PTU- Winter Wonderland

This tutorial is borne from my own manipulated lil' mind.
Any similarity to any other tutorial(s) is purely coincidental.

This tutorial was written for those who have a working knowledge of PSP.
This tutorial was written using PSP XI, 

tho' any version should work.

This tutorial is a bit lengthy & might not be good for the faint of heart. lol

Supplies Needed:
Tube of choice. I am using the artwork of Ismael Rac.
The name of the tube is Warm Winter
& was purchased by visiting his store.
Do NOT use this artwork unless you have a license to do so
& have purchased the tube.

Scrapkit is Winter Solstice from Addictive Pleasures.
This is a pay to use kit.
The kit is no longer available, but
any other 'Winter' themed kit should work nicely also.

Mask of choice. I used Vix_Mask440 which can be found at Vix PSP.
Look under 'Goodies'.

Template: Kandee Christmas Temp 8
which can be found at Kandi Kissez.
Kandi's blog is closed, so this temp is not available.

Filters: Penta Jeans (optional)
Xero- Radiance (optional for the tube)
Eye Candy 4000 Gradient Glow (optional for text)
Eye Candy 4000 HSB Noise (optional for text)

Font for name: Plymouth Rock 'Snow Dusted' (FTU Font)

Let's do this! 

Save your progress often, 

since we'll be doing a lot for this tag.

Open up the template. Duplicate it & close original.
Delete the credit layer at the top.

Now, for most layers of the template, 

you'll be doing the following (unless I specify otherwise):

- Selections- Select all
- Selections- float
- Selections- defloat
- Selections- invert
-Paste paper of choice (resize & position if needed)
- Hit delete on your keyboard
- Selections- select none.
Then delete the original layer you had 'floating'.
Do not add drop shadows to your papered & flood-filled layers just yet.

Here's the papers I used (resizing, etc. included) 

from the bottom, working up:
P7- resize 80%
p4- resize 80%
p1- resize 80%.

For the white oval layer, here's what I did:
Selections- select all then float.
Add a new layer & flood fill with a foreground/ background gradient:
# b5c0c4 (foreground colour)
# 6a7376 (background)
Angle- 36
repeats- 4
Select none. 

Delete the white oval layer.

Make your new oval layer active.
Adjust: add noise at these settings:
Random/ 60/ Monochrome.
Sharpen (adjust, sharpen).

Next, working upwards again, 

continue with your papers:
p3- resize 80%
p8- resize 80%
On this layer, go to Effects, texture effects, weave at these settings:
Gap size- 1, Width- 6, Opacity- 2
colour- white for both
Fill gaps box ticked.

The green strips layer I just colourised 

to this grey-blue colour: # 6a7376

For the gold rectangles layer, 

I did the same as the white oval layer, 

using the same gradient.
Then add Penta Jeans (optional) default settings to this layer.

The gradient rectangle layer, I did the same 

as the gold layer, except filled with this gradient:
# dce5ea (foreground colour)
# a7bec6 (background)
Angle- 45/ Repeats- 2

Now, for the following step, you can skip 

& keep the overlay layers if you wish.
You might have to recolour them, so they work with your tag.

I used bg2: resized 60% for this next step 

(unless you're skipping it).

On the 'overlay multiply ok to delete' layer,
I did the same as adding the papers to the other layers.
I then changed the blend mode of this layer to Multiply.
Delete the original layer & the screen layer.
Duplicate your new background layer you just made.
Change the blend mode on this duplicate to Soft Light at 80%
(or whatever blend mode you like best).

Optional- Select All on the top bg layer (the soft light layer).
Float, defloat & invert. 

Paste a copy of your close up tube.
(Resize if needed.) 

Hit delete key.
Change the opacity on this closeup layer to 30- 40%.

Skip over the wordart & snowflake layers 

& on the top layer for now. 

On the dotted lines layer (at the very top of the template),
you can leave them as is or change the colour of them to your liking.
I changed mine to # 42474d.

Next, on the wordart back layer, I selected all,
float, add a new layer & flood-filled with the first gradient colours I used,
keeping the angle at 45 & repeats at 2.
Next, add noise at these settings:
Uniform/ 65/ Monochrome.

I added the same noise to the snowflakes layer.

Next, crop your tag to the canvas size.
This eliminates any 'phantom shadows' showing up 

on the outside edges of your tag.
(*This is esp. good to do when using papers that you can't resize.) 

On my small circles & rectangle layer, I did a small gradient glow.
This is completely optional & not needed.

Next, go through your layers 

& add a drop shadow to these layers.
- the small circles (first layer)
- big circle
- rectangle
- glittered oval layer
- glittered word art.
- snowflakes
The drop shadow settings I used was 1, 4, 40, 4, black.

Now add your tube of choice. 

I resized mine to 60%.
Position where desired.
I used Xero Radiance at these settings:

Add drop shadow.

I merged my wordart layer down to my glittered wordart layer
& moved them to the top of the tag, 

however you can leave them where they are
or move them elsewhere on your tag.

These are the elements I used.
Position as shown on my example or to your own liking.
Sharpen & add drop shadows as you go:

- Medi_tree2- resize 50%
- tree- resize 40%

- lamppost- resize 50%
Drag this under your tube in your layers palette
& position behind your tube on the canvas

- dove- resize 30%, duplicate & postion both.

- diamondbling- resize 60% NO drop shadow
(Drag this to just above your closeup in your layers palette.)

Add any other embellishments you choose.

Copy & paste a paper of choice above your white layer
on the bottom in the layers palette.
I used p9.

Add mask of choice. 

Merge group in your layers palette.
If using the same mask as me, resize 110%.

Delete your white layer.

Crop/ resize your tag, if preferred.

Now's the time to add your copyrights & watermark.

For the name, I used this colour # 58687a.
Duplicate your name layer.
On the top layer, I used Eye Candy HSB Noise at the default settings.
On the bottom name layer, 

I used a Gradient Glow at these settings:

Add your drop shadow to this bottom name layer.

Last, merge visible, save as .png & you're finally finished.

Enjoy your tag! 

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, even though it was a bit lengthy.
I'd love to see any results any of you have trying this. 

*hugz*