Photoshop Friday! {Issue #9!}

For this creation, we’re going to start with a 4-square configuration with patterned paper. To do this, we’ll need some really specific measurements, so we’ll be taking advantage of the Grid and Snap to Grid features in Photoshop. And then we’ll throw a circle element into the mix. So here we go! :)

1. Open a new document, 12x12, 300 dpi, white background.
2. Drag 4 cool patterned papers onto your canvas. (Here’s a great chance to mix and match kits for a fun look.)
3. For this, we’ll need some accurate measurements, so turn on rulers (View > Rulers). If yours aren’t showing measurements in inches, you can change this in the Preferences (Edit > Preferences).

Setting up the Grid

If you are using a full version of Photoshop, you can drag guide lines out from the rulers to help you. I love these for lining things up. Simply start dragging with your cursor over the ruler and drop the blue guide wherever you like. BUT, since Elements doesn’t have guides, we’ll be using the grid instead.

First we need to make sure that the grid is showing in inches.
1. Go to Edit > Preferences, and choose Grid from the flyout menu (in CS and CS2 it’s called “Guides, Grid & Slices”.
2. Set the measurement to 1 inch, and set the number of dividers to 4.
3. Hit OK.
4. In the View menu, make sure that Grid and Snap to Grid are both selected (in CS and CS2 the command is View > Show > Grid and View > Snap). Snap to Grid ensures that all our selections and elements line up nicely in quarter-inch increments. Very handy.

Alright! Now we are ready to do some selection.

Selecting using the Rectangle Marquee tool

1. Using the Rectangle marquee tool, select the top left quadrant on the first patterned paper. (a 6-inch square)
HINT: When you are dragging a selection with the marquee tools, hold down Shift to keep the proportions a perfect square or a perfect circle.
2. Now we need to delete all the paper EXCEPT the square we’ve selected. So we’ll go to Select>Inverse.
You should see your selection change to a reverse L-shape.
3. Hit Delete.

Now you can repeat these steps by selecting the next patterned paper, using the marquee tool to select a 6-inch square, inverting the selection and deleting.

When you are finished with all 4 layers, you should have a 12x12 canvas that looks like this:

Now you’ll turn that 4-square into a single sheet of paper to keep working with it.

Merging Layers

1. With the Move tool selected, hold down the shift key and click on each of your four layers one by one. You should see them all select in your layers palette, either by highlighting or by the appearance of a little chain-link icon next to the thumbnail.
2. Go to Layer > Merge Linked (In PSCS and above, Layer > Merge Layers). In your layers palette you should see a single layer with the four squares, and the background layer.

Cutting spaces between the papers

1. Using the rectangle marquee, draw a 1/4 inch selection horizontally across your 4-square paper (this is where the grid comes in handy). Position the selection exactly over the line where the patterns meet:

2. Hit delete.
3. If you are using PSCS or above, you can use the Select>Transform Selection to rotate your selection 90 degrees. If you are using PSE, simply redraw the selection vertically.
4. Position the selection exactly over the line where the papers meet.
5. Hit delete.

Cutting with the Elliptical Marquee
In this next section, we will be cutting a large circle out of the middle of the 4-square paper, to use as a design element. We’ll work on other options with the selection tool, including constraining a selection to exact dimensions, drawing a circle from the center point, and saving and loading a selection.

1. Select your Elliptical Marquee tool.
2. In the Options bar at the top of the screen, choose Fixed Size from the Mode drop-down box.
3. Type in 6in and 6in in the boxes. This will automatically draw you a perfect 6-inch circle.

Now for a cool trick:
4. Position your crosshair cursor in the exact center of your document (again, the grid comes in handy).
5. While holding the Alt key, click once. You should see a 6-inch circle with its centerpoint at the place you clicked.

Another note: the Alt key works for Normal selections, too, if you like drawing out from the center rather than dragging diagonally.

Now let’s Save this selection (even though we can re-draw it in an instant with our constrained marquee tool, saving and loading is a good thing to know for more complex selections).


6. Choose Select > Save Selection. Type an identifiable name in the box, such as CircleMarquee.
7. Hit OK.

Cut and Rotate a Selection

1. With your 4-square paper active, hit Ctrl-X and Ctrl-V to cut the circle selection and paste it into a new layer. (You may have to nudge your circle back into place with the Move tool selected using the arrow keys).
FOR PSE:

2. With the circle layer active, choose Image> Transform> Free transform.
3. In the options bar at the top of your screen, the third box from the left has a little angle next to it. This is the rotation. Type 90.

FOR PSCS and above:
With the circle layer active, choose Edit > Transform > Rotate 90 degrees.

You should now see an image like this:


Load Selection
One more step and we’ve prepped our image for a layout :) The circle would look better if it had some space cut around it. Let’s do that next. We are going to use the same circle selection, but expand it just a bit.

First, we need to load up the selection we saved earlier.

1. Go to Select > Load Selection and choose CircleMarquee from the dropdown list. You’ll see your saved selection activate.
2. Go to Select > Modify > Expand. Type 50 into the box to expand the selection by 50 pixels in every direction.
3. In the layers palette, make sure the 4-square paper layer (NOT the circle layer) is active. Hit Delete.

Now we are all set for making a layout with this great foundation. Here’s what I came up with:


Product credits:
All of the papers except the diamond are from Summer Simmon’s Citrus Grove Kit.
The diamond paper is from Jackie Eckles’ Greeley Kit.
The alphabet strips are from Katie Pertiet.
The font I used for the journaling is TXT Stonewashed. (The date one is Impact)
And of course few layouts would be complete without Katie Pertiet’s Sanded Overlay. (All that grunge for a buck fifty! Amazing!)

Have a wonderful and safe weekend. Link me up when you get finished with your 4-square layout design! :D

Comments

[katie]

what a great tutorial and a wonderful page!!

[Lu]

excellent tutorial! as much as I use photoshop, I am always amazed at the new things I can learn.

[Jeannie]

YAY PS Friday is back!! Are chats to follow?? *fingers crossed*

[DebiH]

Fan-freakin-tastic! I love this. And the way you explained it was so easy to follow. Thanks for a great tutorial. :-)

[Ames]

You continually amaze me with your talent! I can hardly wait from week to week to learn all of these new techniques!!!

Hugs

Ames

[toya]

TFS, I tried it and it turned out great, used it for mone of my layouts on my blog! you are awesome jessica

[jen Harr]

This is amazing! Thank you for sharing your tips and talent!

[DebF]

wonderful page, and your techniques work just fine in PSP too! TY TY TY I love the page I did!

[ljduds]

I want to thank you for your tutorials... I look forward to trying this one out next week. I can play more during the week when no one is home.

[Monica Schoenemann]

Absolutely Amazing - you are a gem for sharing and teaching your tips. love them.

[Natalie]

What an awesome tutorial! In one (okay, two - I had to start with the first part of the tut) fell swoop, you taught me so many things that I've been trying to figure out... and even better, you strike the perfect balance between giving enough information for even newbie PSE users to work with, and not so much fluff that it's tedious to read. Thank you so much; I'm sure to check back soon!

[Mye]

Thanks so much Jessica for sharing your knowledge. Your instructions are right on point. I think this is all I got done at work on Friday. (you can see what I came up with on my blog if you want to take a peek) Thanks again! Mye

[Janet O.]

THIS IS SO COOL! And easy for even me to follow, LOL...link per your request:
http://www.designerdigitals.com/ddgallery/showphoto.php?photo=7433&cat=500

[Kelly]

I'm a first timer here...but this was AWESOME!! Thank you so much! I am not done with mine, but here is what I have so far... (sorry photobucket resizes...) http://tinyurl.com/z2v5y I am so excited to finish this one!!

Thanks again!!

[Jessica Bills]

I love this LO done with this! I am going to have to copy it. It is so great!

[Laura K.]

I had a lot of fun with this and best of all, some of the things you taught I can take with me to use in lots of layouts!!!

Here's what I made:

http://www.scrapbook-bytes.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=176526&cat=500&ppuser=23198

[Amy]

This is an awesome tut! I switched it up a little bit and used the final product as an embellishment.

http://www.digishoptalk.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=2364&cat=500&ppuser=96

[~sharon (walka*mowlie)]

Wow, you ladies did some great layouts! Thanks for sharing your ideas and inspiration. ;-)

[joann]

wow...just got back from a vacation and saw all your LO( boy one can miss alot when they go on vacation!), I am going to take this tutorial and go for it- thanks for the inspiration and the tutorial!!!!

[Sandra]

This was a super simple project that is full of impact- thank you!!!

http://www.digishoptalk.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=3961&cat=500