Pumpkin Guts by Tracey Lee

This layout uses digital paper tearing; digital die cut letters, and digital transparencies.

Supplies:

-         Adobe Photoshop

-         Pumpkin Heart Snip or another page kit with at least three backgrounds, two ribbons, a file folder, and a bottle cap.

-         A typewriter font, a script font, and a chunky font (I used Apoplex, Carpenter Script, and Bounty).

-         A picture

The Layout:

-         Begin by opening all of the elements that you want to use. In this layout, I used the October Heart Snip, Pumpkin. Choose a color from the kit that you are using, or use a plain- not patterned- background that was included in the kit. Open a new image, and flood fill the background in that color. I used the Texturizer filter in Photoshop to add texture to the background.

-         I then opened the picture that I wanted to us, and enhanced the picture using Auto Levels, Auto Contrast, and Auto Color (under Image>Adjustments).

-         I dragged the striped background from the Pumpkin Heart Snip and the picture into the new image. I then used the free hand selection tool to draw where I wanted the paper torn, using the photo as a guide. I feathered the selection (Select>Feather) 5 pixels, and inverted the selection (Select>Inverse) and hit delete on the keyboard. I then used the Burn Tool on the tool palette to darken the edges of the torn paper. Finally, I added a drop shadow to the torn paper.

-         Next, I dragged the polka dotted background into the new image. I arranged the layer so that it was under both the picture and the striped paper, but above the background layer on the layer palette. I tore the bottom of the paper off, doing the same as I did for the striped paper above. I also burned the edges, and added a drop shadow.

-         Next, I brought the striped ribbon into the new image, rotated it 90 degrees (Edit>Transform>Rotate 90 CC), and placed it along the right side of the layout. I then brought the polka dotted ribbon into the new image, and placed it along the bottom of the layout. I then added a drop shadow to both ribbons.

-         I then brought over the patchwork background. I used the Horizontal Type Mask Tool and a chunky font to create the die cut letters for 'guts.' I transformed the selection so that it was the size that I wanted (Edit>Free Transform), and then inverted the selection and hit delete on the keyboard. I moved the word to the lower right hand corner, above where the ribbons intersected.

-         I then used a script font, and the regular type tool to write the word 'pumpkin' in black. I then used the rectangle selection tool to select a box around the word, created a new layer, and flood filled that box (the color does not matter). I double clicked on this layer in the Layer Palette, changed the Fill Opacity to zero, then went to Bevel and Emboss and changed the highlight mode to 'color dodge' and the shadow mode to 'color burn'. Click OK.

Where to find the Fill Opacity

-         I linked this layer with the pumpkin text layer, and then merge the two (Layer>Merge Linked). Finally, I added a drop shadow to the layer. I then moved the printed transparency so that it was over the word 'guts'.

-         I then added the bottle cap, and typed the date and my son's name in the same fonts that I used for the layout title onto the bottle cap. I placed the bottle cap along the polka dotted ribbon near the left hand side of the layout and added a drop shadow.

-         I then added the file folder, and using a typewriter font, I added a small bit of journaling. I then linked the text and the file folder together, and rotated them (Edit>Free Transform). I placed them under the ribbons and the photo. I added a drop shadow to the file folder.

-         Finally, I added a 15 pixel white stroke and a drop shadow to the picture.