Designer Spotlight: June 2025

Twin Mom Scraps

You may remember Rebecca, aka Twin Mom Scraps, who was in the Spotlight in November 2024. Well, she’s up again! And since we talked about all the bread-and-butter stuff so recently, we decided to go with a bit more of a fun chat this time.

J: Rebecca, thanks for chatting with me again! Hold on while I fast-forward past the Christmas song that just came on my shuffle playlist… Ah. There. Now, let’s talk about the fun stuff, like food. What’s the weirdest combo you’ve ever tried?

R: Pickles and peanut butter on Ritz Crackers (don’t knock it til you try it!)

J: I like peanut butter on Ritz. I might even be okay with the pickles, especially if they’re the spicy-sweet ones from Costco. I just ate some spinach dip on tortilla chips, which wasn’t as nasty as it might have been. Do you have a favourite comfort food?

R: Any kind of soup. My chicken and dumplings is a favorite!

J: Mm. Not a soup fan, although I do like homemade turkey soup, and French onion soup. When I need a food hug, I usually go with macaroni and canned tomatoes. That makes me think of my dad. While we’re talking food, if you could have dinner with any two people, living or dead, who would you choose?

R: My mom and dad (both have passed away).

J: I was lucky enough to have lunch with my mom, who’s 89 now, and my sister, on Sunday. My dad passed in August. We talked about him a bit, and I could tell my mom misses him terribly. My sister is 14 years younger than me, and some of the stories we told while we reminisced were things she’d never heard before. We had some good laughs mixed in with the more serious moments. What’s the funniest thing you believed as a kid?

R: If I swallowed gum, it would not digest for 7 years

J: I think we ALL believed that! Now, if you could be any age for a week, what age would you choose?

R: 46…my current age! I am in the best shape of my life and feel great!

J: That’s fantastic! I wish… Let me think about when I was 46 for a minute. You know, that was a good time for me too. I was working on my dream unit and learning a ton of new skills. If you could instantly learn a new skill, what would you want it to be?

R: A second language!

J: Now, wouldn’t that be useful? My husband and both daughters are fluently bilingual, English and French. The girls are also fluent in sarcasm, so I guess you could say they’re trilingual! They’re pretty comfortable with social media, too; the older one is a TikTok-er and the younger is all about the ‘Gram. What’s your most used emoji?

R: I use this one way more than I probably should.

J: As long as you don’t smack yourself first, then use the emoji, I guess it’s okay. Mine is this one….

J: I spend entirely too much time on social media, or playing games on my phone. Oh, and watching too much TV! Do you have a guilty pleasure?

R: In general, I love re-watching shows I’ve already seen (some favorites are Dexter, YOU, and Ozark). My favorite movie is probably Crazy Rich Asians.

J: I’m not big on rewatching, but I’ve seen Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club probably a dozen times each. Maybe Arrested Development was about me. Now, before I let you off the hook, we should talk a bit about the obligatory design stuff. Do you have a favourite season to design for?

R: Fall and winter are definitely my favorite seasons to design.

J: Oh, the possibilities are endless for those, aren’t they? If you could collaborate with any of the other GingerBread Ladies – past or present – who would it be?

R: I have collaborated with Connie Prince a few times. I would love to collaborate with Aprilisa Designs…I love her kits!

J: Well let’s put it out there and maybe it’ll come to be!! Thanks again for torturing yourself with me. I hope you have a GREAT Spotlight month! For the rest of you who have hung on to the bitter end, Rebecca is cohosting the Designer Spotlight Challenge for June with Aimee Harrison, in addition to her regular monthly Memory Mix Up Challenge. And she’s gifting us with a special Daily Download kit. Make sure you check out her June Buffet collection Beach Vibes; it looks like a mini-vacation! Oh, and she’s having a sale…

 

Stay tuned for a couple of new tutorials coming later in the month!

Tutorial Tuesday (Potpourri)

Greatest Hits: Let’s Talk About New Computers

This tutorial originally appeared in August, 2021. I’ve updated it to reflect more current conditions. 😉

Let me be a shining example of what NOT to do when setting up a new computer… I’ve learned a few things from previous debacles, and managed a much smoother transition this time.

First things first. Set up the basics. Get your email manager working. Import your address book. Send a test message. Then move on to the browser. If you have a Google account, your favorites and passwords can be automatically added. You’ll need the browser to get new downloads of your apps. Next you’ll want to install the software applications you use all the time to make sure you have space for them on your drive. A little caveat here: Some of the software you use may be quite out-of-date and might not run on your new machine. If you find this to be the case, you may just have to bite the bullet and upgrade your software and apps as well.

The biggest part of setting up a new system is copying all the important files from the old one and moving them into their new home. The easiest way is to copy the files onto a removeable storage device, such as a CD or DVD (for those who still have a drive for those!), a thumb drive or an external hard drive and then pasting them into the new device. I can’t stress enough the value of using a clean, empty device for this step. Last time I used an EHD that I’d already used to back up a bunch of files. But I wasn’t thinking about how the EHD has no ability to think for itself and I ended up with literally thousands of duplicate files. The EHD didn’t know I only need one copy of everything. I discovered my screw-up when I sent my digikits and digiscrapping folders to my new 1TB laptop and was told I didn’t have enough space for them! So I looked at the Properties of each folder and found out the folders on the EHD were more than twice the size of those on Crumbling Laptop. If I’d started with an empty drive, I could have avoided all that wasted time. Oh, and before I forget: If the new system asks you if you want to Compress your files to save disc space DON’T DO IT! Before I figured out that my EHD backups were duplicating everything, I made that mistake and had to figure out how to UNDO it before I added anything else to the chaos.

Another option for transferring files is to use an application, either purchased or free, that will do most of the work for you. Windows 10 has an option for Nearby Sharing over Bluetooth and/or WiFi. Cloud-sharing is possible through DropboxGoogle Drive or OneDrive if you’re so equipped. I tried it with one set of files and couldn’t make it work for me. So I did the EHD route last time. THIS time, I remembered I had a (very old) transfer cable in my collection box of now-what-was-this-cable-for-agains. When I say very old, in digital tech terms it might have come over on the Mayflower. I was very pleasantly surprised to find that it was still useable. I set up both laptops on my kitchen island and ran the file transfers overnight. (This isn’t best practice… if there’s an error or glitch early in the process, you’ll only find out in the morning and have to start all over again. Lucky for me, it didn’t crash, it just took HOURS.)

That leads into setting yourself up for success. Take the opportunity to clean up EVERYTHING before you do any copying! Find and eliminate as many duplicate files as you can. If you routinely rename files for ease of retrieval, make sure all like files have been appropriately renamed. For example, I have a large library of styles. The designer of the brush names the file according to what they prefer. I like to give them names that tell me what type of style – glitter, gloss, wood, shadow, water and such, who the designer is and what kit or other information I may have for it. A sample would look like this: Glitter Just So Scrappy Let Freedom Ring. I also changed the file names on my brushes to something that actually tells me about the brush set, like ADS Feb 21 Challenge heart. I went through my GingerScraps digikit folder and removed all the kits from designers no longer with the site, putting them into a new folder so I’ll still have them but won’t be tempted to use them for challenges. I went through all my photo folders and eliminated as many duplicates as possible. And I went through all my digiscrapping folders and deleted all the copies of templates and such to bring the size of each folder down to something reasonable. [I use a folder system for everything and copy the items I plan to use into them so it’s all together. And I save the finished layout as a PSD file in case I need to make changes. Those folders can be pretty hefty!]

Transferring files from one device to another takes time. A lot of time. Even if there are no hiccups. So plan ahead if you can. [Obviously, if your system fails altogether, that’s not an option, but maybe having a clean backup of all the good stuff isn’t a bad idea.] Make sure you have a protected spot where both old and new are close together just to reduce the amount of up-and-down-back-and-forth you have to do. You’re also going to need some time to learn how the new system does things. I’m moving from a Dell Windows 10 system to an ASUS Windows 11 system, and there’s definitely a learning curve. [One interesting difference is that I can pair my phone to send and receive texts through my laptop!] So if you have an option, don’t start the process if you have any kind of deadline looming. Just to be on the safe side!

I’m feeling pretty comfortable with the new system now, having figured out how to screenshot, which keys to use for “page up” and “page down“, where the calculator is hiding, how to find things I’ve downloaded, and a few other quirks. I’ll probably have some more tips and tricks for Windows 11 as time goes by, but I’ll likely never use it to its full potential. Meanwhile, I m just glad I don’t have to worry about burning my legs any more – the old laptop’s cooling system was failing.

Now, has anybody seen my mojo?

Designer Spotlight (June 2025)

Aimee Harrison

This month we again have TWO Designers in the Spotlight. Many of you already know Aimee, or have used her amazing designs, and she’s been in the Spotlight before, so our little chat took a bit of a meandering path. How so? You’ll see!

J: Aimee! It’s good to chat with you again. I apologize in advance if you hear my son cacking in the background. Things are still not back to normal here and he’s spending all his time with Mom. I’ve got a movie on for him and he’s nothing if not easily amused. Last time we visited, we talked about all the meat-and-potatoes stuff related to your designing, so this time, let’s do something a bit more informal. You okay with that? Oh wait… there are a couple of design-related things I wanted to ask about… Do you have a favourite theme or occasion that you always turn to when you’re designing?

A: I love to design flower types, I never run out.

J: Your flowers are always so gorgeous! You’ve clearly had lots of practice creating them. Do you have a favourite season or holiday that you MUST design for?

A: Spring because I love the colors and new growth.

J: I love all the seasons for different reasons, but spring is special, isn’t it? There’s so many ways you can portray spring and spring-like subjects, and still have it be relevant and coherent. You mentioned flowers and colour… do you have any design routines or rituals you follow when you start designing a new collection?

A: I am very methodical in my designing. I design the packs first in a certain order, then I design the kit and each portion is designed in order as well. Makes sure I have a well rounded kit and collection.

J: It makes sense to have a formula of sorts, to make sure you don’t forget an important aspect of the collection. Do you think you have a signature element or technique that makes people know instantly that YOU designed something?

A: I think it’s my titles both in the kit and as a standalone pack. Also probably my Alphas.

J: I know your titles are a great feature, especially for the new-to-digi Scrapper who might not be ready to design their own. And I LOVE a nice, matching Alpha!! The literal alpha, although there are some very fine Alpha men out there. 😉 Especially in those superhero movies I’ve been watching with Adam. If you could live in any fictional universe, which one would you choose?

A: Harry Potter, I would love how convenient magic is.

J: As long as you could control it completely, it sure would be convenient. Do you have a TV or movie guilty pleasure?

A: I do. It’s Outlander.

J: Mmmmhmmmm. Speaking of Alpha males! Although Brianna holds her own. Strong genes. She and Clare have had to adapt to such huge shifts in technology but they make it look easy. If you could instantly learn a new skill, what would you want it to be?

A: How to paint. I would love to be able to do watercolors especially.

J: Watercolour painting is fascinating. The way the colour moves with the water on the paper, and how it can be turned into something beautiful with just a few strokes… I could watch watercolour videos all day! Oh, and alcohol inks, They’re really interesting too. Lately I’ve been watching some how-to videos on my tablet while I get myself into the bedtime zone. I find I can turn off all the intrusive thoughts by concentrating on the processes. How do you unwind?

A: I like to read.

J: That would be my idea of a perfect day, to stay in bed and read.

A: I would live in pajamas if I could. For sure!

J: One thing I can’t do near bedtime though is listen to music. I find myself singing the lyrics in my head, over and over and sleep goes out the window. The other night I sang the entire eight minutes and forty-two seconds of American Pie. In my head. I think that would be my go-to if I ever did another karaoke night. Do you have one of those?

A: Jolene, by Dolly Parton, I believe. I don’t sing karaoke very often because I’m terrible lol.

J: I didn’t say I was good, just that I know all the lyrics. 😀 Karaoke is Adam’s favourite part of his day program. He makes up for his lack of talent with great enthusiasm. Speaking of Adam, I think his movie is over. I should check on him, I suppose. But before we end this little conversation, I want to remind our readers that Aimee will be hosting one arm of the June Designer Spotlight Challenge in addition to her regular, long-running Color Challenge. And she’s also giving us a stunning Daily Download! Don’t forget to check out her June Buffet collection Jardinière.

Aimee has a coupon!

 

Check back on the 4th for Part Two of this month’s Designer Spotlight, Twin Mom Scraps!

 

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

Hello scrapping friends — welcome to June!
We’re kicking off the month with all the fresh goodies you love at GingerScraps:
*A brand new Free With Purchase collab
*A gorgeous new Monthly Mix
*A colorful new Buffet that has all the summer vibes
…and so much more!

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

The buffet colors this month (and the GingerBread Ladies collabs) are all about summer!

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

Get ready to turn up the fun with Summer Party by The GingerBread Ladies! This collection brings a pastel twist to your warm-weather celebrations with a dash of retro flair. Featuring fruity cocktails, tropical coconuts, flamingos, butterflies, and the coolest shades around, this kit is made for documenting stylish poolside moments, sweet ice cream indulgences, and vibrant summer soirées. Whether you’re throwing a bash or just chillin’ in the sunshine, Summer Party adds the perfect splash of personality to your pages.

This collab includes: 1 Alpha {Uppercase, Lowercase, Numbers & Punctuation}, 56 Papers, and 109 Elements.

This Free With Purchase was created by Adrienne Skelton, Key Lime Digi Design, Memory Mosaic, Sarapullka Scraps, and The Scrappy Kat.

Slow down and savor the beauty of summer adventures with Summer Reflections by The GingerBread Ladies. Inspired by scenic road trips, relaxing wine tastings, and quiet moments watching sunsets with a glass of lemonade in hand, this collection is perfect for capturing the softer, more thoughtful side of the season. With a travel-inspired vibe and a palette that echoes golden-hour skies, Summer Reflections is ideal for telling stories of exploration, connection, and the simple joys of summertime.

This kit includes: 7 Alphas {Uppercase, Lowercase, Numbers & Punctuation}, 65 Papers, 99 Elements, and 4 12×12 Template {page, png, psd, tif file formats}.

This Monthly Mix was created by ADB Designs, Alexis Design Studio, Karen Schulz, Tami Miller Designs, Scraps N Pieces, and Tinci Designs.

June’s Daily Download is provided by Aimee Harrison Designs and Twin Mom Scraps. Each zipped file will contain two folders, one for each designer. Collect new pieces daily on the GingerScraps Blog.

Take a look at the new challenge reward kit. If you complete any 10 challenges this month, you get this gorgeous collab (or a variety of other choices from previous challenge collabs) as a reward!

Soak up the sun with Summer Time by The GingerBread Ladies! This bright and cheerful collection captures all the magic of summertime fun—whether you’re splashing in the pool, scuba diving, building sandcastles at the beach, or enjoying juicy slices of watermelon on a warm afternoon. Packed with playful elements like beach balls, kites, porch swings, and sunshine galore, this collection is perfect for documenting your favorite memories of sunny days and carefree play.

This kit includes: 1 Alpha {Uppercase, Lowercase, Numbers & Punctuation}, 50 Papers, and 103 Elements.

This Challenge Reward was created by Heather Z Scraps, Lindsay Jane, Magical Scraps Galore, and ScrapChat Designs.

Take a look at these wonderful layouts from the store creative team. They were made using parts of the June Buffet.

GingerScraps Fresh Baked Friday – May 30, 2025

Happy Friday Scrappers. It’s almost summer time (or winter for our southern hemisphere friends). Are you ready? Do you have big vacation plans? Have you ever considered taking a vacation based on a kit you have just so you can use it? Isn’t that a fun idea?

Remember if you spend $10 in the store, you’ll get this great collab free.

Let’s see what our designers have this week.

Are you almost done with your challenges for June? If you complete any 10 challenges this month, you get this gorgeous collab (or a variety of other choices from previous challenge collabs) as a reward!

Tutorial Tuesday (Windows 11)

Three Things I LOVE about Windows 11

You may remember that I really dragged my heels about moving with the times and updating to Windows 11. As a tech early adopter, I’d usually be the first one through the door, but when it comes to operating system upgrades, I’ve had some not-so-fun experiences, so I often wait awhile so the developers can work the bugs out. The day finally came that I had little choice but to populate my “new” Windows 11 laptop (that I bought in November but left in the box until March) with my files and get on with it. Here are three things that make it worth the hassle.

This isn’t The First Thing™, just an observation. The Explorer screen is much brighter and cleaner, with a modified Task Bar. The left side panel has the shortcuts I use most often and shows the last 4 Folders I modified.

 

I confess, I did a ton of organizing and rearranging when I first started using this machine, but I totally did NOT notice that little button there on the Task Bar that says EXTRACT ALL. It only appears when a zipped Folder is clicked upon, and it eliminates the whole right-click>Extract All step. Just click the button and the process begins. The Command prompts are the same as with previous versions once you get there. You know, where you can decide whether you want to see the contents right away or not, and where you want the unzipped files to go.

See how the Explorer view here shows all the Folders in tiny size? Well, when you combine a floor-to-ceiling wall of windows (the ones with panes that let you see outdoors) with 67-year-old eyes and tiny print… it’s a problem. Of course, I can make the icons larger.

Every time I want to choose a FolderView>Extra Large Icons.

But wait! What if… YEAH!! Click on the three dots on the Task Bar and choose Options. That very blurry box reads: “Change settings for opening items, file and folder views, and search.

Ooh look, another blurry box. Click on the View tab. This menu opens. Inside the box it says, “Folder views. You can apply this view (such as Details or Icons) to all folders of this type. Apply to Folders. OK.

Do you want all folders of this type to match this folder’s view type? Yes” And it does exactly that… all folders of this type – meaning the subfolders – will have the same properties.

This is such a great Work Smart Not Hard* bonus, right here. When you click on the New button on the Task Bar, this menu opens. With just two clicks, I can create a new folder, or access many of the Microsoft suite of applications. (I don’t use them, I have a free suite of similar applications called Libre Office, and Windows 11 gives me a choice of how to open things like text documents and presentations.) Instead of having to find the application, open it, then tell it to open a new document, this does all that for me! Honestly, I’ve only used it to create new folders when I’m Extracting my kits, but it has a lot of potential! Now, if I could just remember where it puts things, that would be great.

GingerScraps Fresh Baked Friday – May 23, 2025

Good morning scrapping friends. We hope you have had a great week. If you are in the US, do you have plans for the holiday weekend? Many people use this time to spend time with family and take a lot of family photos.

Remember if you spend $10 in the store, you’ll get this great collab free.

Let’s see what our designers have for us this week.

Don’t forget to work on the challenges. If you complete any 10 challenges this month, you get this gorgeous collab (or a variety of other choices from previous challenge collabs) as a reward!

Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

Challenge Spotlight: Wild About Styles

Well, so far May has been… a lot. My son has been ill, needing a lot of attention, and I’m mentally exhausted. He went back to his day program today, and I was awake half the night worrying that it might be too soon. So far, so good – no calls from the coordinator. Fingers crossed.

At the beginning of the month, glee asked me if I could help her figure out how to use Wetfish DesignsWild About Styles Challenge Styles, and I said I would. Then everything unravelled. Yesterday when I finally started to play with them, it dawned on me that I should let YOU be the tutors, and I’d offer some commentary. Brilliant, right? Why would I reinvent the wheel? So let’s have a look at how YOU’ve used them!

As always, the layouts to follow are linked to their spots in the Gallery so you can get a closer look, and maybe leave some praise. Just click on the Scrapper‘s user name and you’ll be transported. But before we get rolling, I should take a minute to discuss the Styles themselves. As you can see, some of them are heavily textured. They’re gorgeous as is, but aren’t scale-able – meaning the Style itself can’t be Resized. If you want the texture, but not the size, you’ll need to apply the Style to a paper or a solid Filled layer, Simplify the layer, THEN Resize. The Styles, when applied to objects, will not allow the contours of that object to be visible. They’re “flat”. This can be overcome by decreasing the Opacity of the Styled layer until the contours are revealed. And the third thing I want to mention is that what you see is what you get – solid, off-white texture. If you apply a Style from the set to a coloured paper, for example, the colour will be completely concealed. There are a couple of ways to colour the Styled layer. One is to drop a coloured (or patterned) paper on top of the Styled layer then decrease the Opacity of the paper layer until the texture appears. The second is to drop a coloured paper on top of the Styled layer then change the Blend Mode. Overlay works beautifully, but some of the others are also quite stunning. Color Burn, for example, gives a very sculpted look. So if you’re not seeing the look you want, don’t be afraid to experiment!

This is how the designer demonstrated her Styles.

Next up is this layout from VariaMoon. She chose the horizontal plank woodgrain Style, then added some paint splash and paw print Brushes to it, picking out the brick colour from her large photo.

For her layout, dhariana used a bunch! The vertical woodgrain is her base, and she’s used masks to add the floral and flourish-y textures to her background.

Here, lm44west took a similar approach. She’s added a semi-transparent lily overlay behind her photo.

01lousmith kept it simple; she used the vertical woodgrain coloured to look almost like pressure-treated lumber, and threw some paint at it. Very effective!

KatherineWoodin has recoloured the chrysanthemum Style yellow, likely by layering a solid yellow paper over the Style layer and using Overlay, to pick up her theme’s colour palette.

The chrysanthemum Style seems to be quite popular, used again here by greenfiend27. She created bilateral borders by layering lace over the Style but under her photo, all layers shadowed perfectly. The result is so pretty.

Pippin went with the flourish-y choice, creating a textured mat behind her framed photo. The original ivory colour of the Style works well with the elements she added.

FormbyGirl has a very subtle touch, using at least two Styles, blending them into the background. The result if soft and lovely.

Jill used the chrysanthemum Style and put it behind some very expertly shadowed cutouts. She also used the flourish-y Style to add dimension to her background.

The vertical woodgrain Style seems to be quite popular too; stater used it for her background with a dark blue paper blended into it, likely with the Multiply mode.

It looks like glee went ahead without me. 😀 She too went with the chrysanthemum, adding a blended deeply coloured paper border. Then she Clipped the flourish-y Style to her title. It took me quite some time to figure that darker border out.

5grand has created a sampler, with at least eight different Styles represented. She Clipped papers to some, left others as is and presented us with a visual feast!

 

For her layout, imafishtank kept it simple and just Clipped the flourish-y Style to her title. It gives the illusion of colour but I zoomed WAYYYY in, and it’s not!

RobynC is our last presenter. She used two of the Styles, one on her background and the other on her title.

Have you been inspired? I have!

GingerScraps Fresh Baked Friday – May 16, 2025

Happy Friday Scrappers! Are you ready for the weekend? Do you have scrapping plans?

•Don’t forget to grab the May Monthly Mix – {a woman’s purse} created by our GingerBread Ladies.

•The Bake Sale is also going until the 20th. Look for a sneak peek of those kits below.

•Make sure to check out the Challenge area of the forum. You received a great collab as a reward with 10 completed challenges.

•Remember if you spend $10 in the store, you’ll get this great collab free.

Let’s take a peek at some of the new items in the store this week.

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Make sure to visit the Bake Sale for great deals until the 20th.

Are you getting your challenges done? If you complete any 10 challenges this month, you get this gorgeous collab (or a variety of other choices from previous challenge collabs) as a reward!

Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)

Greatest Hits: Weaving – the Digital Way

Ginger recently sent me request for a topic I’d already covered; this time the request came from Lavonne. Her request again resulted in Ginger sending me a link to this layout by trinanne; she used the March 2023 Challenge Brush and clipped her papers to it over and over. Of course, I had to take the long walk down the garden path instead… I had no idea it would end up being much more complex than at first glance. I tossed the first two attempts at making this a coherent process and I think you’ll find it’s not as bad as all the screenshots – and your faithful demonstrator – make it look. (However, this tutorial will require intermediate-to-expert familiarity with the Elements software.)

 

Now, obviously, if we’re weaving a bunch of papers or ribbons together, they’ll look best against a neutral solid background. I’m using 10 different patterned papers and a solid cardstock from the February 2023 Daily Download Noteworthy, from Miss Fish.

I decided it would work best for the way I was seeing this in my head if I created a bunch of paper strip Clipping Masks. If you’d rather use the Rectangular Marquee Tool to cut strips, that’s up to you. I want to have some variations in width, some crooked and torn edges, and one strip will have a deckle edge. (Instructions not included.) To make those individual features work best, the adjustments are made to the Mask to ensure the patterns on the papers aren’t distorted. I’ll be making a roughly 8 inch by 8 inch square, 10 strips in all. Here’s a tip: When using the Custom Shapes Tool you can specify dimensions and with only one click, you’ve got the desired shape in the desired size. I’m using a Width 8 inchesHeight 1.5 inches for my first strip Mask.

Don’t forget that when using the Custom Shape Tool, the resulting shape is a Smart Object – it’s locked and can’t be altered unless you Simplify it. More recent versions of Elements includes a Simplify button bar in the Tool Options. If your version doesn’t show it there, right-click on the layer and choose Simplify Layer from the drop-down menu that appears.

Here I’ve created all 5 of my horizontal Clipping Mask layers. I’ve changed the foreground colour a bit for each to help keep them separate in my mind. You can see there are some thinner and some thicker strips. Next I’ll make 5 vertical strips the same way.

All 10 strips are there now. Let’s Clip some papers to them!

I know you all already know how to Clip papers to template spots but I’ll review anyway. With your paper right above the object you’re Clipping to, right-click on the paper layer and choose Create Clipping Mask. Alternately, you can use a keyboard shortcut. For versions 14 and earlier, CTRL/CMD>G will do it. For versions 15 and later, CTRL/CMD>ALT/OPT>G. My fingers just go there almost automatically now, I’ve used that shortcut so often.

Here are the 5 horizontal strips with their papers Clipped in place. The process is identical for the vertical strips.

Just like that.

I’ll show you how to make them look a little less deliberate in the next few screenshots. Here’s why I opted for Clipping Masks and not just Marqueeing out a bunch of strips. If I decided to Image>Transform>Skew a paper strip, the pattern would also Skew and it would look awful. So instead, I’ll Skew the Mask, giving it crooked ends, and the paper will stay unblemished. Skew only allows the corners to move in a single direction.

To make each paper strip more manageable, after I make my tweaks to the Mask, I’ll right-click>Merge the paper and Mask layers into a single layer. The shortcut is CTRL/CMD>E.

 

Here I’ve made a bit of a curved cut into the end of the Mask. The Smudge Tool will give that effect, or you could use the Elliptical Marquee Tool to Cut (CTRL/CMD>X) away a thin curved sliver. That method will give you a cleaner Cut.

Why not, indeed?

For this strip I used Image>Transform>Distort. With that command, each of the corners moves independently in all directions.

Another variation on the Smudge Tool.

Now let’s get to the WEAVE. First you’ll need to decide which strip to start with. I’m going to skip the first vertical strip and pass the pink striped strip then the multi-striped strip underneath my red-and-white horizontal strip. I Selected the edges of the first horizontal strip by CTRL/CMD>clicking on the layer thumbnail in the Layers Panel. Then I made the pink striped layer my active layer. To make it look like it passed behind the horizontal strip, Edit>Cut or CTRL/CMD>X removes that Selection from the pink striped paper.

 

Alternate this process for each of the horizontal layers.

Here is what it looks like before the dimension of shadowing is added.

Add a new, blank layer at the top of the stack of layers. This is where you’ll put your shadows. Decide where your light source is. That will determine where your shadows will lie. I like my light to come from the upper left, at 120°. Because some of my paper strips don’t have sharp, straight edges, I created custom shadows for those layers. (Custom Shadows – Jan’s Method) If you’re going with straight edges you can ignore that. Instead, use the Pencil Tool. For the horizontal strips, you’ll be drawing in your shadows inside the edges of the paper horizontally. For the vertical layers, you’ll be drawing your shadows inside the edges of those papers vertically. The Radius for your Pencil lines can be fairly small, since the papers will be laying tightly together. I used 4 pixels but 5 or even 8 won’t be too big. Set your Foreground Colour to black (000000) Click the cursor right inside the corner of the paper square you’re working with.

Then hold down the SHIFT key and click the cursor in the opposite corner. Here I’ve made a horizontal line. Don’t be too fussy about making it perfectly straight, because it’s not going to be noticeable later.

After you’ve got all your paper rectangles outlined in black, add a Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur to that layer.

 

Don’t go overboard here. The Blur is to soften the lines, not make them blend right into the paper! If you can’t see anything in the Preview Pane, click your cursor in a spot where you know there’s a line. It’ll pop up in the Preview Pane and you can gauge how far to Blur2.3 pixels worked well for me.

Last thing to do is to change the Blend Mode to Linear Burn and drop the Opacity to about 60% and it’s done! Now to decide how to use the weave…

You can Save this weave as a PSD to allow for alterations later, or as a PNG to preserve the transparent layer behind. Or you can just go ahead and scrap on top and around it. To add the Brushes as described below, Link all the layers of the weave to each other by highlighting all the layers (click on the first layer>hold down Shift>click on the last layer in the weave then click on the Link icon at the left of any of those layers) so they’re separate but connected.

If you really want the Challenge Brush look, create a horizontal stack of varied widths and lengths of the Brush on a new workspace with each Brush on its own layer so you can adjust them one at a time. Adjust them to suit your desired look; you can flip them, widen or narrow them, overlap them, whatever your mind’s eye desires. Create a second stack of vertical Brushes (you can change the angle of the Brush in the Tool Options to 90°) and adjust those. When you’ve got what you like, Merge (CTRL/CMD>E) the layers. This is your Clipping Mask.

Then Merge (CTRL/CMD>E) all the Brush layers. Move this newly created Clipping Mask onto your layout and position it underneath your weave. Then Clip to your weave. Ta DA! My screenshot shows just a plain paper Clipped to it and is only an example. All the adjustments you’ve made to your weave and the shadowing you’ve created will be preserved when you’ve Linked then Clipped.

If you have requests or ideas for future tutorials, you can contact me by Direct Message. In the Forum look for the envelope icon on the right, just above the blue band, then click on it. Down at the very bottom of the dropdown it’ll say Send Direct Message. My handle is ObiJanKenobi. Then if I have anything I need to clarify, we can chat!

Til next Tuesday!