Christmas Cracker

PSP 7

Christmas Crackers are a British Tradition
if you don't know what they are, I found a
site that explains them, here is a link
Absolutely Crackers

*NOTE*
Sometimes the links for filters change, it's difficult (and a lot of work) to
keep changing them on individual pages, so I have created a page with
links to filters and programs that I have used in my tutorials.
That way it is easier for me, because when there are changes I will
only have one page to update and hopefully better for you, because I'm
less likely to miss a page out when doing the updates :)

You will find links to filters/programs used in this tutorial Here
the link will open in a new window

Filters and programs used in this tutorial :-
Paint Shop Pro
Dragonfly's Sinedots II Super Blade Pro
OPTIONAL Eye Candy 3

Materials :-
There is a text file included in the zip, if you don't know where to place the items.
My xmas_cracker.cfg and silvery sparkle SBP preset Here

some images have been made smaller to shorten file size

Step 1.
Open a new Image 300 x 100 transparent.
Flood fill with a dark colour and add a new layer
Go to Effects...Plugins...Sinedots...
Open the sg_Xmas_cracker.cfg and choose the
challenge_K preset. The cfg contains a few
other presets that also make good crackers,
but you may need to experiment with the image
size and the overlap on the duplicate layer
if you use these. Have fun with them.

If you are new to sinedots and don't know how to open
the .cfg file click HERE for more information

Some presets use different 'blend' settings and it is
important for this tutorial to make sure that the blend
in the sinedots setting is set to 'screen' like this:-

Step 2.
Go to Image...Canvas Size...
Change the canvas size to 500 x 200
Ticking the centre vertically box and
unticking the centre horizontally box.
Put 0 in the left box and 200 in the right box
(you can also put the left and right figures the
opposite way round for a slightly different cracker).

Make your bottom layer active and flood fill with
your dark colour, then make layer 2 active again.
Go to Layers...Duplicate...then Image...Mirror...

Turn off the visibility of the background layer by
clicking the glasses in the layer palette, go to
Layers...Merge...Merge Visible...
Rename the merged layer 'cracker'.
Turn the visibility of the background back on.

Step 3.
If you want to change the colour of your cracker,
there are lots of ways to do this.

A nice easy method (my favourite) is to lock the
layer transparency by clicking off the red X
covering the padlock of the appropriate layer
(far right in the layer palette)

Then flood fill with colour, pattern or gradient.
If you use this method don't forget to click the
red X back on to the padlock afterwards.

For this example I flood filled with a gradient.

That is the basic cracker shape, but with all
those holes in the lacy sinedots shape the goodies
would fall out so we will make a lining :) If you
prefer to skip the lining go on to step 6.

Step 4.
With the 'cracker' layer active, and using the
Magic Wand, match mode=RGB tolerance=0 feather=0
sample merged unticked, click on the blank area
surrounding the cracker to select it.
Go to Selections...Invert...

Go to Selections...Modify...Contract...
Contract by 2 pixels
Add a new Layer and name it 'lining', then
Go to Layers...Arrange...Move Down...

Step 5.
Make sure that your 'lining' layer is active and
flood fill the selection with the colour or gradient
that you want to use for your lining, then de-select.

For this example I have used a linear gradient
Foreground-Background
Angle=90 Repeats=5
foreground=red #FF0000
background=green #004000

You can also get a nice effect by lowering the
transparency in the layer palette. Here I have
lowered the transparency of the lining to 56

Step 6.
Next we are going to frill the edges.
Some of the screenshots here use
different coloured crackers.

I have given some alternative edges.
For all of the examples in this step I used the
Selection Tool (type=rectangle feather=0) to select
a strip, or strips at right end of the cracker.

Jiggle Edge
With the 'cracker' layer active select a
narrow strip approximately 12 pixels wide,
on the right outside edge of the cracker
as in the screenshot.

Effects..Plugin Filters...EyeCandy 3.1...Jiggle...
and use the Ragged Edges preset.

This seemed to work better on the right side than
the left, so after selecting a narrow strip and
applying the Jiggle to that side, de-select.
Go to Image...Mirror... This will reverse the sides
so now you can select a strip and apply the jiggle
and it will go in the same direction as the first side.

Step 7.
My second alternative edge is
Jiggle Edge with SBP
This is a variation on the Jiggle Edge.
Selected a narrow strip (approximately 12 pixels wide)
at the edge of the second frill, as well as the
outside edge. If you hold down the shift key while
selecting, you can select and apply any effects to
both strips at the same time.
After applying the Jiggle, but before de-selecting go to
Effects..Plugin Filters...Flaming Pear...SuperBladePro
And apply a preset of your choice.
The preset I used is called sg_silvery sparkle and
is available for download at the top of the page,
but you can use another preset instead if you like.

Step 8.
The third alternative is
Wave Edge
Select a strip approximately 20 pixels wide
as in the screenshot.

Go to Effects...Geometric Effects...Wave
and use these settings
Horizontal Displacement Amplitude=5 Wavelength=35
Vertical Displacement Amplitude=5 Wavelength=35

Don't de-select yet.

Make the 'lining' layer active. There are two
options here. You can apply the Wave to the same
selection on this layer, which will make it exactly
the same shape as on the 'cracker' layer, or you
can de-select and make the selection again in a
slightly different width. When the wave is applied
the edge has a different curve. You may have to undo
adjust the position of the selection a few times before
getting the result you want, but I liked the effect,
it seemed to give a more 3D look.
When you have finished De-select.

In the same way as in the Jiggle Edges, before
applying the Wave to the left side, go to
Image...Mirror... To reverse the sides.
You will need to mirror the lining layer as well.

Step 9.
Wave Edge Variation
As a variation on the Wave Edge you could also
select a strip on the edge of the second frill
and apply the Wave to that as well.

Step 10.
You can finish by decorating your crackers
with tubed ribbons, flowers, beads, or whatever
you want. If you want to tube them, delete the
background layer, then go to
Layers...Merge...Merge Visible.

If you resize, don't forget to sharpen the image.
(Effects...Sharpen...Sharpen...)

Here are some examples that I have made
using some of the presets that you will
find in the cfg provided.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial.
Thankyou to my very helpful testers
To see my other tutorials click Here

If you wish to contact me you can find an email address to use included on my Site Map
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