Roses

Artsy Paper #1 from ArtPlay Palette Narcissus by Anna Aspnes is a stunning piece of art without any photos. I can only hope that the roses I bought yesterday specifically for this paper do it justice.

I created this page with an Artsy Paper, photos of three different roses and a tag. Below are the steps.

Place Artsy Paper

• Open a new blank 12×12 inch document in Photoshop.
• Place Artsy Paper #1 from ArtPlay Palette Narcissus.

Extract Roses

• Place photos of three different roses above Artsy Paper #1
• Using the Quick Selection Tool, find the edges of each rose.
• Click the Select and Mask tab at the top of the screen.
• Adjust the Smooth, Feather and Shift Edge levers.
• Select Output to Layer Mask.
• Repeat process for each rose.
• Resize and arrange as desired.

Custom Drop Shadows

• From the Styles Panel select a shadow for each rose. 
• Click the FX symbol on the right of the photo layer and choose Create Layer option to place the drop shadow on a separate layer.
• Press Command+V to access the Warp Tool. Drag the shadow a little to create more variability on your shadow layer.
• Repeat for each photo layer.
• To each photo layer clip a Hue and Saturation Layer. Select the Sepia Preset from the drop down menu. Change the opacity to 30% on Normal blend mode.

Add Tag and Quote

• Place the .psd file of the tag included in ArtPlay Palette Narcissus.
• Drag another copy of Artsy Paper #1 and reduce the size so that it just covers the tag. Clip it to the tag.
• Add a Layer Mask to the paper layer. With a small hard round brush reveal the threads and staples.
• Duplicate the layer. Change the blend mode to Linear Burn and invert the Layer Mask by pressing Command+I to darken the staples.
• Add a quote if desired.

Extractions add dimension to layouts.  I encourage you to practice with the Quick Selection Tool as an alternative to using the Pen Tool for extractions.