I am a big time bargain hunter.
But that’s not always good… I’d buy a used coloring book as long as it was marked “80% off”.
Lucky for me, I’ve got Adobe to help me be frugal in the digital aspects of my life. In this tip you and I are going to recycle. It just doesn’t get more bargain-y than that! We’ll take any ole piece of striped paper and give it a fresh new look.
Let’s get started!
Step 1: Prepare
- Open (File > Open) a piece of striped paper. For this tutorial I’m using ‘paper1’ from One Little Bird’s Menagerie kit.
- Follow good advice and never work on an original. To do this,
- Choose File > Duplicate from the Menu Bar.
- Click OK to accept the name for your new image.
- Close the original.
Step 2: Wave
- Choose Filter > Distort > Wave from the Menu Bar.
- In the Wave box that pops up, play with the settings till you come up with something fun. I chose the following settings:
- Type: Triangle
- Number of Generators: 5
- Wavelength: Min 211, Max 211
Tip: Move the Max bar first, then the Min bar. - Amplitude: Min 24, Max 24
- Click OK to accept the changes.
- Unfortunately the Wave box does not offer a Preview option. So if you don’t really like the results, simply undo the changes by pressing Ctrl Z (Mac: Cmd Z). Then you’ll just have to redo it. I usually have to do this several times before I get settings that look good to me.
Step 3: Crop
Many times when you apply filters to patterns, the edges will be a bit distorted. But not a problem, we can just crop off the edges. To do this:
- Get the Crop tool in the Tool Bar.
- In the Options Bar, set the Aspect Ratio to ‘Use Photo Ratio’. This will make sure that your end result has the same dimensions as your original image.
- You should be able to see the distorted edges of your patterned paper. With your cursor, click and drag a selection outline that will crop those out.
- Press Enter on your keyboard to accept the changes.
Step 4: Save
Now you have an original piece of paper to add to your collection.
Be sure to save it (File > Save As) with an original file name.
I think that is really cool! Now I’m going to get busy and create a scrapbook page with my new creation. I hope you will do the same and then share with me in the Tip of the Week Gallery.
Credits: Photoshop Elements 8.0 tip, photo and scrapbook page by Jen White. Kit: Menagerie by One Little Bird. This kit is part of the September 2010 Premier membership. It will be available in our store for general purchase in October 2010.
Download a PDF version of this “Recycling Stripes” tutorial.
Windows: Right click on the link and choose “Save Target As” or a similar command.
Mac: Click on the link to download the file.
Leap Frog To The Next Level!
Rather than learning a bit here and a bit there, why not leap frog to the next level? Our CD, Learn Digital Scrapbooking, takes you step-by-step from rank beginner to confident digital scrapbooker in a fraction of the time!
Find out more and get a free sample video lesson
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
What a great ideal. Thanks for the tip.
Great tutorial. Being on a fixed budget, I love being able to stretch my dollars and supplies. Thank you.
Thank you so for this tip. What a great and simple idea. Thanks again.
How clever you are! I can see using this over and over. Thanks, Jen.
Wavelength will not allow 211, maximum is 120 according to my program!
Hi John!
Sorry you ran into a snag. Here’s what you’ll need to do…
Move the Max bar to 211 first, then move the Min bar.
If that doesn’t work for you, give a holler and I’ll try to help.
Jen White
Thanks for this whale of a value type tip! I’m off to try this right now using your step-by-step tutorial open in a window while I work in my program! What fun!
Thanks for the tip.
Is there any tutorial, or would you do one, that explains how or why the settings in the wave menu work? For instance why did you use triangle instead of sine? How does the minimum and maximum relate to each other? I see that for this effect you have the same number for both. If I wanted my zig zags to be a little deeper or further apart how would I know where to start making changes and why? I’ve played some with the wave and zigzag filter but other than random trail and error I don’t know how to control them.
Is this where I should asking this question?
New to PSE8….I’m really getting into this program, but am still a newbie. My question is…I am having problems finding the “patterns” in my program. I want to use some as backgrounds. I know you can download new ones, so I am assuming that they should be somewhere on the program. But, for the life of me I cannot find them. I have been able to find shapes and the gradients. Please e-mail any response as I have looked in so many places for this information that I’m afraid I won’t be able to re-find this site to watch for a response. Thanks for any information that you might have.
Hi Lucy,
I’m glad you asked!
Here is how you find the papers and elements that are hidden within the menus of Photoshop Elements 8.0…
In the Menu Bar, choose Window > Content.
A Content panel will add itself to the panels already open on the right side of your program window.
There are way too many options for me to go into here, but take a look around…it’s pretty cool!
xoxo, Jen White