{"id":56409,"date":"2025-04-01T14:30:39","date_gmt":"2025-04-01T21:30:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/?p=56409"},"modified":"2025-03-31T20:33:51","modified_gmt":"2025-04-01T03:33:51","slug":"tutorial-tuesday-photoshop-elements-247","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/2025\/04\/tutorial-tuesday-photoshop-elements-247\/","title":{"rendered":"Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guided Edit: Pattern Brush<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Today’s tutorial can be built upon in so many ways, and I’ll mention some of them at the end. For now, I’m going to show you a super-quick and easy way to make custom confetti for your layouts. I’ll be using two papers from Jumpstart Designs<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/span>‘ Sweet Sweet Perfection<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/span> in my example.<\/p>\n

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To use the Guided Edit<\/strong>, you need something on your canvas; it can be a paper or a photo. Then click Guided<\/strong> at the top of your screen, and choose Fun Edits<\/strong>. You’ll be looking for the Pattern Brush<\/strong>, which should be where the red box is below.<\/p>\n

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There are a total of fifteen Pattern Brushes<\/strong> to choose from; they all have potential for some fun looks. For right now, we’ll use the one that resembles bokeh, the first option of the second row of Brushes<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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I clicked on Paint<\/strong> and just randomly moved the sliders around. You might want to play with the Size<\/strong> and Scatter<\/strong> settings.; remember you can always Undo<\/strong> [CTRL\/CMD>Z<\/strong>] if it isn’t making you happy, change the settings and try again. For confetti or other element scatters, leave the Opacity<\/strong> set at 100%<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Then I proceeded as I would for any Brush, moving my hand in a random pattern across the paper.<\/p>\n

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Just to show you the other option at this stage, I backed out to just the paper, and instead clicked on Fill<\/strong>, then clicked just once on the paper. This is what I got.<\/p>\n

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Trust Adobe<\/strong> to know some of us would be bothered by the ones hanging off the paper, and giving us a tool to make it better! The Pattern Eraser Tool<\/strong> can be employed to clean up your results however you choose.<\/p>\n

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As I said above, this Edit<\/strong> can be used on photos to quickly add bokeh. If you find too much of the photo is obscured you can add some Blur<\/strong> to it. For confetti we don’t need the Blur<\/strong>, so when you’re happy with what you see, click Next<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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You’ll be whisked to this screen where you have the option to Save<\/strong> your work or to Continue Editing<\/strong>. Click on In Expert<\/strong> then click on Done<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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If you look at the Layers Panel<\/strong>, you’ll see that Elements<\/strong> has added two mask layers to the paper. The layer closest to the original paper layer isn’t actually visible, even if the Visibility<\/strong> is turned on, so go ahead and delete it if it’s in your way. I dropped a patterned paper from the same kit on top of all the layers.<\/p>\n

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I think most of you know how to Clip<\/strong> papers to the layers below them, but I never assume… So if you’re new, right-click<\/strong> on the top paper layer then choose Create Clipping Mask<\/strong>. Or you can use the keyboard shortcut CTRL\/CMD>ALT\/OPT>G<\/strong>. **IF<\/strong><\/span> you’re using Elements 14<\/strong> or more recent<\/strong>! If you’re using an older version your keyboard shortcut is CTRL\/CMD>G<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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To Merge<\/strong> the patterned paper with the confetti scatter, click on the paper layer then hold down the SHIFT<\/strong> key and click on the masked layer. Both layers will be active. Then right-click<\/strong> and choose Merge Layers<\/strong> from the drop-down menu. Or you can instead use the keyboard shortcut CTRL\/CMD>E<\/strong>. Once the layers are Merged<\/strong>, you can Resize<\/strong> by grabbing one of the “handles” at the corner on the Bounding Box<\/strong> and moving it in or out.<\/p>\n

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Pop a little Drop Shadow<\/strong> on the confetti layer to add realism.<\/p>\n

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Simple!<\/p>\n

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Can you see using the Guided Edit>Fun Edits>Pattern Brushes<\/strong> for other scatters? You could use a glitter-gel Style<\/strong> on the hearts for bead-like hearts, a glass Style<\/strong> on the little starburst ones to create a gemlike look. What about a wire or metallic Style<\/strong> on the stars? I can see myself experimenting with this one a lot!<\/p>\n

My sprained finger is still splinted, but it’s close to healed; the swelling is pretty much gone from the injured tendon. Still some stiffness and discomfort with flexing it, but a bit less every day. I never realised how much I use that finger when I’m typing!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Guided Edit: Pattern Brush Today’s tutorial can be built upon in so many ways, and I’ll mention some of them at the end. For now, I’m going to show you a super-quick and easy way to make custom confetti for your layouts. I’ll be using two papers from Jumpstart Designs‘ Sweet Sweet Perfection in my […]<\/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":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-06 15:05:09","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\/56409"}],"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=56409"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56424,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56409\/revisions\/56424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}