12.27.07 Vintage Grunge Mini Kit +Template Tutorial

Well, I hope that your Christmas went as well as mine did! Between my 7 year old's reaction to his new Wii (I waited in line for 5 hours to get it, he BETTER be excited!) my 13 year old's excitement over her new MacBook laptop and my 15 year old's scream of joy over her new iPod and accessories, it was a merry Christmas all around (although, I've officially resigned as our family's, tech person after a Christmas filled with electronics, it was still better than the Christmas filled with Barbies, GI Joes and THOUSANDS of metal twist ties that took hours to free Barbie, Joe and all of their accessories!!)

So! On to another Freebie - I have finally come down to pilfering from some of my new kits that I'm designing for Digital Candy! LOL and this is a peek at my Vintage Grunge Kit - I really love mixing styles (elegant+grunge etc.) and this is a tiny glimpse of that!

The mini kit includes: 3 of my favorite grunge papers from the kit, a paper flower, a diamond stick pin, a small "memories" element and a library pocket with a template. I've had great response to my small tutorials, so here's another! This time I'm going to teach you an easy way to be able to place something "inside" of your library pocket (a great place for maybe some journaling on a tag or something!) Again, this tutorial is for Photoshop (PS) or Photoshop Elements (PSE). If you have any questions, feel free to email me at PineapplePlantation@gmail.com !

Ok - You'll need to take whatever you're going to place into the pocket, and the template I've enclosed (both in PS/PSE format and a .PNG format) and drag them both into a newly created document (so you keep the original of both individual items for later) that is larger than both of the elements to give you some room to work in. Be sure to create your new file with 300 dpi and with a transparent background.

Once you have both elements in the same file, make sure that the template (which, by the way, looks exactly like the top of the library pocket) is on a layer BENEATH the other element in the layers pallet (don't see the layers pallet? go to WINDOW>LAYERS and it should appear). TIP - resize your ELEMENT if you need to, NOT the template, as it is the exact size you need it to be when you put it on top of your pocket.

Now adjust your element by turning it, or moving it up and down etc. Everything above the bottom of the template will eventually show on your layout.

Once you've done this, then LOAD THE SELECTION of the template (done by doing a special click directly on the thumbnail picture of the template inside of the layers pallet - Ctrl+Click on a PC, Command+Click on a Mac) this should give you a bunch of "marching ants" around your template. Now click SELECT>INVERSE (select is found on the top menu bar). This allows you to work on everything EXCEPT the template inside of your file. If your pocket element does NOT go above the top of the template, you can simply click DELETE and everything outside of your template will dissapear, if your item DOES go above the top of the template, then simply use your ERASER tool (a nice round, hard brush with 100% opacity is perfect). Make sure that the layer with the ELEMENT is active since that is what you want to erase. Then erase everything below the bottom of your template. This creates the illusion that your element is inside of the pocket once you place the template on the library pocket.

By selecting the template and inverting the selection, it allows you to erase with ease, as it preserves everything INSIDE the marching ants, even if you run over it with your eraser, so you don't need to be careful about getting too close to the template or your element that will show (took me awhile to figure this one out, but it saves TONS of time!)

Now, DESELECT your template (Command D on a Mac, Ctrl D on a PC, or SELECT>DESELECT).

Now, while you have two different layers make any adjustments to the layers that you want (maybe add a drop shadow to your element so that it gives it dimension, maybe bevel or emboss it, whatever you like!) Once you merge the layers to add it to your layout you won't be able to make changes to JUST the element.

Once you're finished, simply merge your layers (SHIFT+Command or Ctrl+E to merge all visible layers) and ta da! You've got the top of your pocket finished! Now drag your pocket into this file, placing it BELOW the template and element in the layers pallet, align the two elements so that you can't see the top of the original pocket. Now merge the layers again and TA DA! You've done it!! Simply save your new finished pocket as a .PSD or .PNG file and drag it to your layout!

Please don't laugh at me, but I'm a visual learner so I've visually shown the steps in a photo below for those of you who, like me when I first began, was a bit lost with written directions!!! LOL

I hope this makes all makes sense! OL it's 3:00 a.m. Hawaii time and I'm a bit groggy! LOL email if you have questions, and have fun!

Shauna





Click HERE or on the title to download the Freebie!