Tea in the Dark


Supplies:

Tube: https://www.cdoestore.com/product-p/yurikoshirou-24-1.htm
Scrap: https://www.cdoestore.com/product-p/scrapwdd_ib-enysguerrero-31-2.htm
Font: https://www.creativefabrica.com/product/brilliant
Mask: 232 from Package 5
Filter/Plugin: https://filterforge.com/

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! This is where the real magic begins.

You can drag and drop items straight from your file browser into the canvas. This makes it faster to place items.

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. This way, you can create your own version of the tag without doing exactly what I have done.

When placing your elements, you can transform them again by going to Edit > Free Transform. Just be sure you hold the shift key to constrain the proportions.

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

Now, back to the frame element layer. You have a frame, right? If not, you can skip this part.  We need to add a fill layer 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 Selection 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. Easy Peasy!


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 (or ctrl+click) a layer and choose “Blending Options.”
I add a drop shadow and an outer glow.  The glow 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 element 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 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. 

If you would like to remove the excess shadows from around your tag, I have explained how to do that HERE. You kind of have to do that with this one, since the shadows are SO far over the tag. So check out that mini-tut to get them gone.

But wait… the elements don’t quite match the tube, do they?

Let’s fix that.

Grab the Color Picker (dropper) tool from your tools panel. Click on a color from your tube. Then choose the Color Replacement tool from your tools panel.

Highlight a layer that you would like to adjust. In this tag, I am going to do this to all of the greenish layers.

The first one I am doing is the fuzzy feather layer. (ScrapWDD_IB-EnysGuerrero-31-2 (3))

Double click on the thumbnail of the layer in the layers panel. This will open the layer as a new file.

Using your Color Replacement tool, check at the top of your screen and adjust the settings like so. Then right click any part of your canvas to set the size.

Now click on the element once. Save and close.

That is the scary part! But don’t worry. The original file in the kit has not been altered. Only the copy that is on the tag has been changed, so you can rest assured that the kit will stay in its original glory!

Repeat this with other elements that you want to adjust. The tolerance of your tool will determine how much of your element gets recolored, so you can change that number to have more or less area changed.

Now we have our kit matching our tube! It’s like magic! bigsmile

Resize before adding copyrights!


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:

That leave us with the non-animated version of the tag!  If you wold like to keep the JPG (or PNG) 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. We want to add animation!

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

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.

You will see that your first frame is already there. 

Highlight your smokey layer in the layers panel. (ScrapWDD_IB-EnysGuerrero-31-2 (12))

Open a new 300×300 px image. Edit > Fill it with 50% gray.

Filter > Filter Forge > Filter Forge 10 (or whatever version you are using at the time of reading this tut)

Before you do anything else, click on this link: https://filterforge.com/filters/8601.html

Over to the right, there is a button that says “Open in Filter Forge”

You may need to activate the cookies and allow the file to open in Filter Forge before continuing. I have been using this plugin for years, so don’t worry, it’s safe.

This will download the filter for you to use, even if you aren’t online. You won’t need to download this one again later, but it is nice to have the site for keeping it all organized for us. You can download more filters from the site the exact same way.

But back to this one…

Once you have it opened in filter forge, use these settings:

Click Apply and return to the image.

Edit > Define Pattern… Give your pattern a name and click Ok. You can now close this image without saving.

Back to the tag.

You still have the ribbon layer highlighted, right? Great!

Right click it in the layers panel and choose Blending Options. Go to the Pattern part of the style. If you don’t see pattern, you can click the icon at the bottom of the panel to Show all effects.

Give the pattern these settings:

Click ok.

Duplicate the frame in the animation panel by clicking the [+] icon at the bottom.

Now you should have two frames in the animation panel.

Back to the layers panel. Open the blending options of the smokey layer again.

Click on the Pattern option. DO NOT CHANGE anything in the panel. Instead, hover your tag. Your cursor will turn into the Move tool. Give a good couple of swipes to the tag to move the pattern around. Then click ok.

Highlight the first frame in the animation panel and go to the top right of the panel. Click on those 4 horizontal lines and choose Tween…

5 should be a good number.

Now you have 7 frames in the animation. You can add as many as you like, but too many would be a bit overkill.

You can now click play at the bottom of the animation panel to check out your creation!

Oh, right!  Don’t forget to set your frame delay.

Highlight all of your frames in the animation panel. Highlight the first frame and then hold shift. Click on the last frame. Now all frames are highlighted.

Click on the little arrow beside the time of the last frame. This will bring up a popup for more “delay” options.


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

In your animation dialog, use these settings:


flyinghearts My “Forever List” can find their tags in their Fotki Folders. flyinghearts