Sniffles

Supplies:
Tube: howardrobinson-24-3
Scrap kit: Softness
Masks of choice. I am using a few from my personal collection.
Font: Berson Dream Script

Please do not use any of the licensed supplies without purchasing them first.

First off, unzip all supplies.

Open the mask(s) you would like to use. You don’t have to use the ones I have chosen.

Select > All
Edit > Copy

This will save a “selection” of the white areas in the mask.

You can now close that mask.

Open a new 800 x 800 pixel canvas. Be sure it is set to 72ppi resolution. You can always resize later.

I usually add a color fill layer to the tag so it is easily changed should I use it on a different color website. Layer > New Fill Layer > Solid Color…
White usually works with most websites.

Place the paper on the canvas that you would like to use. You can either drag and drop it onto the canvas from your file browser, or you can use the File > Place… method. Just browse to the folder with the kit when prompted.

With the paper layer highlighted in the layers panel…

Select > Edit in Quick Mask Mode.
Edit > Paste

This will leave parts of the paper in red. This is good! If it doesn’t, then you will need to open and copy the mask again.

It seems that our mask was too big for the tag. Let’s fix that.

With the red “quick mask” still in effect, go to Edit > Free Transform

Fit the red mask inside your tag.

Select > Uncheck the Edit in Quick Mask Mode.
Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal Selection

Magic, right?? now you don’t have to worry about having an extra clipped layer.

Instead, you have a mask thumbnail attached to your paper layer.

Place another paper on your canvas and repeat the process with any other masks you want to use.

That’s it! How easy is that?

Sometimes, this method will leave a dark line around your tag. You can take a very small round eraser and click in the very corner of the mask. Hold shift, and then click on the next corner. This will erase in a straight line. Repeat this until you have gone all the way around your tag, ending in the corner you started. You will need to do this for all masks. It only takes a couple of minutes, but it makes a big difference. My tag has the line still left intact. I don’t mind the line, but some may find it annoying.

Now, time for the elements!

Instead of telling you exactly where to put what and what size to use, I am just going to show you a animated image of what I did.

As you can see, it is pretty random. I just place the items where I think they might work.

We definitely want to add some shadows to our elements. Without shadowing, the tag will just look flat. The secret to a good tag, is a good shadow effect.

Right click a layer (topmost works fine) and choose “Blending Options.”
I add a drop shadow and an outer glow. It enhances the effect a bit.

Now after you have hit OK, right click the layer again and choose “Copy Layer Style.”
Highlight all of your layers (click the top one, then shift + click the bottom one) and right click again. This time, choose “Paste Layer Style.”

It makes a HUGE difference to add shadows:

Now, back to the frame element layer. We need to add a fill to the picture frame.

Highlight the layer UNDER the frame in your layers panel. Now drop the paper you would like to use onto the canvas.

Grab your selection wand from the tools panel. If you can’t find it, check out the basics page for a better understanding of the tools layout.

The wand options should look like this at the top of your window:

Click on the center portion of the frame.
In the upper menu of Photoshop, click on Selection > Modify > Expand…
Expand your selection by 2px.
Now highlight your paper layer. Go to Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal Selection.

Now you have a fill to your frame.

Now that we have all of that done, time to add the next details. Tube and text. Fun!

Choose where you want your main tube to be placed.

Now drag and drop your tube onto the canvas. Resize and adjust it to your liking. Always make sure you constrain your proportions while resizing. Hold the Shift key while you drag the corners.

Add the same drop shadow you did before. Resize first, but… Don’t forget your copyright text!

Highlight the top layer of the layers panel.

Grab your text tool and add the name you would like. Position it just where you want it and add a layer style. This is mine:
The gradient overlay is just some colors that I grabbed from the elements.

That leave us with the non-animated version of the tag! If you wold like to keep the JPG version, you can save here. Simply File > Save As… and choose the jpg option from the drop down box at the bottom of the dialog.

Here’s where it starts getting complicated.

Make sure your Animation Panel is open. Window > Timeline (or Animation, if you are on earlier versios)

You will need to click the “Create Frame Animation” button. If you do not see this button, please refer to THIS page for more information about the timeline.

Ready to pull your hair out? Great!

Duplicate the tube.

You know what? This is going to be horrible to explain, so I am just going to show you a short video.

You don’t really need any other frames to this animation. You should only have a total of 4.

I know in the video, I put the speed at 0.1, but for this animation, you really should have it a bit slower. You can make it even slower than this if you like. Highlight all of your frames in the animation panel and choose the speed.

Now you will need to save your animation as a gif file.

In your animation dialog, use these settings:

This is a tutorial re-write. As you can see from the date of the post, it is older, but still very much relevant! Learn how to use the liquify filter to create animations!

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial!