I have to thank both Julie Heyer and Marya for this week's inspiration. Julie blogged about the Card Sketch Challenge last week (and made a really cool card, too!) and Marya hosts the challenge and posted a great sketch this month:
That diamond pattern really intrigued me and of course I wanted to make it digitally! Here's how I did it:
1. Create a 5"X7", 300ppi document.
2. Make a diamond pattern:
a) Click and hold on the small triangle in the lower right of the Rectangle Tool.
b) Select 'Custom Shape Tool' from the resulting pop-up menu.
c) Click the Shape menu in the Custom Shape Tool panel and then choose the diamond pattern.
d) Select Black as the foreground color on the Tool palette.
e) Click and drag on the document to create a diamond pattern. Don't worry about the size just yet.
f) Duplicate the diamond pattern layer 3 times and arrange them like this:
g) Merge the 4 diamond layers into a single layer.
h) Click and drag a corner handle to resize the diamond pattern until it's just slightly larger than your document.
Tip: If the program you're using doesn't have a custom shape tool, use the diamond stamp graphic from the Big Deal Digital Kit and duplicate it a bunch of times, arranging them into this diamond pattern.
3. Select a background for your card and drag it into your document, resizing as needed.
4. Move the background layer so that it's under the diamond pattern.
5. Click on the diamond layer in the Layer Palette to make it active.
6. Command+Click (Mac) or Ctrl+Click (Windows) on the thumbnail of the diamond layer in the Layer Palette. You'll see 'marching ants' around the pattern. Click the 'eye' icon on the diamond layer to hide it.
7. Create a new layer.
8. Choose a color that matches well with the background.
9. Select the brush tool and choose a fairly large fuzzy-edged brush.
10. Paint the diamond pattern with the fuzzy brush, covering most of the diamonds, but be sure to leave a few blank areas.
11.Create a new layer.
12. Choose a darker shade, make the brush a bit smaller, and paint the edges of each diamond, leaving the centers uncolored.
13. Lower the opacity of each of the color layers so that some of the background shows through. Play with this until you get a look that you're happy with.
14. Add additional embellishments to complete your card.
Now that wasn't too difficult, was it? Good - go make one of your own and email it to someone you love. Or post it online and enter it into this month's Card Sketch Challenge.
Thanks for stopping by!
-Ron
RON! I love it, amazing tutorial and so happy the Marya and I inspired it!! xoxo Happy Valentines Day!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the awesome how-to, Ron! If ONLY I didn't have other stuff to do with that "day job" of mine, or I'd drop everything and play a little!
ReplyDeleteAWESOME card, Ron! I love the "grunginess" of it. (Is that a word? LOL)
ReplyDeleteOf course it is, Karen! I'm all about the grunginess!!
DeleteI'm gonna give that a try, Ron! Thanks for the easy tutorial!
ReplyDeleteOh your interpretation gave me an idea. Except I'm at work today and can't try it right now. I'm wondering if a find edges and emboss would give the raised edge look like Julie got and then the painty ink thing you did would make it look like ink on the embossed edges. Note to self, try this when you get home...
ReplyDeleteyep, you could definitely apply an effect like that to give it an embossed look! And don't forget to share your results!!!
DeleteVery cool Ron and I almost but not quite made this tut a subject of my entry for this month's blog hop! thank you very much.
ReplyDeletelove the design and tut
ReplyDeleteI also am enjoying this......will have to give it a try and maybe print out for my cards that I make for our park.
ReplyDeleteThanks