Calendar Day...And A Tidbit About Clipping Masks In Photoshop

Ready for Spring yet?  I most certainly am.  Too bad we've got to get through February, and perhaps most of March, before hints of Spring start to show.  That good old groundhog in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania saw his shadow, which means six more long weeks of winter, ugh.  One holiday that helps ease my winter blues is Valentine's Day, (I think it might have something to do with chocolate) and my calendar for the month is all about it.  Instead of the usual calendar grid, I created rows of hearts for the days and clipped paper to them.  Using clipping masks is one of the most basic things to do in Photoshop, but I think it's tons of fun.  Take any shape you have and make it look the way you want.  This adds value to your cut files because you can convert them into PNG files using Make The Cut! and use them as clipping masks.   Check out how I did this in my calendar below:

Hearts A Plenty!

Underneath "February 2014" is a notebook shape that started out as an SVG file from SVGCuts.com.  I imported it into Make The Cut! and saved it as a PNG file.  This is necessary since Photoshop will not import SVG files.  I imported the PNG file into Photoshop and clipped some notebook paper to it by putting the paper above the shape and pressing CTRL+ALT+G.  Make sure your paper is completely covering the shape, it helps to magnify what you're doing to be sure.  Depending on the size of your shape you may want to scale down your paper.  You can move the paper layer separate from the shape layer to get the look you want.  When you're all set, press CTRL+E to merge the two layers together.  You now have your paper in the shape of the notebook paper, pretty cool.  The heart shapes for the days and the pink mat underneath were already PNG files I'd purchased.  The cool thing about those is if I decide I want to cut them, I can convert them into SVG files using Make The Cut! as well.  Now that's thrifty in my book, but then again, I most definitely am not the queen of thriftiness (just ask my husband).  So what do you think?  Have you tried this already?  If not, give it a go and have some fun!  Let me know how you do!

Here's what I used to make my calendar:
Make The Cut! software*
Photoshop
Love Story Paper Pack 2 by Echo Park (Valentine papers)
Love Story Element Pack 2 by Echo Park (Journal cards)
Be Mine Element Pack 2 by Echo Park (XO Border)
Babysitting Adventures Paper Pack by Lettering Delights (Notebook paper)
LD Charming Bold Font
LD Remington Portable Font
LD Jub Jub Font
Notebook SVG from Miss Baker's Classroom SVG Kit
Carina Gardner Photo Masks MEGA Collection 

Whew, that was a long list!  Keep warm, and Have a Crafty Day!

*I am an affiliate for Make The Cut!  Thanks for your support!