Tips & Tricks ~ Customizing

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Got a rectangle frame, but want a square one?  Or the other way around?  Or you have smaller pictures and bigger pictures and want them in the same kind of frame, without the shrinking proportions when downsizing?  Lego here, with a blog post on individualization!

I asked myself: why not customize frames according to my needs?  And so I did.  And I did it again and again.  After saving newly-created frame variations (as png-files), I can now reuse them over and over again. :-)

Here’s what I’m talking about:

Making things SMALLER:

1. Mark a part of the frame and with “cmd/ctrl + j” it’s moved to a new layer in the very same position.
2. After selecting the new layer use the arrow keys to move it until it looks like a square.  (Using the arrow keys helps be more precise than by just dragging it.)
3. Activate the eraser (often with a soft or fuzzy edge) and reduce its opacity to about 15 %.  Then erase on the upper layer partially, just to avoid any straight/clear cutting edges.

Finally, merge the two layers and voilà here’s your new frame in the desired dimensions:

P.S.   At times, the eraser step can be left out.  Just check, if there are any cutting lines that would be visible.  If not, just merge, no erasing necessary.  Like I did here:

Making things BIGGER is also possible, it’s a bit more tricky.  Technically only a bit, for it’s basically the same thing as making things smaller but you have to insert one step (between step 2 and 3):

• Activate the lower layer and erase the corner.

I use this technique with lots of frames and other items as you see below.  And believe me, there are way more possibilities!­­

And here’s the whole process in pictures, meaning step-by-step PS screenshots.

1. Open your file.  I chose the 4 hearts with the intention to crop them to 3.

2. Select the part you want to cut.

3. Move the selected part to a new layer, where it’s placed in its original position.  The shortest way for this is for a MAC “cmd+ j” and for a PC “ctrl+j”.

5. Since I want to make three out of four heart, I move my new layer (the upper one!) to the right.

6. Here it might help to use another colour for the layer beneath, so you see the edges clearly.  (You can do this easily in the layer styles: colour overlay.  This way you can get rid of it quickly as well.)  Quite often, this step is not necessary though.

7. Once you’ve arrived at the “ desired destination” with your upper layer, erase the parts of the lower layer (in flashing red) that you won’t need any longer.

8. Now throw away the colour overlay: just drag the layer style into the little bin.

9. For the fine-tuning, use a soft-edged eraser brush on the top layer.  Use a big one with an opacity of about 15 % and get rid of the sharp edge between the two layers.

10. Once you are happy with the result, merge the two layers.

11. You’re done!

Believe me, you do this three or four times and you get the hang of it.  It doesn’t take me longer then a few minutes now.  So the effort is really worth it.

Imagine, the banner could be as long as your kids’ names … and their proportions would be exactly the same whether you had 4 or 8 letters.  Oh… I love this!

I’d like to conclude this post with a layout I did recently.  It contains a frame that I divided.  You can find the original in the lovely Giggle Box Kit.  (One of my all time faves!)

Be sure to check back tomorrow for Kylie will bring us the newest template challenge.  Wouldn’t that be a wonderful opportunity to use one tiny individualized item on it?  Oh, I just can’t wait to see what you make of this and hopefully you share your creations with us soon.

If you wonder about the excited tone in my voice it’s because of St. Nicolas, who Paulina will meet for the first time this evening.  It is different than the American Santa Claus – not only because of the date.  In Austria he would often visit a family home and talks to the kids in person – one after the other – about their behaviour by describing specific events in their lives (like that they should not spit out their granny’s spinach like he/she did last Sunday or they should not hide their daddy’s car keys beneath the cat’s box etc.)  After enduring the wait and slight fear of what Mr. Nikolo might tell you, the kids then get a small present, oranges, nuts, some chocolate….  The magic about this is that a “real” man in red and white is actually standing in front of you speaking of things he could not possibly know!  I guess I was way in my teens when I found out that he had this knowledge because of prior parents’ briefings.  LOL.  Can’t wait to scrap this event tomorrow … man, it’s so exciting!

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