Scrapbook Dimensions Magazine

Chere Nordstrand (Dream Team)

You can turn those digital papers into shapes to cut out and use on your paper pages. There are a bunch of different shapes to choose from in Photoshop Elements. You could also take this tutorial one step further and use Gina’s Silhouette Technique and once you have your silhouette done just follow my tutorial starting from Step 5 and you can cover your your silhouette with a digital pattern paper. I used Photoshop Elements 5.0 for this and will be using the flower shape.
1. Open a New Blank Document - 8.5X11, 300 Resolution, Transparent background

2. We will be using the Custom Shape Tool and this can be found in your Palette Bin. There may be a rectangle or ellipse showing so to change it click and hold the little black arrow in the lower right corner of the box, a drop down menu will appear, then choose the Custom Shape Tool which looks like a talk bubble. Once you click on it a tool bar will appear above the ruler at the top.

3. In the tool bar there will be a shape box with a black arrow next to it

click on the arrow to access the different shapes, then click on arrow in the upper right corner of that box to access the different shape categories. Select “Shapes” from the Categories list, then select Flower 28 which should look like this.

4. Next we are going to open up the Custom Shape Options by clicking on the arrow as shown here and checking the box for Fixed Size then type in W: 8 in H: 8 in.

Now all you have to do is click anywhere on the blank page and the image will appear. If it seems like it’s off the page a little just select your Move Tool, grab the image and move it to the center of the page.

5. Now open up your desired pattern paper and reduce the image size down to 9 in. x 9 in. with the Constrained Proportions box checked.

6. Drag and drop the reduced paper image onto the black flower, make sure that the paper layer is above the flower layer. Position your paper over the black flower image covering the black entirely.

TIP: If you select your bottom layer or flower layer in the layers palette the outline of the flower will appear and you can see if you have everything lined up correctly. Click back on your top layer when you are done lining everything up.

7. Next go to Layer > Group with Previous. Your pattern paper will now take on the shape of the black flower.

NOTE: If you do not want to put an thin outline edge on the flower at this point you are done and can print out your flower or other shape then cut it out.

8. To put a thin outlined edge on the flower go to Layer > Merge Visible. This will merge the 2 layers together into one layer.

9. Select your Eyedropper Tool and click on a part of your paper that you would like to use as the outline or open the color picker and choose from there. Next go to Edit > Stroke (Outline) Selection, then in the box type 5 px, Choose Center, Blending Mode to Normal and 100% Opacity, click OK. You should now have a thin line edge on the flower. This comes in handy if your pattern paper has a lot of white or light colors in it, putting a stroke on the outside gives you a guide in cutting it out.

Credits: Jackie Eckles Happy Love Kit, Bazzill Cardstock, Rick Rack, Making Memories Clear Acrylic Stickers, KI Memories Love Elsie Epoxy Sticker, Misc. Rub-on

And here I used Gina’s Silhouette Technique and covered the silhouette with a digital paper, printed it out, cut it out and added it to my page.

Credits: Jackie Eckles Creepy Shadows Kit, Making Memories Chipboard & Halloween Line Art, Colorbox Ink, Rick Rack, Silk Flower, Clay Button

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