Here is another Christmas card that was a “spur-of-the-moment” job. I’m posting this one to demonstrate a few simple Photoshop tips that can help you turn around designs quicker for customers just like this one. As the title suggests, there is great advantage in using many layers in Photoshop. I’m just going to focus on the background of this card itself. There are 3 separate layers used just for the green background.

The bottom layer is actually a black and white plaid I found online and turned into a pattern. Need a refresher on creating your own patterns? (NOTE: if you are using Artisteer and want to know how you can make your own textures, this is it!)

• Create a new, completely square document and pull in the image you’d like to make into a pattern onto it.
• Line up the plaid or pattern so that it is completely centered and will flow in any space seamlessly when repeated.
• Once you are satisfied with the position and color, click Select All than click on Edit, Define Pattern.
• To use your pattern, simply create or click on a shape that you want the pattern to fill, and click on the fx button choosing Pattern Overlay. You should be able to scroll down and find the pattern you just created.
• You can choose the opacity of the pattern as well as the size of the repetition, and the best part is that you can transform the shape and size of your image without doing any damage to the pattern. (an example of this are the three red plaid squares in the picture above. I simply duplicated the original square used behind the photo, and I transformed them into the sizes I wanted behind the text.)

Ok, now back to this specific example and the elements that make up the background to this picture.

1. My first layer was a green square that filled the document with the plaid pattern overlay added. The overlay was actually still the black and white version, just at a low opacity.
2. The layer directly above that is a white square that filled the document space and was also set at a low opacity to tone down the pattern and lighten the image. I also chose to give it an Inner Glow that was a dark green to add some more depth to the background.
3. The final element to the background is the faint scroll pattern. It is just a cream, scroll-work jpg that I sized down to fit the document, colorized it to a slightly desaturated green color, and chose the Overlay Blending option so that it looked like it was a part of the plaid pattern.

I hope you found this post helpful, and please let me know if there are any parts that may still be confusing. As always, feel free to contact me if you are interested in print or web design.

© 2009 – 2011, Sarah Roberts – Reflecting the Designer. All rights reserved.