Custom Framing (Photoshop)

I do a lot of traditional scrapbooking.

Often times I find myself – photo in hand – staring across the table at Lori – my scrappin’ buddy – and saying, “Does this picture need a frame?”
We immediately go into the ‘mode’….
We squint our eyes, tilt our heads to the side, stick our lips out, and say… “I don’t know, what do you think?”
I think that’s just our way of prolonging the scrapbooking process in order to “think it over with another bite-size Mounds bar”. HA!

But seriously, some photos need a frame to separate them from the rest of the scrapbook page – and some don’t. I cannot really help you make that decision (I’m fresh out of bite-size Mounds bars), but I can help you make a cute little frame – just in case you don’t have one on hand.

Come and follow along as I walk through the simple steps of whipping up a frame for my scrapbook page.

Step 1: Prepare

• Create a new document (File > New) that is 7×7 inches, 300 pixels/inch, RGB color, and has a transparent background. It is here that we will design a new element to drag onto a scrapbook page.
• Press the letter D to set the Color Chips to the default of black and white. This way we will be at the same starting point.

Step 2: Create

In this step we will create the basic shape of our frame.

• Get the Ellipse tool. It is nested with the Rectangle tool. In the Options Bar, choose the following settings:
  • Choose the Shape Layers icon.
  • In Geometry options, enter W: 6 in. H: 6 in. and check the box next to “From Center.” Press Enter to commit. TIP: Checking “From Center” will make the circle’s center point land where you click.
  • Choose the Create New Shape Layer icon.
• Click in the center of your document to place your new shape.

Step 3: Subtract

In this step we will cut out an area where our picture will show through.

• Again, make sure you have the Ellipse tool. In the Options Bar, choose the following settings:
  • Make sure the Shape Layers icon is selected.
  • In Geometry options, enter W: 4 in. H: 4 in. and make sure the box next to “From Center” is checked.
  • Choose the Subtract From Shape Area icon.
• Click about an inch off the center of your circle shape. This should cut a hole inside your circle. I purposely had you click off center to give it a whimsical kind of look. If you don’t like where it ended up, just press Ctrl Z (Mac: Cmd Z) and click again.
• From the Menu Bar, choose Layer > Rasterize > Layer to turn your shape into editable pixels. Note: Turning shapes into editable pixels allows you to apply textures, filters, and blending modes to them.

Step 4: Gussy-up

In this step, we will clothe our frame with a little bit of awesomeness.

• In the Layers panel click on the fx (aka: Add a layer style) icon and choose Blending Options.
  Note: In the Layer Style box, simply checking the boxes does not open that menu. You will need to click on the actual name of the style – “Drop Shadow”.
  • Click on Drop Shadow. Set the Opacity to 50, the Distance to 5, and the Size to 5.
  • Click on Bevel and Emboss. Set the Size to 1 px.
  • Click on Texture. Open the Pattern Picker and choose Woven.
  • Click on Color Overlay. Change the Blend Mode to Lighten. Then click on the color box and choose a color you like. I chose color #741d1d.
  • Click OK.
• Get the Custom Shape tool. It is nested with the Rectangle tool. In the Options Bar, choose the following settings:
  • Make sure the Shape Layers icon is selected.
  • In Geometry Options, choose Defined Proportions – so the shape keeps it’s shape.
  • In the Custom Shape Picker drop down box, choose Spiral. If you don’t see the Spiral shape, click on the arrows in the upper, right corner of the Custom Shape Picker to get a flyout menu. Choose All to load all the shapes.
  • 
  • Choose the Create New Shape Layer icon in the Options Bar.
  • Click on the Color sample and choose a contrasting color. I chose #e18b8b.

• With your mouse, drag some spirals over the frame.
• Merge the spiral layers and clip them to the frame. To do this:
  • Holding down the Ctrl key (Mac: Cmd key), click on the name of each spiral layer in the Layers panel to select it. Let go of the Ctrl/Cmd key.
  • In the Layers panel, right click (Mac: Ctrl Click) on one of the selected spiral layers and choose Merge Layers. This will rasterize them and merge them all onto one layer.
  • In the Layers panel, clip the spirals to the frame by holding down the Alt key (Mac: Opt key) and clicking between the two layers. Doing this makes the spirals only show up on the frame.

Step 5: Save

In this step we will prepare our new frame for it’s voyage to our scrapbook page.

• Save your frame as a .psd file (File > Save as).
• With the top layer active, press Ctrl Alt Shift E (Mac: Cmd Opt Shift E) to create a merged copy of your frame.
• With the merged layer active, you are now ready to drag your new frame onto your scrapbook page.

Credits: Scrapbook page by Jen White. Kit: Love You Always by ARockwell. Fonts: Eccentric Std, Curlz MT, Courier New.

Download a PDF version of this “Custom Framing” 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.

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