Pink Heart Rain: The Berry Blingy Tutorial

Hi, gang!

Been a while since we've had some tagging fun. Let's start 2009 with a cute one! It would be great for Valentine's Day, or any ol' time you need some lovin'. ;)

This tutorial is my own creation and has been registered with Tutorial Writers, Inc. and The Zone Groups. Please do not pass it around by email or re-post it on any forum. You may, however, share the link to the blog or the tutorial page directly. I'd be very pleased if you did so. I'm even more pleased to dedicate this tutorial to Laine. :)

Supplies Needed:

I'm using the adorable art of Jamie Kidd, which you can find at CILM.

The Berry Blingy scrap kit is from yours truly and available at Sophisti-Scraps.

The heart animation is courtesy of Aardvark Animations. As you'll see when you get there, the hearts come in quite a few colors. I'm using "Rose," which goes nicely with Berry Blingy. You can use any colors or any scrap kit you want! Right-click the heart image and save it to your hard drive for now.

The masks (WSL 122 & 174) are from my belle Chelle at WeeScotsLass.co.uk. Grab everything she's got 'cause they're some of the best masks around!! Put them into your Masks folder.

The font I chose is Broadmoor Script SSK.

I've also uploaded three coordinating glitter fills for you here.

Alrighty then. Let's get that lovin' into the oven! LOL!!

The first thing we'll need to do is to make a pattern out of the heart animation. Open both PSP and Animation Shop. File » Open or drag the Aardvark heart .gif you saved into the Ani Shop workspace. You'll see it has eight frames. This means our tag will have eight frames, as well. Click the first heart frame to highlight and make it the active frame. Right-click and Copy or use the keyboard shortcut Control + C.

Now flip to PSP and paste this frame as a new image by right-clicking in the PSP workspace and choosing Paste as New Image, or using the keyboard shortcuts of Control + Shift + V or Shift + Insert. Save this frame to your Patterns folder with a file type of .psp, .pspimage or .png because we want to retain the transparency. Do this on the remaining seven frames, making sure to append each of them numerically so you'll always know what number you're on. You can close the heart .gif in Ani Shop when you've copied the last frame.

Close all of the saved heart frames in PSP as well. Open a new image, 800 x 800. As I've mentioned in prior tuts, I like to work big then size down. If you prefer to work smaller, that's fine too. Fill the background with the color of your choice in the New Image dialog by unchecking "Transparent," then clicking the Color box and choosing a color, or flood-filling after the image is open. Rename this layer "Background" in your palette if not named for you already. Making sure your layers are named accordingly is very important when you're animating, especially with an eight-frame tag, because it's so easy to lose track as your eyes glaze over! LMAO!! You'll be glad you took the extra few seconds, I promise! ;)

Next, open Paper-05 from Berry Blingy and Copy/Paste or drag-n-drop to your canvas. Drag-n-dropping has been diagrammed in my Lavenderlicious tutorial. Basically, all you have to do is highlight the layer you want in your palette, left-click again and "drag" the layer from the palette over to your new canvas. Release the mouse to "drop" it. You can even copy a layer within the same image by dragging it from the palette to the canvas. Easy peasy!

Now go to Layers » Load/Save Mask » Load Mask from Disk. Navigate to WSL Mask 122 via the Mask dropdown menu in the upper left corner. Directly underneath the menu, you'll see Create Mask From, with three radio button choices. Source Luminance means the mask will "cover" according to the light and dark in the mask, which retains the detail. This is the setting we want and is the one you'll most often be using. Any Non-Zero Value will retain most of the shape but wipes most of the detail, while Source Opacity wipes ALL of the shape and detail. Why anyone would even want that is beyond me, but I'm sure there must be a purpose for it . . . somewhere! ;)

Back to the mask ranch. To the right of the Mask dropdown menu, top center, is the Orientation category. This tells PSP in what size you'd like to apply the mask, i.e. the canvas dimensions, the size of the layer you're applying it to, or the actual size of the mask itself. If your canvas is the same size as mine for this tag, choose either "Fit to Canvas" or "Fit to Layer." Both will have the same result because the paper is also 800 x 800. If you chose to work on a smaller canvas, select Fit to Canvas.

Lastly, you'll see an "Options" section directly below the Orientation section, and a preview of the mask on the right. The white parts of the mask are what will remain, or "show through," of the image you're applying it to; in this case, the paper. The black parts are what will be covered up, or "masked." Checking the Invert Transparency box will reverse the mask image; the white parts will become black, the black parts will become white. There are three more radio buttons below. Depending upon what mask you're using, Hide All or Show All might be necessary to make sure the opposite parts stay masked or shown, respectively and/or optionally. Image Value uses the mask "as is." Frankly, most of the time, it doesn't really matter what you select here. And today is no exception! LOL! Pick one of them, then click Load to apply.

You'll see in your Layer palette the masked paper has become a group of three layers; the original paper on the bottom, the mask with the settings we chose in the middle, and the top layer, the end result. Right-click on any layer in the group and Merge » Merge Group. This will condense the masked image into one layer so it's easier to work with. Rename this later "Heart Mask."

Now open Paper-04 or Paper-06 from Berry Blingy. Copy/paste or drag-n-drop to your canvas, above Heart Mask in your Layer palette. Go to Layers » Load/Save Mask » Load Mask From Disk again. This time, navigate to WSL Mask 174. Load the mask using the same settings you did before. Then merge the group and rename to "Beaded Heart." Give it a save while you're at it. Here's what we have now:

Turn off/close/hide the Heart Mask layer, keeping Beaded Heart active in the Layer palette. Activate your Magic Wand and set it to Add or Replace. Check the "Contiguous" box, as you see mine in the shots below. That will instruct the Wand to select only adjoining pixels. The Match Mode and the Tolerance are probably fine whatever you have them on. Now click anywhere on your canvas outside of the heart. Selections » Invert to flip the selection from the outside area to inside the heart. Then go to Selections » Modify » Contract and do it by 30 pixels. The following two screenshots will illustrate the Contract screen and the end selection result.

Create a new raster layer and name it "Hearts." Drag it underneath Beaded Heart in your palette, on top of Heart Mask. Then duplicate it seven times. We're going to fill these layers using the pattern we made at the beginning of the tutorial. It isn't necessary to hide layers as you go unless you want to, or it makes it easier to see.

Load the first frame of the heart pattern into your Color palette. Doesn't matter if you use foreground or background. If you're working on a smaller canvas, you might want to scale the pattern down to 75. The angle should be at zero, no matter what size you're using.

Highlight the original, or bottom-most Hearts layer in your palette. Activate your Flood Fill tool and set the Match Mode to "None." Left-click to fill with your foreground material, or right-click if you loaded the pattern to background. Do not de-select. Move up in your Layer palette to Copy of Hearts. Change your patten in the Color palette to 02 of the heart pattern and click accordingly to fill. Again, do not de-select. Move up to Copy (2) of Hearts in your palette. Change the pattern to 03 and click accordingly to fill the layer. Continue until you've filled all eight of your Heart layers, at which time you can Select None/de-select. And save it! LOL! You can turn on/open/unhide Heart Mask, as well. Here's what our canvas looks like now:

Give Beaded Heart a light drop shadow, just for a bit of definition. Too much and the slight haze it has will look too dark and gray. I used 50% opacity. I also did my sparkling as I went. If you also plan to sparkle Beaded Heart, grab your Magic Wand and set it to Add or Replace, the Match Mode to Opacity, and uncheck Contiguous. Instead of clicking the canvas as we did before, click one of the beads. Presto, the heart is neatly selected and ready to go. Duplicate three times, for a total of four Beaded Heart layers.

To add the sparkle, go to Adjust » Add/Remove Noise » Add Noise. There are three types of Noise in PSP; Random, Uniform and Gaussian. Random has the largest pixel size, Uniform and Gaussian a little finer. You might want to experiment to see which type and how much of it suits your element best. All will add multi-color noise unless you check the Monochrome box.

It's necessary to adjust the numeric slider up or down on each layer in order to vary it, so it has "motion" when animated. A variance of anywhere from 5 to 15 between layers is usually fine, but you can use any settings you want. Check the "Preview on Image" box to see the changes without having to apply them first. Again, use the type and amount of noise you think looks best. The important thing is to be sure to vary the noise, so you won't have the same amount on two consecutive layers. And remember, though they aren't next to each other in the palette, the original layers and the "copy (3)" layers WILL be next to each other during the animation playback loop. ;)

Open Doodle-02 from Berry Blingy. Copy/Paste or drag-n-drop to your canvas, above Background and below Heart Mask in your Layer palette. Resize, rotate and/or move to your liking. I made additional copies of the doodle and manipulated each of them until I was happy with what was poking out where. Then I merged the doodle layers back into one and renamed it "Doodles." If you have too much doodle for your noodle (LOL!) use the Eraser tool to wipe away the parts you don't want, or the Lasso/Freehand Selection tool to select around them, then hit Delete on your keyboard. Once you're sufficiently doodlicious, add a drop shadow to the Doodles layer. Duplicate three times and Add Noise to each layer per the previous instructions, if you want them to sparkle.

Now it's tube time. If you're using the same tube I am, resize her to 125% either before or after you Copy/Paste or drag-n-drop her to your canvas. If after, be sure you've unchecked the "Resize All Layers" box. Image » Mirror as I did if your tube isn't facing the right direction. Give her a drop shadow, as well. Rename this layer "Tube." Again, I did my sparkling as I went. I chose her glasses and the straps of her shoes. Select the parts you want to sparkle, duplicate three times for a total of four Tube layers, and follow the previous instructions to Add Noise accordingly.

It's up to you how you'd like to adorn the rest of your tag. I used Butterfly-01, Brad-01, Charm-02, Flowers-03 & 04, Folded Flower-02 and Ribbon-03 from Berry Blingy. I renamed each accessory layer, resized and/or rotated to my liking, added drop shadow, then duplicated three times and added noise to those that I wanted to sparkle . . . which was everything! LOL! ;)

When you're happy with your accessorizing and everything has been duplicated and noised accordingly, hide or close the background layer. Activate the crop tool and choose Merged Opaque, the right-most choice in the top bar. I've shown you where it is in the screenshot below. The reason you're shutting off the background first is because, if you didn't, the crop will include the opaque background pixels, leaving you back at square one again. It's cleaner to let PSP snap the crop for you, since it "sees" less-than fully opaque pixels you might miss when doing it manually, such as slicing off part of a drop shadow.

After you've hit Merged Opaque, select the bottom of the crop rectangle and extend it down to the bottom of the canvas so you'll have room to add your name. Then hit the green checkmark at the left of the top bar to accept the crop. Here's what all that looks like:

Now would be an excellent time to resize and add our artist copyright. Remember to start the resizing proportion with width, because we may want to crop once more to remove any extra space left over at the bottom of the canvas. Add your copyright after you've resized or it most likely won't be legible otherwise.

Then it's text time. As mentioned above, I've uploaded three glitter fills for you that coordinate with the Berry Blingy tag. You don't have to use them or glitter your name at all if you don't want to. As it were, I went kinda middle-of-the road, preferring a solid color for the text fill (the background color) and Pink Ice Glitter for the foreground / stroke. If you're going to glitter either or both, load the 01 frames of the glitter of your choice to foreground and/or background respectively.

I'm using the font Broadmoor Script SSK at 108 Points, Bold, with a stroke width of 3.0. Activate your Text tool and type your name into the Text Entry box. Click OK/Apply and arrange the text to your liking. If you've chosen to glitter, duplicate the layer twice, for a total of three. Knowing our tag is going to have eight frames, we've been doing three copies so far, but the glitter fills only have three frames. We'll simply use the 02 fill again in between 03 and 01 to avoid the "non-varying" problem when the animation loops, just like we discussed when adding noise (or any sparkle effect). In our eight frame tag that we're building in multiples of four, the glitter fill/frame order would be 1-2-3-2-1-2-3-2, and so on.

The text layers will have a plus or minus sign in the Layer palette. If plus, click the plus sign to expand the layer, similarly to how your Mask layers looked before we merged them. If minus, the layer is already expanded and you'll see the text you typed as if it were the layer name. Move up to the Copy layer in your palette and double-click the text / name to bring back the Text Entry box. Left-click and highlight the text in the box. Now go to your color palette and change to the next frames of glitter(s), i.e. 02. Click OK/Apply in the Text Entry box to apply the new fills. Move up to the Copy (2) layer text and do the same thing, changing to the 03 frame(s). Give the layer a drop shadow. Move down to the Copy later and hit Control + Y to repeat the same shadow, and once again on the original text layer.

Rename the original text layer, which probably says "Raster 1," to "Vector 1." Move up and duplicate Copy of Vector 1. You'll have two Copy (2) of Vector 1 layers. Rename the one you just copied to "Copy (3) of Vector 1" and drag it in the palette so it's on top of Copy (2). Now you're in the aforementioned and necessary order of 1-2-3-2. Of course, you could just remember to use the copy layer again, but that means we'd have to think . . . never a good thing! LOL!!

Crop your image using the Merged Opaque method described above if you have any extra space at the bottom. Give it a save, yourself a pat on the back, and get the neck braces out . . . time for Ani Shop again! Here's what our finished canvas looks like:

Layers » View » None to save a few clicks. Going from the bottom of the palette up, turn on or open Background, Doodles, Heart Mask, Hearts, Beaded Heart, Tube, the "originals" of any accessory layers, Vector 1, and your copyright layer. Copy Merged and paste into Ani Shop as a New Animation.

Back to PSP. Close Doodles, Heart Mask, Hearts, Beaded Heart, Tube, Vector 1, and the "original" accessory layers. Do not close Background or your copyright; we need those to appear in all frames. Open Copy of Doodles, Copy of Heart Mask, Copy of Hearts, Copy of Beaded Heart, Copy of Tube, Copy of Vector 1, and the "Copy" layers of your accessories. Copy Merged again and paste into Ani Shop, this time After Current Frame.

In PSP again, close Copy of Doodles, Copy of Heart Mask, Copy of Hearts, Copy of Beaded Heart, Copy of Tube, Copy of Vector 1, and the "Copy" accessory layers. Open Copy (2) of Doodles, Copy (2) of Heart Mask, Copy (2) of Hearts, Copy (2) of Beaded Heart, Copy (2) of Tube, Copy (2) of Vector 1, and the "Copy (2)" layers of your accessories. Copy Merged and paste into Ani Shop, After Current Frame.

Returning to PSP, hide Copy (2) of Doodles, Copy (2) of Heart Mask, Copy (2) of Hearts, Copy (2) of Beaded Heart, Copy (2) of Tube, Copy (2) of Vector 1, and the Copy (2) layers of your accessories. Open Copy (3) of Doodles, Copy (3) of Heart Mask, Copy (3) of Hearts, Copy (3) of Beaded Heart, Copy (3) of Tube, Copy (3) of Vector 1, and the Copy (3) layers of your accessories. Copy Merged and paste into AniShop, After Current Frame.

Back to PSP. Close Copy (3) of Doodles, Copy (3) of Heart Mask, Copy (3) of Hearts, Copy (3) of Beaded Heart, Copy (3) of Tube, Copy (3) of Vector 1, and the Copy (3) layers of your accessories. Open the original Doodles, Heart Mask, Copy (4) of Hearts, Beaded Heart, Tube, Vector 1, as well as the "originals" of any accessory layers. Copy Merged and paste into Ani Shop, again After Current Frame.

In PSP, hide Doodles, Heart Mask, Copy (4) of Hearts, Beaded Heart, Tube, Vector 1, and the "original" accessory layers. Open Copy of Doodles, Copy of Heart Mask, Copy (5) of Hearts, Copy of Beaded Heart, Copy of Tube, Copy of Vector 1, and the "Copy" layers of your accessories. Copy Merged and paste into Ani Shop, After Current Frame. Are you dizzy yet? ;)

In PSP once again, close Copy of Doodles, Copy of Heart Mask, Copy (5) of Hearts, Copy of Beaded Heart, Copy of Tube, Copy of Vector 1, and the "Copy" layers of your accessories. Open Copy (2) of Doodles, Copy (2) of Heart Mask, Copy (6) of Hearts, Copy (2) of Beaded Heart, Copy (2) of Tube, Copy (2) of Vector 1, and the Copy (2) layers of your accessories. Copy Merged and paste into Ani Shop, After Current Frame.

Back to PSP. Last time! Close Copy (2) of Doodles, Copy (2) of Heart Mask, Copy (6) of Hearts, Copy (2) of Beaded Heart, Copy (2) of Tube, Copy (2) of Vector 1, and the "Copy (2)" layers of your accessories. Open Copy (3) of Doodles, Copy (3) of Heart Mask, Copy (7) of Hearts, Copy (3) of Beaded Heart, Copy (3) of Tube, Copy (3) of Vector 1, and the Copy (3) layers of your accessories. Copy Merged and paste into AniShop, After Current Frame.

Woo hoo!! We're in the home stretch! Edit » Select All or Control + A to select all frames. Then, right-click and select Frame Properties. Set the timing to 15. Press the Play button and behold your whiplash-worthy handiwork! Run the Optimization Wizard (aka the Annihilator . . . Grrrr! LOL!), save as a .gif, and you're done!!

Hope you've enjoyed the tutorial and had fun! :)

Aqualectric - The Tutorial

Hey, gang!

How 'bout a tag to go along with the new kits? Compared to the SOB and BJB tuts, I don't think you'll need to pack a lunch for this one. ;)

As usual, this tutorial is registered with Tutorial Writers, Inc. and is my own creation. Please do not pass it around by email or re-post it on any forum. You may, however, share the link to the blog or the tutorial page directly. I'd be most pleased if you did so. :)

Also as usual, I've made two versions of this tag, one on a white background (at the bottom of the tutorial) and one on black, to match here. The only difference is in the copyright text, as black wasn't legible on the black background. As you can see, there isn't much to this one, just a little maneuvering with the deformation tools, depending upon which version of PSP you're using. I'm using X2, but I'm pretty sure any version will work. You'll need to locate your Warp, Deform or Pick Tool, which is usually found with the Move Tool. And you'll need Animation Shop, of course. ;)

As for other supplies, I'm using the beautiful art of Jamie Kidd, which you can find at CILM. The Aqualectric scrap kit is from yours truly and is available at Sophisti-Scraps. I used the font Riot Squad for my name, the Bright Noise filter from DSB Flux for the sparkle (though you can use PSP's Noise if you prefer) and WSL Mask 105 from the amazing Chelle of WeeScotsLass.co.uk. Place it into your Masks folder, along with the rest of her fabulous collection. Thank you, Chelle, for such a wonderful resource! :)

Alrighty, then. Let's get started! Open a new canvas, 800 x 800. You can fill the background with the color of your choice in the New Image dialog by unchecking "Transparent," then clicking the Color box and choosing a color, or flood-filling after the image is open. Open Paper-01 from Aqualectric and copy/paste or drag-n-drop to your canvas. I've explained and diagrammed drag-n-dropping in several of my tutorials. The short version: left-click the layer you want to move in the layer palette and simply drag it from the palette to the canvas where you want it. You can even drag a layer to the same canvas as a quick way to copy. It's a nifty little trick that's hard to forget once learned. ;)

Now go to Layers >> Load/Save Mask >> Load/Save Mask from Disk. Navigate to WSL Mask 105 via the dropdown window. Source Luminance and Fit to Layer should be checked. Invert Transparency should NOT be checked. Check either Hide All or Show All mask, then click Load. On your Layer palette, right-click any of the layers in the mask group and Merge >> Merge Group. This will consolidate the mask into one layer so it's easier to work with. Rename this layer to "Mask."

Open Frame-01 from Aqualectric and copy/paste or drag-n-drop to your canvas. Now open your tube. Grab the Layer 3 closeup and copy/paste or drag-n-drop to your canvas. Position underneath the frame layer in your palette. Move her to a spot in the frame of your liking. I liked the way the full-body tube looked "propped" against the side of the frame, so I elected to put the closeup on the right side of the frame, leaving her facing the same way. Not sure why, but I didn't like either of them facing the opposite direction. Anyway . . . LOL! Activate your Selection Tool (located with your Magic Wand) and be sure it's set to Rectangle in the upper toolbar. The Mode should be on Add or Replace. Select mid-way through the stones of the frame, like this:

Now go to Selections >> Invert, which will change the selection from inside the rectangle to everything outside of it. Make the closeup layer active in your palette and hit the Delete key on your keyboard. Voila, the extra parts of the closeup tube have disappeared. Normally we'd just use the Magic Wand to select inside of the frame, but the spaces between the stones don't allow for a clean or contained selection.

Give your closeup layer a drop shadow and do the same to the frame. From the frame layer, Merge Down in your palette to consolidate the closeup and the frame. Rename this layer to, you guessed it, "Frame." I've moved mine over to the right a bit, knowing our full-body tube is coming next. Now might not be a bad time to save it, either. Here's what we have now:

Grab your full-body tube and copy/paste or drag-n-drop to your canvas. Arrange her however you'd like for your own tag, and move Frame and Mask wherever necessary for a pleasing and fitting alignment. Drop shadow your full-body tube.

Open your choice of doodles from Aqualectric. I'm using Doodle-01 and Doodle-02, and I've resized them to 75%. Copy/paste or drag-n-drop both doodles to your canvas. Position in your layer palette so both doodles are between Mask and Frame. I've placed the black doodle "as is" on the left side of the tag. Image >> Flip, then Image >> Mirror the aqua doodle to adjust it if you'd like it the way you see mine. I moved them a bit so the flower centers were visible through the frame and they looked fairly symmetrical. Of course, you can arrange yours any way you want to best suit your tag.

Once you're set, drop shadow both doodles, then activate the top doodle layer in your palette and Merge Down. Rename this layer to "Doodles." Move everything up if you need more room for your name, and give it a save while you're at it. Here's what we have now:

Next, we'll need a fan and a butterfly. I'm using Fan-01 and Butterfly-02 from Aqualectric, and I've resized both by 50%. Copy/paste or drag-n-drop to your canvas. Rename to "Butterfly" and "Fan" respectively in your palette. Butterfly can be positioned in your palette anywhere above Frame. Fan should be below Tube. The idea was to have her looking like she's waving the fan, but her hand wasn't quite in the right position for absolute realism. ;)

Now it's time for the Pick or Deform Tool, depending upon which version of PSP you're using. In X2, it's the white arrow icon located with the Move Tool, second from the top in your vertical toolbar. Pick is wonderful because you can access all of the warp modes, move, and even rotate, all without having to change tools or access any menus.

You'll notice there's a Mode and a bunch of number coordinates at the top of your horizontal toolbar. If you've mathematically figured your desired placement on the canvas, you can enter the numeric values and your element will position accordingly. As you move your element manually, you'll notice those values will change.

For now, we're more concerned with Mode. Mode has a dropdown you can use to change the mode you're currently in, or you can use your keyboard. Pick automatically defaults to the Scale mode when you activate it, which is a form of resizing. Open the dropdown menu and you'll see there are more Modes available, such as Shear, Perspective and Free. Shear is a curving mechanism, Perspective alters or gives dimension to an object. Free is a combination of all Modes.

Notice there are keyboard commands in parentheses next to each Mode in the dropdown. By using those keys on your keyboard, you can toggle Modes without having to pull down the menu each time. At the bottom of your workspace, on the left-hand side, there are tips/prompts which can help direct you through the Tool. Tried to give you a diagram of all that here:

Let's start with Butterfly. You'll see there's a "box" around each item you select with the Pick Tool. Dragging the sides of the box inward or outward will scale the item respectively. If you look closely in the middle, there's a dot to mark the center. Hover over the center dot to activate the Move tool, left-click and drag to actually move your element.

Now look to the right of that center dot, and you'll see a a line extending over that ends in a little square, just like the squares on the sides of the box. Those little squares are called "Nodes." You'll see a pair of curved, white arrows which indicate rotation when you hover over the node at the end of that center line. Left-click and drag the node to rotate the butterfly into your desired position. I tried to take a screenshot to show you what the arrows looked like, but they didn't show up. Grrr! :P

Drop shadow your butterfly and duplicate the layer twice, for a total of three. Make Copy (2) of Butterfly active in your palette. Using the Pick Tool, Scale or Shear the butterfly inward, roughly 1/4 or 1/3 of the way in by pressing the appropriate keys (Shift and/or Control) while dragging the appropriate nodes with your mouse. Do the same thing on Copy of Butterfly, going about halfway to 2/3 of the way in. Leave original Butterfly alone. You should be able to see all three "staggered" butterfly layers when you're finished, and the space between each wing span should be fairly even, like this:

We're going to do the same thing on Fan. Using your Pick/Deform tool, rotate to your desired position. Drop shadow and duplicate twice, for a total of three Fan layers. Use the Pick/Deform tool again to shape the top two layers for the motion; leave your original Fan layer alone.

I wanted more of a downturn on the fan, but it wasn't being as cooperative as I'd have liked, so I went with more of a horizontal swing using the Perspective mode. You may have better luck than I did. LOL! Deforming by hand can require a little patience, so please don't give up. It just takes a bit of practice to get familiar with the tool and how it works with your mouse.

When you're finished deforming Fan, you might want to check the bottom of the handles to get them into alignment and further adjust from there. Hopefully your tube will hide anything you don't want to be seen, at the same time your Fan looks fairly smooth between layers. Save your working image so you won't have to do that again! Here's what we have now:

Resize as desired and add your artist copyright. Now it's name time. As I mentioned above, I'm using the font Riot Squad for mine. I used Black as the background/fill, and #00F9FF for the foreground/stroke. Right-click your text layer in the Layer palette and Rasterize it. Then duplicate twice, for a total of three.

Activate your Magic Wand and uncheck Contiguous in the horizontal Toolbar. Zoom in a little bit on your canvas and select any part of the aqua stroke. By unchecking Contiguous, you've instructed the Wand to select any and all pixels of that color, not just "connected" pixels, meaning you'll have the entire stroke area selected with just one click. This can be a big time saver sometimes! ;)

I've used DSB Flux Bright Noise to sparkle the aqua stroke on all three layers, but you can use PSP's Noise if you prefer. Click the word to mix DSB's Noise, or adjust the sliders for the amount of PSP noise before applying to each layer. This will vary the noise and give it motion when animated. Select None / de-select, then drop shadow all three layers when you're finished. I also duplicated Doodles twice and added noise to all three of those layers, as well. Sparkle anything you want to! Then save your image one last time. Time to go to AniShop!

First, close all layers in PSP except Background, Mask, Doodles, Frame, Fan, Tube, Butterfly, your copyright layer, and the first of your name layers. Copy Merged and paste into AniShop as a new animation.

Back to PSP. Close Doodles, Fan, Butterfly and the first name layer. Open Copy of Doodles, Copy of Fan, Copy of Butterfly and the Copy of your name layer. Copy Merged and paste into AniShop, behind current frame.

Back to PSP. Close Copy of Doodles, Copy of Fan, Copy of Butterfly and the Copy of Name layer. Open Copy (2) of Doodles, Copy (2) of Fan, Copy (2) of Butterfly and Copy (2) of Name. Copy Merged and paste into AniShop, behind current frame again.

Edit >> Select All or Control + A to select all frames. Right-click and select Frame Properties. Set the timing to 20.

Run the Optimization Wizard (or The Annihilator, as I like to call it! LOL!), save as a .gif, and you're all finished! Yay!! Hope you've enjoyed the tutorial and will enjoy wearing your pretty new outfit. :)

Blue Jean Baby - The Tutorial

Hi, again, gang! Here's the second tut for you to play with. It's been fun to tag after all the scrapping. A nice break that I hope I'm not alone in enjoying. And a good reason to stay inside this very hot weekend! ;)

As usual, let's dispense with the boring stuff straightaway. This tutorial is my own creation and is registered with Tutorial Writers, Inc.. Please do not pass it around by email or re-post it on any forum. You may, however, share the link to the blog or the tutorial page directly. I'd be most pleased if you did so. :)

Also as usual, I've made two versions of this tag, one on a white background (at the bottom of the tutorial) and one on black, to match here. They're identical this time. Yay! Though I'm annoyed to see Blogger is up to its usual tricks and there are extra pixels floating around my tags that don't exist in the originals. Grrr!! No other disclaimers to report, except maybe this tag is slightly labor intensive. Not in a complicated way, we'll just need to fashion two new zippers from the zipper I've included for you in the Blue Jean Baby add-on. Again, it's not going to be difficult, you'll just need time and a little patience. :)

As for what else you'll need, PSP and Animation Shop, of course. The lovely lady is the terrific toonage of Mark Wasyl. You can find the tube and license to use it at CILM. The Blue Jean Baby scrap kit is from yours truly and is available at Sophisti-Scraps. The add-on portion is here at the blog, under the label Freebies. The mask is WSL Mask 134 from the amazing Chelle of WeeScotsLass.co.uk. Thank you, Chelle! Place it into your Masks folder. I'm also using the font Bountiful for my name. And, for the sparkle, I'm incorporating the Bright Noise filter from DSB Flux, but you can always use PSP's Noise (or any other sparkle method) if you prefer.

Okay, then, let's rock and roll! Remember to save often along the way. :)

Open a new canvas, 800 x 800. You can fill the background with the color of your choice in the New Image dialog by unchecking "Transparent," then clicking the Color box and choosing a color, or flood-filling after the image is open. Next, open Frame-01 from Blue Jean Baby. Copy/paste or drag-n-drop to your canvas. Drag-n-dropping has been explained and diagrammed in my Lavenderlicious tutorial. Basically, all you have to do is highlight the layer you want in your palette, then left-click again and "drag" the layer from the palette over to your new canvas. Release the mouse to "drop" it. Easy!

Open your tube image. We'll need both closeup and full-body layers. I can't remember now if this tube was in one of the "transparent" packs. If the closeup layer is semi-transparent even at 100% opacity, simply duplicate the closeup layer until the intensity of multiple copies results in an opaque image. When you have enough copies to achieve the opacity you desire, shut-off the full-body layer and Merge Visible. Now you'll have two fully opaque image layers to worth with . . . if you don't already, and I have my packs mixed up! ;)

Copy/paste or drag-n-drop the closeup layer first. Position in your palette so it's on top of Background and underneath the frame, then go to Image >> Mirror and slide her over to the left. Don't worry about exact positoning just yet. In fact, turn off the closeup layer for a moment. If you're working on a white background, you should probably turn that off too, so it won't compete with the white wrap. Make your frame layer active. Grab your Magic Wand and click somewhere inside the transparent area of the frame. Click again between the left corner of the frame and the bow to get that little space. If you reallllly wanna cover alllll the bases (mental eye roll LOL!), click inside the teeny weeny spaces at the bottom between frame and wrap. Now go to Selections >> Modify >> Expand and do it by 5 pixels, like this:

Turn your closeup layer back on. Arrange her inside the frame so her "chop top" is covered and she's still over on the left. Then go to Selections >> Invert to change the selection from inside the frame to everything outside of it. Hit Delete on your keyboard to neatly erase any parts of the closeup that are outside of the frame. Select None / de-select. Give the closeup layer and the frame a drop shadow of choice. Make the frame your active layer and Merge Down. Rename this layer "Frame." Copy/paste or drag-n-drop the full-body tube layer above Frame in your palette. Rename this layer "Tube." Place her on the right side of the frame and give a drop shadow of choice. Close your original tube image and give your working image a save. Here's what we have now:

Open Paper-01 from Blue Jean Baby. Copy/paste or drag-n-drop to your canvas. Go to Layers >> Load/Save Mask >> Load Mask From Disk. Navigate to WSL Mask 134. Source Luminance and Fit to Layer should be checked. Check either Hide All Mask or Show All Mask and click OK.

Now Merge Group to flatten the mask into one layer. Rename this layer "Mask." Using your Move Tool, center it behind the frame, but don't go too high. Like this:

The mask is semi-transparent in random places. I duplicated Mask to increase the intensity, then Merged Down from the copy layer to consolidate it back into one layer. Save your image again. Time to begin Operation Zipper Factory! ;)

Open the zipper of your choosing from the Blue Jean Baby add-on. I'm using Zipper-04. Zipper-01 has the same pattern as the paper we just used, but I wanted a little bit of contrast. Copy/paste or drag-n-drop to your canvas, underneath Tube and on top of Frame. Rename this layer "Zipper 2." I know it's only our first zipper, but it's actually going to be the zipper in the second frame in its "as-is" form. We're going to make two new zippers to start and end the animation. I tried to use the Warp Brush, Mesh Warp and every other deformation tool I could think of to manually straighten the zipper, but it just looked horrible. I was even tempted to whip up a straight one, but I didn't think that would be very tut-worthy . . . or fair! Hehe! So we're gonna do some surgery on Zipper 2 and hack it to bits instead. ;)

Arrange Zipper 2 so the top of the zipper is slightly above the top of Mask, centered, and in the place you want it. Duplicate Zipper 2 twice. Rename one copy "Zipper Parts" and the other "Zipper 1." See how my crazy mind works? ;)

Let's make the pulls for the extra zippers first. Take your selection tool (located with the Magic Wand) and set it to Rectangle, if not there already. Isolate the zipper pull as best as you can, as it isn't perfectly straight, like this:

You can also use the Lasso Tool (aka Freehand Selection, also with the Magic Wand) to draw around the pull, as well. Copy your selection, however you've made it, and paste it as a new layer. Rename this layer "Zipper Pull," then Select None / de-select. The pull will need some "cleaning" to remove any extra material or stray pixels. Drag it off to the side of your canvas so you can see. Zoom in (way in! LOL!), then use your Eraser Tool to erase, or any of your selection tools to select and delete. You can also use the Clone Tool to flesh out the bottom part a little bit if you want, but we don't want it to look too far off from the original. Drag it back over one of the colored parts in your tag to check your handiwork. Here's a zoomed approximation of what your pull should look like now:

Duplicate this layer and hide / shut-off the copy. Actually, you may want to shut off all your layers, except Zipper 1, which we're about to make, so it will be easier to see. Activate Zipper 1 in your palette and the rectangular Selection Tool again. Select everything from the bottom of the pull up, like this:

Hit the Delete key on your keyboard to remove those parts of the zipper. Select None / de-select. Now, using the Selection Tool again, select everything except the bottom square of the zipper, like this:

Copy the selection and paste as a new layer. Select None / de-select. Move the copy up so it connects with the previous layer. If you're also using Zipper-04, you'll notice the dark and light parts of the zipper aren't connecting seamlessly. I'm going to Image >> Flip the copy to easily correct that. Slide it up again and it should be spot-on, like this:

Now Merge Down to combine these two layers. Duplicate the merged layer, then Image >> Flip the copy once again. Turn on Zipper 2. Align the newly flipped layer so the top part is even with Zipper 2. Merge Down once more to combine the zipper. If the colors aren't flowing seamlessly again, use your Clone Tool (turn down the Hardness and Density to 50 first) to blur them a little. Open one of your Zipper Pull layers and affix it to the top square of the zipper. Give the pull a drop shadow. Merge the zipper pull to the rest of the zipper and, if necessary, rename the layer to "Zipper 1" again. Here's mine:

Save your image so you won't have to do that again! ;) Turn off Zipper 1. Now it's time for Zipper 3. We can just use the Zipper Parts layer and rename it when we're finished. Using your Selection Tool or the Lasso / Freehand Selection Tool, select around the left part of the zipper, like this:

Copy and paste as a new layer. Use the Pick Tool (located with the Move Tool; known as Warp or Deform in earlier versions) to move the layer down your canvas, towards the bottom of the zipper, and rotate to a more natural angle, like this:

Duplicate the layer and Image >> Mirror the copy. Slide the right copy layer back over and arrange to match the left. Grab your remaining Zipper Pull layer and move it over the bottom square of the zipper, on top of the two sides. Give the pull a drop shadow. Now, similiarly to how we deleted the top of the original zipper, we're going to do the same thing on the Zipper Parts layer. Using the Selection Tool of your choice, select the parts of the zipper we won't be needing, like this:

Hit the Delete key on your Keyboard and wave bye-bye. LOL! Merge Visible to consolidate, rename the layer to "Zipper 3." If necessary, Clone again to blur any harsh lines between the blues in the zipper. Turn all three zippers back on to verify that all three are perfectly lined up. Don't move them from here on out unless you link them first. Layer linking has also been explained and diagrammed in my Lavenderlicious tutorial.

See the numbers and sliders on the right of your layer palette? If you don't see them, your left half of the layer palette is extended all the way over. Look to the right and grab the little slider icon on the right border. Simply slide it back to the left until you see the sliders on the right. You can also grab the left side of any palette and extend towards your workspace, as well. To keep a series of layers together, simply click the word "None" and assign a number. PSP will count from 1 on up automatically. In this tag, you'd give Zipper 1 a 1. Then highlight Zipper 2 and give it a 1, too. Same for Zipper 3. If you want to keep several different layer items grouped, give each a different number. The zippers are 1, all the frames 2, tubes 3, and so on. Resetting a layer back to None simply means it's back to being on its own if you were to move it, i.e. none of the other layers will "follow."

You can also link dissimiliar item layers if you want to move them simultaneously, which can be helpful if you want to keep spacing or other effects proportionate. However you use it, it's a nifty and important tool when it comes to arranging animated tags, so you won't have anything "jumping." Well, that shouldn't be, anyway! ;)

Give all three zippers a light drop shadow. Use the Control + Y keyboard shortcut to repeat the same shadow on the second two layers. Save your image and give yourself a pat on the back. Yay!! You did it! We're not quite done yet, but I daresay the hardest part is over. :)

Make Frame visible and your active layer. Duplicate it once, for now. Rename the copy layer "Frame 2." Close Zippers 1 and 3. Activate your Freehand Selection / Lasso tool and place it in Add mode. Using Zipper 2 as your guide, draw around the parts of the frame we won't need, like this:

Hit the Delete key on your keyboard to remove the extraneous parts of the frame. Select None / de-select. Here's what it looks like now:

The last thing we need to adorn is what will be the first frame witih the closed zipper. I've added Flower-05 and Flower-06 from the main Blue Jean Baby kit. I resized, put them over on the left, gave them a light drop shadow, then Merged Down from the top flower and renamed the consolidated layer "Flowers." Be careful the flowers don't go any higher than Zipper 2, or they won't "wipe away" properly when the zipper opens during animation. Using Zipper 2 as your guide again, your canvas would look something like this:

Now it's time to add our name. I'm using Paper-01 from Blue Jean Baby as the Background / Fill and Paper-02 as the Foreground / Stroke. Drop them into your Patterns folder, or open them in your workspace, minimize to get them out of the way, then select them as your respective patterns from the Color palette. Again, the font I'm using is called Bountiful, and you can grab it at the link above. I rotated my text slightly so it fits better around the tube's knees. Give your text a drop shadow of choice. Rename this layer "Name," or your name, whichever you prefer.

Turn all of your layers back on, except the background layer. Activate your Crop Tool and choose Merged Opaque, the box on the right in your toolbar, as I've shown you below. The crop is more precise if you let PSP do it for you. If you leave the background layers on, though, it will include those pixels, leaving you back at square one again. ;) Click the green checkmark at the left side of the toolbar to accept the crop. Turn your background layer back on. Might as well save it while you're at it, too.

I think I'm going to do my sparkling before I resize and add the copyright. No particular reason, except it's just easier to see! LOL! As I mentioned above, I'm using DSB Bright Noise to accomplish that. Constellation, VM Sparkle, Xero, PSP Noise and/or sparkle tubes are all just fine. Nor do you have to sparkle if you don't want to. You can just catch up with me when we get to AniShop if you prefer. In fact, I almost didn't sparkle the tag at all because of the inconsistent timing it requires, but I've thought of a way to minimize the damage. Yep, I'm making you guys work hard today! ;)

Our tag will have 8 frames when it's finished, but we're going to build it like it will have 6, i.e. in sets of three. I'm sparkling the mask, the jewelry on both tubes, the frame, the flowers, and my name. First, the name. Take your Magic Wand and put it into Add mode, Tolerance 55. Select your name, trying not to select the drop shadow pixels. When selected, duplicate your layer twice, for a total of three Name layers. Apply DSB Bright Noise (or PSP's noise) to each layer. If PSP noise, adjust the numeric amount of noise up or down on each layer to give it "motion." Random has the largest or coarsest pixel size, Gaussian and Uniform a little finer. Use the one you think looks best.

If DSB Bright Noise, click the word for the type of noise you're using once or twice before applying to the next layer. That will mix the noise without having to reduce or increase it. You'll see it "jump" in the little preview window. "Mix" is a medium blend of whatever the object color, "Darker" will darken with black, "Lighter" noise will brighten with white. The higher you adjust the amount of Lighter noise, the "whiter" it will become; the "blacker" Darker will become. I'm using Mix noise on everything today, except the flowers, on which I used Lighter noise. I turned the slider down to around 35 so it wouldn't be "too" white. Use the picture below as a guide where to place your mouse for the mixing click:

Make two copies of each layer item you wish to sparkle and do all three as described, EXCEPT Frame. Don't copy Frame 2 at all; we only need one of those lil' wedges. On the original Frame layer, duplicate three times for a total of four. Use your Magic Wand to select the closeup's jewelry (zoom in if you need to) and the blue gemstones of the frame. Sparkle all four and your Frame 2 wedge. And allow me to explain the extra layer. :)

Theoretically, we could get this tag done in a minimum of three frames. Zipper closed, zipper halfway open, zipper all the way open. But, we're also going to zip back up, which adds a minimum of one more frame. Then we have to figure in the timing, For sparkle to animate in the most blingalicious and seamless way possible, it's usually best to have frames with equal timing set somewhere between 15 and 25, though all is fine even if you need to extend the timing somewhat. However, in this tag, if we set it that way, it will play much too fast, even with additional timing length. We want a strategic pause at both the beginning and the end of the animation, and we also want the zipper to look smooth, all without losing the sparkle. (Can we have a Rolls Royce while we're at it? LOL!) So, we're going to take what we could have done in one frame set at 120 or 150, and "break it up" into four frames set at 30 or 40 that are technically the same, but we'll vary with sparkle to keep the effect going, even when the animation appears "still." We'll also do that on the tail end, so we can extend the pause when the animation replays without losing the sparkle effect there, either.

Now that you know the method behind the madness, it's time to resize and add your artist copyright. The reason adding the copyright should always be the very last thing you do is so that it won't get distorted during the resizing and will still be legible afterwards. I had a lot of trouble getting pixel (or any small) fonts to be legible in PSP 9 no matter how or when I did it, but all versions since have been fine in that department. Thank goodness! I'd been spending the most time on the smallest and most annoying part of the tag ;) I've since uninstalled all but X2. And I'm digressing. Back to the tag ranch we go! LOL! Save your image and get your neck brace out. Time to go back and forth from PSP to Ani Shop! ;) Here's what our "completed" canvas looks like:

Turn off all layers except Background, Mask, Zipper 1, Tube, Flowers, Name and your copyright. Highlight one of the visible layers in your palette and Copy Merged to AniShop as a New Animation.

Back to PSP. Close Mask, Zipper 1, Tube, Flowers and Name. Leave your Background and Copyright layers on; don't turn them off from here on out, as we need both to appear in all frames. Open Copy of Mask, Zipper 2, Frame 2, Copy of Tube, Copy of Flowers, and Copy of Name. Copy Merged to AniShop and paste After Current Frame.

In PSP again, close Copy of Mask, Zipper 2, Frame 2, Copy of Tube, Copy of Flowers and Copy of Name. Open Copy (2) of Mask, Zipper 3, Frame, Copy (2) of Tube, and Copy (2) of Name. Copy Merged and paste into AniShop After Current Frame. Now you should have three frames; zipper closed, zipper halfway open, zipper all the way open.

Next is the first pause we want to insert, so the zipper stays open and we get to gaze at her lovely mug for an extra couple of beats without losing the sparkle effect. Close Copy (2) of Mask, Frame, Copy (2) of Tube, and Copy (2) of Name. Leave Zipper 3 open, and please don't close it until we've finished Frame 6. Promise to let you know when it's time to shut it off. ;) Now open Mask, Copy of Frame, Tube, and Name. Copy Merged and paste into AniShop After Current Frame.

Back to PSP. Close Mask, Copy of Frame, Tube, and Name. Open Copy of Mask, Copy (2) of Frame, Copy of Tube, and Copy of Name. Copy Merged and paste into AniShop After Current Frame.

In PSP again, close Copy of Mask, Copy (2) of Frame, Copy of Tube, and Copy of Name. Open Copy (2) of Mask, Copy (3) of Frame, Copy (2) of Tube, and Copy (2) of Name. Copy Merged and paste into AniShop After Current Frame. Still in AniShop, highlight / select Frame 2. Copy and paste it after Frame 6, the frame we just did and the last one you should have.

Go back to PSP. Last time! Close Zipper 3 and Copy (3) of Frame. Open Zipper 1 and Copy (2) of Flowers. Copy Merged and paste into AniShop after your last frame, the duplicate of Frame 2. You should now have 8 frames. Whew! ;)

Now that you can see them lined up in AniShop, things probably make a lot more sense, too! LOL! Select Frame 1. Right-click, select Frame Properties. Set the timing of this frame to 45. Select Frame 2. Set the timing to 25. Now select frame 3. Depress the Shift key, arrow over to the right and also select frames 4, 5, and 6. Set their timing to 40. Now click Frame 7 and set its timing to 25. Frame 8 should be at 45. Press play and behold! :)

Annihilate (or Optimize, as they call it! ;) save as a .gif, and you're done! Hope you've enjoyed the tutorial and had fun. And you have a zippy new outfit to wear! ;)

Sun of a Beach - The Tutorial

Hi, gang! Along with the new kits, here's the first of two new tuts I hope you'll enjoy. So let's get the boring stuff right out of the way. This tutorial is my own creation and is registered with Tutorial Writers, Inc.. Please do not pass it around by email or re-post it on any forum. You may, however, share the link to the blog or the tutorial page directly. I'd be extremely pleased and honored if you did so. :)

I've made two versions of this tag, one on a white background and one on black, to match here. You'll notice in the white tag (at the bottom of the tutorial) that I've used a mask to add background color. I chose to omit it from the black tag because it somehow appeared more "cluttery" against the dark color. The tut will include mask directions, so you can make it either way, as well.

This tag is also a little different in the way it's put together. I tend to think of animating as being a somewhat "horizontal" process because we build and paste the frames to lay that way in Ani Shop, even though we've layered "vertically" in PSP to make them. This tag is also more of a vertical process in AniShop, as it will have a "bottom," a "middle," and a "top" we'll make in PSP, but will put together in AniShop. The "sandwich" approach is necessary in order to maintain the elements in proper order so they're unobstructed by other elements. You'll see what I mean later on, I promise! ;)

As for supplies, I'm using the beautiful art of Jamie Kidd. If you'd like to use the same mermaid, please visit CILM to purchase the tube and accompanying license. The Sun of a Beach scrap kit is from yours truly and available at Sophisti-Scraps. The add-on portion is here at the blog, under the label Freebies. I'm using the font AL Playbook for my name. I've uploaded the the glitter fill frames and the underwater .jpg for you here. Just take the glitter frames and drop them into your Patterns folder. On the white tag, as I mentioned, I used WSL Mask 143 from the very talented Chelle of WeeScotsLass.co.uk. Place it in your Masks folder. Along with the rest of Chelle's fantastic collection! LOL! Thank you, Chelle! :)

You will also need PSP and Animation Shop, of course. To complete the "basic" effect of the tag, they're all you need in the way of software. However, if you'd like to animate the frame and sparkle the accessories, you'll also need to visit Area 51 and load up on Alien Skin's Eye Candy 3.1 or 4000 (for HSB Noise) and Xenofex 1 or 2 (for Constellation). The newest versions can be found at the Alien Skin website.

Alrighty then! I think we're ready to phone home. ;)

Open a new canvas, 800 x 800. Again, I like to work big then size down to avoid feeling cramped. I wound up needing the room in order to fit in my name! LOL! So, if 800 x 800 is too big for your taste, just make sure to leave yourself enough "extra" room to maneuver. Give yourself a background color by unchecking the Transparent box in the New Image dialog and choosing a color from the Color Picker box, or flood-filling after the image is open.

Open your tube and copy/paste or drag-n-drop it to your new canvas. Drag-n-dropping has been explained and diagrammed in my Lavenderlicious tutorial. Basically, all you have to do is highlight the tube layer you want in your palette, then left-click again and "drag" the layer from the palette over to your new canvas. Release the mouse to "drop" it. You can even copy a layer within the same image by dragging it to the same canvas. Trés easy! :)

Close your original tube image. Rename your new tube layer "Mermaid." Leave her be for just a minute and open Frame-01 from Sun of a Beach. Copy/paste or drag-n-drop to your canvas. Rename this layer "Frame" and drag it in your palette so it's above the Background and below Mermaid. As you can see, this particular tube conflicts with the wrap on the frame, so I've mirrored her (Image >> Mirror) to place her on the other side instead. Give her a drop shadow of choice.

Now close / hide / shut-off your Mermaid layer. I've closed my Background layer as well. Activate your Magic Wand and set Mode to Add, Match Mode to RGB Value, Feather and Tolerance to Zero. Make sure Frame is the active layer in your palette and click somewhere inside the transparent area of your frame. Click again in the space between the wrap and the bottom of the frame or you'll be kicking yourself later. LOL! Now go to Selections >> Modify >> Expand, and do it by 10 pixels, like this:

Do not de-select. Open the underwater .jpg and copy/paste or drag-n-drop it to your canvas. Move it in the palette so it's above the Background and underneath the Frame. Rename this layer "Water." Use the Move Tool to position the picture to your liking inside the frame. When satisfied, go to Selections >> Invert to flip the selection from inside of the frame to everything outside of it. Being sure Water is the active layer in your palette, hit the Delete key to remove the extraneous portions of the picture. Now you have a nice, neatly framed picture with no open holes and nothing to erase, like this:

Give Frame a light drop shadow, and give your image a save. Go ahead and turn Mermaid back on so you can see her. Open Doodle-03 from Sun of a Beach and copy/paste or drag-n-drop to your canvas. Position in your palette so it's above the Background and underneath Water. Rename this layer "Doodles," then duplicate it. Mirror the copy layer and arrange them both behind the frame, one on each side. Make the copy layer active and Merge Down. There are going to be extraneous portions of the Doodles that we'll want to clean up. Not as easily as we did the frame, but not with too much difficulty, either. Use the Eraser Tool to manually erase the extra parts, or use the Lasso Tool (located with your Magic Wand) to select around them, then hit Delete on your keyboard. Give Doodles a drop shadow. Here's what we have now:

Open Paper-03 from Sun of a Beach or use one from the add-on. Copy/paste or drag-n-drop to your canvas. Drag it in the palette so it's below Doodles and above the Background. Go to Layers >> Load/Save Mask >> Load Mask from Disk. You can also load a mask from an open image instead. However, if you'd ever like to use it again, IMHO it's just easier to "put it away" once and know it's there whenever you want it. Your Mask folder can be organized with subfolders if you'd like to group them by category or "manufacturer" for easier reference. But that's a "how-to" for another day! ;)

Back to the tagging ranch, navigate to WSL Mask 143. Source Luminance and Fit to Layer should be checked. On this particular mask, it doesn't matter if Hide All or Show All is checked, so use one of the two. Click OK. Now go to your palette, highlight Mask, right-click and Merge Group. This "flattens" the layers of the mask into one so it's easier to work with. Rename this layer "Mask." The effect was a bit subtle for my taste, so I duplicated the Mask layer to increase the color intensity, then Merged Down to condense Mask back into one layer. Here's what we have now:

Now it's time to adorn. I used all three flowers from the Sun of a Beach add-on, and Charm-02 from the main kit, the dolphin. Resize and arrange your accessories to your liking, and make sure to rename your layers accordingly. Drop shadow any elements you desire.

Then it will be time to add your name. I put mine down at the bottom and rotated for better fit. I used Green Neptune glitter for the Background / Fill and Green Seafoam Shimmer glitter for the Foreground / Stroke. If you put them in your Patterns folder as I mentioned above, just load them directly from the Color Palette. Put Green Seafoam Shimmer-01 in the Foreground and Green Neptune-01 in the Background. Activate your Text Tool and type out your name in the appropriate size for your tag. Rotate and/or move it exactly where you want it. Rename your layer to "Name," or your name, then duplicate the text layer twice, for a total of three. Do not move these layers from this point forward.

Move to the Copy layer in your palette and click the "+" next to the layer name to expand the contents of the layer, similiar to how your Mask layer looked before you merged it. Underneath you'll see the text you typed as if it were the layer name. Double-click that line in the palette to activate the Text Tool again. A box will pop up with your text in it, called the Text Entry Box. Make sure the text in the box is highlighted. Leave the box open and go to your Color Palette. Change the Foreground and Background patterns to the "02's" of the respective glitters. Click the OK button in the Text Entry box to apply the new glitter fills. Now do the same thing on Copy 2 of your Name layer, changing your patterns to the "03's" of the glitter frames before applying them. Drop shadow Copy 2, then select the Copy layer in your palette and Control + Y to apply the same shadow. Select the original layer and Control + Y again, so all three layers have the same drop shadow.

Now it's time to crop, resize, and add your artist copyright. If you don't want to animate, save as a .jpg and you're done! Hope you've enjoyed the tutorial and had fun. If you're in for the motion of the ocean (LOL!!) save your image, then go get some snackage or some coffee, 'cause you won't be going anywhere for a little while! ;)

The first thing to do from here is to decide if you're only animating the water or you'd like to do the frame and/or sparkle the accessories. If you're only doing the water, ignore the next few paragraphs and catch up with me when it's time to move over to Ani Shop. If you're a sparkle freak like me, choose which accessories you're going to animate and duplicate those layers twice, for a total of three each. I'm using the Constellation effect from Xenofex to sparkle the perimeters of the charm and flowers. It isn't necessary to select anything first. Highlight the layer you want to sparkle and open Constellation. You may have to finesse the settings a little, but they should be similiar to the following. The important thing to note is the Overall Star Density. By placing that on 0, you will only be sparkling the outside of the element. Increasing the Overall Star Density will place sparkles all over the element. We have a lot going on in this tag, so I figured less might actually be more. ;)

Apply Constellation to your first accessory layer. Then highlight the next one up in your palette and open Constellation again. Your settings from the last layer should still be there. Hit the Random button to vary the sparkle and click OK. Do the same thing to your third layer, and each accessory layer you plan to animate, remembering to hit the Random button each time.

When you're finished Constellating (is that even a word? ;) turn off all layers except Frame. Duplicate Frame twice, for a total of three. Activate your Magic Wand and set the Tolerance to 50. On your original Frame layer, click somewhere in the area where the diamonds are. You may have to click again to be sure all the pixels in that oval strip are selected. If you have trouble, another way you can go is to Select All, then use your Magic Wand in Remove mode to remove the wrap from the selection. Once you're selected, open HSB Noise in Eye Candy 3.1 or 4000. Leave all the settings as they are, except the Hue Variation, which you can turn down a little bit. Here are my settings:

Apply HSB Noise to each of your three Frame layers, remembering to hit the Random button each time on this effect, as well. Here's what we have now:

Time to go to AniShop. Well, we'll be going back and forth, so get the neck braces out. LOL! As I mentioned (what seems like days ago, hehe!) at the beginning of this tutorial, it's time for us to make a sandwich. Normally, the first thing we'd need to do with any animated tag is to determine how many frames the animation will have. I sorta cheated at knowing today's answer by making the tag before writing it up. Otherwise, the first step would be doing our fractions and finding the greatest common denominator, i.e. the number of frames our "largest" effect will need. Which is Water, in this particular tag. So, if you were working on your own, you'd be doing the order of operations slightly differently than we will be now. You'd play with Water first, find out how many frames it will take, then tailor the rest of your tag accordingly. In this case, we already know 9 is the magic number. Hence why I had you make three layers of all your effects. ;)

Having had our lil' head start, we're first going to do the background of the tag. Shut off all layers except Background, Doodles, Mask and your copyright. Copy Merged and paste into AniShop as a New Animation. Go back to PSP and close Doodles. Open Copy of Doodles and again Copy Merged. Paste into AniShop After Current Frame. Back in PSP again, close Copy of Doodles and open Copy (2) of Doodles. Again Copy Merged and paste into AniShop After Current Frame.

Still in AniShop, make Frame 1 the active frame by clicking it, then Control + A to select all frames. Edit >> Copy or Control + C. Now highlight Frame 3, right-click and paste After Current Frame, or Shift + Control + L. Left-click back on Frame 3 (the frame to the immediate left of what you just pasted), right-click and paste After Current Frame again. (Or use the keyboard shortcuts, whichever you find easier.) It's important to keep our frames in order or we might get two of the same next to each other, resulting in a latent pause when the animation is played. You can also scroll right, to the last frame, and paste after that one, as well. Either way, you should now have nine frames which look like this:

Minimize that animation for now. Back to PSP. Open and highlight the Water layer. Then Select All, as I've shown you in the screenshot below:

Copy (not Merged, just Copy) Water and paste into AniShop as a New Animation. The reason you're Selecting All first is to maintain the alignment of Water from PSP to AniShop, so it stays in the same exact place on your canvas, and with the same proportion of surrounding space. Otherwise, we'd have to manually line everything up when it's time to combine our sandwich. The less we have to think, the better! ;)

In AniShop, on your lone Water frame, click the Effects menu at the top, then click "Insert Image Effect." Set the radio buttons, sliders and dropdown as you see mine, here:

When you're finished, Water will have 10 frames. 9 with animation, Frame 1 will be the original "static" image. Delete Frame 1; we don't need it. Along with the minimized background animation we have going, this is what your Water should look like now:

Minimize your Water animation for now, too. 2 down, one to go. ;)

Back to PSP. Close all of your layers or Layers >> View None to save a few clicks. Open Frame, Mermaid, any "original" accessory layers, and your first name layer. Copy Merged and paste into AniShop as a New Animation.

Back to PSP. Close the original layers and open "Copy of" those same layers. Copy Merged to AniShop After Current Frame. If you didn't animate a particular item, just be sure to remember to include the original layer each time. Close the Copy layers and Copy Merged one more time on the "Copy (2)'s of" those layers, until you have three frames in AniShop.

Now our prep work is done, and it's time to actually make our sandwich, i.e. combine the three animations. First, make sure Propagate Paste is selected / active / turned on in the Edit Menu (the icon looks "indented" when it's active). Propagate Paste, as opposed to "regular" Paste, sorta does the math for you when it comes to the greatest common denominator thing. Meaning, if you're pasting an animation with fewer frames than the recipient animation, Propagate Paste will "multiply" the shorter animation and apply it to the remaining frames in the longer animation. If you know your frames are evenly divisible, such as pasting 3 into 9, this can be a handy little timesaver.

Make Frame 1 in the Mermaid / Frame animation active, then Control + A to select all frames. Edit >> Copy or Control + C to copy to the clipboard. Minimize this animation. Now make Water the active animation, and make Frame 1 the active frame. Control + A or Edit >> Select All to select all frames. Click Edit at the top, then click "Paste into Selected Frame." Do not move your mouse; just left-click once to accept the paste. Mermaid, Frame and your name should now be perfectly placed over Water in all 9 frames, looking like this:

Make sure Frame 1 is still the active frame and that all 9 frames are still selected. Edit >> Copy or Control + C to copy this new animation to the clipboard. Minimize it and make your background animation active. Make sure Frame 1 is the active frame, and that all frames are selected. Click Edit at the top, then "Paste Into Selected Frame." Again, do not move your mouse; just left-click once to accept the paste. Voila! You've made it through the making of the sandwich. :)

If, for some reason, you inadvertently move your hand and the animations aren't lined up when you paste, simply click Edit >> Undo and then "Paste Into Selected Frame" again. "Redo Paste" would put it back where it just was, which you wouldn't want in that particular case. ;)

Now select all of your frames again, right-click and set the timing (under Frame Properties) to 25.

Annihilate the Wizard (er, use the Optimization Wizard LOL!), save as a .gif, and you're finally finished! WTG! Hope you've enjoyed the tut and the pretty new outfit you have! :)