NOTE: This is a long tutorial so take lotsa breaks and even do it over a couple of sittings
- Open a New Image in PSP ( Ctrl + N )> width 400 pixels x 400 pixels; Resolution 100.000 pixels/inch; Raster background checked; Color depth RGB 8bits/channel For Users of old PSPversions this is 16million(24bit); Color Transparent Checked>OK.
- Select you Floodfill Tool ( F )> Match Mode RGB Value; Tolerance 0; Use all layers Unchecked; Blend Mode Normal; Opacity 100.
- On your Materials Palette -
- Left click on the wee button underneath both the foreground and background colour swatches and select solid colour on both
- Right click on the Background colour swatch and select White.
- Left click on the Foreground colour swatch To open the materials properties dialogue box> Change HTML Code to #e8d9b8 or using the button on colour wheel select another pastel colour of your choosing>OK.
- Then Left click on the Foreground Colour swatch To open the materials properties dialogue box>Select the Gradient Tab> Click on the Gradient colour swatch and select Foreground/Background from the dropdown menu; The white should be in the top right corner; Texture and Invert both Unchecked; Angle 45; Repeats 0; Style Linear>OK.
- Left click in your new Transparent image to Floodfill it with your Gradient.
- Effects>Texture Effects>Texture>From the dropdown menu select a fine texture like canvas simple - hatch fine - paper fine - crisscross; Scale 100%; Smmothness, Ambience and Shininess all 0; Depth 1; Angle 45; Intensity 50; Elevation 30; Right click on the wee colour swatch and select White>OK.
- Layers> New Raster Layer.
- Select you Shapes Tool - Rectangle ( G )Shape Square; Show Nodes and Create on a Vector both Unchecked; Horizontal and Vertical Radius both 0; Line Style - Select Solid Line from the dropdown menu; Width 2; Anti-alias Unchecked; Join Mitre; Mitre Limit 15.
- On you Materials Palette - Left click on the Background colour swatch; click on the Gradient tab; and select a gold or metallic looking gradient; Angle 45; Repeats 0 or 1; Invert and Texture both Unchecked; Style Linear>OK - Then click on the double ended arrow that is inbetween the 2 big colour swatches to switch the gradients around so that the metallic gradient is now in the Foreground - Then click on the Transparent/Null button underneath the Background colour swatch to make it invisible as we do not want it for the next few steps.
- Now holding your cursor near top left corner and looking at the status bar at the bottom of your workspace - when the 1st set of bracketed numbers reads (x4 y4) left click and holding down your mouse button drag down and to the right until the 2nd set of bracketed numbers reads (396, 396) then let mouse button go to set your shape
- On you Materials Palette - Left click on the Foreground Colour Swatch To open the Materials Palewtte dialogue box again and change the angle to 135; Leave rest of settings as they are>OK.
- Layers>New Raster Layer.
- Make another square this time starting at (x10 y10) and ending at (390,390).
- Select your selection Tool ( S )>Style Type Rectangle; Mode Replace; Feather 0; Anti-alias Unchecked.
- Now starting in top left corner - left click and holding mouse button drag across 1/2 way and down 2/3 and then let mouse button go.
- Edit>Cut ( Shift + Delete ) or ( Ctrl + X )
- Selections>Select None ( Ctrl + D ).
- Layers>Merge>Merge Visible.

- Layers>New Raster Layer.
- Select your Preset Shapes Tool ( P )>From dropdown menu select the outline of a heart shape with pointed bottom; Retain Style and Create on a vector both Unchecked; Anti-alias Checked; Line Style solid line; Width 2; Join Mitre; Mitre limit 15.
- On the Materials Palette - Click on the Null button underneath the Background colour swatch to have it show again You will notice that the white is in the bottom left corner this time, which is where we want it :)
- Holding cursor near top left corner and looking at status bar at the bottom when the 1st set of bracketed numbers reads (x15 y15) left click and holding mouse button down drag down and to the right until the 1st set of bracketed numbers reads (x240, y345) then let mouse button go.
- Effects>Texture Effects>Texture> Change angle to 135; leave other settings as they are>OK.

- Select your Magic Wand Tool> Mode replace; Match Mode None or RGB Value; Tolerance 0; Use all Layers Unchecked; Contiguous Checked; Feather 0; Anti-alias Checked; Outside.
- Left click in the middle of the heart shape to select this area
- Selections>Load/Save Selections>Save Selection to Alpha Channel As we will need it later> Add to document will be same as your Image number; Name will be selection 1 This is okay as we will only be saving the one Move to Upper left of the canvas Unchecked>Save.
- Layers>New Raster Layer.
- Layers>Arrange>Move Down.
- Selections>Modify>Expand> Number of Pixels 1>OK.
- On your Materials palette - Click on the wee button underneath the background colour swatch and select solid colour - then Left click on the now Solid coloured background colour swatch to open the Materials Palette dialogue box and using the L slider move it to the right until the colour is about halfway between the colour you chose at the start and white making it a very light colour
- Select your Floodfill Tool again ( F ) Leaving settings as they are - Right click inside the selected area to flooodfill it with your new pale colour.
- Selections>Select None ( Ctrl + D ).

TIME TO GET UP AND MOVE AROUND - HAVE A STRETCH - GRAB A DRINK
- Select your Preset Shapes Tool again ( P )> and from dropdown menu this time select the solid filled heart with the pointed bottom; Leave other settings as before.
- Now make 2 heart shapes in bottom left corner slightly overlapping as in image below

- Open the tubed image you are going to use
- Edit>Copy ( Ctrl + C)
- Click back on the image we are building to make it the active image again
- Edit>Paste>Paste as new layer ( Ctrl + L )
- If you need to - - - -
Image>Resize ( Shift + S )> Resize all layers Unchecked; Lock aspect Ratio Checked; Resample using Smart size; Pixel Dimensions - Select percent from dropdown menu; and enter a % to resize your image to fit the space available - Mine was resized to 50% its orginal size
- Select your Move Tool ( M )
- Left click on the image you added and holding down your mouse button drag into position in the right bottom corner.
- Selections>Select None ( Ctrl + D )
- On you Layer Palette> lower the opacity of this layer to between 40 - 60 % depending on your image. Mine was 44%

- Layers> New Raster Layer.
- Add watermark.
- Layers>Merge>Merge Visible.
- Layers>Duplicate - Do this 2 times so you now have 3 identical layers If you look at the Layers Palette you will see that the top layer is the active layer
- Selections>Load/Save Selection>Load selection from Alpha Channel>Load from Document - Will be the name of the image we are building most probably Image 1; and in the dropdown menu there is only the one saved selection; Operation Replace Selection Checked; Move to upper left of canvas and Invert image both Unchecked>Load.
- Adjust>Add/Remove Noise>Add Noise> Random Checked; Monochrome Checked; Noise 18%>OK
- On layers Palette> make the middle layer the active layer now - and then repeat Step #17 making noise 20.
- On layers Palette> make the bottom layer the active layer now - and then repeat Step #17 making noise 16.
- Selections>Select None ( Ctrl + D ).
- File>Save As> Give your image a file name; Save as type - PSP Animation Shop (*.psp)> Save.
Leave it open on your workspace as we are not finished with it yet.
- Layers Palette> and highlight the Top Layer so that it is the active layer again.
- Layers>New Raster Layer.
- Select you Text Tool ( T )> NOTE:: In older versions of PSP7 and before you will need to click on the image at this point> Font Select a font of your choice I used A Charming Font Superexpanded - if you do not have it and want it you can click on the fonts link in the Materials required section above and you will find it on the ' A ' page.; Size to suit your font; Alignment Rightside; Direction Horizontal; Anti-alias Smooth; Line style Solid Line; Warp Text Unchecked; Join Mitre; Mitre Limit 10; Offset, Leading, Kerning and Tracking all 0; Auto Kern Unchecked.
- On Materials Palette> left click on the wee double ended arrow in between the 2 larger colour swatches to have the gold gradient in the Background/Fill now and click on the wee Transparent /Null button underneath the Foreground colour swatch as we do not want it active
- At this point Users of versions PSP8 - X2 click on the image to open the Text Entry box and type in Happy Valentines Day - One word on each line only; I always have the remember text box Checked>Apply.
And Users of PSPX3 Click on your Image and your cursor will show where you clicked - and type the message as above; then click on the green tick on the Tool Settings Palette (Left hand side)
- While the marquee is wriggling around the text - hold cursor over it and when the cursor changes into a 4way arrow left click and holding down mouse button drag text up into the top right corner - when happy with positioning let mouse button go to drop it there
- Selections>Select None ( Ctrl + D ).
- On Materials Palette> Left click on the Background Gradient colour swatch to open the Materials Properties dialogue box> and select a different gradient from the dropdown menu something that will stand out clearly over the image in the bottom right corner - or if you prefer use a darker solid colour
- NOTE:: In older versions of PSP7 and earlier you will need to click on the image at this point>
On text tool palette change size to a slightly larger size; leave rest of settings as they are.
- Then click back on your image again
For PSP8 - 12 Users to reopen the Text entry box and highlight the text in it if it is not already and type in a message You can read image at top to see what I wrote> Apply.
For PSPX3 Users click on image to active the cursor on the image and type message then click on green tick on Tool Settings Palette (Left hand side).
- While the marquee is wriggling around the text - hold cursor over it and when the cursor changes into a 4way arrow left click and holding down mouse button drag text up into the bottom right corner - when happy with positioning let mouse button go to drop it there
- Effects>3dEffects>Drop Shadow> Vertical and Horizontal both 0; Opacity 100; Blur 18; Right click on the wee colour swatch and select White; Shadow on new layer Unchecked> OK.
- Selections>Select None ( Ctrl + D ).
TIME TO GET UP AND MOVE AROUND AGAIN - HAVE A STRETCH - GRAB ANOTHER DRINK
- On the Layer Palette> on the bottom 3 Layers click on their Visibility Toggle ( The eye ) to make them invisible - and make sure that the Top layer with the text on it is still visible and is the active layer still.
- Edit>Copy Special>Copy Merged. Using this will keep the canvas the size of the text in perspective with the size of the image
- Time to open up the PSP Animation Shop Program now.
- File>Open> Browse to where you save the image before and open it up in the Animation Shop - If you then roll you mouse scroll button back towards you one time you will be able to see the 3 layers we had on the image when we saved it in PSP only they are now sitting side by side like 3 frames of a movie
- Edit>Select All. - Make sure you can see the 1st frame of the 3 completely
- Next click on the Propogate Paste button that is on the Top Toolbar

- Edit>Into Selected Frame ( Ctrl + E ) This will stick the text to the end of your cursor - Now position it on the right side as it was on the image in PSP - and left click one time to set it there -
Magic has happened - By using this method as described you will see that the text now appears in all 3 panels in exactly the same spot

- Now in Animation Shop open the small animated bird you saved at the start - moving the scroll button toward you - you will see that it also has 3 frames to it - Now this one is facing the opposite way to what we want it to be for our project so .......
- Edit>Select All ( Ctrl + A )
- Animation>Mirror ( Ctrl + M )
- Edit>Copy ( Ctrl + C )
- Click back onto the animation we are building to make it the active one again
- Edit>Select All ( Ctrl + A )
- Edit>Paste>Into Selected Frame ( Ctrl + E ) This will stick the text to the end of your cursor - Now position it in the left top part of the large heart - and left click one time to set it there -
Magic has happened - By using this method as described you will see that the three frames of the bird animation now appear in all 3 panels in exactly the same spot with the 1st frame of the bird animation in the 1st frame of the one we are creating - the middle frame in the middle frame and the last frame of the bird animation in the last frame of the animation we are creating

- You can close the bird animation now.
- Now let's see our animation working - View>Animation.
- If you think it is going a little too fast - click back on the image that has the 3 frames on it
- Edit>Select All ( Ctrl + A )
- Animation>Frame Properties> and change the number the higher the number the slower it goes>OK.
- Animation>Animation Properties> canvas colour Transparent; Looping - Repeat animation Indefinately>OK.
- When you are happy with it - Click on the working animation to make it the active image
- File>Save As> Save In - Choose where you want to save the animation to; File name - Give your animation a name; Save as Type will be CompuServe Graphics Interchange (*.gif)> Save> For this one I left the slider at the top for best quality image; Use these settings when saving unoptimised files Unchecked> Next> Next> Next> Finish.
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