{"id":39580,"date":"2021-04-06T17:04:51","date_gmt":"2021-04-07T00:04:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/?p=39580"},"modified":"2021-05-20T11:09:17","modified_gmt":"2021-05-20T18:09:17","slug":"tutorial-tuesday-photoshop-elements-146","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/2021\/04\/tutorial-tuesday-photoshop-elements-146\/","title":{"rendered":"Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gradient Border Masks – So Many Options!<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The other day, I got a message from Ginger<\/strong><\/span> that a customer was looking for information on how to use Lindsay Jane<\/strong><\/a><\/span>‘s border masks, and wanted to know if I had a tut for that. Well, I didn’t. The customer specified she had Border It 28<\/strong><\/a><\/span>, so I popped over to the shop and bought them. And then I played with them.<\/p>\n

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A close-up look at one of the border masks reveals a gradient effect. What this means is that whatever is Clipped<\/strong> to it will also have a gradient. Where the mask is solid black, the paper or photo clipped to it will be 100% visible. As the mask becomes more transparent, more of the paper behind it will show through. This can be a really interesting look, but it’s going to require some experimentation to find a look that appeals to the beholder.<\/p>\n

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I’m using papers from a retired kit from Lindsay Jane<\/strong><\/span>‘s store, called Denim and Flowers<\/strong>. I’ve pulled a couple of solids and a couple of patterns to play with. Let’s give it a shot!<\/p>\n

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I love the retro look of these patterned papers. This lavender one is so pretty.<\/p>\n

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There are actually 3 ways to achieve the same result of Clipping<\/strong> papers to masks. Clicking on Layer>Create Clipping Mask<\/strong> is one. Right-click<\/strong>ing on the paper layer then choosing Create Clipping Mask<\/strong> is the second. The keyboard shortcut method was changed in Version 14<\/strong><\/span>. Prior to V14, CTRL\/CMD>G<\/strong> works. Version 14<\/strong><\/span> and later the keyboard shortcut is CTRL\/CMD>ALT>G<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Well, guess what?!! I don’t have the bottom of the mask right at the bottom of the background paper. Easy to fix.<\/p>\n

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Because this mask has what looks like rows of stitches, I decided to see what it looks like with a shadow style applied to it.<\/p>\n

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More experimentation. It’s the only way to know what will work and what won’t for this kind of mask.<\/p>\n

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Yeah… not loving this look! This is why I believe Undo<\/strong> (CTRL\/CMD>Z<\/strong>) is a digi-scrapper’s best friend.<\/p>\n

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This look reminds me of a t-shirt I had when I was 19! I made 2 Copies<\/strong> of the striped mask and spread them out evenly then Merged<\/strong> the mask layers. (Right-click<\/strong> and choose Merge Layers<\/strong> or CTRL\/CMD>E<\/strong>) Then I Clipped<\/strong> the flowery paper to the solid. That combo could be a nice background for a spring layout.<\/p>\n

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Ewwww. Nope!! Don’t like this look at all!<\/p>\n

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This one is okay. It’s not my favourite, but it looks okay.<\/p>\n

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Don’t forget that you have lots of other tools at your disposal. Blend Modes<\/strong> and Opacity<\/strong> changes are two of those, Here I’ve taken the blue-floral-on-green-solid and changed the Blend Mode<\/strong> of the floral PAPER<\/span> layer to Luminosity<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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If I change the Blend Mode<\/strong> on the MASK<\/span> layer to Luminosity<\/strong>, this is what it looks like.<\/p>\n

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Here I’ve just decreased the Opacity<\/strong> of the MASK<\/span> layer to 75%<\/strong>. (Decreasing the Opacity<\/strong> of the PAPER<\/span> would only allow more of the black\/gray of mask to show through.)<\/p>\n

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The solid navy blue paper is actually a denim, so this look is going to be a fun one, I just know it!<\/p>\n

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YES! Again, I’m thrown back to the 70s!! My very first pair of bell bottoms was navy with tiny flowers. This look though reminds me of the time I opened up the outside seam at the bottom of my straight jeans and sewed in a wedge of floral fabric, turning them into bell bottoms.<\/p>\n

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This might be fun… I’m going to Merge<\/strong> these mask layers into a single one.<\/p>\n

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Now that I’ve played with these masks and papers a bit, I’m getting a sense of what will work and what won’t.<\/p>\n

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That’s pretty close to what I expected. I like it.<\/p>\n

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But the navy blue is a tad harsh, so I dropped the Opacity<\/strong> of the MASK<\/span> layer to 50%<\/strong>. I like this look a bit better.<\/p>\n

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But papers aren’t the only option for Clipping<\/strong> to these masks. What does a photo look like? I chose this stock photo because of the pinecones.<\/p>\n

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Repeating shapes!<\/p>\n

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I really do think this stripped mask is my favourite. Again, I lined up 3 Copies<\/strong> of it and Merged<\/strong> them together. Then I Copied<\/strong> the mask layer and Rotated<\/strong> it 90\u00b0<\/strong>. Plaid! This is just the masks with their Opacity<\/strong> decreased to 50%<\/strong> at this point and might be what you like.<\/p>\n

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Here I’ve clipped the floral paper to each of the mask layers. I love this look!<\/p>\n

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Can you think of other ways to make use of these masks? Please feel free to share in the Comments!!<\/p>\n

I hope this tutorial makes sense. I’ve been under the weather and I’m not at the top of my game. Thanks for bearing with me!<\/p>\n

Here is the PDF version of this tutorial : https:\/\/bit.ly\/3cSdBGm<\/a><\/p>\n

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Gradient Border Masks – So Many Options! The other day, I got a message from Ginger that a customer was looking for information on how to use Lindsay Jane‘s border masks, and wanted to know if I had a tut for that. Well, I didn’t. The customer specified she had Border It 28, so I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[229,102,284,92,62],"tags":[373],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-15 20:55:24","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\/39580"}],"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=39580"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39580\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39613,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39580\/revisions\/39613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}