Tutorial Tuesday

Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)

May 10, 2022 by Jan

Create a Word Art Photo Frame

Have you ever seen a set of word art frames in a digi-scrapping store and like the idea of them, but not the words the designer has used? Well, that’s an easy fix!

Open up a shiny, new blank canvas with a transparent background. Make it big so you have lots of room to manoever. Mine is 12×12. It can be big while under construction because we can always resize it to fit the layout when the time comes, right? Activate the Custom Shape Tool and pick a shape. I’ll use a square with rounded corners. By utilizing the Tool Options, I can set predetermined dimensions for the shape. In the Rounded Rectangle toolkit, I like a Radius of 150 pixels to give an obvious round edge to the corners but still maintain the “square” of it. As for colours, whatever you like will be totally fine, as long as there’s sufficient contrast for the next step. I’m going basic black and white.

With my predetermined settings all I had to do was click on the centre of my canvas and I had a perfect, 6×6 square with rounded corners in the middle of my canvas. Easy peasy! As I may have mentioned once or twice, the Custom Shape Tool output is ALWAYS a Smart Object – meaning it can’t be manipulated in any way but resizing. (I prefer to think of them as Stupid Objects.) To have the ability to make other adjustments to a Custom Shape, the layer has to be Simplified. But wait!! For this technique, Simplifying isn’t needed! Yes, you read that right… only Simplify if you want to. (But it IS another step.)

Next, pop a new blank layer on top of the Shape layer. The quickest and easiest way to do that is to just click on the sheet of paper icon as shown.

To Select the outer edge of the Shape layer, CTRL/CMD>click on the layer thumbnail – the picture of what’s on the layer. The marching ants will appear, and then the layer’s visibility can be turned off. Close that eye!

Activate the blank layer, where you still can see the marching ants. Change the foreground colour to your other colour. [The X key will let you toggle between foreground and background.] <whispers> you could use the same colour… Jan just likes everything to be easily seen. Then Edit>Stroke (Outline) Selection…

The control box for the Stroke process has multiple settings you can customise. It’ll show you what colour you have in the foreground. You decide the Width of the outline, where the outline will be Located, Blending Mode and Opacity. I opted for 80 pixels, which will give me a substantial but not overbearing outline. I’ve Located it Outside the Selection. If you’re using a shape with sharp corners, put your Stroke Inside to maintain their sharpness.

To get rid of the marching ants, Select>Deselect or CTRL/CMD>D.

Now for the word(s).The font you choose will be dictated by the subject matter of your photo/layout. I went with BrideChalk Sans Regular, a simple all-caps handwritten font and my word is ADVENTURE. I’m using Photoshop Elements 2021, so my font settings may not look like yours. Tracking ( aka kerning) was a new addition with Elements 2019. Basically, it allows for more or less space between characters; this can be a valuable adjustment, especially with script fonts that may not connect the characters together cleanly. In this situation I want space between my characters because I’m going to make my letters heavier. If you find your characters are too close together and don’t have Tracking, you can put them on individual layers and shift them around so you’ve got that room for adding some presence.

I want to make adjustments to this text layer other than resizing it, so BOOM! there it is… Time to Simplify. Right-click on the layer and choose Simplify Layer.

Edit>Stroke (Outline) Selection… is such a useful tool!

This time my Stroke will be 20 pixels and Centered on the Selection. That will put an equal amount of outline on either side of the line and it will be more balanced.

I resized the text to extend side to side and have the lower corners just overlapping the border a smidge. I’m putting it at the bottom, but it could just as easily be vertical and to one side, run across or down the middle, sit at the top… whatever looks right to you. This part is completely personal taste – if you want the word to float, let it float!

I want to add a divider above the word so that it’s framed. To make this step easy and give you control over the results, turn on the Grid by clicking View>Grid or use the keyboard shortcut CTRL/CMD>’. This will help with placement so much! In my Edit>Preferences I set the main grid lines 1 inch apart and the divisions at 4, so there’s a visible line every 1/4 inch.

Add a new blank layer to your layers stack. This will allow you more flexibility once you’ve created your divider – meaning that if it needs to be moved, you’ll be able to move it. Activate the Pencil Tool and set the Size to 80 pixels, the same dimension we used for the border. (Or to whatever you want… this is a guide!) Then choose a spot on one side of the border that sits at an intersection of Grid lines and click there. Hold down the SHIFT key and move your cursor to the other side of the border along the same horizontal line, then click there. Voilà, a straight divider line! To turn the Grid off, go back to View>Grid or CTRL/CMD>’ and it’ll go away

If you’re not happy with where the divider is, nudge it into place. Then CTRL/CMD>click on the border’s layer so the two layers can be Merged into a single divided frame. If you want the word to be connected to the frame as well, CTRL/CMD>click on that layer too before right-clicking and choosing Merge Layers. Keyboard shortcut for Merge is CTRL/CMD>E.

Now to add the photo. I like this Pixabay photo of a man walking on a pipeline so I dragged it onto the canvas between the original Shape layer and the frame, resized it and positioned it.

Once I turned the Visibility for the original Shape layer back on, I could use it as a Clipping Mask.

Now for the fun part! The frame and word art can be transformed in a number of ways, such as clipping a paper or cardstock to it and adding a drop shadow. Or… Layer Styles!! I like the Chipboard Styles from Just So Scrappy‘s Lucky Me with this photo/frame combo.

I really like the Kraft paper edge on this style and think it works really well with my photo.

With the word art separate from the frame, I played with some other Layer Styles and settled on this golden-yellow woodgrain Style from Ooh La La Scraps Nearly Fall. It adds a bevel to the letters.

I played a bit more with it, stretching the text so it touches top and bottom, then Merged all three layers. With the Chipboard Style applied, it looks like this.

I made another sample, this time using Levina Script Regular for my word. The Layer Style is Just So Scrappy‘s Lucky Me Chrome in white. The possibilities are endless with this technique!

I hope you try this one. It’s so simple, but so versatile.

PDF Version: https://bit.ly/37KoqdK

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Creative Style, Digital Scrapbooking, Tutorials Tagged With: Tutorial Tuesday

Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)

May 3, 2022 by Jan

Template Mash-Ups Revisited

PDF Version : https://bit.ly/3LPJP4d

I was wandering through the May Challenges on Sunday, as I always do on the first or second day of each month, to decide which ones I’d participate in, and noted that Ginger (Dandelion Dust Designs) has asked us to combine two templates into a single layout for her Perfectly Paired Challenge. It’s not the first time she’s gone that route, and I’m sure there are newish scrappers who aren’t sure how to do that. After all, it’s been nearly 5 years since I ran a lesson on combining templates and we’ve embraced a LOT of new GingerScrappers in that time. So let’s have another look.

Templates are amazingly versatile tools. You don’t have to slavishly follow the design for them to help you create fabulous layouts. They’re intended as inspirational guides, with symbols as placeholders. With templates, your creativity is only limited by your imagination. I’m going to show you how to do a template mash-up right here, right now. To have the best results with your template mash-up, you should choose two templates with clusters, photo spots, masks or combinations of those that you really like, with a good amount of white space, so you’ll have lots of options. I apologize in advance for the relative illegibility of the text on the screenshots. They’re from the early days of my tutorial-writing career and I don’t have them saved so I can’t fix them. The text between screenshots is fairly explicit, so I think you’ll be okay.

I decided to use the JB Studios template shown below as my base template. (This template set has been retired.) I like the row of circles with the small cluster, and I really like the little wordstrip cluster in the corner. I made a mental note of what the file was named so I could find it later…

Then I chose this Tinci Designs template for my second one. I had 2 photos I wanted to use. Now, I could have resized the centre cluster, which would have actually worked beautifully, but I wanted my photos to be really visible.

I had to make room for the section of Tinci’s template that I was going to move onto the JBS template so I selected all the layers but the background and the little wordstrip cluster then moved them up almost to the top of the canvas.

See how that gave me a lot of room?

The next step is to go to my second template and select all the layers I want to add to the first one. If you don’t have the Bounding Box turned on, you might want to do that. It will help you move only the layers you want by including the shapes you’ve selected inside it. You can see my Bounding Box in the screenshot below.

Once you’ve selected only the layers you want to copy onto your other template, right click on the Layers panel to open the Layers menu. Then click on Duplicate Layers…

A new menu opens with everything you have in your Photo Bin included. Look down the list until you find your first template. If you can’t remember the file name, look for the .psd suffix. When you’ve found it, click on it.

Your dialog box will look like this. You can rename the group of layers if you want, but you don’t have to. When you’ve got the correct file selected, click OK.

PSE automatically centres everything on the canvas, so this is what the new mashed-up template looked like right after I added the Tinci pieces to the JBS base template. Time to fine-tune!

I moved all the Tinci pieces down so the JBS pieces peeked out above them. Then I had to figure out what to do with that little wordstrip cluster that HAD to be in there.

Once I was happy with how it all looked, I could get my layout rolling. There were some layers from the original template that were completely concealed, so when I came to them in the Layers panel, I just deleted them. (I always work with copies of everything, never the original. That way I don’t have to worry about losing something I might want again later!)

If you decide to try this out, remember that you don’t HAVE to copy everything from one template onto the other. Choose the parts you LOVE. Forget about the rest. I could have copied just one of the photo clusters. I could have only copied the wordstrip cluster. It’s all about what you like most! Have fun!

If there are enough layouts in the Perfectly Paired Gallery by the third Tuesday of May, I’ll come back and talk about how each layout has mashed up the templates. Sounds like a lot of fun to me!

Don’t forget, National Scrapbooking Day is coming up fast… it’s technically on Saturday, but the festivities have already started. Make a budget and have some hard drive space. You’ll need both!!

PDF Version : https://bit.ly/3LPJP4d

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Creative Style, Digital Scrapbooking, Tutorials Tagged With: Tutorial Tuesday

Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)

April 26, 2022 by Jan

QuickTrick: Improving the Work Flow with Templates

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

Hey ladies! I was led to an absolutely amazing resource for “secret” tips on using Photoshop Elements (thank you Kathi, aka granny5pics) and it gave me an idea. The fourth Tuesday of each month, I’m going to show you something I learned from it, complete with screenshots, and I’m calling it QuickTricks. Most of the things I’ll show you will be really streamlined but detailed enough for beginners to get the hang of right away. Today, our topic is an Elements workaround for something easily done in Creative Studio Photoshop versions. I’m still deciding whether I’ll be making it a habit, but I do think it’s Working Smart, Not Hard.

I love using templates as a springboard for creativity. They make a lot of the decision-making less complicated and produce predictable results. And I do find I work quickly when I’m using a template. So you’ll understand when I tell you learning there’s a way to make templates do even more of the work shook me right up! It represents a shift in thinking for me, which is why I’m not sure it’ll be a permanent change for me… but I said that about custom shadows too. So who knows? But enough gabbing. Let’s get to work!

I chose this template from Tinci Designs for this tut because it’s got a few paper shape layers and a couple of photo spots, but not too many. (It’s a freebie from several years ago so I can’t link you up to it. Sorry.)

I work from the background up, just as I would if I was using paper and glue. If that’s not how you work, you’ll see it’s easy enough to adapt the process to your preferred method. The active layer on the template is the very first paper shape layer. Click on the sheet-of-paper icon at the top left corner of the Layers Panel to add a new blank layer above the paper shape.

Now, right-click on the blank layer and choose Create Clipping Mask – yes, with the blank layer! Seems a bit unusual, but trust me. If you’re a keyboard shortcutter like I am, you can click CTRL/CMD>G if you’re using versions 14 and lower, or CTRL/CMD>ALT>G for PSE 15 and more recent.

The blank layer is now indented, and that’s how you know a layer has been Clipped to another layer.

Here’s where the work flow changes. Rather than dragging and dropping a paper onto the canvas then Clipping it to the layer below, we’ll use the File>Place… command. When using this method, it’s not necessary to open all the papers and photos into the Photo Bin. But it does pay to have all the papers, photos and elements in a dedicated-to-that-layout folder.

Elements will go to the last folder you opened anything from; in this example it’s my Perfectly Paired challenge folder. I make a new folder for every layout, adding into it copies of the template, photos, papers and elements I want to use. Everything is in one place. When the layout is finished, I delete all but the layout’s PSD and 2 sizes of JPG to save space. That’s worked well for me and it’s second nature now. Plus, it makes this trick a lot easier to manage that if I had to search through a bunch of folders. Let’s use this gray and white patterned paper from Just So Scrappy‘s Puppy Love for the first paper shape, then click Place.

Like magic, Elements has automatically clipped the paper to the shape; see the paper where there was a blank layer before? It’s so simple!! The paper has a bounding box and crosshairs, as shown in the screenshot. It can be resized, rotated and repositioned however you need it to. Then click the checkmark to Commit the Operation.

Now, this next step is 100% optional. I’m just showing you how to do it in case it might help you with organizing work flow in your mind. Color-coding layers can provide a visual reminder of the task at hand. Right-click on the pertinent layer just under the eyeball icon. That activates the label area and opens this pop-up menu. (Notice what all is in there. We’ll revisit that on another day.) Choose a color you like. Let’s do blue.

The next couple of screenshots are a review. Activate the paper shape/photo spot layer, add a blank layer above it then clip that blank layer to the paper shape below. File>Place… to add the actual paper.

Choose your paper/photo from your folder and click Place.

Make any adjustments you might want to the paper/photo. Then Commit the Operation.

Optional step: Add a label to the layer. To provide yourself with another reminder of the process, you can also change the name of the blank layer to “PLACE paper here” by double-clicking on the name in the layer box and typing it in.

I labeled the photo layers green to distinguish them from the paper shape layers. You can see I’ve renamed those layers too.

Now, to really make this shortcut work for me, I’m going to Save the template. This step would come BEFORE I’ve Placed anything onto the layout but AFTER each of the clipping layers have been added. File>Save As… (CTRL/CMD>ALT>S)

I changed the template’s name, leaving in the designer info but indicating I’ve set it up for auto-clipping. Then I chose PSD as my format, although you could choose TIFF if that’s your method. And there! You’ve got a template ready for action the next time you want to use it. It takes a few minutes up front to get the clipping layers in there, but I think in the long run it’ll save time later. Thoughts?

It’s been a rough week for us here. One of our dogs had a partial bowel obstruction requiring treatment, antibiotics and hand-feeding to prevent vomiting. That was fun… 🙁 She’s all back to normal now, so it was worth it. Then our disabled adult son developed an infection in his foot and isn’t standing on it. He’s heavy and we don’t have lift equipment; moving him around while not injuring anyone is a challenge. More antibiotics, analgesics and frequent position changes for him have kept me on the go. I’m tired… but not too tired to be excited about National Scrapbooking Day coming up on May 7th!! See you in a week.

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

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Creative Style, Digital Scrapbooking, Tutorials Tagged With: Tutorial Tuesday

Tutorial Tuesday (Individual Style)

April 19, 2022 by Jan

April Quote Challenge with CathyK

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

Yes, we’ve made it to the third Tuesday of April – time for the monthly Challenge Spotlight! Last weekend we had a rare confluence of high holy days with Easter, Ramadan (which is ongoing until May 1) and Passover. I daresay a lot of us were busy!! But even so there are some great examples of individual style in the Quote Challenge Gallery. Each month CathyK provides a quote around which the layouts are to be based. In the past she’s created word art with the quote, and the last couple of months, she’s had some very cool message boards with the quotes on them. If the quote isn’t actually used in the layout, the scrapper must explain how it inspired her. Let’s take a look… [narrator’s note: Each layout is linked to the Gallery; click on the scrapper’s user name and you’ll be whisked off to the layout so you can indicate your admiration.]

This layout from poki04 is stunning! She used the quote as a border around that amazing long-exposure photo of the night sky. The use of muted cool colours creates a beautiful, monochromatic layout.

I like how at first glance this layout of dragonstarr‘s looks quite abstract, with so many repeating shapes. then, once you read the text border, you see beyond the obvious.

khoskins‘ layout just POPS! She’s got starry skies everywhere. I love her use of complimentary colours, blue and orange. Eye-catching for sure!

What does one do when one hasn’t any photos to match the quote’s theme? Go photoless and let the quote do all the heavy lifting, as Got2Scrap did!

NHSoxGirl really ran with the rainbow theme! We lived in Montréal for 3 years, but it was before the Biosphere was constructed. My daughter has visited it with our grandchildren, who loved it. Here it’s showcased by both the rainbow and the elements arranged around it. Cleverly, the dark navy band of paper hints at its location on Ile-Ste-Hélène.

Look at how nimble4u has used some symbols in place of words in the quote. It’s pretty clear from the photos they’re looking for rainbows.

It’s not often one is able to see both ends of a rainbow, and gmae even points that out in her journaling! She’s created a journal card with the quote to support the theme.

Look at all that white space! 01lousmith has highlighted her whimsical photo so perfectly, and the use of the paint swatch as a journaling tag is genius.

DianeInOz has taken the rain angle and run with it. She kept the embellishment to a minimum, which is a good idea when the background paper is boldly patterned as this one is.

Is there anything more joyful than a child jumping in puddles? Windswept has captured that joy in so many ways. Her nod to the quote is the sticker she created.

And finally, this masterpiece by hichchei… it’s so moody and just a little spooky. The stars are there, but not obviously so, which works beautifully with her vision and with how she’s used the quote.

Don’t forget to let the ladies know you like their layouts! See you next Tuesday.

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

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Challenge Spotlight, Creative Style, Digital Scrapbooking, Tutorials Tagged With: Tutorial Tuesday

Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)

April 12, 2022 by Jan

Making Your Own Messy Edges

PDF Version: https://bit.ly/3uGCI7Z

I had a request from Lorri: “Would you consider a tutorial on making custom paper edges? I’ve thought about how I can do this after viewing the rather simple edges using masks against background papers. But as I look at some more recent edges and the increased complexities, it seems that masking alone is not the technique to use (at least alone).” She provided some examples from the fabulous Connie Prince so I’d know what she was talking about. My response? Of COURSE we can do that!! So here we go…

[Before we start, there are lots of screenshots for this, but they’re not all steps in the process. I want these tutorials to be achievable by everyone; visual and verbal instructions along with repetition help the majority of learners, and that’s why there’s always a review. I don’t assume anyone reading my tutorials is an expert at using Elements, so if you ARE an expert, I know you’ll be gracious. 😉 The other thing I want to mention is that any text you see bold and in colour will contain a hyperlink to the source of whatever I’m showing.]

Okay. Let’s roll! This technique uses Brushes. or digital stamps. I have a huge collection of brushes from various sources, but I know lots of people don’t so I’ll show you a dozen free sets I’ve curated for you. They’re all from Brusheezy.com and I’ve linked them all for you so if you see something you like, go grab it! First is this set of funky corner brushes.

Corners make the process simpler so here’s another group of swirly ones.

These corners are a bit more classic.

How do you feel about art deco?

Enough corners! Here are some brush strokes.

These grungy brushes might not be specifically suited for edges, but boy, they can add some amazing texture to a layout!

Same for these heavy grungy paints.

When I saw this set I was hooked! One-stop cursive and crackles? YEAH!

I wasn’t sure about these crosshatch scatter brushes, but once I used them, I’m in love.

Splatters are also high on my list of well-loved tools.

And these paint stroke brushes look very promising for messy edging.

If the whole thought of DIY edges is too overwhelming, try these pre-fab edges. You can add some solid colour layer masks or Clip some patterned papers to them to customize them to the kit you’re working with.

Start off with a blank canvas in your favourite layout size. I like 12×12, so that’s what I’ll show. Open some of the elements you’re planning to use for your layout to give you colour-matching capacity.

Review time: To pull a colour from a photo or element, grab your Eye Dropper Tool and zoom in on your colour source. Decide what colour you want for the brush layer and click on the image. See the crosshairs?

Review time #2: Loading Brushes is easy, but if you’ve never done it, it might be a bit intimidating. You’ll need to know where your brushes are kept on your system though. Click on the Brush Tool, then in the Brush Picker, click on the icon that looks like a stack of lines at the upper right corner of the menu. Then click on Load Brushes…

I’m going to go off on a tangent here for a second and tell you what I do with my .abr files. After I’ve extracted the zip file, I rename the .abr file to make it easier to recognize later. A lot of times, Brusheezy files don’t need this step. I’ll use something like Grungy Paint, and if there’s a specific number of brushes in a set, I’ll put that number in the name. Then I Copy the .abr file to the folder Elements uses to hold all the loaded brushes. On a Windows system that’s This PC>OS (C:)>Program Files>Adobe>Photoshop Elements (version)>Presets>Brushes. (It’s not as complicated as it sounds.) Then the brushes are ready to Load. BUT…!!! You don’t have to do any of that. If you’ve got a brush (set) in a designer folder, you can Load right from there. Find the brush set you want to Load and click it.

I like to start my messy edges with a corner brush. That takes a lot of guesswork out of positioning. But each of us will have our own ideas about what we like and how we like it, so I’m only offering guidance here. If you’re not a corner-lover, feel free to skip ahead. This whole process is one of experimenting. Try something. If you don’t like it, Undo [CTRL/CMD>Z] it and try something else.

A word about brushes: Many of them are created with a maximum size of 2500 pixels. If you’re a 12×12 girl like me, they’ll need to be resized after use, so keep that in mind. In the case of corner brushes and 12×12 [3600 pixels x 3600 pixels] canvases, going full-size isn’t going to work. Reminder: putting your brushes on their own layers gives you power!

The next couple of steps are for those who want to have corner brushes in all four corners. Rather than try to wing it and hope for the best, using the brush and adjusting Angle and whatever, just Duplicate the brush layer you’ve already made. Right-click on the layer then choose Duplicate Layer>OK. Or use the keyboard shortcut CTRL/CMD>J.

To create a mirror image of the corner, grab the middle handle on the side of the Bounding Box closest to the edge of the paper and drag it horizontally across itself. That’ll flip it. Use the Tool Options to get the size exactly right by typing -100% in the W: box as shown. Or simply go to the Tool Options and type in the -100% in the W: box and not bother with the dragging.

After you’ve nudged the second corner into its spot, click>SHIFT>click on the two layers. Right-click and choose Merge Layers or CTRL/CMD>E.

Now Duplicate the corners layer again by repeating the steps above.

Only this time grab the middle handle of the top of the Bounding Box and pull vertically. Key in the -100% in the H: box and nudge the second pair of corners into place.

Merge the two layers together for a single layer with all four corners in there. CTRL/CMD>E

This is the brush set I used to create the corners for my messy edges.

I know I’m a broken record. I won’t deny it! If you DON’T put your brushes on their own layer, you can’t make any adjustments to size or orientation without affecting whatever else is on that layer too.

I chose a new colour a bit darker gold that for my corners, and another brush to add to my canvas… on its own layer. This time I’m not going to Duplicate because I want it to look more casual. The corners are my anchors. If you hover your brush over the canvas, you’ll see a preview of what you’ll end up with once you commit. If it doesn’t look the way you want it, you can click on the Brush Settings bar and make adjustments, like the Angle as shown.

I’m more or less happy with this, although I think some of the stars extend out too far into the layout. I’ll just Erase some. All four of these star brushes are on one layer, with the corners layer not currently Visible.

For reference purposes.

Now I want to use a paint smear brush. At default settings it’s pretty wide, and that might be too much for my border. So I clicked the Brush Settings bar and this time I adjusted the Roundness of the brush. (Yes, I realize the brush isn’t “round”; I’m making it skinnier.)

Here are four examples of the same brush but with different amounts of “roundness”.

Remember when I mentioned the maximum size of the brush? Well, this paint smear has a max size of 2500 pixels. I’ve used four different brushes from the same set, with their widths adjusted, all on a single layer. Now I can resize the whole layer to fill the canvas edge to edge.

Here’s how the three brush layers look all together. I’m not sure it’s finished, but it’s coming along.

Hmm. Better. But still not there.

I LOVE-LOVE-LOVE this set of brushes! And I think this is just what the doctor ordered.

The messy edge is done! I could use it exactly as-is and it would be great. For those who like a little more oomph, let’s see how adding some Layer Styles looks. I added a green fine Glitter Style to the crosshatch layer. The colour is a little different, but I like it.

To give the dusty rose paint smears a bit of weight and texture I added a Bevel Style. The Simple Sharp Outside Pillow Emboss Bevel makes it look like dried latex paint. But too clumpy.

The Bevel default Size is 21 pixels. By double-clicking on the fx on the layer, I can adjust that. I want just a suggestion of texture here, so I pulled the slider over to 2 pixels and left the Direction Up.

The star scatter got the Chrome Style treatment. It adds some Bevel, some sheen and some colour. The gold is really close to the colour I chose from the flower, so I’m happy.

Here’s a tight shot of the layers with their Styles.

My finished messy edge looks like this. Easy-peasy and so much fun!

Will you try this one? Don’t forget to share your finished work in the Tutorial Tuesday Gallery!!

PDF Version: https://bit.ly/3uGCI7Z

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Creative Style, Digital Scrapbooking, Digital Scrapbooking Freebies, Tutorials Tagged With: Tutorial Tuesday

Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)

April 5, 2022 by Jan

Importing a Tear

PDF Version : https://bit.ly/38jCIlt

I’ve been eagerly waiting for an opportunity to share this little trick with you but certain aspects had to fall into place. And now they have. This technique is so easy and rewarding that I think you’ll use it right away…

Have you ever wanted to add a paper tear to your layout but felt overwhelmed by all the steps to get there? Then this one is for you. There’s a way to import a paper tear from a template into a layout-in-progress that only takes a few easy steps and very little time. However, you must have a template with a paper tear on its own layer, or a commercial-use paper tear template. They have their own limitations, and may not give you the look you’re after. So try this.

I started out with this template from Tinci Designs’ Second Chances V.2 collection. I resized all of the layers (except the background paper) to allow for adding a tear.

I was waiting to find a template like this one from CarolW Designs’ Spring Dawn. That tear is moveable!! But how can I move it onto Krizstina’s template?

There are a couple of steps that need doing first. But to start, I found the tear layer in Carol’s template, right-clicked on the layer and chose Duplicate Layer from the dropdown menu.

Now Elements needs to know where to put it. The new menu shows all the files currently open in the Photo Box, and offers the option of creating a New Document. That’s what I’m going to do.

This step is completely optional. I chose to give my new document file a name, Paper Tear Mask, for clarity.

And this is what happens.

But look at that Bounding Box! I was thrilled to see there’s more to the tear that can be used just by Resizing it.

Now to make it useful and not work too hard while I’m at it. I added a new blank layer underneath the tear layer. Just hold down the CTRL/CMD key and click the sheet-of-paper icon at the upper left of the Layers Panel.

Next, I used the Paint Bucket Tool to fill the whole of the blank layer I just created. Pick any colour you like (but not white) for this step.

To turn the coloured part into a Layer Mask so papers can be Clipped to it, I used a hard, round brush within the Eraser Tool to remove the coloured part above the tear. This can be done quickly because as long as I don’t cross over the tear into the lower part of the coloured area, I can just scrub it away.

And that’s it for creating the tear mask! To move it over onto Krizstina’s template, I’m going to Activate both layers by click-shift-clicking on each of them, then right-click to open the dropdown menu to Duplicate Layers…

This time, I’m going to send them onto the Tinci template.

‘MKay. there are the tear and the mask, placed on top of the background paper and underneath the rest of the layers.

I don’t like the tear up there, just to be a non-conformist. So I’ll move it.

And all that’s left is to add the papers. I’ve used North Meets South Studios’ March Daily Download kit, When Life Gives Lemons. (It’s not available in the store yet, but if you weren’t able to collect all of the files last month, don’t worry. It’ll be in the store soon.) I want the woodgrain paper to be my background and the yellow gingham to be a tablecloth, sort of – maybe one of those vinyl ones with the fuzzy background and now it’s torn 😉 . By Clipping the woodgrain paper to the coloured part I added to the tear, that’s what I get. Cool, right?

Now, if you’d like to do this technique again sometime, you can Save your work As a .psd or .tiff file and reuse it again and again. By having all that coloured area, you can pretty much put the tear anywhere!

This is my finished layout, photos courtesy of Pixabay.

Last week I forgot to mention that Ginger-the-Magnificent has created a special Gallery where layouts you’ve created with these tutorials can be shared. You asked, she answered!! I’ll be swinging by every so often to check it out and leave some love.

PDF Version : https://bit.ly/38jCIlt

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Creative Style, Daily Download, Digital Scrapbooking, Digital Scrapbooking Freebies, Tutorials Tagged With: Tutorial Tuesday

Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)

March 29, 2022 by Jan

A Simple Photo Border with Label

Whew. The last few tutorials have been challenging, haven’t they? Today I think we need a nice, easy, basic technique that even the least experienced scrapper can succeed in doing. (Or, you could say I lacked inspiration this week, and you wouldn’t be wrong.)

The first step, as always, is to open a new. blank canvas on the workspace. As you can see, I’m predictably going 12 x 12, with lots of room to work. If you’d rather use a smaller canvas, it’s still going to work perfectly fine. I’ve chosen the Rounded Rectangle Custom Shape tool, with a 150 pixel Radius for the rounded corners. I’ve also set a Fixed Size of 6 inches wide, 4 inches high – standard landscape print dimensions. I’ve ticked the From Center and Snap boxes as well. Some tools have a lot of options that make for fewer steps, so why not make use of them?

With a single click in the middle of my canvas, I’ve created a 4 x 6 rounded rectangle shape. Custom Shapes are always Smart Objects when they’re first created. That means the only alteration they’ll permit is to resize.

If you want to do anything else to a Custom Shape, the Smart Object needs to be rendered dumb, or Simplified. If you’ve got a newer version of Elements, you’ll have a Simplify button right there in the Tool Options.

If you’re working with an older version you’ll have to do it the old-school way. Right-click on the layer in the Layers panel and choose Simplify Layer from the drop-down menu.

To create a border/frame that follows the contours of your rounded rectangle CTRL/CMD>click on the shape’s layer thumbnail in the Layers panel. That will Select the edge of the rectangle. Then click Select>Modify>Contract… to shift the marching ants inside the rectangle.

You might want to experiment a bit with this step. I tried a few possibilities for how far over I wanted the edge to move. I want a gap between the Selection and the edge of the rectangle deep enough to add some text in a large enough font that it’s easily read. I settled on 65 pixels.

The marching ants can be hard to see on these screenshots. Trust me when I say they round the corners cleanly.

Now to create the border. It needs to go on its own layer, so add a blank layer to the top of the stack in the Layers panel by clicking on the sheet-of-paper icon at the upper left corner of the panel. Then click Edit>Stroke (Outline) Selection…

Again, this step might take some trial-and-error. I opted to go with a 25 pixel Stroke applied on Center of the Selection.

Here’s a close-up of my 25 pixel Stroke inside my 65 pixel gap. To eliminate the marching ants that outline the Selection, click Select>Deselect, or CTRL/CMD>D.

Now to add the label. I chose a clean, sans-serif (no ‘extra’ extending features) font, but you can choose any font you like. I wanted simple but eye-catching so I went with Caneletter Sans for my label.

It was a bit insipid, so I highlighted the text and clicked the B for faux bold and made it a bit more meaty.

Then I moved the text to a spot on the border/frame. Where your label goes will depend on the photo you’re using. You’ll want it to go somewhere that won’t obscure any focal point, and where it won’t get lost in the photo itself.

I’m going to cut an opening in the border to sandwich the label, so I used the Rectangle Marquee tool to drag out a box around the text as shown. The active layer is the one with the border on it.

Edit>Cut or CTRL/CMD>X will take that chunk out of the border.

Because the label is on a separate layer, if it doesn’t look centered in the opening, it’s easy enough to nudge it so it does look right.

Once I was happy with the border and label, I activated both layers by click>SHIFT>clicking on them, then right-clicked and chose Merge Layers. Shortcut: CTRL/CMD>E.

Now to fine-tune. I dragged my photo onto the workspace, positioning it between the rounded rectangle shape and the border/label layers.

But first, I’m going to Clip the photo to the shape, by right-clicking and choosing Create Clipping Mask. Shortcut: for versions 15 and up, CTRL>ALT>G. For earlier versions, CTRL/CMD>G.

Elements indents the layer once it has been Clipped to the layer below it, as shown.

The black border/label gets lost a bit against the photo. So I’m going to change the color to something more visible. The cleanest way to do that is to add a Solid Color Fill Layer. Click Layer>New Fill Layer>Solid Color…

Make sure the box is ticked to Use Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask to save yourself some steps.

For the most flexibility I Merge the two layers together.

Elements will use the foreground color in the Color Picker, but you can always choose to pull a color from your photo. Activate the Eye Dropper tool and click it on any color you like. You can see the changes happening in real time, and that guarantees you’ll find the look you like best.

What color would you go with?

I can’t believe I managed to create 20 new layouts this month. I’m greedy… I want both the Challenge Reward kit AND the Shine Your Light mega-collab. (That might mean our next tutorial is about moving kits and layouts onto an external hard drive and changing some workflow but it’ll be worth it…) March is almost gone, it’s 61°F outside and the orchards are greening up. Makes me feel like I can do anything!

PDF Version: https://bit.ly/3qOm97N

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Creative Style, Digital Scrapbooking, Tutorials Tagged With: Tutorial Tuesday

Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)

March 22, 2022 by Jan

Creating Art with a Photo

I’ve been procrastinating over this tutorial for awhile… because A) I wasn’t sure I could articulate how I do this and B) other, quicker techniques kept presenting themselves. 😉 But I bit the bullet. Today’s the day! I want to show you how to turn a photo into a watercolor work of art, and it started when Karen asked how the scrapper got the paint effect on this layout, shown below. (Sorry, I’m not sure where the original is posted or who the scrapper is to give them credit… if it’s yours, you did a fantastic job!) Anyway, I want to make one thing clear before we start: this is a labour-intensive technique, and much will depend on your choice of photo how much work will be involved. But your skills will get a good workout!

I chose this photo from Pixabay as my canvas. It already has a bit of an arty look to it, but when I’m done with it, it’ll be very different. It was already a square so that helped, although you can do this technique on any photo.

First, I’m going to use a Guided Edit. This one was introduced with Elements 2019. If you’re working with an earlier version, you can follow this tutorial, or this tutorial for the sketchy part. I’ve also used the Guided Edit we’ll be working with for a previous tutorial back in July 2019, so if it looks familiar that’s why. The outcome today will be very different from that other though.

Choose Pencil Sketch from the options in this menu, the one in the upper left corner there. Then drag your cursor over the parts of your photo you want to be sketchy. The cursor can be sized to fit the area you’re including, and you’ll have the ability to “unsketch” parts if you go too far.

I decided I wanted the WHOLE photo to be sketchy, so I made my cursor brush huge and rolled it over everything. But let’s say you only want part of your photo sketched. In my experience, it’s easier to ADD an area to my selection then SUBTRACT with a smaller brush where the details are. You’ll see what I mean a bit later. In this step, it’s also possible to decrease the Opacity of the effect so more of the original shows through. But not today!

Once I had my sketch the way I wanted it, I went to the lower right corner of the workspace and clicked Next. (Be careful you don’t click Cancel, because that’ll undo everything you’ve done and take you back to the starting gate.) Then I chose Continue Editing In Expert.

Now it’s possible to see what Elements was doing in the background while we were busy and oblivious. Now I have 3 layers: the original, a sketch layer with a black Layer Mask and a sketch layer with a white Layer Mask. It’s possible to do the following steps using these two masked layers, but it’s a bit more challenging than my approach, so we’re not going to do that. The layer that I want to work with is the one with the white Layer Mask, but I need to Simplify it. Right-click on that layer – over on the left of the layer near but not ON the link icon – then choose Simplify Layer.

Then I Deleted the layer with the black Layer Mask.

You can turn visibility for the colour layer off if you like, or leave it be.

Next, I made a Copy Layer of the sketch. You can right-click on the layer then choose Duplicate Layer>OK. Or use the keyboard shortcut CTRL/CMD>J.

I put the Copy Layer in my back pocket for later and made the first sketch layer my active layer and added a Layer Mask to it… I know what you’re thinking – but I’m really not making work for myself. I tried it with the previously masked layers and it didn’t do what I needed it to do.

For those not familiar with Layer Masks, they allow removal of part of a layer in a “non-destructive” way, meaning that if I erase part of the image that I didn’t really want gone, I can just paint it back in. See the colour picker? The Eraser Tool is active with a white foreground and a black background. When white is the foreground colour, whatever the Eraser rolls over with be revealed – in this case it’s the transparent background. When black is the foreground colour, it conceals – the transparent background in this case. Toggling back and forth between removing and replacing parts of the image plays a big role in getting this technique nailed. I started by Erasing her face and neck as well as the green in the upper left corner. As I mentioned, I find it easier and quicker to Erase (white) past fine details like wispy hairs, and then paint them back (black).

I also discovered that toggling the colour layer on and off makes it easier to see edges of things better.

Aaaaaand toggling the sketch layer on and off helped me see where and what needed more help.

Her fringe didn’t seem too important when I first got going, but to be really successful, I figured I needed to make it as sharply detailed as possible. I work on a laptop with a trackpad, and lemme tell ya… it’s a SKILL!! I found I got better results when I started at the tip of a strand of hair and dragged the cursor back toward the fringe than when I tried to go from fringe to tip. Try it both ways and see which works best for you. This is where most of the time expenditure happens. If you’ve chosen a less detailed image to work with, it’ll go a lot quicker.

So, I’m happy with how I’ve isolated her hair. What do you think the next step will be?

Did you guess right? If you’ve read a lot of my meandering tutorials, you probably did!

And you probably knew this step was coming too. Make a Copy Layer of the hair. ALWAYS have a copy of something you’ve done a lot of work on, just in case you need it!! Now I have a Copy of the whole sketch and a Copy of just her hair.

It’s really hard to see the marching ants in this screenshot, but they are there. I activated the whole sketch layer then CTRL/CMD>clicked on one of the hair layers to Select the edges of the hair on the whole sketch.

I want everything BUT the hair so I clicked Select>Inverse. (In reality, I used the keyboard shortcut CTRL/CMD>SHIFT>I…)

Then I clicked Edit>Cut (CTRL/CMD>X).

At this point I have four layers, one colour, one just her face and the green in the corner and two hair layers.

Now I took some time to experiment with my watercolor brush collection. The ones that worked best are the ones that are a square swatch, like the ones you can grab here for free. I resized the brush so it filled the whole photo so I could see where the colour was most opaque and how it looked overall. Because I was just looking at options. I didn’t create a new blank layer for the brush, although in retrospect I should have.

Did you know you can make lots of adjustments to your brushes? Click on Brush Settings and you’ll see this. I wasn’t happy that the brush I chose didn’t cover all of her hair, so I rotated the brush 90° to the right and fixed it.

The next two screenshots are still part of my experimentation, but the process you’ll follow after you’re settled on your brush and have it on its own layer is the same as I’m showing.

After the hair is Selected and Inverted, I’ll Cut it away to see what effect I have.

Alrighty! I’m ready to commit. I have a brush and a colour I like, it’s positioned well and I can go ahead with the brush on its own layer. I put the new, blank layer in between the hair layers by clicking on the sheet of paper icon at the upper left of the Layers Panel.

I really wanted the ability to manipulate her face separate from her hair, as you can see here. That’s why I went to all the work of Layer Masking her hair. I’ll change the Blend Mode on the FACE layer to Luminosity.

I’m almost happy now. But I’ll look at it for a bit to make sure.

So I played with some Blend Modes and decided all I needed to do was decrease the Opacity of the painted hair layer to 80%. It looks pretty good, even if I say so myself. The untouched hair layer adds some necessary detail back to the hair, and the effect can be enhanced with Blend Modes if desired.

Here’s what it looks like on a layout. I used a mask-and-frame combo in PSD form so that I could move the frame around. I’m really pleased.

Again, I apologize for the formatting mess I’ve made here. I haven’t figured out how to make spacing adjustments in WordPress when I’ve had to move an image around. Or when I’ve made a booboo after I’ve added the images. It’s a problem!

Sherri, I haven’t forgotten about your paper-punch-tear but haven’t figured it out yet. It’s a work in progress…

PDF Version : https://bit.ly/3wy8xkz

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Creative Style, Digital Scrapbooking, Digital Scrapbooking Freebies, Tutorials Tagged With: Tutorial Tuesday

Tutorial Tuesday: Individual Style

March 15, 2022 by Jan

Making Magic with Brushes

Yes, it’s the third Tuesday of March already. It’s a sad day here, as our daughter said goodbye to her furbaby Lucy this morning. We knew this day was coming, and tried to prepare, but it’s not that simple, is it? I’ll be working on a tribute layout later as my therapy, and seeing all the amazing ways our GingerScrappers have created magic with this month’s Challenge Brush has given me some inspiration.

When I chose these layouts to show you, I was looking for uniqueness, and I had a lot to choose from. Each layout will be linked to the Gallery; the GingerScraps user names are your links so if you’re inclined, you can pop over and give them some praise. But first, let’s talk about the Challenge. This year, the host for our Brush Challenge is Alexis Design Studio. She’s brilliant with creating brushes, so we’re all very lucky she’s giving them away! The Challenge is to use the brush she provided (free) on a layout, and there are some very creative ways to use brushes. Let’s have a look.

This layout by wendeeds is filled with shamrocks. I had to look hard to see the brush – it’s behind the journaling! I thought she’d used patterned paper.

Here, pippin has turned the brush into confetti and it’s showering the couple with luck.

I love how Rhewko has blended the brush into her background and added a touch of gold leaf to it. It’s both subtle and obvious.

Here, jcfdelaware has overlaid the brush with her photo mask, blending them. The little boy blowing on the dandelions is blowing the brush’s shamrocks into the universe.

Look at the tone-on-tone beauty of this layout from ysgbo! The brushes are randomly positioned, with the layout divided diagonally. The upper right are embossed and the lower left are debossed. Brilliant!

Dannisa has the brush repeating and gradually shrinking, with the shamrock pouf overlapping and creating a cloud of parachutes.

My eyes went right to this layout in the album. The way Grace has turned one of her photos into a pencil sketch is lovely, and who isn’t drawn to sunflowers right now? But it’s the way the brush seems to mingle with the paper scatter that is the real genius here.

The way barbaraj has duplicated the brush is clever; it looks like she die-cut them from paper and carefully positioned each tiny piece.

Macsandy makes the brush an integral part of her background, and has pulled the green from other aspects of her background to create a seamless image. Using a black-and-white photo was a great idea.

For her layout, Effie4037 used the brush in a very subtle way. I like that she chose to echo the mint green from her border paper rather than the more traditional green of her title strip. The brush ties her photos together and grounds them to the background beautifully.

The way willow‘s brush explodes into the layout makes it so hard to know where the brush ends and her photo begins. Great choice to invert the colour where the brush extends into the central gray paper strip too!

To me, the brushwork on garrynkim‘s layout looks like a stencil applied with a very gentle hand.

At first, I thought Jill had put her layout into the wrong album. So I took a closer look. The brush is there… russet and blended into the old wood background and providing a landing pad for that gorgeous cluster.

At first glance, you might think this layout from PixyGirl has popcorn on it. But it’s the brush, in white and with a pearl glued to many of the shamrocks.

Tsubasa went to a lot of trouble to blend the brush into her photo. Look carefully at how she’s lightened the main part of the photo, framed that focal seedhead and then augmented the blowing seeds with the brush. Amazing!

By blending the brush into this dreamy, soft watercolour paper, wvwendy has really added oomph to her layout.

I saved this version from linweb for last. She used it very cleverly to create a St Patrick’s Day card and I LOVE it!!

I hope you’ve gotten some flashes of inspiration from this stroll through the Gallery. I know I did!

PDF Version: https://bit.ly/3KKY6Oz

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Challenge Spotlight, Creative Style, Digital Scrapbooking, Digital Scrapbooking Freebies, Tutorials Tagged With: Tutorial Tuesday

Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)

March 8, 2022 by Jan

Realistic Book Looks

If you’ve been waiting for today’s tutorial all day and were wondering if it would ever appear, I have an excuse… a MILLION interruptions! But fortunately it’s a short snapper this week, so I’m hoping it doesn’t break too late. Let’s get after it!

Jill sent me a request to help her figure something out. She’d done some layouts using Miss Fish’s Travellers’ Notebook V.9 templates and some spiral wire binding, and that was okay. But she also wanted to leave out the spiral binding and have more of a bound-book-laying-open-on-a-table look. She’d tried to achieve it but wasn’t satisfied with her efforts. So today, I’m tackling it for her.

I whipped up a travel-related layout using the same template she’d shown me as her example. As you can see, it looks like… a layout. Not much like a coffee table book.

It’s actually an easy thing to make a flat layout look more like a book. It involves the Burn Tool (the one that looks like the “OK” hand gesture). I chose one of the round Drop Shadow brushes that are included with the software. These are my settings, which I’m providing as a guide. You may like more or less! I also turned on the Grid (View>Grid or CTRL/CMD>’) to give me more control over what I’m going to do. Things to keep in mind: Burn the layers that are going to follow the contour of the curved part of the page. Anything that might lift away, like the tag and the journal card, won’t be part of this process. Choose the proper layer(s). I’ll be starting on the left side of the layout, so will have to Burn the background cream-coloured paper, the orange paper layer, the striped paper layer and the photo layer. When I do the right side of the layout, I’ll only need to Burn the background cream-coloured paper.

Making a straight line in Elements is super-duper easy when you know how. Using the Grid as a guide, I positioned my Brush as shown, 1/4 inch off the paper on its right side and so that the widest part of the Brush was over the bottom. I Clicked to start the Burn, then held down the SHIFT key and Clicked again at the top of the visible part of the cream paper. See how the paper is darker there now, but not gray? I repeated this process for each of the paper layers on the left side, then did the same to the background paper on the right.

It looks better already! But I’m going to make it even more real-looking.

This time I’m going to add an actual shadow, using a big square Drop Shadow Brush and my shadow colour. These are the settings I used. I’m going to start on the right side this time, and you’ll see why in a sec. I’ve got the cream-coloured background paper layer active.

I ALWAYS put my brushes on their own layer. Then I can adjust them in so many different ways. If I actually put the brush on a paper layer, it’s part of the paper layer and thus not tweakable at all. So I added a new blank layer above the cream paper layer.

I used the same steps to add the shadow. BUT. Using the Brush Tool in this way doubles up the effect where the first Click is done. That’ll look bad. So I did my first Click OFF the paper I’m shadowing. I centered the brush but in hindsight, I could have just aligned the left side of the brush with the center of the book and skipped some steps. Oh well. Click>SHIFT>Click top and bottom, off the paper.

Next, I used the Rectangle Marquee Tool to outline the overly dark bit at the top of the layout, then Edit>Cut (CTRL/CMD>X) that bit away.

To further blend and soften the shadow, I added a Blur>Gaussian Blur.

It looked just about perfect with a 4.5 pixel Blur.

Rather than Shadow all the various layers on the left side, I instead made a Copy Layer of the shadow and moved it up the Layers Panel so it was above the photo layer. Then I nudged it over so it was balanced with the right side. Of course, it overlaps the right side. Darn! Rectangle Marquee Tool CTRL/CMD>X to the rescue.

There! It looks a lot more 3D now, and I really like it! I hope Jill does too.

Well ladies, spring is in the air here and it’s time for supper! (And I’m only 10 minutes late.) See you next week, when we’ll check out a Challenge.

PFD Version : https://bit.ly/3MG9bSE

Filed Under: Be Inspired, Behind the Scrapbook, Digital Scrapbooking, Tutorials Tagged With: Tutorial Tuesday