CT Tutorial - Krista

**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).**

Supplies:

Kit- Emo St Patrick by Designs by Joan.  Available at Scraps N Company.

Poser - Krista by Designs By Norella.  You can purchase the tube at PicsForDesign.com.

Abbreviations:

DS – Drop Shadow

OG – Outer Glow

Settings I use:

DS Settings - Blend Mode set to Multiply, Opacity set to 75%, Angle set to 114 degrees, Distance 5, Spread 0, Size 5

Helpful tips and tricks:

Resizing tubes and elements – To keep from distorting your images when you resize them use either option below:

1)      Hold down Alt + Shift on your keyboard and use your mouse to select one corner and drag

2)      Increase the scale size up in the action bar by the same percentage (100% is the beginning size).  After you have resized it, click the a on the action bar to commit the change to the image.

Rotating elements – Use “Free Transform” (Ctrl + T) and then use the mouse to select a corner of the image and rotate it in the direction you want.

Mirror images – Use “Flip Horizontal” or “Flip Vertical” to create a reverse of your image.  From the menu select Edit > Transform > and then whichever flip you want.

Ready…..Set….Tag!

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 your Krista layer to the canvas.  Resize her so she is taking up most of the right hand side of the canvas.  Work with the placement until you like the angle and what part of her is displayed.  Add DS.

Add EmoStPatrick91 (Green fishnet like frame) and size to fit the canvas.  Add DS.  Make sure this layer is below the Krista layer.  Position it so that it slightly behind her shoulder.

Add Paper 9 behind the frame and resize so the edges are hidden behind the frame and the only part showing is through the center.

Use the Rectangular Marquee Tool to draw a box around the top part of the Krista poser in Layer 0 of the Krista psd file.  Copy (Ctrl + C) the selection and return to your working canvas.

On your working canvas make sure the Paper 9 layer is selected then paste (Ctrl + V) the copied selection. Resize the selection so that Krista’s head fits to your satisfaction in the center of the frame.  Once it is resized, right click on the layer and select “Create Clipping Mask”.  Reposition the head until you like how it appears.  To give it the grainy look that mine has, from the menu select Filter > Filter Gallery > Film Grain.  Play with the setting on the filter until you like how it looks then click ok.  Once you return to the working canvas, right click and select Blending Options, and change the Blend Mode to Dissolve and press ok.

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

Now decorate your tag with any of the lovely 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. 

Between the empty base layer and the Paper 9 layer from the bottom up I used:

• EmoStPatrick97 – Shamrock scatter (x2)
• EmoStPatrick65 – Butterflies (x6)
• EmoStPatrick57 – Orb scatter (x2)
• EmoStPatrick66 – Heart plant (x3)
• EmoStPatrick56 – Purple Balloon
• EmoStPatrick35 – Green ribbon
• EmoStPatrick33 – Piles of purple petals (x6)
• EmoStPatrick24 – Green Balloon
• EmoStPatrick53 – Bright blue flower
• EmoStPatrick99 – Gold and emerald clover

Between the frame layer and main Krista layer from the bottom up I used:

• EmoStPatrick40 – Blue and Green striped heart
• EmoStPatrick77 – Blue netting (x2)
• EmoStPatrick92 – Lucky Me badge
• EmoStPatrick62 – Top hat with gold and clover
• EmoStPatrick84 – Blue lips

For a little extra glam, on top of the Krista layer I used some decorative items:

• EmoStPatrick41 – Blue ribbon
• EmoStPatrick61 – Sparkly purple barrette

Because I layered so many elements around the edges of the focal point of the tag, there is no need to brush the background or add a mask.

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!