DSD is on the first Saturday of November, and it has been the case since 2007. For the occasion, I got several activities going on, for you. Let's have a look at them.

1- Storewide sale

Everything in the store will be discounted by 25%, for Saturday and Sunday. Did you ever fill a wishlist in the store? Now it is time to stock up and get those products you want to get to complete your projects faster or create new kits for your store.

Start shopping!

2- FREE tutorials

In the Campus, there is a dedicated page where you will see 12 unique tutorials rotate, one by one, each hour. For 48 hours, you will have the possibility to view video tutorials that are normally reserved for enrolled students. The list of the 12 tutorials is this:

Brick wall texture

• License plate
• Ghost text
• Paper clip (2) (not the ordinary ones)
• Reflection
• Wired Ribbon
• Gold Element
• Coffee stain
• Folded Edge
• Accordion
• Separator tab
• Flair button

Which ones will you catch? Come back often.

Check out the tutorials

3- Show off contest (with prizes to win)

In order to promote digital scrapbooking using Paintshop Pro, there is a show off contest in the Campus. There are prizes to win too:

• One copy of Paintshop Pro X8 Ultimate (value: $99.99)
• Two Master Classes of your choice (value: $39.98)
• The new 12 Cards for Christmas (value: $9.99)

And what do you have to do? Simple: show off a scrapbook project you made using Paintshop Pro. But, there is a little twist to this: you have to use ANY ONE OF THE FOLLOWING:

• a technique you learned in the Campus
• a free element you picked from this blog (there are lots of those)
• or a product you purchased from the store (or one of mine in the Discovery Center)

Once you have something to show off, you can post it in the Campus forum, while browsing through the other members' submissions. The winner will be picked AT RANDOM, NEXT WEEK, on November 14th (next Saturday). This will give you a chance to pick some freebies from this blog, or view new tutorials in the Campus, or grab a new product in the store, and complete up to THREE projects to enter.

Check the Campus forum

4- 101 super easy tricks to work faster with Paintshop Pro

On Amazon.com, there is a countdown deal for this Kindle ebook that offers 101 tips. Since it is a countdown deal, it is now $0.99 but tomorrow, it will be up to $1.99 and then, Monday night, it will be back to its regular price of $2.99. Don't delay.

You don't have a Kindle? No problem. You can download the free app to view any Kindle book on your computer (how cool is that?). Although the deal is only available on amazon.com (in the U.S.), since it is a digital download, you are still able to get it: there is no added shipping fees!

That is 101 tips that where shared through years of newsletter, but they are all in one handy document, just for your convenience.

Grab your copy of this book

I would greatly appreciate a review of this book, when you have a chance. I am sure you will learn SOMEthing from it.

So what will you be doing this weekend??

This Paintshop Pro script will do all the calculations needed to align all the circles and create a seamless tile.

You can choose a solid color with an outline (obviously, without an outline, a solid color scallop won't show much!), or use a gradient. And furthermore, you can use linear, radial or sunburst gradients for very unique effects.

You can get this time saving script in the store: Scallop Pattern 1 script.

Do you want a chance to win this script? Tell me, in the comments below, how you would have made a scallop pattern before using this script (template? manually? other?) I'll pick a winner next week and it will be announced in the newsletter. Not a subscriber yet? Not a problem. You can register here and it is free (and you only get one email per week).

For a sample, this week, i made 3 different tiles using the script.

For the first tile, i simply used a solid white and a black outline. The script did the rest.

For the second tile, i just used a linear gradient, going from black to white and no outline.

For the third tile, i used the exact same gradient as for the second tile, but i inverted the colors (so it went from black to white instead of white to black)

Isn't that simple?

You need to be logged in to download this sample. You can either login, or register on the top of this page.

News from the Campus

Remember to have a peek at the Creative Christmas Bundle. It is full of supplies, classes and ideas to create something unique this holiday season. It is still on sale for just a couple of days. You get to enjoy all those goodies at 90% off the individual price. That is worth a Black Friday or a Cyber Monday special, isn’t it?

Check out who are the 15 designers who contributed and what they can offer you.

Get help  and Get more help

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Finally, here is a FREE event you can register into.

The 12 Days of Christmas is a series of daily email giving you 12 different templates for cards and matching envelope, along with inspiration and tutorials from various designers. And yes, it is 100% FREE.

Check it out and register HERE.

Scroll to the bottom and the registration form will popup for you (make sure you don’t have any popup blocker on!)

Do you have some photos or anecdotes to share about Halloween time? These are great to add some journaling or stories while keeping inside a Halloween theme shape.

Since Paintshop Pro does not have an integrated text wrapping feature, you can use those paths to manually add text (just like Text on path) and adjust the spacing and kerning, or you can use the Text Wrapping script that will automatically adjust those for you, to have your text along those paths and inside the shapes.

The paths and the shapes are on separate layers so you can use one without the other, or even use the templates to create something completely different, like a frame, a cutout, or just a decorative element.

You can grab this “scary” set of Halloween paths in my store.

Do you want a chance to win those paths? Add your name in the Happy Place thread HERE while answering the simple question. I’ll be back next week to announce a winner.

This week, to make sure that everyone (using Paintshop Pro or not) could use my product, I opted to create a paper cutout using a cauldron image, which was turned into a sticker (with a little white edge). Then, i ran thePaper Cutout script and it generated the long string of colored cauldrons, but also a separate template in unmerged layers. Both the png string of cauldrons and the layered template in PSD format are included in the zip.

Each string (the png and the psd ones) are 4000 pixels long so they are long enough to reach both sides of a full size layout.

You need to be logged in to download this sample. You can either login, or register on the top of this page.

News from the Campus

You know about the Scrapper’s Dozen event, right?

Did you watch the first video where i shared a trick to organize your digital kits?

This week, i am sharing another trick to help you save money, by reusing kits that have colors you are not too sure about. Maybe they are too bright for your project, or they are too washed out to add life to your layout.

Be sure to watch that video, and add your name to the mailing list for the event.

Watch Now

Adding edges with a brush or a picture tube is kind of great for Paintshop Pro users, but then, other program users can’t take advantage of the same tool. This is a FONT, so it can be used by most graphic programs, whether it is PSP, or Photoshop, or Photoshop Element, or Gimp, or other programs that can use outside fonts.

Since these are fonts, they can be used and manipulated just like text: change color, size, kerning, follow a path, reverse a path, etc.

With this font, you get 25 different designs that you can use for edging, stitching, or various designs. Use them on papers, frames, mats, ribbons. Why not even trim photos as if they were laser cut. That would look awesome, wouldn’t it?

You can get this Lace Edge #4 FONT, in my store.

And if you want a chance to win this font, hop over to the DST forum HERE, and tell me what program you would use this font with (maybe you are using a program that is new to me?). I’ll be back next week with the name of a winner.

This week, i created 3 decorated mat templates. You can use them to cut out your favourite paper, or simply to color. You can also layer them with other simple shapes since those are very simple to start with.

I just made the rectangle and round mats (the brown and the green) starting with a vector shape and added the font like text on path.

For the square one (the yellow), i simply created a long strip of one character (the letter b) for about 900 pixels long, then ran the Mitered Corner Frame script to get a perfect corner (and it looks great, don’t you think?). I am also including the straight row of “lace” so you can use it to create any matching element you want, whether it is a frame, a ribbon, or to make a stitching row.

Available for FREE when you register to our mailing list HERE.

News from the Campus

The Scrapper’s Dozen is now adding more ingredients to the recipe! We have more contributing designers who will bring you goodies. And the tutorials you will get are among the best in the Campus! And you’ll get it all when you join.

Registration is not yet open, but you can subscribe to the special mailing list to be first to hear about all the new stuff that will be included.

Tell me more

Do you like the look of distressed edges? Maybe for a worn or vintage look? It might be easy to select pieces to remove all around the edges, but it can be tedious, and making the unevenness regular is a chores. This script will do the work in just a few seconds. You can apply this script to elements, shapes, frames, alphas, tags or photos of any size.

You have the choice of three degrees of distressing and the option to add a darkened edge around too.

Best of all, you will NEVER get the exact same result twice. This means that if you want to grunge up your papers, you will be able to have different borders for every paper you run the script on. It will really look like you spent a whole lot of time grunging those papers one by one! (but we know your secret!).

You can get this Distressed Edge script in my store.

As usual, you have a chance to win this script by adding a post to the RAK thread HERE in the DST forum. I’ll be back next week with a winner. Mendy won the Gemstone script from last week. Congratulations.

One neat use for the distressed edge is that although you can use it directly on the element you want to have irregular edges, you can also create your own templates for shapes you might want to use in the future. In fact, that is what i did for you. Since i could not show you a sample on YOUR elements, i made some grey templates. They are for 4x4 and 4x6 photos. If you are into pocket scrapbooking, or Project life or using Instagram, you will surely find some use for those. Use them for photos or journaling cards.

As you can see, i use them on photos, but you can use them to cut pieces of papers for a mat too.

Available for FREE when you register to our mailing list HERE.

Will you show me what you do with them?

Are you an Adobe user?

If you have CS4 or CS5, and you want to get Paintshop Pro to add to your arsenal of tools (for a very reasonable price), you can do so as Corel is offering you a great deal: you can get a full version of PSP for the upgrade price only.

Not only you can apply this offer to Paintshop Pro, but to AfterShot, CorelDraw and more Corel products.

Are you unhappy with the Creative Cloud option being the only one offered to you by Adobe? That is one additional reason you can want to switch to Corel.

Are you on a Mac? Yes, i know: Paintshop Pro does not have a native Mac version, but do you know that the Product Manager for Paintshop Pro at Corel works on a Mac? Yes, he uses a Parallels software (you might have it too?) and has had no problem with it. Do you have it? Download PSP trial version and have a look!

But you better hurry. This offer ends on August 31st.

Read more about it here.

Whether you have purchased the Card & Envelope script, or not, you can enter this contest. You just have to create a fun Father’s Day card with matching envelope. It’s that easy.

If you have the script on hand, you can obviously create a card with a different size or shape. If not, use the template HERE. It is available for free and is layered so you can use it even if you are using PS or PSE.

Each PERSON entering the contest will get a $3 coupon to the store. You can enter as many times as you want (but you still get only one coupon).

Enter by emailing me a preview of the card and envelope at cassel AT creationcassel DOT com.

NEW DEADLINE and NEW PRIZE

There will be another prize added to this promotion. I got a copy of Paintshop Pro X5 to be drawn among all the participants to this promotion, so to give more people a chance for this, the entries will be accepted until Sunday June 16th. The voting with then take place over the following week.

Share this with everyone you can!

More and more designers like to incorporate matching tags, or cards or other elements into their kit. More and more scrappers like to have something matching the kit they purchased or the layout they are making but might be missing those elements. To do them by hand is ok if you only have a couple to do, but what if you need a whole set? That can quickly become a long task.

With this script, you can start with any simple template (simple works best), choose any number of papers to pick from, select colors from your color palette and let it do its magic. You can generate up to 10 copies of the basic template, using a randomly picked paper and randomly picked color.

And all that can take you less than one minute to accomplish. Of course, the script does not have a good eye for color combinations so you might very well end up with ugly matches, but it is not a big deal: just delete those and keep the ones that ended up as great combos.

You will determine which layers will be replaced by papers, which ones will be replaced by a color and the script will leave all the other layers untouched. Since all the resulting elements will be left in layers just like the starting template, you can still tweak any one of them as you want.

You can grab this time saving script in my store: Creation Cassel

Do you want a chance to win this script? You can do so by adding your name to this thread in the DST forum and give me more ideas on how you could use such a script. I will come back on Monday night with the name of a winner. Remember that even if you purchase the script, you can still enter the draw and if your name comes up, you will be able to get a coupon for a future new release.

For a free sample, i prepared a set of 9 tags (900x600) all made using the same kit from Karenheckyeah called “A summer Place”. You can use those tags for a “Project Life” type of layout since it makes those tags 3x2 inches, or you can use them in other traditional types of layout. It is really up to you.

You need to be logged in to download this sample. You can either login, or register on the top of this page.

It is still April!

The Time Master Bundle is still available for a short time. Monday is the last day this bundle will be available at this price. And Monday, is also the last day you can use the coupon code : TIME5 to get another $5 off the reduced price.

Don’t wait. Get it NOW.

Spend now, Save later

Are you still building your coupon code for May? You still have a couple of weeks to do so. Some of you have already built a nice 50% coupon for next month. I am sure you will be shopping some more! Go for it. Time to shop!

(and remember that what you spend in the Campus is ALSO added to the total)

The BIG Show Off

Did you have a look at the newer projects that members have been showing off? See what Mizfit and Val posted on this thread.

So what will YOU show off today?

And also, i promised you that i would tell you when there would be more prizes to be won. I will now have a SECOND copy of PSPX5 to win, so you have 2 chances to upgrade to X5! And i am still waiting on other partners and prizes.

Go check the BIG Show Off in the Campus

If you want to create a long border with a specific design, how do you achieve that? Probably with a lot of copy and paste and move, and copy again, paste again and move again. This can be pretty tedious if you want to create a long strip of repeated pattern. And how do you make sure the spacing is perfectly even? That is another challenge.

This script does all the hard work for you and will take just a few seconds. In addition, you get many options in the type of repeats you can get AND you are the one deciding how the spacing should be.

You can have a simple straightforward repeat, but you can also have the design alternating up and down, or have it mirrored, or flipped, or both. You can even have the design overlap if you prefer.

You can use just about anything you want to repeat, whether it is a vector shape, a dingbat, a hand drawn design, an element, even an extracted element from your stash (just beware of any shadowing though).

And since the elements can be left unmerged (if you prefer), you can still tweak them individually, colorizing them, replacing one of two of them, and more.

You can get this very versatile script in my store: Creation Cassel

What could you do with this script? Give us some ideas in this thread in the forum, for a chance to win it.

For this week’s free sample, I made this simple frame out of a dingbat that i colored. I used the mirrored repeat and slightly overlapped the first repeat with the original design, then, as the script offered me to merge the first two, i chose a different spacing for the following repeats.

Once a long strip of repeats was done, i selected a smaller portion of the strip to create the sides, and just with duplicates, and mirror and flip, i adjusted each side to create a frame. Very simple to do once you have the basic strip!

You need to be logged in to download this sample. You can either login, or register on the top of this page.

April Promotion

Yes, it is here now. The BIG April Promo is in full swing and you can participate in several different ways.

Spend now, Save later

Every dollar you spend in the store AND the Campus during the whole month will be compiled and will earn you a coupon you can use in a purchase in May. It is simple:

Spend $20 in the whole month, you’ll get a 20% off coupon

Spend $30 in the whole month, you’ll get a 30% off coupon

Spend $40 in the whole month, you’ll get a 40% off coupon

Spend $50 in the whole month, you’ll get a 50% off coupon

Spend $60+ in the whole month, you’ll get a 50% off coupon AND an additional entry into the Big Show Off draw

The Big Show Off

This is where you can show off anything you did (layout, kit, hybrid project, etc.) based on something you learned in the Campus. You link to your project AND to the tutorial, class or tip. You can win one of the fantastic prizes (including one copy of Filter Forge plugin, which DOES work with PSP even if they say it is a Photoshop plugin).

We already have a few great projects posted in the Campus. Check these, from Val, Yobeth and Mireille:

And there are more.

Check out the Big Show Off

Bundle of the week

Until Monday, you can also grab a great deal in the Campus: the Photo-Graphics with PSP bundle is available for $24.99 (instead of $39.99 if you bought them separately).

Even better, if you are using the coupon code: PHOTOGR5 you get an additional $5 off meaning that you end up with TWO Master Classes for $19.99, which is, in fact, the price of one!

Hurry, it is only available until Monday, April 8th. After that, the bundle will go back to the regular “bundle” price of $29.99, and the coupon will have also expired.

Get that Bundle NOW!

Do you sometimes have various elements, like flowers, beads, or even frames that you would like to have evenly distributed? In PSPX4 and X5, there is a function like that but if you are using an older version, the only way you can do it is using the guidelines and measuring the spacing yourself and then finding the center of each object to move them accurately.

That is a bit of work that you can avoid with this script. In fact it will take it just a few seconds to accomplish what might take you a few minutes.

In addition, this script can also distribute elements evenly on a diagonal line, based on the width and the height of the image. Even PSPX4 and X5 don’t do that!

If your elements are the same size, the spacing will probably be pretty even, but if the elements are of different size, don’t count on the spacing as the script measures by the center of each element.

Unfortunately, it is only compatible with PSP9 and up (sorry for the PSP8 users out there).

You can get this script in my store: Creation Cassel.

I also have a giveaway in the DST forum. Simply tell me, in this thread, what PSP version you are using and your name will be entered in the random draw for Monday night.

Just like last week, it is kind of hard to give you a sample of a tool script, so i opted for giving you a spring element (or Easter theme, if you prefer). I made this bunny out of the pipe cleaner picture tubes from the store. This is a PNG format element about 1500 pixels high. I added some fun shadows to give it some volume and the shadows are part of the element.

Those pipe cleaners are so much fun to play with. Just like the real 3D ones you can bend and twist, you can do just the same thing with your mouse. You even have the advantage of being able to make them much longer than the real ones!

They were Mendy’s idea and here is what she said about them:

“This one [product] is so much fun. Makes you feel like you are a kid again. They are so real looking that you just want to reach out and touch them. Love it!”

You need to be logged in to download this sample. You can either login, or register on the top of this page.

April is near

Yes, yes, i told you that last week, didn’t i? And i am sure you know it is only a couple of days away. But did you figure out what it will be about? Did you guess from the hints? Let’s add a bit to the list:

Hint #1: get your wishlist ready (i really mean it!)

Hint #2: check the Master Classes in the Campus (watch the video for the free one or any other you might have purchased)

Hint #3: get ready to scrap

Hint #4: FF often stands for Firefox, but for something else too!

Hint #5: something will happen on “school ground” too

See you soon! I think there might be something more in the Newsletter, Sunday morning.

Subscribe now

Do you sometimes want to create a seamless background out of a smaller element? Do you find yourself unhappy with the Seamless Tiling available in your program? That command creates a seamless effect by fading in the designs, on the edges or the corners. Yes, it is seamless, but it does not look realistic at all. This script creates a seamless tiling the same way you would do if you did it manually: by overlapping the design, instead of fading it in.

You possibly found out about this technique if you watched or attended the workshop on Seamless Designs, but although you knew how to do it, you still found it was tedious, and required precise calculations to make the end result REALLY seamless. That is why Suzy asked me to convert that technique into a script that would do the exact same steps, faster and more precisely.

Do you want to see a close comparison between the seamless effect and the script? Check this out:

Seamless pattern made with the PSP effect             Seamless pattern made with the script

Do you see those fading leaves on the left example? That is the way PSP creates the seamlessness while on the right example (done with the script), you really cannot see where the design starts or ends. Which one do you think would look better to create a background?

You can get this script in my store: Creation Cassel

You can also enter your name in the thread HERE for a chance to win this script. Don’t worry. If you bought the script to take advantage of the special weekend price, and you win the draw, you get a coupon for a future release. It has happened, and it gave a chance to someone to actually pick which new product they wanted! So hurry and post in this thread. I will be back on Monday with the name of a winner.

As a free sample, i chose to create three seamless tiles for you with the script. First, i used the Grass blades tube from PSP, and created a horizontal seamless tile. This would be great to add to any project with a nature or vacation theme. Second, i use a combination of spruce branches, bows and bells to make a vertical tile. You can use this tile to embellish some stationary or cards with a holiday theme (i know, it might be ahead of time, but you can start early). Then, i made a diagonally seamless tile with the fall leaves tubes from PSP too.

How will you use these samples? Show me!

You need to be logged in to download this sample. You can either login, or register on the top of this page.

News from the Campus

Almost $400 in prizes to be won in the Campus 1st anniversary promotion. You can enter just by posting in this thread HERE.

- no purchase necessary

- no registration necessary

- up to 4 entries per person

What are you waiting for?

The winners will be picked on July 4th, 2012.

 >>>>>> Go Comment NOW <<<<<<

Our next workshop will be held on July 8th instead of July 1st, which would have been the regular first Sunday of the month. So it is giving you an extra week to register.

Customizing your PSP

- changing colors

- preferences

- toolbars and menus

- saving all that work

Remember, it is FREE to join and attend.