Valentine Pooch
Here's what we will be making, any resemblance to other tuts is unintentional.
If you have created any of the above items and I have not given you proper credit, please let me know so I can correct it. In the meantime....thanks to the talented tubers who made this particular tut result possible.
Okay! Download the tubes and place them in your tube folder. Put the heart preset in your 'Preset Shapes' folder.
The font you can double click and then minimize to your toolbar.
Let's get started!
Open a 600 X 600 transparent image
Flood fill with a dark color - I used gray. Rename background.
Copy and paste as a new layer the lace heart. On your layer palette rename it 'lace heart'.
The lace heart should be in the center.
Go to your 'preset shape' tool and select heart 1, use the following settings.
This tut has an 'intermediate'  difficulty level. I'm using PSP 9, but it could be done with any version, with a few minor adjustments.
Draw out the heart (it will be black) a bit larger then your lace heart. Use the nodes to increase/decrease the size and shape of your heart.
Click on your solid heart layer. Go to Selections, Select All, Selection Float, Selection, Defloat.
Go to Selection, Modify, Expand by pixels 2, see below.
On your material palette, select a color for your heart. I used #da264c, the choice is yours depending on your tube. Flood fill your heart. Make sure you fill to the marching ant edges.
Got to Selections, Modify, Contract by 4
Go to Selections, Invert. Hit the 'Delete' key on your keyboard. Select none.
Go to your layer palette, drag your solid heart layer under/below, your lace heart layer. You should have this so far.
Your layer palette should look like this.
***NOTE*** If you want to make your solid heart a little bigger, use your raster deform tool to enlarge it.
Click on the solid heart layer. Go to Adjust, Blur, Gaussian Blur - 30. You can use any blur you want.
I opted to change my background to white at this time. If you opt to do this, on your layer palette, click on the background layer, change your foreground/stroke color to white (or color of your choice). Go to your flood fill tool and flood with your selected color.
You should now have this.
Click on your solid heart layer. Go to Effects, Texture, Effects, Mosaic Glass. Use the default setting. See below.
On your layer palette, click on the solid heart layer, reduce the opacity to around 38 (or whatever you like)
Click on your lace heart layer. Selections, Select All, Selections, Float, Selections, Defloat.
On your layer palette, add a new layer, drag it under/below your lace heart layer. Rename lace heart shadow minus.
Repeat above....only rename the layer - lace heart shadow plus.
Go to Effects, Drop Shadow, with the following settings...
Your lace heart layer should be surrounded by 'marching ants'. Click on the lace shadow plus layer - add the following drop shadow
Click on "each" lace shadow layer and lower the opacity to between 30-60.
Click on the lace heart shadow plus layer, Go to Adjust, Blur, Gaussian Blur 3 (or your choice)
REPEAT this with the minus layer.
Deselect
Your lace heart layer should be surrounded by 'marching ants'. Click on the lace shadow minus layer - add the same drop shadow as above, changing the vertical and horizontal to -5
Your layer palette should look like this...
****NOTE**** You can change the opacity and blur of the lace heart to suit your taste.
Go to your Eraser tool with these settings
Click on your lace heart shadow plus layer, erase the shadow from the center of the heart, get as close to the edge as you without erasing the shadow on the outside of the heart....see below.
(I increased the layer opacity so you could see it better)
Go to the lace heart shadow minus layer and erase as above.
Do not Merge!
Whew!
The hard part is done! Now for the fun part!
Copy and paste your dog, rename dog Copy and paste the candy, rename candy
Copy and paste the paw, rename paw.
Arrange the tubes, to your liking. See my example for ideas.
***NOTE***
Drop Shadows.
I do my drop shadows a little differently then most. I do the same thing with every shadow I add. I will write the tut doing the shadow my way, you can use the traditional shadow placement if you choose.
I use the same shadow on almost everything (I will note otherwise, if I change it), I use the shadow on it's own layer for a couple of reasons.
1) I can more easily change the opacity and blur - I have better control
2) I can easily delete the shadow if I change my mind and reverse, flip, etc my tube
3)With my deform tool I can move my shadow wherever I want it.
Here's the setting I use most often.
Give this method a try, when you get comfortable with the shadow layer - you may be surprised at its versatility!
Click on the dog tube layer. Go to Effects, 3D Effects, Drop Shadow, add the above shadow ***BE SURE "SHADOW on NEW LAYER*** is checked.
Click on the dog shadow layer - adjust the opacity on the layer palette to between 30-50.
Go to Adjust, Blur, Gaussian Blur - Radius 3 to 5
Repeat this shadow process on your other tubes.
Click on the TOP layer on your layer palette.
Click on your text tool, use the following setting (you can change these to any size you like)
On your Material Palette, set the foreground/stroke to #5a2b21 and the Background/Fill to #c40527. Type out your text and place it where you want it. Convert to Raster Layer. Repeat the shadow, as you did above.
I added a blurred dog and candy layer to my graphic. If you would like to do this....
Duplicate the dog layer, drag the duplicated layer under the original, Go to Adjust, Blur, Gaussian Blur, Radius 3 to 5.
Repeat with your candy layer.
After you are satisfied with your tube, text and shadow placement, Go to Image, Canvas Size, use the following settings...
Click on your background layer....Flood fill it with white or whatever color you used. Still on the background layer, click on the eye to make this layer invisible. Go to your Crop Tool and click on the Merged Opaque button
Your image will look like above. Then click on the check mark on the left of the tool bar.
Make your background layer visible.
Go to Image, Resize, as follows....
Your layer palette should look like this...
Go to File, Export, JPEG Optimizer, as follows...
Hope you enjoyed this tut, any questions....
email me
Thanks to Frankie for all of her invaluable help - couldn't do it without her!
Here's her finished tut!
When you are satisfied, go to your layer palette, right click and convert to raster. Rename this layer 'solid heart'.