{"id":27578,"date":"2018-11-27T19:00:34","date_gmt":"2018-11-28T03:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/?p=27578"},"modified":"2018-11-27T14:29:46","modified_gmt":"2018-11-27T22:29:46","slug":"tutorial-tuesday-photoshop-elements-82","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/2018\/11\/tutorial-tuesday-photoshop-elements-82\/","title":{"rendered":"Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gentle(wo)men, Start Your Ovens!<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The inspiration for today’s tutorial came from a Facebook post by one of my coworkers. She had spent the day making and decorating sugar cookies. (The photo above isn’t hers, it’s from The Girl Creative<\/strong>‘s blog.) As I was looking at her cookies, it occurred to me that I could probably make digital sugar cookies (bonus – NO calories!) and so I gave it a shot. It worked well, so I’m going to share the recipe with y’all. I started with a 6 inch by 6 inch square blank canvas. (P.S. Don’t be thrown by the number of screenshots in this tut. I’ve included practically every step, although we’re using a lot of techniques I’ve already shown you.)<\/p>\n

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I looked through all of the Custom Shape tool<\/strong>‘s menu – it’s the one that looks like an amoeba. The menu has a lot of options for shapes, most of them geometrical. But that won’t make this technique easy, so I only looked at the amoeba menu.<\/p>\n

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If you click on the triangle along the right side of the box I’ve circled below, the amoeba Custom Shape<\/strong> menu opens. I chose to look at them all to find the one that would work best, so I went with All Elements Shapes<\/strong> then scrolled until I found the one named Nuclear<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Because snowflakes in nature are perfectly symmetrical, I changed the settings for this tool from the default, which is Unconstrained<\/strong>, to Defined Proportions<\/strong>. If you’re into Working Smart Not Hard<\/strong>, you can also Simplify<\/strong> the shape by selecting that in the settings.<\/p>\n

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Getting these shapes in the exact spot you want them isn’t easy. But you can click-and-drag<\/strong> out your shape then move it to where it needs to be. Once it has been Simplified<\/strong>, you can easily resize it too.<\/p>\n

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If you didn’t Simplify<\/strong> in the Shapes<\/strong> menu, do it now. Right-click<\/strong> on the layer in the Layers panel<\/strong> and select Simplify Layer<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Not looking much like a cookie cutter now, is it? We’ll have to fill in those open areas using the Paint Bucket<\/strong> tool.<\/p>\n

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There we go! I could go ahead and just use this shape, which is more like a flower than a snowflake, but would still totally work. But if you know me at all, you’ll know I’m going to do more.<\/p>\n

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There are two ways to do this next step. I’m going to use the Elliptical Marquee<\/strong> tool. The other way would be to use the Custom Shapes<\/strong> tool<\/strong> and choose the Circle<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Because symmetry is still important at this point, I changed the settings to Fixed Ratio<\/strong>. This is handy for making perfect circles, but also can be set to make perfect ellipses too.<\/p>\n

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It’s possible to perform this on the same layer as the original shape, but I choose to put the outline on its own layer.<\/p>\n

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So I added a blank layer above the shape and made my Stroke<\/strong>\u00a0outline here.<\/p>\n

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The stroke can be any size. Once I’d made my circle I filled it in with the Paint Bucket<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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This is my cookie cutter. It needs a little adjustment – look closely and you’ll see the circle isn’t centered on the nucleus shape. I need to fix that!<\/p>\n

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Now that both layers were aligned properly, I Merged<\/strong> the layers into one shape. (CTRL\/CMD>E<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

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Then I Duplicated<\/strong> the shape layer and set it aside for later. Right-click<\/strong> on the layer then select Duplicate Layer<\/strong>, or CTRL\/CMD>J<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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I didn’t need to see that duplicate layer at this stage, so I closed the eye and made it invisible.<\/p>\n

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To turn the shape into a cookie, I applied a Style<\/strong>. I used this creamy acrylic one from Miss Mis<\/strong><\/a>‘s Hustle and Heart<\/strong><\/a> layer styles set. Another option for this step would be to use a chipboard Style, such as one of Just So Scrappy<\/strong>‘s Cabin Fever<\/strong><\/a> chipboards (included in the GingerBread Ladies December 2017 Challenge Reward collab<\/strong> of the same name). That would allow you to condense this step and the next 9 into just a SINGLE WSNH<\/strong> step!<\/p>\n

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The only problem with this is that the cookie is too shiny. The colour looks good, and there’s a nice dimension to it, but I changed the Style<\/strong> settings, essentially turning everything off and shifting the light source. To adjust a Layer Style<\/strong>, rignt-click<\/strong> on the fx<\/strong><\/em> symbol on the layer in the Layers panel<\/strong> and this menu will open up.<\/p>\n

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Now it still has some dimension but the shine is gone. I’m still working on the bottom, original layer.<\/p>\n

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I picked a nice, toasty golden brown to “bake” my cookie.<\/p>\n

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Then I opened a new layer above the base layer, and selected a brush from one of the presets that came with my software. It’s called Pastel Light 118 pixels<\/strong> and I used it with the default settings that opened with the brush menu.<\/p>\n

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I picked a spot on the edge of the cookie, then clicked and dragged<\/strong> the brush all the way around the shape.<\/p>\n

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Remember this from when I showed you how to do digital inked edges? Same technique exactly. I CTRL\/CMD>clicked<\/strong> on the layer thumbnail of the cookie layer while working on my brush layer. That selected the edges and the inside of the cookie.<\/p>\n

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Next I Inverted<\/strong> the selection – moving the chosen area of the layer outside of the cookie. Select>Inverse<\/strong> or CTRL\/CMD>SHIFT>I<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Then I simply Cut<\/strong> away the brush that falls outside the cookie. Edit>Cut<\/strong> or CTRL\/CMD>X<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Voil\u00e0! My cookie is baked to golden perfection!! Now to add the Royal Icing. (Or Royal Frosting, if you prefer.)<\/p>\n

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Here’s why I had you Duplicate<\/strong> the shape layer. I’m going to flood that top shape with my Royal Icing. But first, I resized the shape so some of the cookie layer is visible. The easiest way is to click on one of the little boxes at the corners of the bounding box<\/strong> then go down to the menu and type in a number less than 100. I chose 92%<\/strong>, which exposes some of the cookie layer but not too much. You can also just move the corner you’ve clicked on inward until it looks right.<\/p>\n

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I used another Style<\/strong>, this gel blue one from Just So Scrappy<\/strong><\/a>‘s Lucky Me<\/strong><\/a>. [GingerScraps is lucky to have designers who create layer styles, like Misty (Miss Mis Designs<\/a>), Katie (Just So Scrappy<\/a>\/Ooh La La Scraps<\/a>), Aimee Harrison<\/strong><\/a>, Marina (Magical Scraps Galore<\/a>), Lina (LDrag Designs<\/a>), Jo (JoCee Designs<\/a>), Natasha (Ponytails Designs<\/a>) and our lovely guest Karen (Snickerdoodle Designs<\/a>).]<\/p>\n

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I made some tweaks to the layer style to make it look more like a flood of Royal Icing.<\/p>\n

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Then I got to the good part! I changed my foreground colour to pure white (which can be quickly selected by typing “ffffff<\/strong>” into the box at the bottom right of the menu).<\/p>\n

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Next I chose my Pencil tool<\/strong> from the Toolbox<\/strong> and adjusted the tip size to about 25 pixels<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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If you’ve been adding realism to your stickers and overlays, you’ll already know how to draw a line with the Pencil<\/strong>. But if you haven’t read that tut, or you need a refresher, all you have to do is click<\/strong> at the starting point<\/strong> of your line, hold down<\/strong> the SHIFT<\/strong> key and click<\/strong> where you want the line to end<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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You can turn on the Grid<\/strong> as shown below to help figure out where to start and stop your lines. View>Grid<\/strong> or CTRL\/CMD>’<\/strong><\/p>\n

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I used just the Pencil tool<\/strong>, but you could also use Brushes<\/strong> for adding detail to your snowflakes. Don’t worry about precision; if you were making real sugar cookies you’d be doing all the piping freehand, right?<\/p>\n

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You can make your snowflake as complex as you like. I played around for about 10 minutes, using the Pencil<\/strong> and changing the tip size.<\/p>\n

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No comment.<\/p>\n

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Now to turn all those lines and dots into Royal Icing. I applied a basic Style<\/strong> from the presets in Elements<\/strong> to add a Bevel<\/strong>. I experimented with all of them until I got the look I was after. In the end I went with the Simple Sharp Inner bevel<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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It looks pretty good as is, with the default settings for the Bevel<\/strong> style menu.<\/p>\n

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Now, I could have stopped here and called it good. But again, anyone who has read my tutorials before know I had to experiment some more. But I’ve learned to do my experimenting on a copy layer… CTRL\/CMD>J<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Then I cleared the Layer Style<\/strong> (Bevel<\/strong>) by right-clicking<\/strong> on the layer in the Layers panel<\/strong> and choosing Clear Layer Style<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Then I hit that top copy layer with another of Katie’s<\/strong> Styles<\/strong> from Lucky Me<\/strong>, the gel white.<\/p>\n

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Then I decreased the Opacity<\/strong> on that layer to 46%<\/strong> (after some waffling).\u00a0 Now the sharp edges are a little softer, and so are the shadows. Much better!<\/p>\n

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Once I was happy with my finished product, I Saved<\/strong> my cookie as a .png<\/strong> (which preserves the transparent background). Now I can use the cookie on a layout!<\/p>\n

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Of course, I didn’t stop there. I went back and deleted the snowflakey layers and started fresh. This time I stayed really basic. I just used one of the preset snowflakes from the Custom Shapes<\/strong> menu! The Styles<\/strong> I used were exactly the same.<\/p>\n

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If you’ve never saved a creation as a .png<\/strong>, or if you’ve forgotten how to do it, here are the settings I use.<\/p>\n

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And again… one of the Custom Shapes<\/strong> snowflakes, but with some personality.<\/p>\n

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Are you hungry now?<\/p>\n

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Gentle(wo)men, Start Your Ovens! The inspiration for today’s tutorial came from a Facebook post by one of my coworkers. She had spent the day making and decorating sugar cookies. (The photo above isn’t hers, it’s from The Girl Creative‘s blog.) As I was looking at her cookies, it occurred to me that I could probably […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[229,284,92,62],"tags":[373],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-21 09:09:04","action":"change-status","newStatus":"private","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category"},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27578"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27578"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27578\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27631,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27578\/revisions\/27631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}