Photoshop Elements 10 Tutorial on Making Digi Frames.

How to make digi frames in Photoshop Elements 10:
To acquire an individual PNG image left click image to enlarge.

Right click image and "Save Image As..." to download.

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Today I'm going to show you how I made this....	...And this... (Oh the power, think of the frames you'll have to match your papers)...
...Using This.	Click on any of these pics to see the image larger. Step 1.  I find a 12x12 inch piece of digi paper that I'd like a frame to and I use file-open to pull it into Photoshop. You like this tag so I made a matching paper to it.  Find the paper here free. Find the Alpha and Tags here for free... Yes, yes, I love you too but you really must pay attention if you're going to learn these frames.

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Step 2: I resize the by choosing Image->Resize->Image Size.	Step 3: When the image size screen comes up I make sure I've checked constrain proportions and resample image but I don't check scale sizes. Then I change the 12 inches to four inches and click OK.
Step 4: What?  Now it looks tiny on my screen so I go to the top bar and find view->fit on screen.  Much better.  I can see it better now.	I like my frames to have rounded corners.  I also like to choose how thick they are.  For this example I'm using the rounded corner square but after what I show you today you can choose any basic shape and give it dimension. I like hearts, ovals, and star frames too. Step 5: in the left side bar I choose the cookie cutter tool. Then I go to the top of the screen and use a pull down menu to show me all my cookie cutter options. I choose the rounded edge square here, (Can also be used as a rectangle).
Step 6: I then put the mouse over my paper and stretch it until it looks good. I click the green check mark when I like it.	Step 7: In the right side bar I hold down my ctrl button and click on the paper layer.  I now have a cute little outline around the rounded corner square paper on my screen.  It has been SELECTED.
Step 8: With the layer selected I'm ready to make a frame.  I choose select->modify->contract.	Step 9: I like to contract 100 pixels for my frames. You might like 45 pixels.  Whatever you like, choose it here and have faith in the undo button if you don't like it. After I enter the number of pixels I want the selection contracted I choose edit->cut. You'll find edit in the top bar next to the file button. Voila! Flat Frame.
Step 10: And if you're a flat frame kind of person you're done here. I like dimension so I press  down on my ctrl key and click the little layer  thumbnail to select the layer.	Step 11: I go back up and choose select->modify->contract.  Then I enter 20 pixels. I want the selection tool to shrink 20 pixels inside the boundaries of the image.
Step 12: I then choose: select->inverse. I just turned my selection inside out. I'm selecting the outer 20 pixels of my image now.	Step 13: I want a shadow to add dimension but I need to feather the selection so the shadow looks natural.  If I don't feather it there will be a hard line where the shadow starts. I choose select->feather and I enter 20 pixels because for this size image I've learned that looks good.  Depending what you're doing you can play with the number until it is right for your project.
Step 14: Now I choose enhance-> adjust lighting-> brightness/contrast Step 15: I pull the brightness to the darkest  setting. Not dark enough for you?   Do it again until it is.	Step 16: I save all my frames with the file->save for web command.  I save my large png quick  pages with a file->save as and I choose png as file type.  You might want to look up things on google like interlacing and web colors just to educate yourself.
Step 17: But what if I want a frame that matches a paper but isn't the same print as the paper.  My mother always taught me prints and prints don't  go together.  I sometimes make my own solid frames to match a print.  In the side bar I choose the marquee tool. If you right click this little tool you can change it to oval.  But I'm going to use  the rectangle.	Step 18: I use the marquee tool to select most of the paper area I want to match.  I don't select all of it because I want some paper hanging out beneath the solid color so I can use it to match colors. I choose layer->new fill layer->solid color.

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Step 19: In this screen I'm given a little medicine dropper that I can drag over to my paper edge that I left  hanging out and I can choose a color there. Once I've found the color I want I click okay.  This  car paper is pretty neutral in colors so I settled on a boring tan/mustard area.  That should match whatever I create and be a contrast to the printed paper I'll use behind it.	Step 20: On the far right little thumbnail I right click to get a menu. I simplify the layer, making it possible to use the cookie cutter tool again.
Step 21: On the far right background layer thumbnail I right click for the menu and delete it so my new frame won't have anything behind it.	Then I repeat all the steps. I add some silly stuff from my freebie directories and I'm in business. To acquire this frame click to enlarge image then right click and Save Image As.

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Download individual  letters here.

Download a zip file of all letters here.