We are only going to use 2 colours plus white for this tutorial.   A dark colour for the frame and text, a lighter shade of the same colour for the inside of the frame, and white for the stars.

If you need to save your work part way through, make sure you save as a PSP file.  Most other file types (.jpg or .gif for example) will cause the image to be flattened into a singe raster layer, and you will lose the individual vector objects.

• Create a new image - 400x400 white background

• Layers – New Vector Layer

• Choose a colour and set your Foreground colour (left box) to a dark shade of that colour, and set your Background colour (right box) to a light shade of that colour, on the colour pallet.   Make sure both foreground and background colours are set to be solid colours.

• Make sure your Tool Options pallet is turned on (showing).

Draw The Rectangle:

• Select the Shapes tool

• On the Tool Options, make sure Create As Vector is ticked and that Retain Style is NOT ticked

• From the pull down list on the Tool Options pallet, choose the Rectangle tool.

• Point somewhere in the upper left area of your image and drag diagonally down to the right lower area to draw a rectangle.

• Click on the Object Selector tool

• Click on your rectangle (you will know it is selected when there is a fine line around it with handles on the corners and sides)

• Adjust the size/shape of your rectangle (by dragging the handles) so that there is some space all around it.   Even if it looks OK, practice changing its size/shape.

• Click on the Properties button on the Tool Options pallet.

• Change the Stroke Width to 12

• You can change your line and fill colours in this window at any time.

• When you are happy with your settings, click OK

Add some text:

• Click on the Text tool

• Click somewhere on your image above or below the rectangle.  This is important: If you click inside the rectangle PSP will try to fit your text around the inside edge of the rectangle.

• Type in the text you want e.g. “Congratulations”, “Great Work!”, or your name.

• Change the Fill colour for the text to the same colour as used for the outline of the rectangle. PSP 7 do this by clicking the block of colour in the Properties window, PSP 8 use to main colour pallet.

• Highlight the text and then choose your text size and font.  I used size 26 Lucida Calligraphy (kerned at –65 to push the letters closer together).

• Click the symbol on the Stroke colour box, and turn off the line (select the symbol).  

• Click OK

Position The Text:

• Click on the Object Selector tool

• Point at one of the letters in your text and drag it into the middle of the rectangle.

• Point at the Rotation handle for your text.  When you see your mouse pointer change shape to rounded arrows, press the mouse button down, and hold it down while you drag the rotation handle to make the text go diagonally from the bottom left corner to the top right corner of the rectangle. 

• Drag the handle on a corner of your text object to adjust the size of the text so it fits just inside the rectangle without touching the dark line around the edge.  You will probably need to adjust the angle of the text using the rotation handle again once you are happy with its size.

• Set your foreground colour to the dark version of your colour (if its not already set to it) and set the background colour to white.  Make sure they are both set to be solid colours and not set to null.

• Click the Shapes tool.

• On the Tool Options, scroll down the preset shapes to find the four pointed star (Star 1) and click on it.  Set the Width to 1.

• Point somewhere in the upper left part of your picture and drag diagonally down to the right to draw a star about ½ the height of the rectangle.

• Click the Object Selector tool

• Point at the centre of the star and adjust its position so that the left and top points go over the outer edge of the rectangle.

Duplicate The Star:

• Click on the object selector tool (if its not already selected)

• Click on the star

• Click the Copy button on the top tool bar

• Press Ctrl G on the keyboard or click Edit/Paste/As New Vector Selection on the menu

• Place the duplicate star in the bottom right corner.

• Press Ctrl G again (or Edit/Paste/As New Vector Selection on the menu)

• Position this star in the centre of the rectangle.  Don’t worry about it covering up your text – we fix that later.

• Click on the Object Selector tool (if its not already selected)

• Drag the handle on one of the corners to make this star bigger, so that its height is slightly bigger than the rectangle.  You will need to reposition it in the centre when you have made it bigger.  Point in its centre and drag it to the correct position.

Move the big star behind the text:

• Use the object selector tool to select the big star (it may still be selected from the previous step)

• On the menu, click the Object menu and select Arrange/Move Down.  Do this several times until the text comes in front of the star.

If you will want to change any of the objects then save the image as a PSP file before saving as a gif or jpg file for use on the web.

Vector objects remain flexible - this means:

• You can change the colours used for any of the objects by selected them with the Object Selector, and then clicking Properties on the Tool Options pallet.

• You can change the size of any of the objects by selecting it with the Object Selector, and then dragging the handles on its sides or corners.

• You can move any of the objects by selecting it with the Object Selector, and then pointing to the objects centre and dragging it to a new position.

• You can push one object behind another, or bring an object in front of another by selecting it and using the Object/Arrange menu