Beach Babies Alphas

I made 3 simple alphas for Beach Babies. I really wanted to do more with glitter in this kit, but, oh well, perhaps next time. I also have all the glitter letters without the chipboard, but I'm not sure if people are interested in them. Would people use glitter letters by themselves? Please leave a comment if you have an opinion. It might help me decide.

Alphas

Beach Babies

This month's Scrap Kit Challenge theme was Beach Babies. I did not make papers for this month's collaborative kit, but if you follow the blog train, I'm certain you will find some great ones. Not all my elements are shown. This kit comes with:

• 4 seamless glitter tiles
• 3 shovels
• 3 pails
• 3 shells
• 3 starfish
• 3 beach umbrellas
• 3 pairs of flipflops
• 1 pile of sand
• 7 flowers

Scrap Kit

The blog train list:

Humbug Graphics Galore <--- You are here
Greyashowl
Ryn Creations
4 Heart Design
Kathy's Scraps
Eadie Designs
A Fish Design

Fan Tutorial

I saw a tutorial for a fan in PhotoImpact that used a funky feature of the program called Path Wrap and I decided I wanted to see if I could duplicate this effect in PSP. You can easily curve text on a path in PSP, but not shapes, so I had to come up with a different method.

Supplies:

Fanslats script
Cymbidium image

1. Open a new canvas 1200 x 1200.

2. Use the custom selection tool and create a new selection.


Top = 0
Bottom = 1200
Left = 600
Right = 625

3. Fill the selection with white.

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 twenty-one more times. Each time, add 27 to the Left and Right numbers. For example, the first repeat will have the following settings:

Repeat 1
Top = 0
Bottom = 1200
Left = 627
Right = 652

Because this step is so tedious, I wrote a mini-script that will create the twenty-two slats. To use the mini-script, open your canvas, then run HGG_fanslats.

5. You will now have 22 slats that go halfway across the canvas. Select None (Ctrl + D).


6. Apply the Polar deformation (Effects > Deformation Effects > Polar Coordinates).


7. Rotate the image 90 degrees to the left (Image > Rotate > Rotate Counterclockwise 90).



8. Duplicate the layer (Layers > Duplicate) and use the manual color correction tool to change the color from white to grey, for easier visualization.




9. Select the Raster Deformation Tool and deform the grey layer using the following settings:

Mode = Scale
Pivot X = 600.00
Pivot Y = 321.00
Position X = 42.00
Position Y = 43.00
Scale X = 93.00
Scale Y = 92.85
Perspective X = 0.00
Perspective Y = 0.00
Shear = 0.00
Angle = 0.000

Click the arrow to apply the settings.

10. Select All (Ctrl + A). Then click the fan with the selection tool to float the selection.

11. Now, defloat the selection (Ctrl + Shift + F).

12. Save the selection to the alpha channel (Selections > Load/Save Selections > Save Selection to Alpha Channel). I called the channel Fan.





13. Create a new raster layer. Name it Struts.

14. Use the selection tool to draw a circle, using the location where all the slats come together as a starting point.



15. Fill the selection with a color, pattern, or gradient for the struts.

16. Load the selection from the alpha channel (Selections > Load/Save Selections > Load Selection from Alpha Channel.



17. Click the selection to float it and apply a drop shadow.



18. Defloat the selection (Ctrl + Shift + F).

19. Expand the selection by 2.



20. Invert the selection (Ctrl + Shift + I).

21. Press the delete key to clear the selection and then Select None (Ctrl + D).



22. Duplicate the struts layer (Layers > Duplicate).

23. Invert the layer (Ctrl + I).

24. Raster deform the layer.


Mode = Scale
Pivot X = 602.00
Pivot Y = 665.00
Position X = 466.00
Position Y = 592.00
Scale X = 57.14
Scale Y = 58.17
Perspective X = 0.00
Perspective Y = 0.00
Shear = 0.00
Angle = 0.000

25. The basic body of the fan is now complete. To make a ball for the strut pivot, I used the selection tool to draw a circle.



26. Use balls and bubbles to create a ball. I used my iridescent bead preset which you can find in my iridescent bead tutorial and then changed the Material to the same gradient as my fan struts.



27. There is a slight halo around the ball, so I contracted the selection by 2 (Selections > Modify > Contract).

28. I added a drop shadow to give my ball greater depth (Effects > 3D Effects > Drop Shadow).

29. Select None (Ctrl + D) and then select the bottom-most layer (the layer with the white fan slats).

30. Select All (Ctrl + A) and then click the fan slats with the selection tool to float it. Defloat the selection (Ctrl + Shift + F). I perform these steps to obtain a nice, smooth anti-aliased selection.

31. Fill the fan slats with your color, pattern or gradient of choice. I used #cc3868.


32. I floated the selection (Ctrl + F), then used the cutout effect to give my fan slats some depth.




33. Select None (Ctrl + D) and then select the next layer up, the layer with the grey fan.

34. I loaded the selection from the alpha channel.


35. Fill the selection with a color, pattern or gradient of your choice. I used an image of cymbidium orchids which I have included in the supplies zip.

36. I floated the selection and then applied the same cutout effect that I used on the fan slats layer.



The fan is now complete. For my final fan, I went back and added the cutout effect to my fan struts.

Maple Leaf Preset Shapes

In honor of Canada Day (July 1), I am making available these Maple Leaf Preset Shapes. I hope that people will find them useful.

Preset Shapes

Blue Sampler

Here is a sampler of blue items that I made while testing scripts or writing tuts that I decided to keep. I hope that people find a use for them. I thought they were too pretty to delete.

Sampler

Mason Jar Script

This mason jar script allows you to either choose the default colors (clear jar with a gold top) or to choose your own colors. The script is based on my mason jar tutorial, but it took a lot of writing to code in the gradients. So, there isn't any need to install gradients. I've stored the information in the script. The script has not been tested in PSP X2 as I do not have a PSP X2 tester. Please leave a comment if it works for you in PSP X2.

Script

Iridescent Bead

Supplies:

Iridescent Bead Preset
Cool Kitchen Environment Map


1. Put the Cool Kitchen image into your Environment Maps folder (usually, My Documents > My PSP Files > Environment Maps).

2. Put the HGG iridescent bead preset in your presets folder (usually, My Documents > My PSP Files > Presets).

3. Open a new canvas, 300 x 300.

4. Apply the Balls and Bubbles effect (Effects > Artistic Effects > Balls and Bubbles), selecting the HGG iridescent bead preset from the drop down menu. Change the color in the Material box by right-clicking the box and then choosing either a color, gradient or pattern.


5. If you want a round bead, you are now done. The script that I wrote will let you choose to make a pony bead or stay with a round bead. Apply the Cylinder effect (Effects > Geometric Effects > Cylinder - Horizontal) at 50% strength.


6. Select the raster deform tool and change Y Scale to 80.


The presets and the script are all in the same file. Please leave a comment if the script works in other versions of PSP.

Script

Pony Bead Tutorial

1. Open a new canvas 300 x 300.
2. Use the square preset shape tool to draw a square on the canvas.


3. Convert the square to a path.


4. Go to the Pen tool and select a node. Go to Node Type and select Smooth.


5. Next, go to Node Type and select Curve Before.


6. Finally, go to Node Type and select Curve After.


7. Do this for all 4 nodes. You will have an ugly rounded square.



8. Use the handles on the nodes to shape the square so that it is round, fat square. Handles at 45 degree angles work well.


9. While holding down the Ctrl key, click on the square 4 times, once on the top left, top right, bottom left and bottom right to add four new nodes. Click to the inside of the existing nodes. The red arrows in the image point to where the new nodes should be created.



10. Right click on the vector object, go to Edit and Select None.



11. Click on each of the new nodes and pull the handles until they are horizontal. This creates the basic pony bead shape.



12. If you want a wider pony bead, then use the Object Selection Tool (or the Pick Tool in PSP X and up) to select the vector shape and widen it.


13. Create a new selection from the Vector selection (Ctrl+Shift+B).



14. Hide the vector layer by clicking on eyeball.



15. Create a new raster layer.
16. Apply KPT Shapeshifter. I'm sure I could figure out a simple shiny bevel that wouldn't require a plugin, but I'm too tired right now.


Alternate bevel:
A. Fill with color, gradient or pattern of choice.



B. Create a new layer. Set the opacity to 70% and the blend mode to multiply. I named the layer highlight.


C. Set the foreground to white and the background to black and fill with a circular gradient.


D. Duplicate the layer and change the blend mode of the new layer to overlay.


E. Create a new raster layer under the highlight layer.


F. Merge the highlight layer onto the new layer with Layers > Merge > Merge Down.


G. Change the layer blend mode to screen.


H. Create a new raster layer.
I. Apply the cutout effect to the new layer.

Vertical = -50
Horizontal = -30
Opacity = 50
Blur = 80.00
Shadow color = Black

17. Add a suitable drop shadow and the pony bead is done.

Vertical = 5
Horizontal = 2
Opacity = 80
Blur = 10.00
Color = Black

I spent the day dragging two small children around the Field Museum and hauling a heavy stroller up and down stairs due to lack of elevators at El stops. So, my ability to reconstruct how I made the pony bead is highly suspect as I'm exhausted. If I have left out a critical step, please leave a comment and I will try to correct the tutorial.

Addendum: Melonie of Scrap Stuff with PSP and PS shared her method for making pony beads which I tried unsuccessfully to duplicate in my long ramblings above. It is far simpler. I have documented the instructions here so that I don't forget them, but I did not come up with the original method. That credit belongs to Melonie.

Pony Beads, the easy way
1. Open new 300 x 300 canvas.
2. Create a bubble (Effects > Artistic Effects > Balls and Bubbles).





3. Move the four windows to the left by rotating the image 90 degrees counterclockwise (Image > Rotate > Rotate Counterclockwise 90).


4. Stretch the bubble into a bead shape using cylinder (Effects > Geometric Effects > Cylinder - Horizontal).

Strength = 72%

5. Use the Raster Deformation Tool (Pick Tool in PSP X and up) to narrow the bead vertically by scaling Y up to 75%.


6. Or, the Toadies Metalwork plugin was suggested for giving the bead an iridescent shine.


Finally, I scripted the easy pony beads. Please leave a comment if the script works in other versions of PSP. The zip file also contains a preset for Balls and Bubbles if you cannot figure out my lighting settings. Place the preset in your Presets folder and then select it in the drop down menu when Balls and Bubbles is open.

Script and Preset