Carita's Cowgirl

Supplies needed:

Scrapkit of choice - I used the PTU kit “Romantic Rust” by Crazy Carita Scraps. You can purchase this kit at My PSP Tubes.

Tube of choice – I am using a gorgeous tube from Ismael Rac, http://xeracx.com/ Anyone wishing to use this tube must first purchase a license from AMI. The tube I used is “IR-BJ.”

Image of choice – I am using a stock photo from http://sxc.hu. The image I used can be found here: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1076944 Be sure to credit whatever image you choose to use.

Font of choice – I am using Bleeding Cowboys, you may use any font you like.

Filter – Mura’s Meister Copies, a free filter

All links and supplies shared with permission.

This tutorial is written using PSP X2, but should be easy to do on other versions. It is written assuming you have a general working knowledge of PSP.

Let’s get started!

As we go along, we will be working from the bottom of the tag towards the top. Sometimes it may look odd, you may paste a paper right over the top of all your work, but don’t worry – it will come together in the end J Each time you paste a new layer, it should be your new top layer.

First, open a new canvas 500 x 500, transparent.

Open “Glitter” and copy and paste onto your canvas.

Apply Mura’s Meister: Copies, using the settings below:

Save your progress.

Open “Mesh” and resize 85%. Copy and paste as a new layer.

Open “Border 1” and resize 70%. Copy and paste as a new layer.

Rotate your “Border 1” layer 50 degrees to the right. (CTRL+R, then use settings below)

Move the “Border 1” so that it is flush with the diagonal edge of the mesh (see sample tag for example).

In your layers palette, right click on the “Border 1” layer and choose Merge>Merge Down. Save your progress.

Move the merged border and mesh to the top right of your canvas.

In your layers palette, right click on the merged layer and choose Duplicate.

On your duplicate layer, CTRL+M (or Image>Mirror) and then CTRL+I (or Image>Mirror). Save.

Open your image of choice (western scene photo or other image). If you used the same on as me, resize to a width of 515 pixels.

Copy and paste it onto your canvas. I mirrored mine, but that’s optional. Don’t worry about placement yet, that will come later.

Go to Effects> Photo Effects> Sepia Toning. Amount to age: 45 (this may vary depending on the image you use) Save.

Open “Frame 1” and copy and paste it onto your canvas. CTRL+M to mirror it. Save.

Now, arrange your photo how you like, being sure your desired area is within the main portion of the frame.                                                                                                                         

Choose your Magic Wand tool. Mode: Add; Match Mode: Opacity; Feather and Tolerance settings both on zero.

With your frame layer active, click inside the main part of the frame, then click between the ribbon and the frame in both spots (see below)

Selections> Modify> Expand by 3 pixels.

Selections> Invert (or CTRL+Shift+I)

Activate your photo/image layer and hit the Delete key.

Selections> Select None (or CTRL+D). Save.

Optional: Crop around the edges of your canvas so you remove any of the image that may be hiding outside the canvas borders.

Now, open your tube of choice. If you are using the same as me, resize 85%.

Copy and paste it onto your canvas.

Add a drop shadow, I used 4, 4, 40, 12, black.

Duplicate the tube.

Drag one of the tube layers above the frame, and one below the frame.

Activate your photo/image layer.

Selections>Select All, Selections>Float, Selections>Defloat, Selections>Invert (or CTRL+A, CTRL+F, CTRL+Shift+F, CTRL+Shift+I)

Activate the tube layer that is BELOW your frame layer and hit delete. Selections>Select None (or CTRL+D) Save.

Now, activate the tube layer that is ABOVE your frame layer. Select your eraser tool, and erase the bottom half of your tube. (I erased everything from her left armpit to her right shoulder and below. You want to leave the portion of the tube that is to “come out of” the frame. See my tag for example.)

Now, add your credits and copyrights. Photos from sxc.hu should be credited as “Photo by sxc.hu”.

Add your name and any other text you like. I used background color #322e2b and foreground color #28a9ac, with a stroke width of 1, and then a light blue gradient glow.

Save as a .png file and you are done!

I would love to see your results! Email them to tutsbyj0eswife@gmail.com

This tutorial was created on January 8, 2010. Tutorial is © tutsbyj0eswife and is registered with TWI.

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