Welcome To Studio Sunday

Hiya Sassy Sistahs! It's Susan here, and I'm going to show you how to make a 3D Sassy using Photoshop Elements 6. Here on the East Coast it's the dead of winter, so let's pretend we're in Sunny California and sip a frosty bev with Sweet Freckled Lemonade Lindsay. Once your done with the tutorial, hop on over to Killam Creative to see the card made with this fabulous image!

STEP 1
Create new document that is 8.5 x 11: go to File, then New

Name: If you plan on saving the file for future use, give it a name

Preset: Custom (you will need to fill in the fields, or US Paper (pre-filled fields)

Width: 8.5 inches, Height: 11 inches, Resolution: 300pixels/inch, Color Mode: RGB Color, Background Contents: Either White or Transparent

Click "OK"

(click on images for a closer view)

STEP 2

Open your SSD image* and plan out how many layers you will need, so you know how many identically-sized images to print. Here are my layers for Sweet Freckled Lemonade Lindsay:

1 - full image

2 - body (no bucket)

3 - lemonade

*to make this easier on everyone, I'll write as if you are using Lemonade Lindsay, too.

Note in the photo below that I am working with the file at 17% of it's size (bottom left corner). This allows me to see the whole document at once, without scrolling up/down or left/right. Double click in that box to change it if you need. It will be very helpful later!

Crop out blank space around Lindsay - this will help when you want to select your final print size. Don't worry! This is only a temporary change to your original image (don't save it!), and you can add blank space around the printed image in a later step.

STEP 3

Using move tool, click-and-hold on Lindsay and drag her to the new document waiting in your bin.

This will automatically put the new document in your main window. Don't worry that Lindsay is huge - we will fix that in the next step! Before you go any further, double click on that original Lemonade Lindsay image sitting in the bin, and close it without accepting any changes.

STEP 4

Now you want to resize Lindsay to the final print size. Since my cards are usually 5.5 x 5.5 I'll make her around 3.5 inches (actual size is 3" wide x 3.5" tall).

To resize Lindsay, make sure her layer is "active". In the Layers Palette on the right side of your screen, you should have 2 layers called "Layer 1" and "Layer 2". Layer 1 is the background, and Layer 2 is Lindsay. Click once on Layer 2 to make it active - in my PSE Layer 2 is now light gray.

To resize her to 3" wide, click and hold your control key and hit "t" (control-t). You'll now see a box around your image, with a green check mark and red circle in the bottom right.

Hover your mouse over one of the small corner squares until you see a single arrow that points to upper right and lower left. Click-and-hold, and pull that corner toward the opposite corner. (Using the corner squares keeps Lemonade Lindsay's original proportions.)  I use the ruler guides to help get my 3.5" size - if you can't see them, click "View" and check Rulers. Once you are happy with your size, click the green arrow. Don't worry that she looks kind of patchy right now, she will print just fine!

STEP 5
Now we can duplicate this perfectly-sized Lindsay! Make sure Layer 2 is active, and use the Move Tool to put her in the top right corner. Leave an inch or so around her as an imaginary margin.

Over in your Layers Palette, right-click on Layer 2 and duplicate. (I don't usually name layers since I don't save these files.) Remember that I wanted 3 layers for my Lindsay? I have to repeat this step one more time.

Now the Layers Palette shows 4 layers, but only one image is visible since they are stacked on top of each other. Using your Move Tool, click on Lindsay and drag each image to a new location. Make sure you have enough blank space around each image (remember you cropped out her blank space earlier?).

You are now ready to click on the print button, and go to the print dialogue box. If your image is off-center or her head is cut off, uncheck "Center Image", then click-and-hold in the white box to move the image around. When it's printed, you can close this file, saving if you wish (although it's easy enough to repeat later).

STEP 6
Color your printed image and cut out the layers. Note that I only colored Lindsay's edges on the base image since it will be barely visible. Add adhesive tape to the base image and 1/16" Pop Dots to the layers.

And finally, I use tweezers to add my layers together. I put a tiny dab of glue on the end of the straw to attach to her lips.

That's it! Thanks so much for reading along, and I really hope you find this useful. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me through my blog. Now it's time to head on over to the Sassy Studio Store and pick out *your* next 3D Sassy!

Free Image
When you try out this tutorial, post it on your blog and link it up in Mr. Linky below, and you will receive a free Dollar Deal image of your choice just for playing along! How cool is that? Be sure to link up by Saturday, January 16th - we would love to see your creations!

Cheers,
Susan