Christmas Card Instructions

Bring in the Ornament

1. At this point you should have completed the Ornament tutorial video. If necessary, Open the Ornament Photoshop document.

2. Click the Eye next to the the background color so that the ornament sits on a transparent background. Then save the file as a PNG and close the PSD file.

3. Now if necessary, open BOTH the background we completed in part 1 and the newly created PNG format of the Ornament.

4. With the Ornament png file open, press the V key to activate the Move tool. Click and drag the Ornament to the Christmas Card Background.

5. Double click on the new layer that was created and change the name to Ornament.

6. With the Ornament layer selected, press Control+T to open the Transform tool.

7. In the options bar at the top of your screen, click the Maintain Aspect Ratio button.

8. If necessary, right click on the Width to be sure it measures as a percentage. Then reduce the percentage of Width and Height to 80%. Then change the Angle to 22 degrees.

9. Now, on the same options bar, change the X and Y placement of the ornament to 8.5 inches for the X and 6 inches for the Y. (Remember right click on the numbers to change measurement type).

10. Press Enter to accept the changes.

Adding a Shadow to the Ornament

11. Press the U key to activate the Rectangle shape tool. Right click on the tool and select the Elliptical shape tool.

12. On the options bar, change the Fill to #494848 to then create an Elliptical shape with a Width 4 inches and a Height of .35 inches.

13. Double click on the name of the Elliptical shape layer to and change the name to Shadow. Then drag the Shadow layer below the Ornament layer.

14. With the Shadow layer still selected, press the V key to the Move tool and move the shadow so that it is slightly offset to the ornament. Here is the example of how it should look.

15. Right click on the Shadow layer and select Rasterize Layer.

16. Click on the Blur tool .(It looks like a tear drop)

17. With the Blur tool select, go to the options bar and change the brush setting to Soft Rounded brush with a size of 25 pixels and a hardness of 50%

18. With the Brush settings changed and the Shadow layer selected, trace the edge of the shadow so that it blurs the edges. It should look something like this:

19. Press Control+0 to center the picture back to the workspace.

Adding Text to the Card

20. Press the T key to activate the Text tool. On your workspace click and drag downward and to the right. This creates a layer were you will be able to add text.

21. In the options bar, change the text style to either SignPainter or Rage Italic. Change the size to 200 pt and a White color. These instructions use SignPainter.

If neither font style is available, use a script font style

22. In the text box that you created, type the word Merry.

23. Duplicate the text layepr titled Merry and rename it Christmas.

24. With the text layer titled Christmas active and the Move tool (V) selected, drag the duplicated text downward.

25. With the Christmas text layer still active, press the letter T on the keyboard to make the text tool active and click on the bottom Merry text. This will allow you to edit the text.

26. Change the Merry text to Christmas. (You may need to change the size of the text box so all the letters fit.

27. Position the two text layers like it is here:

Adding Effects to the Text

28. Click on the Christmas text layer, hold the Shift key and select the Merry text Layer. Right click and select Rasterize Type.

29.

With both text layers still selected, right click and Merge Layers. Then double click the text title and change it to Merry Christmas. It should look like this.

30. With the new Merry Christmas layer selected, double click on the right of the layer name to bring up the Layer Style window. Click Bevel and Emboss and match the following. DO NOT CLICK OK

31. Click on Texture change the pattern to Gray Granite and change the rest of the settings to the following: DO NOT HIT OK

32.

Click on the Stroke and match the settings below. Click on the color box and use #33e1e7 for the color. Click OK on the Color Picker window but NOT the Layer Style window.

33. In the Layer Style window, click on Outer Glow. Click on the color box and use the color code #

33e1e7. Change the settings to match the picture here:

34. Click Ok to close the Layer Style window.

Adding Snowflakes

35. Create a new layer and title Snowflakes.

36. Press the B key to select the Paint Brush tool. 37. On the options bar, click the down arrow for the Brush size and

type. In the to left of the brush menu, click the gear to bring up the Brush head preset menu. Select Assorted brushes.

38. Click the Snowflake shape. Change the Size to 95.

39. Strategically paint snowflakes throughout your card. 40. Then change the size to a smaller snowflake and do it again. 41. Then change the size to an even smaller snowflake and do it a third

time.

42. When you’re are done it should look similar to the picture below.

Click this gear

43. Save the file with the file name Christmas Card and as a JPEG format. Then post to your blog and have a MERRY CHRISTMAS!