CT Tutorial for Alisha and December

**This tutorial was written using Photoshop CC. I believe the instructions should work with various other versions, but they are not tested on any other version.  This tutorial is my own creation.  Any similarity to any other tutorial is not done purposely or knowingly (aside from the fact that the process is pretty similar in most tutorials).  If you do not know how to do some of the things I mention here (like mirroring an image, adding a drop shadow, resizing elements, etc.), check out my “Tips and Tricks” tutorial. **

Supplies:

PTU Poser – “Alisha” by English Rose Designs.  You can purchase this elegant beauty at her store, English Rose Designs.

PTU Kit- “December” by Bookworm Dezines.  You can purchase this kit at PicsForDesign.

FTU Template – “Template 213” by Toxic Desirez.  You can download the template from the Toxic Desirez blog (use the link in the post to get templates # 213-236).

FTU Mask – “Mask 11 - Blurry” by Aeval Amore.  You can download the mask on my blog, Aeval’s Art.

Abbreviations:

DS – Drop Shadow

Settings I use:

DS Settings - Blend Mode set to Multiply, Opacity set to 75%, Angle set to 120 degrees, Distance 5, Spread 0, Size 5

Ready…..Set….Tag!

Create your background mask:

Open paper 12 in a new canvas.  Double click on the layer to unlock it.

Add the Mask to the canvas and resize if needed so it is the same size as the paper.  Then drag the mask layer below the paper layer.

With the mask layer selected, select all (Ctrl + A) and copy the entire canvas (Ctrl + C).  You will see dashed lines surround the canvas. 

Click on the paper layer to activate it, then turn on quick mask (Press the Q key on your keyboard).  The dashed lines will disappear and that is ok.  Next Paste onto the paper (Ctrl + V) and turn your Quick Mask off (Q again). 

You will now see a dotted outline of the mask on your paper.  Press the button on the bottom of layers side bar that is a rectangle with a circle cut out of it.  The mask will now show. 

Right click on the paper layer and select Convert to Smart Image.  This releases just the mask.

Open a new canvas (Ctrl +N) 700 x 700, transparent background.  This will be referred to as the working canvas in my directions when switching between canvases.

Add the paper/mask combination from above to the working canvas.  Resize to fit the canvas.

Decorate your template pieces:

Open up the PSD file for the template. 

When working with a template, the first thing I do is figure out if I am going to cover the layers with papers or styles and then apply all of them from the bottom up.  For this template I used a clipping mask to apply papers.  (If you do not know how to use the clipping mask feature in Photoshop, you can check out my tutorial here on how to use them:  http://aevalsart.blogspot.com/2014/02/how-to-make-clipping-mask.html).

The layers below I used a clipping mask with the specified papers (from bottom layer up):

• Copy (2) of Raster 9 – Paper 12
• Copy of Raster 9 – Paper 12
• Raster 8 – Paper 2
• Copy of Raster 8 – Paper 2
• Raster 5 – Paper 8

I applied complimenting styles to the following layers:

• Raster 7
• Copy of Raster 7
• Raster 6
• Copy of Raster 6
• Copy of Raster 2
• Raster 2

I deleted these layers of the template:

• Raster 1
• Raster 6
• Copy of Raster 6

 After applying the papers and styles, use Alt+Ctrl+A and select all layers.  Copy and paste them onto your mask layer on your working canvas.  With all template layers selected, resize to fit the canvas.

Add your poser/tubes to canvas:

Add your poser to the canvas.  Resize her so she fits in the canvas on the right side on top of all the template layers. Add DS.

Open the psd file of your poser you want to use for the close-up, use the Rectangular Marquee Tool to draw a box around the top half of the poser.  Copy (Ctrl + C) the selection and return to your working canvas.

On your working canvas make sure the Raster 2 layer is selected then paste (Ctrl + V) the copied selection.  Resize the selection so that poser’s head fits to your satisfaction in the middle of the circle.  Reposition the head until you like how it appears.  Use the eraser tool to erase any of the poser layer showing outside of the area you want it to display in.

Voila!  The focal point of your tag is now created.

Now decorate your tag with any of the beautiful elements from the kit.  Resize the elements as you add them so fit the proportions of your tag.  Experiment with rotating them and mirroring them for more variety.  In addition duplicate elements and use multiple times to fill in holes and add more pizzazz.  In this tutorial to indicate when I used more than one of the same element I will add (X#) by the name to indicate how many versions of the element I used. 

Here are all the additional elements I used from the bottom layers up (although they are sometimes in between layers of the template for better impact).

• Element 2
• Element 24 (x2)
• Element 41 (x2)
• Element 42 (x3)
• Element 3 (x2)
• Element 28
• Element 34
• Element 32 (x2)

 Add your license and copyright info to the tag.

Add name and any other text of choice.

Save as PNG and go share with all your friends!

Thank you for trying my tut! I’d love to see how your tags turn out so if you like what you made, please post a copy here or show me on Facebook!