As I was reading over some of the requests for tutorials here on the One Little Bird blog, I found a couple of people requesting tips for using bevels. I don’t make nearly as much use of them as I might, but it turned out to be the perfect effect for a frame I was trying to create on a recent layout. Let me share with you the technique I used.
I was scrapbooking a picture of a laptop I had received in 2007. This was around the time I was becoming addicted to digital scrapbooking and my lovely husband decided that a laptop would make the perfect birthday present. I readily agreed. :) To accent the picture on my layout I wanted to make the frame pop off the page. Since I had already used just about every paper from the Scenes From Real Life kit I was using, I decided to pull a color from the kit and make a solid frame. The bevel would add the spice to the solid frame.
After creating the frame I duplicated the frame layer. I added a shadow to the bottom layer and a bevel to the top layer. In PSE (the program I’m using) you will find Bevels in the Style menu where the shadow styles are. Just pull down the drop menu and choose “Bevels.”
Here are the bevel options that I think work best for frames: inner ridge, scalloped edge, simple inner, and simple sharp inner. These bevels simply round the edges of the frame up in different ways. You can add them the same as you would a shadow by double clicking on the icon or clicking on it and dragging it over the shape on your layout. You will want to play around with different ones to see which effect you like.
Now, in PSE you can double click on the “fx” symbol in the layers palette on to bring up the customizing box. First, pay attention to the “Lighting Angle.” Make sure it is the same angle as you shadows. I found that even though mine said 45, it really wasn’t until I clicked on the box and retyped 45. This is so important so that the shadow on the edge of the bevel goes in the correct direction for your page. Then you can use the slider to change how high of a rounded edge your bevel style will apply.
Now, for the last step I lowered the opacity slider (top of the layers palette) for the beveled layer. This is why I had duplicated the layer earlier. In my opinion the bevel effect can often come on too strong in the PSE styles. For this layer I lowered the opacity to 60%. Here is the finished layout with the frame.
Materials: Scenes From Real Life by One Little Bird Designs; Conversation Pieces #2 template by One Little Bird Designs & Paislee Press. Font is Wendy by Darcy Baldwin.
The post Creating a Beveled Frame | PSE Tutorial by Christy H appeared first on One Little Bird Designs.
