For information about which fonts, programs, etc I used to construct my pages and my headers, click here.
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For this tutorial you will need: ULead PhotoImpact - available for trial or purchase here or Corel Paint Shop Pro (or Jasc PSP pre version X)- available for trial or purchase here or Adobe Photoshop - available for trial or purchase here or Adobe Photoshop Elements - available for trial or purchase here ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This tutorial will work in any of these programs and will also work in most graphic programs that support layers and filters and expanding the canvas. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Filters and Materials needed Pattern Generators>Fractal Flower 1-download it here These only come in ffx format, there is a tutorial here on how to convert them to 8bf filters It's near the bottom so scroll down and look. This site has a free FFX Filter convertor to convert them to 8bf using Plugin Commander Light Eye Candy 3.1-Inner Bevel, download here (optional, I like using this in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements, the bevels are nicer) Simple-Quick Tile, available free here
FM Tile Tools-Blend Emboss (optional), available free
here
-
this is
commercial, but after the time limit Picture or tube
Corners (optional) I have
lots of links on my Resources page,
here |
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Let's get started! |
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1. Open your graphic
if not open yet, duplicate and close original To duplicate, in PhotoImpact it's Control-D, in Paint Shop Pro it's Shift-D; In PS/PSE: right click on title bar of the picture and pick Duplicate or go to Image>Duplicate. In older versions of PS you may have to use Control-A to select all, Control-C to copy, up to File>New>it will automatically be set up for what you have in the clipboard, so say ok, then Control-V to paste the picture in. |
| FRAME |
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1. Expand canvas by 5 evenly,
with the color you picked earlier. Note about the color: You can experiment with this, the darker color normally works out well, but a brighter one may look nice as well If this color will be too close to your picture colors and will grab some of the picture instead, pick a contrasting color. PhotoImpact Format>Expand Canvas make sure you check the expand sides equally box, it is off by default and pick 4 instead of 5, see note  *Note: A little tip for PI, applying the presets can be tricky. If you want a 5 pixel border, expand evenly by 4, when you modify the preset and apply you will pick 5 (see step 3 for that) Always pick one less than you want in this step. on to step 2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Paint Shop Pro Image>Add borders  on to step 2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Photoshop/Photoshop Elements Resize canvas (in PS go to Image>Canvas Size - in PSE it's Image>Resize>Canvas Size), In PSE 4 and PS CS2 you can also right click on the title bar of picture to get to Resize Canvas Increase width and height by 10 so you have 5 added evenly all the way around. Don't change the arrows.  |
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2.
Pick with magic wand PI and PSP: behind selection tool, PS and PSE, on the toolbar Set tolerance to 0, feather (or soft edge) at 0, all left at default If you find that this is picking parts of your picture, change the color in the expansion to a contrasting color to pick it more easily. |
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3.
Bevel the border PhotoImpact-just below Click here for PSP PS/PSE PhotoImpact With cursor on the selected border, right click and convert to object, right click again and covert from text image to path Go to your easy palette, click on the Material Gallery>Gel presets Pick the color you want and right click, pick modify and apply.  In the next window, click on the bevel tab and change the bevel to 3D pipe,  Click on the Border/Depth tab and change the border to 5, don't change the depth (if you change the border to 4 instead of 5, you will end up with a thin band of another color on the inside bottom and right that you will need to select and fill with a color to match the border.  click on the shadow tab and uncheck the shadow (the shadow will make it not fit right into the frame).  Click ok. Deselect. Now you must expand again by the same number (5), doesn't matter what color. This will allow the full frame border to show. Merge all. Now you can go on to the next step. Click here for the next step. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Paint Shop Pro With border selected, go to Effects>3D Effects>Inner Bevel and set at Bevel 2, 8-0-3-0-0-315-50-30-white  Click OK, deselect (control-D). Click here for the next step. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Photoshop and Photoshop Elements (or any of the other programs) If you want to make the bevels without using Eye Candy 3 but within the program itself, click here to learn how to do that (it will open in a separate page) I used Eye Candy 3>Inner Bevel for PS and PSE, it's much easier and gives a better result. You can use this in any of the programs if you like.  Merge all (flatten). |
Results
after first border |
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4. Expand canvas by 20 evenly pick
with magic wand and apply the
Fractal Flower filter All Programs After expanding by 20, select with the Magic Wand, then go to Effect>Pattern Generators>Fractal Flower 1 Play with sliders till you get a color that matches, apply. Make sure you write down these settings so you can get your tile to match. 
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5. Go
to Effect>Simple>Quick Tile |
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6. Take a shade or
tone of your frame color and mute your selection with it, at
about 50 To mute it, in PhotoImpact, go to Edit>Fill, in the color window choose your color and at the bottom right corner change the transparency In PSP, Photoshop and Photoshop Elements, add a new layer, fill with white or another shade of your frame color and in the layer palette, turn down the transparency.  |
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7.
Make a 5 pixel beveled border as in Steps 1 to 3 above If you don't remember how, click here to go back to step 1  For PI users, don't forget to add another 5 pixels to expand the full border as explained in step 1. |
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8. Merge all (or flatten), watermark and done.
Save as a jpg and don't forget to optimize. Optimizing PhotoImpact: I normally optimize the jpg at anywhere from 60-80, just check the preview window and see how it looks. I use 60 the most but sometimes you need it optimized less for a good graphic. Paint Shop Pro: I normally optimize at about 10-12 Photoshop/Photoshop Elements: I normally save at medium. For this particular tutorial, watch carefully as too much optimization will fuzz the lines. If you are just making the frame and not assembling into stationery, you're done Back to the top |
| Create the background tile |
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1. Open canvas 200X200.
2. Go
to Effect (or
Filter)>Pattern Generators>Fractal Flower 1
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3. Effect (or
Filter)>Simple>Quick
Tile |
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4. Take a shade or tone of your frame
color and mute your selection with it, at about 50 To mute it, in PhotoImpact, go to Edit>Fill, in the color window choose your color and at the bottom right corner change the transparency In PSP, Photoshop and Photoshop Elements, add a new layer, fill with white or another shade of your frame color and in the layer palette, turn down the transparency.  |
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5. (Optional) Effect (or
Filter)>FM Tile Tools>Blend Emboss at the default settings
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If you don't
like the color it turned out, you can either start again or
colorize PSP: Adjust>Hue and Saturation>Colorize PS: Image>Adjustments>Hue and Saturation, check the Colorize box, and leave it on preview PSE: Enhance>Adjust Color>Adjust Hue/Saturation, check the Colorize box. For all programs, move the sliders till you get what you like.If you are just making the tile and not assembling into stationery, you're done Save and optimize Optimizing PhotoImpact: I normally optimize the jpg at anywhere from 60-80, just check the preview window and see how it looks. I use 60 the most but sometimes you need it optimized less for a good graphic. Paint Shop Pro: I normally optimize at about 10-12 Photoshop/Photoshop Elements: I normally save at medium. Back to the top |
| Bordered Stationery |
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1. Make the tile (You must make your tile a size that can be easily divided into your border height or the strip may not tile properly. For instance, if you want your strip to be 300 high, you should make your tile 150 or 300 square. For 400 height, you should make it 200 or 400 square) 2. Open a tube or the framed picture you made above, resized to about 300 or less in width. 3. Open a new canvas, 1280 X the height of the tube or graphic plus 20-25 pixels 4. Fill the new canvas with your tile PhotoImpact Go to Edit>Fill>Image>clipboard-check "tile the image" and apply. Deselect (control-D) Paint Shop Pro
Click below
one of the palette colors and change it to pattern, |
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Assemble the stationery You could, of course, use just the frame tutorial but to assemble it into stationery, go to the following links: To use as a framed header, go here: http://www.ellies-treasures.com/statdesign/letter-creator/lctut.html To use as a left border strip, go here: http://www.ellies-treasures.com/statdesign/lc-sideborder/lc-sideborder.html These tutorials on assembling stationery are for Incredimail only, at this point. One day, I'll write a basic tutorial on how to assemble them for Outlook Express. I don't know if you heard, but the new Vista Operating System from Microsoft, coming out later this year or early next year, has replaced Outlook Express with a different email program, called Windows Mail, so as people switch to Vista, I'm not sure what that will mean for OE stationery. |
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That's it! You're
done!! Stationery I created with this tutorial: In the Floral Stationery section
Teacup and Candle |
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Some more examples For this one, before applying the quick tile to the tile, I applied a square gradient of red, white and blue first, then I used the quick tile 
 
 I liked PhotoImpact best for making this tutorial, because of the nice gel presets for the borders, I liked Photoshop the least, I didn't like the beveled borders it made very much, so for PS and PSE I used the Eye Candy Inner Bevel to make the beveled borders. |
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If
you have any questions or suggestions, click on the email button
below to contact me. |
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These tutorials are all my own creations. |
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