Embossed Paper

The original request was for a tutorial that would show how to emboss paper in Photoshop Elements.  As one of my group members has recently sent me PSE 7, I can now take screenshots in that program.  So, here we go.

1.  Open a new canvas for your paper.  PSE has a preset called Scrapbooking which will open up at 3600 x 3600 pixel paper at 300 dpi.  I think that is very nice.

2.  Fill your canvas with a color of your choice.  I used Edit > Fill Layer and then selected color.

3.  This will cause a palette to appear and you can choose a color.

4.  Go to the effects menu, make sure filters are selected and select Texture from the dropdown menu.

5.  Choose the Texturizer effect.

6.  Click Apply.  This will bring up the Texturizer menu.

7.  There are 4 default textures available in the Texturizer menu.  To use a non-default texture, click the triangle to bring up the Load Texture menu.

8.  Click Load Texture.

9.  PSE will now bring up a file window where you can select a custom texture file.  The texture file must be in PSD format.  I saved the Japanese peony vector that I made in my tracing images in Illustrator tutorial as a PSD file.  Select your file and click OK.

10.  This will apply the texture at the default settings.  Scale changes the size of the embossing texture.  Texturizer will automatically wrap the texture.  Change the scale to your desired size.  I changed mine to 100%

11.  Relief changes the depth of the emboss.  I left mine at the default of 20.

12.  Light changes the direction of the light.  I changed mine to Top Left.

13.  Invert flips the emboss so that the peaks are valleys and vice versa.

Here is the final image.

Mitered Corner Frame Script

This script will allow you to take any size ribbon and turn it into a square frame with mitered corners.  It should not matter what type of image you start with.  The script will check for transparency.  Testers have been able to use this script with lace and ric rac.

Script

Frame with Mitered Corners

The original request for this tutorial was how to make a frame with mitered corners out of a ribbon.

1.  Open your ribbon.  I'm using an image that is 3600 pixels wide and 300 pixels high.

2.  Rotate the image 45 degrees to the left.

Direction = Left
Free = 45
All Layers = Checked

3.  Crop the image in a rectangle to cut off a triangle on the right side of the image.

4.  Rotate the 90 degrees clockwise.

5.  Crop the image in a rectangle to cut off a triangle on the left side of the image.

6.  Rotate the image 45 degrees to the left.

Direction = Left
Free = 45
All Layers = Checked

7.  Select All (Ctrl + A).

8.  Float the Selection (Ctrl + F).

9.  De-float the Selection (Ctrl + Shift + F).  This creates an anti-aliased selection.

10.  Crop to the selection.

11.  Increase your canvas size so that the sides are all the length of the ribbon.  In my case, this is 3601 pixels.  Make sure that the placement of the re-sized object is at the top of the canvas.

Width = 3601
Height = 3601
Top = 0
Bottom = 3298
Left = 0
Right = 0

12.  Apply an inner bevel to the frame so that the mitered edge will be visible.

Bevel = 1
Width = 12
Smoothness = 16
Depth = 4
Ambience = 0
Shininess = 0
Color = White
Angle = 315
Intensity = 50
Elevation = 30

13.  Duplicate the layer (Layers > Duplicate).

14.  Flip the layer (Ctrl + I).

15.  Mirror the layer (Ctrl + M).

16.  Merge the two layers.  I used Merge Down (Layers > Merge > Merge Down).

17.  Duplicate the layer (Layers > Duplicate).

18.  Rotate the image 90 degrees.

The frame is now complete.  Here is the completed frame.

Postage Stamp Script

It took a bunch of troubleshooting, but this script now works in all versions of PSP 9 and up.  It should take any size image and turn it into a stamp.

Script

Clipping Mask Template

This tutorial is for designers wishing to create Photoshop templates which can be used by others.  It goes through the steps for placing a clipping mask over a an element on a layer so that other people can add their own color, pattern or paper.

1.  Open a new canvas.

2.  Create your element on the canvas.  It can be any color as the clipping mask will hide it.  I am using the Japanese floral design from my Vector Tracing tutorial which I pasted in as a smart object.

3.  Optional.  Add any layer styles to the element that you wish such as inner shadow, inner glow, drop shadow or bevel.

4.  Add a New Layer (Layers > New > Layer) with Use Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask checked.  I called mine paper.

5.  The clipping mask has now been created above the element.  The clipping mask 'layer' can now be filled with a color, pattern or paper.

Here is the image after a paper was pasted into the clipping mask layer.

The template can now be saved in PSD format and distributed to others.

Tracing Images in Illustrator

This tutorial will show you how to use LiveTrace in Illustrator to trace a piece of black and white clipart.  This will turn the clipart into a vector image which can easily re-scaled or editted.

1.  Open a new canvas in Illustrator.  I made mine 3600 x 3600 because that will be the size of my final image.

2.  Paste your clipart onto the canvas.

3.  Go to Object > Live Trace > Make.  This will trace the object with the default settings.

Or you can select Live Trace from the toolbar.

4.  Once the object has been traced, the trace menu will be available.  Select the Black and White Logo preset for a better trace.  Or you can go under the Edit menu and select Tracing Presets to change the preset.

5.  Re-scale the image easily by changing the values for Width and Height.  The image will scale without blurriness as the trace is a vector.  I copied the enlarged image and pasted it into Photoshop.

6.  Optional.  Expand the trace with the Expand button if you wish to use the pen tool to modify the vector or if you want to divide the vector into smaller components.

Once the trace has been expanded, the pen tool can be used to move anchors.

Postage Stamp in Photoshop

This tutorial will show you how to take any clipart image and turn it into a postage stamp in Photoshop.  I actually took the screenshots for this tutorial when I wrote the tutorial for Paint Shop Pro, but have spent the last few days working on my garden.  So, I apologize to Photoshop users for the laggard arrival of this tutorial.

1.  Open your image in Photoshop.  I am using a vintage Victorian calling card.

2.  The average postage stamp is about an inch to 1.5 inches in length and 3/4 of an inch to 1 inch wide.  Therefore, resize the clipart to 450 pixels on one side (assuming 300 dpi).

3. Optional.  If the image is flattened, promote the background to a layer (Layer > New > Layer From Background).

4.  Make a new layer.

5.  Move the new layer under your original image layer.

6.  Resize your canvas by 20 pixels on each side.  Therefore, Width = 20 + 450 + 20 = 490 pixels and Height = 20 + 272 + 20 = 312 pixels.

7.  Fill the new layer with the color of your choice.  I used #f2e1c7.

8.  Select the eraser tool.

9.  Choose a round brush.  I chose the preset Pastel Rough Texture which is a preset that comes with Photoshop, removed the Texture, Dual Brush and Other Dynamics checks to turn off those options, then changed the Diameter under Shape Dynamics to 20 px and the Spacing to 130%.

Note:  The brush should be the same size as the border.  If you have a larger border, then increase the brush size appropriately.

10.  Select All (Ctrl + A).  This should select the entire canvas of Layer 1 (or the layer you have filled with your color).

11.  Go to the Paths tab and select Make Work Path From Selection.  It should be the third button from the right.

12.  Now that you have a work path, select Stroke Path with Brush.  This will create the perforations around the edge of the stamp.

13.  The basic stamp is now complete if you do not wish to add a denomination to the stamp.  If you want to add a denomination, the cents sign can be difficult to add.  I open the Character Map tool in Windows and select the cents sign (Unicode 00A2), and click copy to copy it to the clipboard.  In Photoshop, with the Text Tool selected,  paste to get it in the correct font.

Here is the completed stamp.