{"id":60706,"date":"2026-06-09T14:29:47","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T21:29:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/?p=60706"},"modified":"2026-06-09T14:29:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T21:29:47","slug":"tutorial-tuesday-photoshop-elements-260","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/2026\/06\/tutorial-tuesday-photoshop-elements-260\/","title":{"rendered":"Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zen Doodling the Digital Way – Part 4 of 5!<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Yes! You read that correctly… this series is nearing its end. I just have to finish off the final version of the Mandala and it’s finished. Today I’m filling in the last of the 8 segments with some stripes. Of a sort. Some stripes, some lines of dots and some flowers are all in there. Much of this post will be basically reviewing what I’ve already shown you; most of these tips are much more broadly applicable than just to Zen doodling, too. Are you ready?<\/p>\n

So first thing is to isolate the shape on its own layer so it can be manipulated. I popped a New Layer<\/strong> above the main Mandala layer<\/strong> but kept the Mandala layer<\/strong> the active one. Then I used the Magic Wand Tool<\/strong> to Select<\/strong> the last segmental shape. Then I made a Copy<\/strong> of it by clicking Edit>Copy<\/strong> [keyboard shortcut CTRL\/CMD>C<\/strong>].<\/p>\n

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Then I made the New Layer<\/strong> active and clicked Edit>Paste<\/strong> [CTRL\/CMD>V<\/strong>]<\/p>\n

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For this step I definitely could have used the Paint Bucket<\/strong> to change the colour, but have found I get better results with the Layer>New Fill Layer>Solid Color<\/strong> method.<\/p>\n

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When you use this method, it’s imperative that you remember to tick the box next to Use Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask<\/strong>. That puts the colour ONLY inside whatever is on the layer below it, rather than Filling<\/strong> the whole workspace.<\/p>\n

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Then I chose my colour. Oddly, it’s one that I see in my closet all the time. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

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Then, so that I don’t lose track of the shape layers, I Merged<\/strong> them together. [CTRL\/CMD>E<\/strong>]<\/p>\n

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My first white stripe is 15 pixels<\/strong> wide, using the Pencil Tool<\/strong> as I’ve demonstrated before. To keep the stripes completely inside the shape, I CTRL\/CMD>click<\/strong>ed on the shape Layer Thumbnail<\/strong> to Select<\/strong> the edge of the shape before I started drawing my stripes. Remember how do make a straight line? Click start>SHIFT>Click stop<\/strong>!<\/p>\n

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Then I added some rows of dots, using white and the same 15 pixel Pencil Tool<\/strong>. I just eyeballed them; at this scale, it would be hard to see a variation in gaps.<\/p>\n

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Do you ever use the Custom Shape Tool<\/strong>? It’s the one that might look like a rounded rectangle or an amoeba in the Tools Panel<\/strong>. This Tool<\/strong> is amazing for all kinds of purposes. I knew I wanted my flowers to be a uniform size and a symmetrical shape so I used the Tool Options<\/strong> to make sure it happened. I chose Defined Proportions<\/strong> – the default setting is 1:1<\/strong> – and ticked the box for From Center<\/strong> to start. My colour is black.<\/p>\n

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There it is! It looks to be about the right size, too! Remember, Custom Shapes<\/strong> start out as Smart Objects<\/strong>, which means they can’t be altered as is. They need to be Simplified<\/strong> first.<\/p>\n

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I guesstimated I’d need four flowers for that first stripe, so I used CTRL\/CMD>J<\/strong> to make some Copies<\/strong>. Then I moved one down to about where I wanted the flower stripe to end. By making all four layers active, I can use some other Tool Options<\/strong> to Work Smart, Not Hard<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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If you don’t see Tool Options<\/strong> for the Move Tool<\/strong>, click on the Tool Options<\/strong> bar at the bottom of your workspace. Then go to Align<\/strong> and click Middle<\/strong>. All four of the flowers will line up like little soldiers.<\/p>\n

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To get them all neatly spaced out, use Distribute>Center<\/strong> and they’ll jump into position. They can then be Rotated<\/strong> and Moved<\/strong> as a group into place on the stripe.<\/p>\n

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I’ll show you this tip now, but you might want to wait until all your flower stripes are in place and Merged<\/strong> into a single layer so you only have to do it once. To remove the dangling parts, CTRL\/CMD>click<\/strong> on the shape Layer Thumbnail<\/strong>, then Select>Inverse<\/strong> [CTRL\/CMD>SHIFT>I<\/strong>] to move the Selection<\/strong> to the outside of the shape. Then Edit>Cut<\/strong> [CTRL\/CMD>X<\/strong>].<\/p>\n

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As you can see, I got ahead of myself. I made a bunch of flowery stripes following the same basic steps as for the first one, Rotated<\/strong> and Moved<\/strong> them into place and THEN I Merged<\/strong> them all into a single layer so I could clean them up in one move.<\/p>\n

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How about some little white centres in those flowers? I added a New Layer<\/strong> so they could all be together. To make them a little softer-looking, I added a Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur<\/strong>. But I went gently.<\/p>\n

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SUPER-gently… 0.5 pixels<\/strong> worth.<\/p>\n

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To make the shape a single “thing” so it can be Copied<\/strong> and Distributed<\/strong>, I Merged<\/strong> all the current shape’s layers. [CTRL\/CMD>E<\/strong>]<\/p>\n

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Eight Copies<\/strong> later, they’re all in place and ready to Merge<\/strong> with the main Mandala<\/strong> layer.<\/p>\n

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Any guesses?<\/p>\n

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One thing I’ve learned through this process is that my vision is deteriorating fairly quickly now. It’s becoming harder and harder to see the cursor in Elements<\/strong>, to see the text on the tabs, and to just generally function, and light levels really affect how well I see anything. I haven’t done a lot of actual scrapping in months now, and I do miss it! I can’t say for sure whether the surgery I’ll likely need in the next year or so will help or not. I guess I’ll find out. ;( It’s a good thing that we’ve already created so many great tutorials for you, from beginner to advanced, because I think my digiscrapping days are numbered.<\/p>\n

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Zen Doodling the Digital Way – Part 4 of 5! Yes! You read that correctly… this series is nearing its end. I just have to finish off the final version of the Mandala and it’s finished. Today I’m filling in the last of the 8 segments with some stripes. Of a sort. Some stripes, some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[229,102,284,92,75,62],"tags":[373],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-24 19:19:58","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\/60706"}],"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=60706"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60706\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60727,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60706\/revisions\/60727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}