend on your level of comfort with your computer, what you’re used to with other software and how you manage your workflow. One tip I can offer is about Enable Soft Notifications. This setting will give Elements the ability to warn you if you’re making a mistake, but it can be a PITA when it keeps asking you if you’re sure you want to delete a layer or resize an element. Lastly, only click on that Reset Preferences on next launch, because it’ll literally put you right back on Square One. For EVERYTHING.

Saving Files is next. Here’s where you decide how much you want Elements to do automatically when you’re Saving a layout or a photo. The headings are reasonably self-explanatory. Remember that if you Save Over Current File, you’ll end up losing the original, and that’s not a good idea. Especially with heritage photos. Also pay attention to where the files are being saved. If you’re a folder person like I am, but sometimes open a template from its original folder, when you go to Save your finished layout, you might never find it again! Elements will put it in the template folder, not the layout folder. Don’t ask me how I know these things.

Here you can decide if you want to save your Image Previews. Consider how much storage you have when you make this choice.

This setting may not be one you care about at all… whether the file extension (JPEG, PSD, PNG) is in upper or lower case letters. Feel free to skip it.

I do think this setting matters though. I ALWAYS want to Maximize PSD File Compatibility.

Most of what happens on this screen will depend on your computer. Elements will analyze your your system and set defaults according to the size of your hard drive. Graphics use a LOT of hard drive resources. You can decide how much you want to sacrifice speed for utility. Personally, I like those 50 History States and 6 Cache Levels so that I can UNDO a ton when I’m working on these tuts! But for that I pay the price.

Most of you will have no idea what a Scratch Disk is, but you should know at least what they’re for. Most software needs somewhere to store temporary files created as it’s used. If you have multiple drives on your computer, you can opt to have your scratch disk go to whichever one is NOT your system drive. If you only have a single drive, like I do, there are no choices to be made.

The Display & Cursors menu gives you a lot of choice over how you see things while you’re working. You choose what your Painting Cursor, your Color Picker Cursor and your Crop Tool Shield look like.

I like crosshairs! When using the Color Picker, I want to choose the exact part of an image that I’m sampling, so my eyedropper is set to Precise.

Just in case you have trouble seeing what I mean, here’s a close-up.

Transparency is a term you’ll remember me using a lot. It’s an important aspect of digiscrapping.

Don’t let anybody tell you Size doesn’t matter! It definitely DOES. Your Transparency Grid should be visible but not intrusive. And Small is going to give you that. Think about the embellishments in your favourite kits. They all have white space around them that is filled with tiny gray squares, right? That’s how you know there’s nothing in the background, and that when you layer them with other embellishments, there won’t be any unnecessary junk in there.

You can also control what you see in living colour! If you’re content with gray, you’re good to go.

Okay, so this is one of my MUST-FIXes. Canada has been using the metric system since April 1, 1975. I was living in Minnesota then, and obviously, had gotten to my late teens using the good ol’ standard system of measures. Am I comfortable with metric measurements? Sure. But do I THINK in metric? Not usually! So my Units & Rulers can’t be metric.

Type Units are a bit um… weird. I’m most comfortable with Points, but if you’re used to Picas, or would like a Pixel count, have at it.

Print Sizes isn’t really a choice that needs thought, considering most print processors in North America still function in inches.

For the digiscrapper, Photo Project Units is another meh! thing. But Print Resolution is an ESSENTIAL factor. Always have it set to 300 pixels/inch so you’ll have the crispest, sharpest prints possible. Home printers typically can’t produce that kind of resolution and they’ll tell you when you go to print at home. Shutterfly, Persnickety and Blurb though… they’ll give you great results. Screen Resolution at 72 pixels/inch is plenty.

We discussed Guides & Grids a few weeks ago, but a little refresher won’t hurt.

When you use a Guide, you might find the colour you’ve set isn’t really visible enough so don’t hesitate to change it. You’re the only one who will see it! I find cyan works well enough most of the time.

When visibility is the key, you’ll want to choose Lines – otherwise why bother?

For the longest time I had my Grid set to red but not any more. Again, if you find the colour you’ve chosen isn’t working, it’s easy enough to change on the fly. It’s not one of those settings you’ll have to hunt for.

See previous comments about units of measure.

In terms of where your Grid lines lie, the best choice is the one that makes sense for you. I like the notion of old-fashioned graph paper, with a heavy line every inch, divided by fourths. That lets me work without having to make any calculations. 😉

I skipped Adobe Partner Services, since the average Elements user who dabbles in photo editing and digital scrapbooking isn’t going to be bothered with those. But Application Updates needs attention. I HATE automatic updates. I want to consciously participate in updating my stuff. Too many times my laptop has restarted in the middle of the night and wiped out something I had open on my desktop. (Bad habit, I know.) I usually have Family Tree Maker open all the time and work on my branches when the notion strikes; it resents those improper shut-downs. Anyway, you do you here!

Omigosh! These might be the most important settings of all!! Type Options have a gigantic impact on the text parts of layouts. Smart Quotes drives me crazy, so it’s history. Asian Text Options lets you use the extra characters that come with some fancy fonts. And who doesn’t want a JUMBO Font Preview?

Enable Missing Glyph Protection came into play in more recent versions. If you see it, tick it! Who hasn’t been merrily journaling away with a cute font (like the free ones used for the Font Challenge) only to be punted into Myriad Pro when it’s time to add some punctuation? But if you have the option to Enable, you’ll get a gap where the punctuation would be and your font wouldn’t change. Then later you can choose a font WITH punctuation that coordinates with your original font so it looks intentional.

Lastly, Elements wants to know where you are so you can be directed to the correct Adobe website for things like help, updates and upgrades.

Now, since I reset everything so I could walk you through the Preferences menu, that means everything else was reset too. Where did my Layers Panel go?? There are at least 3 ways to access it. The easiest is to just click on the Layers button at the bottom right of the workspace. Another is Window>Layers and the third is a keyboard shortcut: F11.

I also like to have the Rulers there so I can align and resize things appropriately. That’s why the Rulers units matter… Click View>Rulers or CTRL/CMD>SHIFT>R to get them on the workspace.

View>Snap To can be useful, or a curse. For now I’ve got all the options set. Will it stay that way? Maybe.

The very last thing I recommend to beginners is to untick that Auto Select Layers box. Why? Because Elements is going to grab whichever layer your cursor is on, not necessarily the layer you’ve got active in the Layers Panel, and your next action might be something you really didn’t want to do. Or you can live dangerously.