Easy Scalloped Strips (Photoshop)

I like to watch for scrapbooking trends. Some of them I just don’t understand. Like the owl trend. Seriously. Have you seen that one? Not that I have anything against owls, I just don’t understand why I would want to put them on my page unless owls had something to do with my photos.

Some trends, though, I really like. For example, for quite a while I’ve been noticing lots of scalloped edges, particularly skinny strips of paper with one edge scalloped, like in my layout here. Now there’s a trend I can put on just about any page! And today I’m going to teach you how to make your own scalloped strips, and give you a free brush set to help!

If you’re unfamiliar with brushes, or just don’t understand them, don’t worry. This will be easy. And for those of you who don’t think you’ll ever need to use a brush (and yes, I know you’re out there), I’m hoping to change your mind after today!

Step 1) Download the brush set

Click here to download the brush set (free for a limited time).

If you have Photoshop 7.0 or earlier, click here to download an alternate file.

Be sure to save it to a place you can find it. I have a folder with my digital kits called “Brushes” and I put all of my brush files in there. Sometimes brush files are zipped, although these brushes are not.

Step 2) Load your brush set

• In Photoshop, choose the Brush tool from the Tool Bar to the left.
• Open the Brush Picker in the Options Bar above.
• Click on the side-facing arrow in the upper, right-hand corner of the Brush Picker.
• Choose Replace brushes and navigate to the new brush set called “Scalloped Strips JBinder”. Choose that brush set and click Load.

Step 3) Create and prepare a new document

• Choose File > New, choose your desired size and settings, click OK. I created a 12″ x 12″ document.
• Create a new layer by clicking on the Create a new layer icon at the bottom of the layers palette.

Step 4) Create the scalloped strip template

• Your Brush tool should still be chosen, but since we didn’t actually choose a brush from the set we just loaded, we’ll have to do that now. Open the Brush Picker again, and choose brush 08 Single Scallop Med. (If you don’t have the same view as shown below but you want to, open that same fly-out menu we opened to load our new brush set, and choose Stroke Thumbnail.)
• If you want a solid color for the scalloped strip, choose it now by clicking on the Foreground Color Chip at the bottom of the Tool Bar on the left side of your desktop. This will bring up the Color Picker. Click on the vertical color bar to choose your main color, and click inside the big, square color box to choose the shade you want. Click okay. Your brush will now paint with that color.
• For those of you who want to add textured or patterned paper to the scalloped strip, it doesn’t matter what color the strip is when you first make it. The paper will cover it up. For this tutorial we’ll cover the scalloped strip with paper.
• Either way, do check the Options Bar above and make sure the Mode is Normal, and Opacity is 100%.

• Position your mouse so part of the brush outline extends off of the side of your page.
• Click and hold, but don’t move. Add and hold the Shift key, then drag your mouse sideways across the page. When your strip extends to the opposite side of the page, you can release both your mouse and the Shift key. You have just created your scalloped strip template.

Step 5) Group with paper and merge

• Bring a piece of paper into this document by either dragging and dropping, or copying and pasting. (I prefer to drag and drop, but before dropping I press and hold the Shift key so my paper will be centered on my document.)
• Make sure this paper is just above the scalloped strip template layer in the layers palette.
• Group the paper with the template by holding down the Alt key (Mac: Opt key) and placing your mouse between the two layers in the Layers palette. When you see the double circle with arrow icon, click.

• If your paper isn’t covering all of your scalloped strip, you can click on it and move it around, or even re-size it. (To re-size, press Ctrl T [Mac: Cmd T], then re-size using a corner handle while pressing the Shift key. Double click on it to accept the transformation.)
• When you’re finished making any adjustments, merge the two layers together. Do this by clicking on one of the layers in the Layers palette, then hold Ctrl (Mac: Cmd) and click on the other layer. This should highlight both layers in the Layers palette. Press Ctrl E (Mac: Cmd E) to merge them together.

Now you can use your scalloped strip on your scrapbook page. For my page, I used a different brush (but it is one included in your free set). Then I used the Rectangular marquee tool to select and delete part of my scalloped strip. I also rotated it by choosing Edit > Transform > Rotate 180°. And finally, I applied a drop shadow.

Try out all of the Scalloped strip brushes. There are 4 different styles, each in 3 different sizes. Just be sure to put each strip on its own layer so it can be manipulated individually.

To see another example of something I created with the brush set, click here. Have a great week!

Credits: Tutorial by Jenny Binder, www.HeirloomScrapbooks.com. Kit used to create layout: Rustic Fields by Doreen Stolz. Title font: CK Retro Block.

Download a PDF version of this “Easy Scalloped Strips” tutorial.

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