RAK | Creation Cassel

New script – Custom Playing Cards

January 19, 2021February 21, 2014 by Cassel

You can be an Ace, or a King or a Queen all you want with this fun script. Although you could, conceivably have a separate template for all 52 cards of a deck, this script will just do the cards you want without the need to search for the correct template.

You can have four of a kind, or a full house, or a royal flush in hand.

Just pick the value and the suit for the card and the script will create it. Then, open the photo you want to display and the script will take care of resizing it, and will create a mask for you so you can actually SEE what it looks like as you can move, resize or rotate your image in that “space”. If the image is higher than the card, the script will resize it. If your image is in a landscape format, you will get the option to either keep the full height of the image or to use two halves of the central space.

You can get this fun script and create your own Custom Playing Cards in the store.

For a chance to win this script, check outthis thread in the DST forum and add your name to the thread. Also, remember to give me an idea on how you could use this script for something OTHER than a game theme project.

cass-CustomPlayingCard-sample-Aces For this week, i decided to give you a template for 4 aces. I am sure you can enjoy havnig 4 aces up your sleeve, right?

Each card is full size, meaning 900 x 1300 pixels and has a separate layer for the center image. Since it is saved in a PSD format, you don’t have to have Paintshop Pro to use it.

What will you display with those cards? Four loves of your life? Four places you have visited? Four children or siblings? Maybe four seasons of the same location? Or four funny faces you have of yourself (or someone else)?

You can use one card or all four too.

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

New script – Custom Directional Tube

January 19, 2021February 14, 2014 by Cassel

Do you know about directional tubes in Paintshop Pro? They are such convenient tools that can work for you in creating unique elements. Unlike “ordinary” tubes, the directional ones will allow you to place a simple tube either following the cursor move, like a line of footsteps, arrows, etc., or in a regular sequence where each individual image would be selected and placed one after the other in the same exact order, to make a repeatable pattern or picked randomly among the numerous images created.

Although it is easy to create your own directional tube, it can be time consuming, especially when you create over 100 images.

This script will do all the tedious work for you, while allowing you much flexibility in the creation of your tube. You can have a series of as few as 9 individual images or as many as 400.

Start with any small image (it would take a lot of resources if you are using a large image to start with, especially if you want a lot of rotated images), answer a few prompts and watch it. You can add an overall bevel or shadow to all the images after they are rotated so it would be all consistent when applied.

You can get this time saving script in my store: Custom Directional Tube.

Do you want to create your own tubes too? Check out the Happy Place thread where you can add your name for a chance to win this script.

cass-CustomDirectionalTube-sample-cards As a sampler, i created some simple journaling cards. I simply used the little footsteps directional tube that i created for the preview above and drew a straight line with it. I could have made a curved line that would have shown the rotated steps, but i really felt it was taking too much space on the cards.

You can use those cards for baby milestones, but also for any new step you might be taking in your life, for documenting personal journeys, places you visited, and more.

Each card is 3x4 inch so they would fit in regular pocket page projects if you want.

They are also large enough for you to cut them into tags if you prefer.

You get 5 basic colors.

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

New tubes — Seed Beads 2

January 19, 2021February 7, 2014 by Cassel

This week, i am bringing you some more beads, but this time, they are opaque, and in a softer palette.

You get those bead spills at your fingertip as you can just draw with your mouse and the beads will be spilled along that path. No need to click dozens or hundreds of times to have that many beads on your project.

You get 5 colors: ivory, rose, plum, emerald and aqua. And you get two sets for each: one to spray the beads all around and one to have regular strings of beads. And you also get one set of multicolored bead spray.

Do you want more colors? Keep an eye on the store as more are coming.

You can grab this set of Opaque Seed Beads picture tubes in my store. Sorry PS users, but this is unique to PSP!

cass-SeedBeads2-Sample As a free sample, this week, i decided to use these tubes in a different way than last week.

I opted to create a locket. How did i do it? Simple:

- i created a vector heart shape and used a gold tile as an outline and no fill. That outline was then converted to a raster and added a bevel.

- with a copy of the same vector shape, i set it for a solid fill and no outline. Once i converted it to a raster, i ran the Colored Acrylic script to give that particular “glass” look (even if i used only the plain one without any color).

- on separate layers, i sprayed pink and read seed beads. I reduced the step value so the beads would be closers, and i used several layers of beads so i could add a drop shadow on each layer.

- i deleted any extra bead that ended up outside the locket.

- finally, i added a chain with the Gold Chains directional tube.

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

New Picture Tubes – Seed Beads 1

January 19, 2021January 31, 2014 by Cassel

Seed beads are a common supplies in many craft projects. Scrapbooking is one of those crafts where you can see those beads, but you can now do the same thing with digital scrapbooking: you can add strings of seed beads or a random spray of those tiny decorative elements.

With Paintshop Pro, you can place those picture tubes easily with the draw of a mouse. Use the directional tubes to create strings of beads in any of the 5 colors, any length you want, in any shape you want. You can place them in straight lines, curved lines or totally freehand shapes.

You also have 6 sets of tubes that will randomly place one of the 100 slightly different beads more or less along the path you will draw with the cursor. Five sets are monochrome (green, red, blue, gold and crystal) and one set includes all the colors for a truly random effect.

You can get this set of 11 picture tubes of silver lined seed beads in my store: Creation Cassel.

Do you want all those tubes too? You can enter the draw to get this set for free, by adding your name to the RAK thread here. What would you do with those randomly placed beads?

cass-SeedBeads1-Sample For a free sample, i created a couple of simple decorations. I placed the beads along a vector path using the VectorTube script for the flowers, and added a single “bead” in the center which was part of the Chain Beads tubes set. A little touch of colorization to match them a bit better. Then, the stems were just freehand drawn using also the string version of the green seed beads.

Finally, a little bit of multicolored beads were spilled around each element.

You get two decorative flower stems and 3 individual flowers that you can use separately.

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

Did you notice that it says Seed Beads 1 for this product? This means i have plans for several more types of beads tubes. Do you have any suggestion for other beads you would like to see in a picture tube format like this one? Tell me by either commenting below or by sending me an email with a specific bead name or even an image.

News in the Campus

Tomorrow is a big day for many American and Canadian football fans (and their families). Tomorrow is also the day for our next live presentation, on Photo-Graphics with PSP – Part 3.

Join us for this presentation BEFORE the Superbowl (if you are a fan of football) or just for this ordinary Groundhog day.

In the mean time, remember that the video of last month’s presentation is still available to watch (free if you are logged in).

New script – Plaid 2

January 19, 2021January 24, 2014 by Cassel

No more wasting time picking colors, drawing lines, and repeating the process to only get a single plaid pattern.

This script will turn your Paintshop Pro into a plaid pattern generator (and a time saver at the same time). Start with the color palette you want to use, run the script, pick the colors, pick some options like the size of the pattern and the texture, and let the script do the work.

You can see the script randomly picking the colors (it is fun to watch), and then turning all those dots into a fun and unique plaid. With the randomness coded in the script, you will NEVER get the same pattern twice.

You can generate any number of patterns. Keep asking for more as long as you want. Keep the ones you like, discard the others. Since all the tiles would use the same basic color palette, you are sure they will all match together, and with other elements and papers from your kit, or your page.

Grab this time saving script in my store under the name of Plaid 2.

Of you prefer to create a plaid based on an actual picture, so you can match those colors, you can always use the Plaid 1 script.

Do you want this script for free? Head over to the Happy Place, in this thread and add your name to it. How long do you think it would take you to create 10 different plaid patterns using the same color palette?

cass-Plaid2-sample-SweetFeb This week, as a sampler of what can be done with this script, i decided to give you a little teaser too. The February 2014 DST Blog Train will use a palette that includes red, brown, beige and blue. Although i am not participating in the Blog Train, i decided to create 10 tiles that are based on the color palette. Once you get all the pieces from the blog train, you can combine them with these tiles and create something even more fun.

Each tile is 250 x 250 pixels and they are obviously seamless. Use them straight or at a 45 degree angle for even more fun effects.

Some are darker, some are lighter, so have more red, some have less. But you cannot deny that they all match together so imagine how they will look with the papers and elements from the blog train!

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

What do you want in 2014?

The script created this week was suggested by Carolyn who liked the original plaid script but wanted to use her own colors, and more colors than the Stripes 2 would also allow. She suggested this script in the January contest.

What is YOUR suggestion?

You only have a few days left to add your suggestions of scripts, fonts, or tubes for me to create and put in the store. Remember that if you suggest something, and i end up working on it, not only you get to test it, give your input, and ask for various options to be integrated, but you also get it FREE, and before everyone else too!

ADD your suggestion TODAY

It could be an action you saw for Photoshop and you would like the same thing in PSP

It could be an existing script that you would like to have more options, or different effets.

It could be a photo effect you saw in a layout in a gallery and would like to replicate it.

It could be a way to apply some designs to certain surface.

It could be a way to create objects but with your own settings and colors.

It could be a script to create objects but with some randomness to them.

It could be a font that you only dreamed of and does not exist yet.

It could be a tube to draw various types of elements that are nearly impossible by hand.

Com’on, what do you want to see in the store, in 2014?

ADD your suggestion TODAY

Do like Carolyn did!

New Script – Worn & Glow

January 19, 2021January 17, 2014 by Cassel

Everyone likes a little distressed look on some project once in a while. The proof is that there are lots of filters one can purchase to create that look. With this script in Paintshop Pro, you can create a distressed look on any line drawing with just a few clicks. You get to choose if you want a little bit of distress, or a lot or something in-between. In addition, since there is a random feature integrated inside the code, you will get a slightly different distressed pattern for every run.

Many years ago, i bought a kind of a gel pen (probably among the first kinds) and the ink seemed to include some “oil” that would seep out of the ink giving a colored glow around where i would draw. Kind of a neat effect that i added to this script, as an option.

So you can get the distressed look with or without a colored glow around and if you want the glow, you also pick the color.

Although the script works best with line drawing, you can definitely apply it to a photo or another element like a drawn embellishment.

Don’t waste your time trying to use the eraser tool all over your design, grab this time saving Worn & Glow script.

Do you want a chance to win this script? I am sure you do! Simply answer the simple question in the Happy Place thread HERE and one winner will be picked next week.

cass-Worn&Glow-sample-Days What would you want to get this week, as a sampler? I thought you might be tired of alphas (although that was my first idea when i was thinking of a sample), so i created some labels. Whether you are doing a project 365 or not, sometimes, you might want to add the days of the week to your layout. That is why i created those day tags. I just used the distressed part of the script and didn’t add any glow. I am also including a blank tag so you can add a date or something else (even unrelated to the days of the week).

Each tag is about 750 pixels wide so they are large enough to be used in full size layout, but they are also easy to size down if you want them more discrete on your project.

You can use them on chore charts, calendar, to-do lists, etc.

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

Did you grab the set of digits as a free sampler last week? You can still go get it in the post right below this one. And there is the matching LOWERCASE alpha that was available in the newsletter last week. Did you get it? This week, the matching UPPERCASE alpha will be linked, FREE, in the newsletter.

Subscribe to the store newsletter HERE to get it (and you can always go back one issue to grab the matching lowercase alpha too… shhh).

How about a coupon for the store? Are you interested? Give me your suggestions for future products in the store (scripts, fonts, tubes, etc.) in THIS BLOGPOST. I got several emails with suggestions, but if you post them in the comments of that blog post, those suggestions will count as entries for the random draw. That means, the more suggestions you give, the more entries you get. Who doesn’t like a coupon for a free product?

And while you are there, click on the FB Like button so you can share with your friends. They might have good ideas too. And remember, if they add suggestions, it means there will be more coupons drawn, which will increase your chance to win too!

New Script – Alpha Tags 2

January 19, 2021January 10, 2014 by Cassel

Everyone loves interesting alphas or digit sets. Every designer seems to like to add them with their kits but creating unique ones that offer some variations is really time consuming. As a scrapper, you might find a nice kit that does not include an alpha or you need special characters that are not in the set.

This script will speed up the process, both for the designers who want to add an alpha set, or the scrapper who wants to create a unique title.

You can type anything you want and the script will generate one tag per character in your text. You get to choose one of four shapes, the text, the font, the colors (even the texture) and whether you will have those additional colors or not. And you can also include blank tags that you can use for other purposes like a whole date, a name, etc.

You can grab this time saving script in my store: Alpha-Tags 2 script.

And for a chance to win this script for free, check out this thread in the Happy Place. Add your name and answer the question about how you could use the resulting tags and i will be back next week with the name of a winner.

cass-AlphaTags2-Digits

As a sample of what can be done with this script, i created a series of digit tags, in simple square shape, with basic textured colors (i changed the angle of the texture in the Material Palette for each color for more interesting look) and used the Britannic Bold font.

Each tag is 250 pixels wide in PNG format, and you can easily size it down if it is too big for your need.

If you like this set of digits, the whole matching alpha will be included in the newsletter, so it is always time to subscribe to it.

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

Do you like this set? Are you going to use it? Show me. Link in the comment below.

What do you want in 2014?

I cannot promise you a sports car, or a dream vacation, but if you give me some suggestions of products you would like to see in the store, i can certainly look into it.

Remember that the more suggestions you offer, the more chances you have to win a $6 coupon. And if you have MANY suggestions, you can even win more than once. And the more suggestions there are, the more coupons i will give out. So tell your friends, post in your favorite forum, send emails to your customers. Send everyone to post their suggestions in the comments of THIS POST.

You still have until January 31st to add as many suggestions as you want!

New script – Whitener

January 19, 2021December 13, 2013 by Cassel

White elements are always useful but not always readily available. You surely have a ton of buttons, ribbons, bows, frames, flowers, and probably in just about all the colors you can imagine, but when you want a white one, you are stumped. You probably like that blue ribbon or the red rose, or the purple button but you wanted them white.

With this script, you can turn just about any element (or even papers) to “shades of whites”. Depending on the starting color, you can even add a manual brightening in the end of the script.

But there is more. This script will play with the brightness of the element with a little randomness to it, meaning that several runs of the script will yield a slightly different white, so all your elements won’t look like you painted them all with the same can of paint!

But that is still not all. You also have the option to keep ONE color intact. In the preview, i kept the green from the buckle and whitened the ribbon. You can also do the same to keep the greenery and whiten the flower. How would you do that?

But again, if you think that is all, you are wrong. The script is coded in a way to allow you to run it in batch mode. This means that you can whiten a whole alpha, or a whole folder full of buttons (hundreds if you want) and the script will save a “white” copy in the same folder while keeping the original intact. You can do that in just a few seconds!

You can grab this great tool here: Whitener script at Creation Cassel.

Do you want a chance to win this script? You can head over to the Happy Place, in this thread and add your name, while telling me how you would, otherwise, turn a red flower to a white one (without removing the greenery).

cass-Whitened-sample-Digits For the sampler, today, i decided to turn an existing set of digits (the Chipboard digits) and turn them to white. It was simple as i ran the script in batch mode in the digits folder. The script simply saved the individual files with “_White” added to the original filename so there is no risk to overwrite the original files. And since they are saved in the same folder, they are easy to retrieve.

Those would be perfect to add the date of a fun winter event, or a wedding. And of course, you can add various details to them, like little bows, glitters, or hand doodling.

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

If you want the original Chipboard digits, you can grab them here.

New script – Ribbon Tabs

January 19, 2021November 29, 2013 by Cassel

If you buy ribbons, you might get some straight ribbons, and wished you could get a folded version with the correct angle and shading. But you don’t have it. Then, you find some folded ribbons that would be perfect, but… how will you slip the element you want to attach (charm, ring, tag, etc.) between the layers to get a realistic look?

With this Paintshop Pro script, you will be able to use ANY straight ribbon, and get a folded version in unmerged layers so you can insert whatever element you need to. You can also add shadows that are different on both layers (since one layer might be flat on your page and one might be lifted).

You can either create a fold on one end of a long piece, or use that long ribbon and cut a small piece in it. There is also a random function incorporated into the code so that the angle of the fold and the exact length of the piece will always be different, meaning you can get a wide variety of different tabs using the same ribbon and the same options. No more tabs that look exactly like the others. They will all look like you did them by hand, one by one (but we know you used a shortcut!).

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

Do you want a chance to win it too? Simple: check out this thread in the DST forum and add your name to the thread. I’ll be back next week with the name of a winner.

cass-RibbonTabs-sample-2013-preview In order to show you what this script can do, i created a whole set of digits, attached with folded ribbon tabs made from a single ribbon (from Melissa Bennett) and i ran the script 10 times on that same ribbon, using the same options (create a tab with the full length, keeping the end straight, and facing the bottom).

Each digit was done manually using a basic font, a gold fill and a bevel. Then, they were individually inserted between the two layers of the folded ribbon. Finally, i arranged the digits to create a 2013 decoration. I added some bells, from the Picture Tubes that came with my PSP (I am not sure which version!).

The whole decoration is about 650 pixels high, so it would not overwhelm any layout. This might be a great way to date your Christmas layout from this year, or to conclude a P365 for this year.

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

But that’s not all. If you want the complete set of digits, subscribe to my newsletter and you will get it in the Sunday release (December 1st, 2013). If you see this post a little late, wait for the next release and work your way back through the past issues!

You have not yet subscribed? You can still do so (and of course, it is free!)

Subscribe to the Newsletter

Now, how about some SALE!

For Black Friday, EVERYTHING in my store is 40% off. Yes, EVERYTHING. If you are familiar with my business, you know that i do not have many sales in the store, so you better take advantage of this offer.

Since some are shopping on Black Friday, others on Cyber Monday and yet others will shop in between, everything will be left on sale until Monday night.

Go shopping!

New path – Holiday theme

January 19, 2021November 22, 2013 by Cassel

Paintshop Pro might not (yet) have the option to wrap text inside a specific shape, like a text editor program would do. Normally, you would have to struggle with separating the lines yourself with a [return], add some spaces or play with the kerning. That would work but you can achieve similar result faster using the Text Wrapping script, which works with paths.

This set of paths include 12 different holiday themed shapes. You get the path and the shape on different layers, so you can use the path for your text, and you can use the shape to possibly cut out the paper to show the text, or to replace it by a paper from a kit, or simply as a guide for other creative uses. Or you can use the shape totally separate from the path too since your text can just be printed on the background paper if you prefer.

You get pretty large shapes so you can resize everything down if you need it. Although these paths work perfectly with the Text Wrapping script, you can also add text manually by following the detailed instructions included.

You can get these fun Holiday Shapes paths in my store.

You can also win this set by adding your name to the Happy Place thread here, and tell me how you would create text inside a shape with your PSP. I’ll be back next week with the name of a winner.

As a sample for you to see the result of these paths, i created a simple holiday card. I used the tree path and copied the lyrics from “We wish you a Merry Christmas”, and ran the Text Wrapping script on it. I decided not to use the template, but instead, doodled with the brush tool, on a layer below to create a tree shape. The ribbon frame was created using the Circular Element script on a long and straight ribbon.

This card is a standard 7x5 format so you can get it printed just about anywhere. It is a png format so you can just add a photo for the occasion.

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