Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)

Tucked Photo Frames Made Easy

PDF Version : https://bit.ly/3VmV2R8

Anyone who has spent any time touring the GingerScraps Gallery knows that we have some inordinately talented and creative scrappers in our midst. And some equally superlative Designers. If you’re ever needing a healthy dose of inspiration, you won’t have to look far. Karen found a layout using one of these fabulous tucked frames in the Gallery and had to try it for herself. Turns out Sheri (Jumpstart Designs) has already done ALL the work and all we have to do is customize. Here’s a link to the product in her Shop.

So how easy is it to use these gems? I’ll show you! While I’m at it I’m going to add my tucked photo to a template from this month’s Spotlight Designer, Connie Prince. (Alas, it’s discontinued, but this will work regardless.) As you can see in the screenshot below, I’m using a layered file, in this case a PSD.

The only difference with using PNG files for this is that you’ll have to add them to the template’s photo spot manually, one at a time, aligning them as needed. I dropped this photo of my grandson Aaron onto the Photo Mat layer of the PSD.

When I Resized my photo, I found it still wasn’t a great fit; there were important details I didn’t want to crop out.

But… I CAN Resize the rest of the layers to fit to the photo. I Activated all those layers EXCEPT the photo and made my adjustments. The nice thing about the Photo Mat layer being black is that it’s easy to see if the Resized frame still isn’t right.

Did you notice the tab is partially covered by the photo – which isn’t the look I want? To solve that problem I just Clipped the photo to the Photo Mat layer. There are always multiple ways of doing these types of things in Elements, and I usually will show you two of them. Right-click>Create Clipping Mat is one way. The keyboard shortcut for Elements 14 and earlier versions is CTRL/CMD>G. For Elements 15 and more recent it’s CTRL/CMD>ALT/OPT>G.

Simply by Clipping the photo to the Mat, the tab now looks like it’s part of the paper the photo/frame combo is tucked into!

Now to move it all to the template. I just moved the whole stack as one object onto the photo spot on my template. Will it still work like a PSD though? One way to find out!

Brilliant! All I did was turn visibility for the template’s photo spot off and the tab looks like it’s the same paper that’s under the photo.

As you can see on the finished layout, Clipping a paper to the template did exactly what I wanted it to do, and my photo is neatly tucked under some brown cardstock.

Now I can’t wait to try the others in the package!!

Next Tuesday, it’s YOUR turns to shine! Which Challenge will be in the Spotlight?

 

 

 

March 8, 2024: Fresh Baked

Happy Friday everyone. Has spring “sprung” in your area yet. We’ve had some great temperatures this week. I’m sure it will get cold again before spring hits for good. Don’t forget we have the Gingerscraps {Spring} Scrap-a-thon going on.

Gingerscraps {Spring} Scrap-a-thon!

Remember, if you spend $10 in the store, you will get this great collab for free. I just these bright colors.

Let’s see some of the new items in the shop this week.

How are your challenges going? Are you participating in the Scrap-a-thon? If you complete any 10 challenges, you will get this kit as a reward.

Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)

Text on a Custom Path – Keeping the Path

PDF Version : https://bit.ly/3ToXcyv

One of the very first tutorials I wrote for GingerScraps was about putting text on a path – geek-speak for lettering that isn’t on a straight line. (If you want to see it, look here.) Early last week I got this message from Karen: “I found your tutorial on how to put text on a wavy line but what I want is for the line to stay with the text. I just cannot accomplish that.” So immediately – literally – I opened up Elements and figured out how to do it. We decided it would be a good tutorial topic, so here’s what I did.

If you’re a frequent reader, you know one of my mantras is to put things on their own layers so they can be manhandled without manhandling anything else. So of course, first thing to do is to create a new, blank layer to put your wavy line on. Then activate the Pencil Tool, with a hard, round tip at about 5 pixels in diameter. It can be thicker, but it’ll be more jaggy if it’s thicker, so choose accordingly. (It can be made thicker later if desired.) You can choose a colour now, or add a Fill Layer>Solid Color later. Set the Opacity at 100%.

Now, draw your wavy line. Moving your mouse quickly with the left button down, drag the cursor in a swooping motion. The faster you move the mouse, the smoother your line will be.

The font you choose will make or break this technique. If you’ve got a bit of a bumpy curve, using a font with a slightly wandering baseline will disguise that. But those really fancy fonts might look a bit weird. Choose one you like, and give it an audition. If it’s not what you were looking for you can change it later. I’m using one called Natalia Regular.

Activate the Text Tool and then choose Text on Custom Path Tool. The icon looks like a capital T sitting on a snowboard. The Tool will default to Draw.

The Tool Tip will look like the nib from a fountain pen. For those too young to have seen those, here’s one.

Carefully click-and-drag the Tool Tip along your curvy line. I find it easier to pull when doing this; I’m much more shaky when pushing.  But this can create problems when the text goes the wrong direction. 😉 So my advice is to draw your guideline in the direction you want your text to travel. You can take a break if you need to; to find out where you stopped, turn visibility for the master line layer off momentarily and you’ll be back in the game. Go slowly and try to stick as close to your master line as you can.

Once you’ve gotten your text line in place, click on the Modify Button in the Tool Options. Wherever your text line departs from your master line, Elements will put a dot – they’re your “handles” to move the text line to where you want it. Click-and-drag the dots closer to your master line until you’ve got the text line and master line touching each other.

Know where your Text Tool is going to put your letters. Mine is usually set to Center, so I’ve put my cursor there and clicked to activate. You’ll know you’ve actually activated the Text Tool when a blinking line appears. If you have yours set to start at the left side, that’s where you start. Now I’ll just type my text.

 

The text may not fit properly on your master line. You can easily resize it, or add some extra spaces, change the Tracking if you’re using a more recent version of Elements… or you can change it to a completely different font. Until you Simplify it, you can make all the changes you want. Once it’s Simplified, the text line that told Elements where to put the text will disappear.

All that’s left is to decide how far away you want your master line. Nudge it with your arrow keys. If your master line seems a bit too jagged at the size you’re going to use this, add a small Stroke, centered on your line. That’s easier that trying to Refine it.

Here’s another sample, this time using an arrow brush.

And then I did this, which is when I found out the Tool takes its direction from – well – the direction the text line was drawn. I had started at the top of the bell and drew down to the lower left edge, and the text ended up on the inside of the line, not the outside. UndoUndoUndo! If I Rotated the Stroke line layer, I was able to get the Text where I wanted it.

I might have to try this one again, but with a shamrock, to celebrate my Irish heritage. [Editor’s note: Shamrocks have 3 leaves, to represent the Holy Trinity, not 4. Those 4-leaf clovers aren’t shamrocks!] See you next week!

Designer Spotlight: March 2024

Connie Prince

I think everybody already knows Connie. Some of us know her quite well, either as one half of North Meets South Studios (she’s the South half) with Trixie Scraps, or through her Shop at GingerScraps. But a Spotlight is a Spotlight, so she agreed to (another) chat with me. She’s had a hectic year so far, so this was a gracious act on her part… This is how our chat went.

J: Connie, thank you so much for taking a few minutes with me so I can introduce you to all the new folks in the GingerScraps community and to maybe give the rest a bit more of a glimpse into your creativity. I think this is our fourth Spotlight together, so I hope you’re not bored! Let’s talk creativity for a moment and then we can just gab. What are your most favorite and least favorite colors?

C: I love primary, bold colors. Pastels are my least favorite!

J: I think anybody who’s browsed your Shop would know that. <winks> We’ve talked about all the other mundane stuff, like what got you started and how your workflow goes a few times already so let’s talk about fun stuff! Can you play a musical instrument?

C: Yes, piano and it soothes my soul so much!

J: I know I’ve mentioned this before, that I took piano lessons as a middle-schooler. I wish I could have kept it up, but we didn’t have a piano at home and practicing was very challenging. I love music and, like you, I find it very therapeutic. This is a weird question so let me set it up for you. When we moved into our new house back in May 2020, for the first time in my life I had a BIG walk-in shower. I feel like we could have a party in there! I put a waterproof Bluetooth speaker in there and play my Amazon playlists while I’m unwinding. So, are you more likely to dance or sing in the shower? I do both…

C: Definitely dance!

J: Yeah, a good, non-slip base is really dance friendly. But boy am I glad no one can see me doing it! Good thing my family know I’m… um… quirky. What one word would your friends and family use to describe you?

C: Loyal.

J: Well, that’s a lot better than weird! And it’s an amazing quality to have. I wonder if I can guess your answer to this one. What would you do if you won the lottery?

C: Travel, travel, & travel some more!

J: Yep, nailed it! I “travel” vicariously with you through your Facebook fan group. Except when you cruise. I just can’t… the ICU nurse in me won’t. So, let’s shift to what your dream vacation looks like.

C: Anywhere tropical works for me!

J: I’ve done a few semi-tropical vacays – Florida, Louisiana, California – but the only truly tropical locale I’ve visited is Jamaica. I’ve never been a lie-on-the-beach-baking-in-the-sun kinda gal, but I’d absolutely go back to Ireland any time. England, Scotland and France too. Excuse me a second, I’ve got spaghetti sauce needs stirring. Ah. If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?

C: Steak and salad!

J: Hmm, not very tropical! <winks> So, tell me. Aside from the necessities like food, water, sleep and exercise, what one thing could you not live without?

C: My phone!

J: I know, right?! My husband doesn’t understand how I can use my phone as much as I do; maybe it’s because he needs his text super-huge so he can read it, he doesn’t really know where his phone puts things or how to get to them, and his fingers just don’t behave accurately enough for a phone keyboard. I don’t know. (I’ve had to teach him how to send text messages, and how to attach photos to them, as well as how to use most of the apps he has.) But I use mine for everything! It’s one of my super powers. If you could have a literal super power, what would you like it to be?

C: Manipulate time, I’d definitely make use of that one!

J: YEAH! Extend your tropical vacays!! Push back deadlines. Get out of things you’d rather not do just by skipping over that day. I could use that. Is there any one thing about yourself you’d change if you could?

C: I would love to master the art of being patient. I’m working on it, but it is for sure a big struggle!

J: I’ve been told I have the patience of a saint. I don’t know about that; there are some things that drive me absolutely crazy and my fuse is short when I have to do them. Anyhoo, I’ve taken up enough of your time. I’ll take care of the rest of the Important Spotlight Information. Thanks again for giving our community a little insider 411 on Connie!

As with all of our Spotlight Designers, Connie is the provider of the Daily Download for this month – links are found here on the Blog each day and are good for 5 days – and the host of the Designer Spotlight Challenge in the Forum. She also is the regular host of the #2024 Challenge that is in essence, a minikit challenge. This is what the March kit looks like. And did I mention it’s FREE?

So cute!!! The other Important Info is that Connie has a coupon for y’all… and a GENEROUS one at that!!!!!

Ready? Set? SHOP!

 

GingerScraps: New FREE with Purchase Collab, New Monthly Mix, Fresh Baked & More!!

It is the 1st of the month and you know what that means; a huge, exciting newsletter! We have a New Buffet, New Monthly Mix, New Free With Purchase Collab, New Challenge Reward, & a New Daily Download on the GingerScraps Blog!  Plus it’s Friday so we have Fresh Baked goodness as well.  It’s also the start of the Gingerscraps {Spring} Scrap-a-thon!

Gingerscraps {Spring} Scrap-a-thon!

Don’t forget to check out the Buffet Bundles. One easy click to add bundles of Buffet goodies to your cart.

These colors remind me so much of Spring! You’ll see a lot of Spring kits in the store this week too!

Remember any $10 spent in the store gets you this great collab.

Indulge in a whimsical journey with ‘Magically Delicious’—the vibrant digital scrapbooking kit that captures the essence of childhood wonder and nostalgia! Immerse yourself in a kaleidoscope of fun, bright colors reminiscent of your favorite breakfast cereal, adorned with playful rainbows, mischievous leprechauns, and glittering pots of gold. With enchanting unicorns prancing through the pages, this kit sparks imagination and invites you to create delightfully magical scrapbook layouts.

This Free With Purchase was created by ADB Designs, Alexis Design Studio, Karen Schulz, Tami Miller Designs, and The Scrappy Kat.

This collab includes: 3 Alphas {Uppercase, Lowercase, Numbers & Punctuation}, 61 Papers, and 115 Elements.

Unleash your creativity with ‘Bee YOU tiful’—the buzzing digital scrapbooking kit inspired by the enchanting world of bees! Immerse yourself in the warmth of muted yellows and natural tones as you adorn your pages with delightful bee motifs and sweet honey accents. From charming bee illustrations to honeycomb patterns, this kit offers a hive of possibilities for crafting beautiful and buzz-worthy scrapbook layouts.

This Monthly Mix was created by Adrienne Skelton, Connie Prince, Lindsay Jane, Magical Scraps Galore, Scraps N Pieces, and Tinci Designs.

This collab includes: 1 Alpha {Uppercase, Numbers & Punctuation}, 57 Papers, 110 Elements, 4 12×12 Template {page, png, psd, tif file formats}.

Now to the March Daily Download Sneak Peek. This month’s Daily Download is from Designs by Connie Prince! Make sure you are checking the blog every day to get all the pieces of this kit!

Not only do we have the wonderful Buffet and other first of the month goodies, it’s also Friday and that means Fresh Baked goodies too!

Take a look at the new challenge reward kit. If you complete any 10 challenges this month, you get this gorgeous collab as a reward!

Create cheerful spring memories with ‘Happy Happy Everything’—the ultimate digital scrapbooking kit bursting with springtime delights! Featuring an array of pastel colors and charming elements, this kit is perfect for crafting vibrant and joyous scrapbook pages. From whimsical bunnies to blooming flowers, capture every precious moment of the season.

This Challenge Reward was created by: Cutie Pie Scraps, Heather Z Scraps, Key Lime Digi Design, Memory Mosaic, and ScrapChat Designs.

This collab includes: 1 Alpha {Uppercase, Lowercase, Numbers & Punctuation}, 62 Papers, and 111 Elements.

Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)

Quick Trick: Toggling Between Tool and Color Picker

PDF Version : https://bit.ly/3V8fV2q

Today’s Quick Trick is one of those Work Smart Not Hard tips I only just discovered. Have you been using a Brush, Pencil or Text Tool in Elements and thought, “Gee, I’d really like to change colours for this fill in the blank” and then clicked through to the Color Picker, chose your new colour, clicked OK and then clicked back on your Tool? Would you like a shortcut for those 4 steps? I have one!

This Trick makes multi-coloured titles easier and much more fun to create, lets you throw a bunch of paint splatters in different colours onto your canvas, and whatever else you might use the Color Picker for. I’ve played with it so I can explain how to use it, but screenshots won’t be helpful, so don’t look for them. 😉

Once you’ve chosen your Brush or Font and applied your first colour, hold down the ALT/OPT key and click on the Color PickerRelease the ALT/OPT key, choose another colour and click OK.  Bingo, you’re back to your Brush or Font and your new colour is ready to go! If you’re working with the Brush Tool, you can change the size, shape, Opacity and orientation after you’ve changed the colour by going into Brush Settings… If you’re working with the Type Tool, you’ll love this! After you’ve changed your colour, you can also change the Font, the Size, add an Underline, turn it Bold or Italic and not have to Simplify in between!!

Okay, I lied. I have a screenshot for you. I decided to run a quick test and count the keystrokes I needed to obtain 3 different colours of paint splatter. 8. The answer was 8.

I’m going to use this Trick ALL THE TIME!!

February 23, 2024: Fresh Baked

Here we are at another Friday. I hope you have had a great week.

Remember, spend $10 in the store and you will get this great kit for free.

Let’s see what is new in the store.

How are your challenges. Just one more week to get them completed and posted. Complete any 10 challenges to get this reward.

We have teamed up with The Digital Scrapper to bring you another awesome class at an exclusive discount! This is not a new class, but if you haven’t taken it yet, you should check it out, it is super cool!!
The Digital Scrapper : Die-Cuts Gone Wild

https://qwiklearn.teachable.com/p/die-cuts-gone-wild-gs/?affcode=159709_crihvr_k\

In Die-Cuts Gone Wild by Syndee Rogers
, you’ll learn how to create an elevated die-cut design with a modern look. Too complicated? No way! Syndee shows you everything you need to know to create designs like these.

Exclusive Sale for GingerScraps Customers

  • Save 35% through Friday, February 23, 2024, Midnight Eastern.
  • Regularly $72.
  • NOTE: This is not a new class.
  • I hope to see you in class!

Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

Challenge Spotlight: Mixed Media

Today I’m showcasing one of the new GingerScraps Challenges for 2024. Interestingly enough, it’s hosted by a designer who was a guest at GS for many months before she made it her home: Sarapullka Designs. This is the inaugural month for the Mixed Media Challenge. So we’re seeing the very first layouts posted to the Gallery! Larisa (Sarapullka) has provided an artsy paper and a paper cut element as the foundation for this month’s Challenge; participants were welcome to add anything they liked, as long as it came from Larisa’s store. They are required elements, which makes this Challenge an ideal one for my Individual Style analysis.

Because this is a brand new Challenge, there were only 6 layouts in the Challenge Gallery this morning. I hope, by putting a spotlight on it, we can bring that number up before the end of the month – and we do have an extra day… As always, each layout appears here in the order it was uploaded, and is linked to the Gallery so you can get a closer look, and maybe leave some feedback for the Scrapper. Just click on the Scrapper’s user name and you’ll be teleported to the Gallery.

AJsRandom is up first. She used the paper in the background and turned the paper cut into a blended overlay. The layout is simple in its design and compliments her photo very nicely.

I really like how trinanne has used the paper cut element like a black stamp against the paper background. Then she used segments of the paper cut, recoloured pink and green, to frame her photo. The addition of several artsy brushes and a simple cluster in one corner pulls it all together.

This is truly a mixed-media layout from lm44west. A simple still-life with the paper cut used as a stamp in black, a handwriting brush with gold leaf foiled to it and some subtle shadowing round out the design.

Alasandra went green! I’m adoring the blended daisy photo she’s layered over the paper and the 3D effect on the paper cut.

Oh Mylanta!! This is stunning! Yvonne55 has popped a blue paper into the background, added some crosshatched brushes over the required paper and those adorable little chickadees to the dried-grass paper cut. The extracted photo is the icing on the cake.

And last, we have a layout from the Queen of Challenges, KatherineWoodin herself. To give herself lots of space for her diary entry, she greatly downsized the paper cut element and duplicated it to create a stamped border. She changed Blend Mode on the paper to bring out the pinks and blues hiding within. Her photos are works of art in and of themselves.

What do you think? Is mixed media a style you’d like to try? I think I might give it a whirl… I watched a Facebook Live on creating bokeh mixed media backgrounds for greeting cards earlier and feel quite inspired!

February 16, 2024: Fresh Baked

Happy Friday. Did you do anything special for Valentine’s Day? We stayed home and hubby made me steak and lobster tail for dinner. It was so good.

It is time for the annual GingerScraps Newsletter Hop!! Sign up for all the listed designers newsletters and collect some AMAZING freebies!! Please read the full list of instructions in the forum here :

https://forums.gingerscraps.net/showthread.php?71812-2024-Newsletter-Hop!

Remember, spend $10 in the store and you will get this great kit for free.

Let’s see what we have in the store this week.

It is time for the $1.50 Bake Sale!! Stop by the shop to see everything included.

We have teamed up with The Digital Scrapper to bring you another awesome class at an exclusive discount! This is not a new class, but if you haven’t taken it yet, you should check it out, it is super cool!!
The Digital Scrapper : Die-Cuts Gone Wild

https://qwiklearn.teachable.com/p/die-cuts-gone-wild-gs/?affcode=159709_crihvr_k\

In Die-Cuts Gone Wild by Syndee Rogers
, you’ll learn how to create an elevated die-cut design with a modern look. Too complicated? No way! Syndee shows you everything you need to know to create designs like these.

Exclusive Sale for GingerScraps Customers

  • Save 35% through Friday, February 23, 2024, Midnight Eastern.
  • Regularly $72.
  • NOTE: This is not a new class.
  • I hope to see you in class!

Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements 15+)

Ink Smudge Technique for Photos

PDF Version : https://bit.ly/3SWPxqJ

Spoiler alert: This technique is an advanced one, but hopefully I’ve made the instructions clear enough that it’s achievable by everyone. Hence the huge collection of screenshots……

As I mentioned last week, Karen is trying to stay busy and has been looking online for new things to try for her digital scrapbooking repertoire. She came across a YouTube video showing a beautifully manipulated photo and wanted to try it for herself. But the video host’s accent was really heavy and he moved through the steps really quickly and soon she found herself lost. AND he was using Photoshop, not Elements – where terminology is different and some options and tools aren’t included. She uses Elements, so she asked me to look at it. I watched the video 3 times, watching what he was doing more than listening to what he was saying, before I ventured to try it. Then I did 3 dry runs, consulting the video as needed, before I started screenshotting my work. Ready for a workout?

Another caveat: There are steps in this technique that weren’t available in Elements until version 15, so if you’re working with an older version, I’m sorry, this one isn’t for you. As usual, I’m including commands for both Windows and Mac. I work in Windows, so that goes first. 😉

First thing is to choose a photo to manipulate. I looked at thousands at Pixabay and almost chose a photo of a cheetah, but then I found this one from Jerzy Gorecki that I really like. Portraits are most effective when the eyes are the focal point, and for me, that’s what I see here. Next, I hunted for some ink smudges or smears in my digistash. I found a bunch, all from the talented Connie Prince. I chose one from Hakuna Moscato and one from My Lucky Stars. And then… I discovered as I was doing my dry runs that PNG-format ink smudges don’t work for the technique. At all. They have to be JPGs. I converted them so I could keep going, but YOU could use brushes in black on a white background, then Save As a JPG and go with that.

It’s a good idea to get in the habit of doing techniques like this on a COPY and not the original, just in case something goes sideways. Right-click on the layer then choose Duplicate Layer.

You can change the name of the layer to keep them straight; you want the Copy layer to be with the original so nothing needs to happen with the Destination Document. Then click OK. If you’re into keyboard shortcuts, you can skip these two steps and just use CTRL/CMD>J.

Filters are marvelous things. I highly recommend playing with them sometime so you can see what you can do with just a couple of keystrokes. But for right now, Filter>Filter Gallery>Artistic will do. Or Filter>Artistic – skip a step. OR… click on the Filters button at the bottom of the Layers Panel. They all end up in the same place.

The Filter we’ll use is the Dry Brush.

Any adjustments to the Filter will depend on the resolution of the image you’re working with, as well as how much you want to alter the image’s appearance. This photo is pretty sharp, so I went BIG, with a Brush Size and Brush Detail of 10, but I left the Texture at the default 1.

The effect isn’t really obvious, but trust me, it’s there. Now let’s drop a New blank Layer on top of the photo layers.

Fill that new layer with white with the Paint Bucket.

Ready for something we’ve NEVER done before in any of my tutorials? We’re going to add an empty Group to the Layers stack. This is what will let us get the special effect on the image in the end. Click on the icon that looks like several sheets of paper spread out on a table, second-from-left at the top of the Layers Panel. The default Blend Mode is Pass Through, and we’ll need to change that.

The Mode we want for the Group is Multiply.

We’re breaking a lot of new ground with this tut! Now we’re going to add a Layer Mask inside the Group. Click on the icon that looks like a blue square with a gray circle inside it, fourth from the left at the top of the Layers Panel. See how the new layer with the mask is indented? That’s how you’ll know you’ve put something into the Group.

Now go back to the Copy layer that we added the Dry Brush Filter to, down there second from the bottom. Click Select>All or CTRL/CMD>A. That will Select the photo and the Filter.

Next, click on Edit>Copy or CTRL/CMD>C. (See the marching ants around the outside of the photo?)

Move back up to the Layer Mask up there at the top of the stack. Hold down the ALT/OPT key and click on the Mask thumbnail. Then Edit>Paste or CTRL/CMD>V.

Now you know what that Mask will do… the photo turned to black and white. It needs a tiny tweak before we go on. The contrast needs some help. Enhance>Adjust Lighting>Levels or CTRL/CMD>L.

Go for drama with this step. Move the sliders on the histogram toward the middle. Watch as you adjust so you know when it’s right.

Now we’re going to turn the black and white image into a negative by first Deselecting the Mask (CTRL/CMD>D or ESC) then click CTRL/CMD>I.

Drag and drop one of your ink smears onto the canvas on top of the white layer. See how it completely hides the Mask?

Not for long! You can use CTRL/CMD>] to move it up the Layers stack and into the Group, or you can drag it up there. That’s all it takes to have some of the photo show again!

Here’s where you get to play around with it! Resize the ink, Rotate it, Reposition it, move it about until you like what it’s showing.

But first things first. Let’s change the Blend Mode on the ink layer to Multiply too.

Now I’ve added my second ink smear onto the canvas and made sure it’s inside the Group. It’s obscuring the photo though. See the edge of the “paper” background?

Easy fix!

I think I like it. Most of her face is visible, her eyes are sharp, so let’s add some colour back!

We’ll need another Copy of the Dry Brush layer for this step.

The new colour layer needs to be on top of the whole stack. There are a few ways to do that. One is to click Layer>Arrange>Bring to Front. Another is to hold down the CTRL/CMD key and use the ] key to jump it up there. Or grab it in the Layers Panel and drag it!

Some steps just don’t screenshot. This is one of them. Yeah, I’ve added an Inverse Layer Mask to the colour photo layer I just dragged to the top of the heap. That’s how the colour is going to get into our image, so let me tell you how I did it. After the photo layer was positioned, I held down the ALT/OPT key and clicked on that same Layer Mask button – the one that looks like a blue square with a gray circle in the middle. That’s all!

Then I used the Brush Tool and some Ink Blot Brushes to bring the colour up. Don’t have any ink blot/splatter/smear Brushes? Check out Brusheezy.com!! They’ve got a ton of free Brushes and 98% of them are Elements-compatible. For this step be judicious. Drop the Opacity to 40-50%, no stronger. I think I used 3 different Brushes, sized fairly large, and just clicked them one time over a part of the image. Don’t forget that you can go into Brush Settings… and Rotate them, squish them and make them less Hard. Don’t be afraid to experiment!

When you’re satisfied with your efforts, you can Merge or Link the layers and Crop the image. It’ll have a solid background so it can’t be used like a PNG, but it CAN be Clipped to a Mask to eliminate a bunch of the white space and soften the edges. Anything you can do with any other photo can be done with this.

Next week we’ll be looking at Individual Style and a Challenge Spotlight. Where does the time go??