Ellie's Treasures Photoshop-Photoshop Elements Tuts

Art ©Rainbow Coffi
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Stationery Header with matching background, but you can also make just the framed part for a tag or framed graphic.

They will both open in a new window and print out on standard 8½" X 11" paper

For information about which fonts, programs, etc I used to construct my pages and my headers, click here.

For this tutorial you will need:
Adobe Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. I've done this tutorial in PS CS3 and PSE 9, I believe it can be done in most versions.
You may have to look around for the commands but it's likely they are there.
A tube, psd file, or graphic: I used Bear O'Leary and Shamrock Sheet ©Rainbow Coffi
If you use a graphic make sure it is fairly square or crop so it is.
Filters used:
Eye Candy 3.1 - click here
Simple filters>Quick Tile and Diamonds - available free here
Funhouse filters>Reverb - available free here - also included are old Funhouse filters you can't get any more
Fantastic Machines Paint Engine - available free here
Quilted Tile from this tutorial (pick 2 colors for your stationery first for the gradient)
The gold gradient pattern I used, you can right click and save this one

My plugin windows may look different from yours as I use Filters Unlimited 2 to manage my plugins -
available for purchase here.
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I am assuming you know the basics of Photoshop/Photoshop Elements and where the tools can be located.
This is an extremely easy tutorial and can be done by beginners.
There are a lot of steps and it seems long but it's very easy.

Here are some arrows and bars you can drag and drop where you need to mark or underline where you are. .
Just left click and drag to where you want it then let go.
They will stay where you put them until you close your browser.

You can also drag this example with you

Drag the picture just above with you as you work so it's handy for reference.
Open your image or tube, duplicate (Control-D), and close the original. Open gold gradient tile and quilted tile you made and minimize.

Let's Start!

Framed Image

1. Open gold gradient. Edit>Define Pattern>name the gold gradient, and click ok.
Open quilted tile and resize to 75 pixels square. Define pattern for this one as well.
(It's important to make it 200X200 first to get the tile right,
then reduce the size to make the pattern smaller, it will show up better in the fill).
Pick a tube or psd file, one that's fairly square, or a graphic you like. Duplicate and close original.
(in Photoshop go to Image>Duplicate, in PSE, File>Duplicate)
If using a tube, create new canvas about 400X400, white, select all then copy tube (Control-A then Control-C) and paste as new layer (Control-V)
(or in Photoshop, Select>All, Edit>Copy, over to new canvas, Edit>Paste, in PSE Select>All, Edit>Copy, File>New>From Clipboard).
If using a graphic make longest side 400 pixels. Pick 2 complementary colors from it, one pale and one dark of the same color.
I chose #37C11D, a light bright green, and #245D1E, a dark green for the dark shade.

2. check your layer palette, make sure you are on the background layer,
and flood fill with the pale color you chose or another coordinating shade.

3. In the layer palette, select the tube layer, now go to Layer>Layer Style>Drop Shadow.
Settings: Blend Mode: Multiply, Opacity 40%, angle 120, distance 5, spread 2, size 6,
contour 1st one, noise 0, anti-aliased not checked, layer knocks out drop shadow checked.
(In PSE, go to Styles and Effects Palette, pick Drop Shadows, and click on the Low preset).
Layer>Flatten Image or Merge Visible.

4. Go to Effects>Eye Candy 3.1>Cutout with these settings Direction 315,
Distance 0, Blur 15, Opacity 100, color black.

5. Select a small piece of your graphic or tube that will look nice tiled, and Edit>Copy, File>New, click ok in the next window, now Edit>Paste,
Go to Filter>Simple>Quick Tile. Go to Edit>Define Pattern, give the pattern a name and save. Minimize.
At this point you should have 3 patterns defined. The gold, the quilted tile and this tile.

6. Add border: Go to Image>Canvas Size (In PSE it's Image>Resize>Canvas Size), click the box Relative and
add 20 width and height equally (for this step throughout the tutorial pick any color that will contrast with your picture;
select with Magic Wand set at Tolerance 0, anti-aliased and contiguous checked. Leave it selected.
Add new layer either by clicking on the "New Layer" icon at the bottom left of the layer palette
or clicking on the little drop down arrow at the top right of the layer palette and clicking on New Layer
or going up to the file menu>Layer>New>Layer
Go to Edit>Fill (in PSE Edit>Fill Selection), in fill window click on drop down menu and pick pattern. Choose the pattern you added.
Depending on what you see when you fill, you may want to go back to your pattern tile, resize smaller, then define pattern again.

Keep selected.

7. Go to Layer>Layer Style>Bevel and Emboss>Inner Bevel from dropdown menu,
Smooth, Depth 60%, Direction Up, Size 10, Soften 0; angle 120°, altitude 25, contour linear (first one),
use global light checked, anti-alias checked, the rest at default, click OK.
(in PSE, go to Styles and Effects palette, Pick Bevel for the style, click on Simple Inner which is the 4th one.). Deselect.

8. Expand canvas, 20, relative; Select border with Magic Wand. Add new layer.
Flood fill with color you filled canvas with or the darker color, whatever you think will suit better.
Go to Layer>Layer Style>Bevel and Emboss>Inner Bevel from dropdown menu, same as last step:
Smooth, Depth 60%, Direction Up, Size 10, Soften 0; angle 120°, altitude 25, contour linear (first one),
use global light checked, anti-alias checked, the rest at default
(It should have held all steps below the line, above the line you'll need to set depth, size and soften again)
(In PSE, click on Simple Inner in the Bevel window again).
Deselect.

9. Expand canvas, 20, using Magic Wand, select border, add new layer.
Go to Edit>Fill>Pattern>choose the quilted tile pattern. Leave selected.
Go to Layer>Layer Style>Bevel and Emboss. Pick Inner Bevel from dropdown menu, same as last step:
Smooth, Depth 60%, Direction Up, Size 10, Soften 0; angle 120°, altitude 25, contour linear (first one),
use global light checked, anti-alias checked, the rest at default
(In PSE, click on Simple Inner in the Bevel window).
Deselect.

10. Expand canvas 10, using Magic Wand, select border, add new layer.
Go to Edit>Fill>Pattern>choose the gold gradient pattern. Leave selected.
Go to Layer>Layer Style>Bevel and Emboss. Pick Inner Bevel from dropdown menu:
Smooth, Depth 100%, Direction Up, Size 0, Soften 0; angle 120, altitude 10, contour linear (first one),
use global light unchecked, anti-alias checked, the rest at default. Don't click ok yet. On the left menu, right under Bevel and Emboss,
you will see a subcategory called Contour, check that box. Click OK.
(In PSE, go to Styles and Effects palette again, pick bevel and pick Scalloped Edge, which is the 2nd thumbnail.
Layer, flatten image or merge visible.

11. Reduce size to about 350-400 at it's tallest. Sharpen, if needed.
Add watermark, done with this part. Probably a good time to save if you haven't yet.

HEADER

12. Open new canvas 1200 X height of your frame minus 50 (so if you made your framed graphic 400, it should be 1200 wide X 350 high).
Flood fill with the pale color you picked, flatten image. Repeat Eye Candy cutout as before:
Effects>Eye Candy 3.1>Cutout with these settings Direction 315, Distance 0, Blur 15, Opacity 100, color black.

13. Now you will duplicate all of the steps you did with the frame for the graphic.
It would probably be easier just to scroll back up to step 6 and repeat all of the steps
till you are done to the end of the gold and sharpen.
Border 1, the pattern tile border: steps 6 & 7
Border 2: step 8, the solid color border
Border 3, the quilted tile border: step 9
Border 4, the gold border: step 10

Now resize, all layers, make the width 1200 again. Sharpen if needed. Deselect. Another good time to save.

14. Now copy framed image and paste as new layer onto header. Resize this layer as necessary.
You can either make it line up at top and bottom, or make it a bit smaller. See examples below.
I also added some shamrocks by the same artist behind the bear and on the other sections.
I did have to redo some steps to get them behind the bear as the canvas had to be flattened before adding the cutout in step 4,
so if you want to do something like that, do it before you flatten, unlike the absent-minded me! LOL

You're done! Watermark and save as a jpg.

BACKGROUND TILE

Create new canvas 200X200, flood fill with either of the colors you chose at the beginning.
Go to Effects>Fantastic Machines>Paint Engine, and apply the Cracks preset.
In case you don't have the preset, see screenshot for the settings.
Make sure the wrap edges box is checked to make the tile seamless.

ASSEMBLE IN LETTER CREATOR

1 Make sure Show Sample Text is checked at the bottom of the window.
   Click on the header tab, insert the header you made; click on Center.
2 Click on the Body tab, click on Image, and browse to the tile you made. Pick sample and put eyedropper on the tile to match color,
so the background color now matches your tile. Now click on "Tile" to tile the image.
3 Choose a font and font size. I recommend not going below 18 for most fonts as they end up too small to read.
4 Choose a text color and link color. Please be very careful that you don't pick a
   shade or color too close to the background or it will be hard to read. Pick a signature color as well.
5 Set the margins: set the top margin to 10, but don't change the left or right margin
   (in this case, not true in most cases but header is large).
6 Click on the Footer tab, in the footer, it's good to put the name of your font, credit the artist,
put in your license number if you have one, credit the scrapkit maker as well.
and link to them if they have a website (to link, just select the text, click on the
   link icon that's just above the footer edit window, it's the one on the right.
   When the little window opens, put the address in there).
   Highlight what you typed and click on Center, then pick the font you used for the body of the stationery or use a simple font.
I usually use Verdana in size 8 as it's a system font so everyone has it, and it's easy to read as well.
   You don't need to change the color, the program does that automatically for you to match the text and link colors
   you chose for the stationery (to see that, scroll down in the sample text to the footer and you will see that it's changed).
7 Click on the 3D Effects tab, and pick an animation you like for all of the categories there.
8 Click on the Finish tab and name your stationery in Letter Name.
   I add my initials to it so it's unique and won't get overwritten.
   In Collection Name, pick a folder that you would like the stationery to install to.
   I name mine Ellie's Treasures Christmas, Ellie's Treasures Floral, etc. For Type, pick Letter.
   In the Text box, I have the copyright symbol and my company name.
   For the copyright symbol, hold down the alt key,    while on the number pad you type in 0169,
let go of the alt key and the copyright symbol will be there.
   In the little window below that, you can choose Email in the dropdown menu and add your email address
   to the window next to it, or you can leave it at URL and put your website address in there.
   Click on Save Project and then click on Add to Incredimail. You're done!

Resizing
To resize, make sure, to retain the texture and the clarity, resize at 90% bicubic and repeat till you get close to the size you want.
At that point you can resize by pixels as usual. You will find this makes a big difference in your final result.
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If you resize, go to Adjust (or Effects)>Sharpen
or Unsharp Mask set at 2/60/4

Watermark & Save
Don't forget to optimize when you save. I usually save at about 8
Lately I've been saving more files as png files as the quality is so much better. The file size is bigger though.

If you have any questions or suggestions, click on the email button below to contact me. Have a wonderful day!
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Tutorial was written March 6, 2005
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These tutorials are all my own creations.
Any resemblance to any other tutorial is purely coincidental and unintentional.
Feel free to share any of my tutorials on this site by a link back to my site,
but do not copy and send the entire tutorial to anyone or any group.
You may also save it to your hard drive (go to File>Save As, and save as an mht file-
this will save the pictures with the page in one single file and will open in a browser)
or print it out for your own personal use
©2003-2011 Ellie's Treasures

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Alternate versions

The art in this beautiful picture is by Tammy J McCoy aka LadyBlue and used with permission

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Webpage Design Information
The lacy tile webpage background was made in PhotoImpact with a tutorial by Deb DeHaven
Sadly, she passed away and her site is gone.
The font I used for all of the text on the buttons is BrockScript
The font I used for the "Emerald Isle Stationery" tutorial header is Zola.
Click on the font name to download the font.
I use PhotoImpact to make all of my headers due to the amazing
3D text it has and the wonderful presets available free online
Most of the presets I use are either the ones that come with PhotoImpact, usually the Gel ones,
or from Deb's PI Tutorials and More (see below) or Carol Oyl's site
This is the address to Deb's old pages
http://www.fortunecity.com/skyscraper/millenit/1716/pitutorials/objects/presets/presets1.html
I can't find any links to her new pages but the presets are still on this page for download.
For more sites to find PI Presets, take a look at my Great Beginnings page.