Recoloring Your QR Codes Tutorial

Happy Thursday!  CTM Robin here to bring you a tutorial on recoloring those fun QR codes to better match your layout.  If you aren’t sure what I mean by QR code, check out a this post on Liz’s blog which explains what it is and how to make one.  Or, if you'd like another tutorial too, here's one from The Lilypad which explains it a tad differently.  

Now that you know what I mean, let me tell you that I love putting these codes on my layouts so I can capture live action as well as still photos.  It’s the best of both worlds.  Plus, my kids LOVE using my QR app on my phone to see themselves in action.  Even though they are so easy to make, I don’t always love the standard black QR code on a white background.  Let me show you what I mean.  Look at my first layout:

See how they just really stand out with those colors?  I’d like to blend them in a bit more and use Liz’s Must Watch templates to draw attention to them, rather than the glaring white background.  So how do I do this you ask?  It’s really easy I promise!


Step 1:  Open up a new document.  I like 500 x 500 pixels with a white background for mine.

Step 2:  Place your newly created QR code on this document.  Don’t forget to check out the tutorial if you need help making it!

Step 3:  Rasterize your QR code by selecting that layer, right clicking on it, and then click on Rasterize Layer.


Step 4:  Now, while selecting the QR code, go to Select on your top ribbon and choose Select >Color Range>Sampled Colors.  Use your eye dropper to select the white background.  Make sure your Fuzziness is set to 100 like mine.

Step 5:  You should then see those “marching ants” around all of the white areas.  Simply delete those and you will be left with a black QR code on a transparent background.

Step 6:  Place this QR code on your layout and you’ll notice the white background is gone!

 Like I said, it’s so easy!  But wait!  Like those infamous commercials often say, "You can do more!"   If you want to cut away the black part, and do a cool shadowing on the white part, you can!  For this, you do the exact same Steps 1 – 4.  BUT, rather than deleting this selected area like we did above, you can just press Control J on a PC or Command J on a Mac and copy that background to a new layer.  See my transparent layer?  

 Copy that layer to your layout, and you can recolor it and even give it a slight shadow like mine.  Now it looks like it’s cut out.  Totally different than my first one!

It's easy peasy, 'eh?! Let me give you a hint, you can try doing the same thing with the magic wand.  Unfortunately, since some of the white spaces are so small (depending on your QR code), there is often areas which either get selected when you don’t want them to, or not selected when you do.  The Color Range will take care of this!  The possibilities are endless.  You can recolor just your background, or the black QR part (like I did below on my third QR code), or both.  You can apply styles to either section too.  Just play until you get something you like! Here is my final version using Liz's Artsy Journal Templates 25 after I made the adjustments.

And don't forget too that Liz's Must Watch Templates 1, Templates 2, and Templates 3 are great for adding that extra bit of pizazz to your QR codes!  I hope you have as much fun as I do with adding video to your layouts :)