How to Digitally Pinch Ribbons for Your Digital Scrapbook Layouts

Find out how how easy it is!

When adding charms to digital scrapbooking layouts, it is handy to hang them off of something so that they don't look like they are sitting on the digital scrapbooking layout, ready to fall off at any given moment. When you are paper scrapbooking, a common solution for putting charms on layouts is to hang them from ribbons.

The problem for a digital scrapbooker is that you can't simply plop the charm on top of the ribbon as that wouldn't look realistic. After all, if you slide a ribbon through the loop of a charm, the ribbon would naturally pinch together. So a digital scrapbooker has to learn how to get around this in their software.

Here's how to accomplish it in the major software packages:

Photoshop

1. Open a new transparent document and put your ribbon on it. Rotate your ribbon so that it is vertical before going on to the next step.

2. Go to Filters> Liquify.

3. Once inside the dialogue, you will see that you are basically going to be brushing. Choose a brush size that you find workable and start sliding the ribbon together in the middle. If there is a pattern on your ribbon, be careful not to distort it. Hit "OK" once you are through.

Photoshop Elements

1. Open a new digital scrapbooking transparent document and slide your ribbon on top of it.

2. Rotate the digital scrapbooking ribbon so that it is vertical on your canvas.

3. Go to Filter> Distort> Liquify.

4. Pick a brush size and then, using the Warp Option (the option at the top of the left-hand list), start brushing the ribbon together until it looks pinched. If there is a pattern on your ribbon, be careful not to distort it. Hit "OK" once you are through.

Paint Shop Pro

1. Create a new transparent document and move your ribbon into it using Copy (Ctrl+C) and Paste As A New Layer (Ctrl+L). Rotate the layer so that it is vertical.

2. Using the Warp Brush, select a tip size and brush the ribbon together. If there is a pattern on your ribbon, be careful not to distort it.

Digital Image Pro

1. Create a new digital scrapbook file document.

2. Insert your digital scrapbooking ribbon into the file by using the Insert> Picture From My Computer option.

3. Rotate the ribbon into a vertical position.

4. Use the Distortion Brush (Effects> Distortion Brush) to brush the sides together. If there is a pattern on your ribbon, be careful not to distort it.

Layout by Ro

Tutorial written by Rozanne Paxman