Digital Paper Piecing - A Written Tutorial

If you missed my breathy video tutorial of digi paper-piecing, you can see it here. In order to be as clear as possible (esp. since I can talk too fast), here's a write-up about it too...

1.  First open your digi stamp in a program like Photoshop/Photoshop Elements (we are up to release CS4 now...that is what I use. However, these instructions should work in most versions of PS). (P.S. Don't wanna pay for Photoshop? Try GIMP. The learning curve may be a little steep for the uninitiated but there are a number of tutorials out there.)

2.  Ensure your Layers palette is displayed. If necessary, from the Windows menu, click Layers (or simply press F7).

3.  From the Layers palette, right-click the layer (usually displays as Layer 0). From the drop-down menu that displays, click Duplicate Layer.

4.  When the following dialog displays, click OK.

5.  Open your digital paper.

6.  From the Window drop-down menu, click Arrange > Tile to display all open windows.

7.  Using the arrow key in the window with the digital paper, press Ctrl-A to "Select All" (that is, your whole piece of paper).

8.  Drag the paper over to your digi-stamp window. (Note: Once you drag it across, the paper will rest atop the digi-stamp image.)

9.  In your Layers palette, drag the paper layer (in this case, Layer 1), below your duplicated layer (in this case, Layer 0 copy).

10.  Right-click the paper layer (in this case, Layer 1). In the drop-down menu that displays, click Create Clipping Mask.

11. Your Layers palette should now look like that in the following window (that is, with a dropped arrow next to Layer 1 indicating that it is a clipped element of the layer above it [in this case, Layer 0 copy]).

12.  Using your arrow key, select your duplicated layer in the Layers palette.
13.  Select the Magic Wand button from the toolbox.
14.  In your window (ensure you are on that duplicate layer!), use the magic want to delete the elements of the image where you want the digital paper to display. (Note: In the image below, the magic wand displays as a dotted line around the areas you delete.)

15.  Once the parts of the image are deleted, there are a couple of ways you can manipulate the image (and only if you so choose).

a.  Select the paper layer.

b.  From the Image drop-down menu, click Adjustments > Levels.

c.  Drag the levels scroll bar to change the color of the paper.

d.  If you wish to scale the size of the paper, from the Edit drop-down menu, click Transform > Scale.

e.  In the graphics toolbar (found under the menus), enter your scale percentages (in this example, I entered 50%).

f.  When the following dialog box displays, click Apply.

16.  Assuming you are done with any changes, in the Layers palette, click your duplicate layer to ensure that it is active.

17.  Right-click the layer and select Duplicate Layer. Follow the instructions above to continue digital piecing any other paper selections.

18.  Once complete, use your swatches to color the rest of your image OR print it off and complete with your desired colored medium.

All done! Any questions, please let me know!