Using Brush Images As A Design Tool

Tutorial #4 for CraftSassy
By Cher Lashley
Love Flower Scrapbook Paper Step-By-Step Guide

If you have read the Making a Brush tutorial, I thought you might like to see how the design process would work by employing the brush images onto a working scrapbook paper. Again, this will be a very simplistic design and tutorial using a lot of photos so that even the first time designer will have a good understanding of what is involved. To focus strictly on the design elements and give a short introduction to the color Swatches palette, the colors have been left monochromatic.

Process:
Open a new document:
Click File in tool bar menu
New: from pop-up menu:
Type in title of your new paper
12 inches x 12 inches for dimensions

Transparent background
Pull border around new checker board (transparent) document to surround in gray as a means of increasing your design area (this way if you move your brush partway off of the document, you can still see the entire brush image)

Adding color:
In Swatches palette choose a grouping of colors to fit your design
Cursor will change to an eyedropper: click eyedropper onto the mid-tone of color choice (The foreground color box under the tool palette will change to the chosen color)
Click on Paint Bucket tool in tool palette
Position tool inside checkerboard area and click: color will fill entire area

Adding Imagery:
In Swatches palette, click onto darker tone of chosen color
Click on Layer in tool bar
New or click on new layer icon on bottom of layer palette
Click on Brush tool from tool palette

From drop down menu, move slider until appropriate brush image is visible, then, click: in this case the flower
Move slider to the right at the top of the drop down menu to increase the size of the brush
Position brush image (flower) in the center of the document and click

Click on Edit in tool bar
Free Transform: Move image around and play with size until placement appeals to your design – in this case the flower was enlarged and brought off the lower right hand corner

Enter or double click to set design
In Swatches palette, click onto lighter or lightest tone of chosen color
Click on Layer in tool bar or layer palette
Click on Brush tool from tool palette
From drop down menu, move slider until appropriate brush image is visible, then, click: in this case the text ‘Love’ and

continue the rest of the steps above
Click on Layer in tool bar
Click on Brush tool from tool palette
From drop down menu, move slider until appropriate brush image is visible, then, click: in this case the checkerboard and continue with the rest of the steps above - This brush was only used in pieces as follows:
The first checkerboard stamp was positioned to the left of the text and off of the canvas, then, double clicked (or Enter)to set in design
Another Layer was added and this time the checkerboard was positioned off of the left side of the canvas with the exception of the last three squares, then, clicked to set.

Edit/Free Transform (if you need to re size) or click on the Move tool from the tool palette to move the three checks into place on the right side of the text stamp
Keep repeating the above steps until you have achieved the design you desire

Cher Lashley is a freelance Graphic Artist,Scrapbook enthusiast and designer for Scrapbooking.com based in Tucson, Arizona. If you would like to contact her. please email CraftSassy HERE and we will put you in touch.