Layout Tips - Lesson 2

I'm back to share with you some tips on using shadows on your digital scrapbook pages. These are tips from me & my creative team members. You can read last weeks lesson here: Layout Tips: Lesson 1. That lesson is all about photos on your pages.

I'm just going to go ahead and start & share with you what everyone shared about shadows.

Me: Shadows can make or break a layout. I've read a few tutorials on shadows & this is one of my faves. Tiffany pointed me to Peppermint Granber's shadow tutorial. It really is great & if you want to take it to another level you can taker her class over at Big Picture Classes.  There's also a great tutorial over at the Digi Files about warping shadows. This is a newer tutorial & I haven't been able to implement it because, sadly, I have not scrapped since September 24th but I'm totally going to try it next time I make a page (which will hopefully, be later tonight after I finish this blog post).

Tiff: One tip I might say for shadows, using the smudge tool, is that I've found that I like my results better when I use a larger distance for the shadow but then when I smudge it, I pull parts of the shadow back toward the element. I find this looks better than trying to pull parts of the shadow away from the element. (She's referring to Peppermint's tutorial above).

For those of you who use PSE and you can't get the shadow on its own layer like posted in the tutorial above, Tiff shared this way of getting your shadow on its own layer.

1. While your Shadow Settings window is OPEN (and you've selected a size for the shadow) take your mouse and move it over into the canvas area. Click and drag your shadow away from the element, so it is a decent distance away. Click ok to close the shadow settings window.

2. Now the element and shadow are on the same layer but are far apart.

3. Drag a selection around the shadow to select it. Go to the menu items (or use a key combination) which will cause that selection to be cut and placed on its own layer. This is the part that I'm not sure the exact commands, but I'm sure you can find it with a little experimentation or googling.

4. Now with the shadow on a separate layer, just move it back under the element (and move the shadow layer to be below the element layer). You can now tweak the shadow with the smudge tool. You might even be able to change the blend mode to linear burn, I'm not sure about that, though.

Jenn: I am a fan of shadows. Love that stuff... I have actions and styles that make life easier. When you find a shadow that you created, SAVE IT! I save sooo many... but then it is easier to work off of that base shadow. Really, I have oodles... for different depths, ellies, and even the opposite edges.

Opposite Edges...

On most of my pages... when there are layered papers, I give the opposite side of the paper (the "unshadowed" side) an actual shadow. I put my main shadow on it's own layer, and then add another shadow.

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My shadows then to go down and to the left... (I took pictures of my old paper layouts to see how shadows worked a little, lol!) -- but if you look to the opposite corner, I have a slight shadow to the paper. Paper doesn't sit totally flat like digi, so adding this makes me think it looks a little more realistic.


I hope these tips from me & my CT have helped you. Make sure you come back next week for Lesson #3. It's going to be about sharpening your pages.