Tutorial Time--Digital Embossing

I absolutely LOVE using the Textured Impressions Embossing Folders when making cards, and I have been bound and determined to figure out how to get the same basic 'look' when creating digitally.  AND I think I finally hit on the perfect combination of steps, so wanted to share that with you!!  Now, as with ANYTHING digital, it's really subjective, so just because I like this combination of steps, doesn't mean you can't play around to find your own preferences!!  But hopefully, by laying it out there, you can have a starting point to work from!!  And in My Digital Studio (MDS), Stampin' Up! has been coming out with a lot of the Textured Impressions Embossing Folders as Stamp Brush Sets!!

First up, open up a 'design your own' card in MDS.  You can do Landscape or Portrait--either is fine and the steps are the same.  First up, insert a blank page at the end of the document.  This is basically my first step any time I know I'm going to be adding something (from a design standpoint) to my card that may take a few steps.

I'm showing Denise's card from the blog hop the other day that I re-created digitally, just in case you're trying to figure out what I'm doing . . . .  O.K., since the background on her card is Strawberry Slush, the first thing up is to change my background color!!

Then, I scrolled thru my Stamp Brush Sets and found the Decorative Dots image and selected it.

The way the image imports in, you'll need to rotate it 90 degrees, then be sure to Center it Vertically & Horizontally.

Now, you get to add a Drop Shadow to the selected image. . . . .

Two things here. . ..  I reduce the Blur to -3 & change the Pixel Offset to X:0 & Y:0.  Then click O.K.
When you come back to the image, next up is to change the color.

For MOST of my cards, I do my export of the page at this point. . . . but with Denise's Card, she was using the Co'ordinations Cardstock, which was sanded a bit and had some white showing, so I added a few steps for this card to try to recreate that look.
First up, Copy & PASTE IN PLACE the Decorative Dots image.

Now, you'll notice that the shadowing got darker, BUT since I'm going to lower the opacity on this one, I actually need to REMOVE the drop shadow from the top layer.

AND you'll need to change the color to Whisper White:

AND lower the Opacity . . . . I think I've been going to around 5%

Cool, huh?!
Next up is to export your image  as a JPEG . . . . I usually just export the entire thing, but you CAN just select Page 5 (the one you're working on) if you want . . . and be sure to pay attention to WHERE you're saving the folder on your computer!!

O.K., NOW, move to Page 1.  Add a punch and resize it (Edit Object) to 4" x 5.25".  Then center the punch Vertically & Horizontally.

THEN, you'll need to make sure the punch is still selected, and over in the Design Center (under Punches) and choose to 'Photo Fill' your punch.

This is where you'll need to navigate to the folder where you have the JPEG you just Exported going.

Select the correct image (should be #5--nice thing is that you can see the preview of the images on the right side) and click 'OK'
And there you go!!

I removed the Bleed Area so that you could see the full front of the card without the shading.  Now. . .I need to add a drop shadow to this.  Right now, because the punch is the same color as the background, you really can't differentiate between the two layers.  If they were two different colors, you probably wouldn't have to do this.  Sooooo, make sure the punch is selected, then go into the Design Center under Punches and add a Drop Shadow.

You can mess with the Blur if you want, but for me, it's more important in this step to simply change the Pixel Offset to X:0 Y:0 and click 'OK'
Cool, huh?!

Now, it's just a simple matter to finish designing the card!!

 

This card uses the same Decorative Dots Embossing Folder, but for this one, I didn't do two layers of the image--really, white on white, it wouldn't do much good!!  And I also didn't add the Drop Shadow to the image-filled punch since the background was a different color.

This one uses a different embossing folder, and you can zoom in/out to spread things out a bit more if you want!! 

For this Swallowtail card, I used the Baroque image to try to create the embossed image on the back part of the card--this was one of my earlier attempts --before I started reducing the Blur to -3, but I think it still can give a nice look to the back of the card.

This Wedding Cake card is another one where I was still playing around with my technique, but I love how the swirls in the background 'pop' off the back of the card!

I wanted to try to re-create the 'Stripes' embossing folder for this final card.  I created thin strips that I angled and spaced evenly across the front of the card, then did the same 0-Pixel Offset & reduced Blur.  LOVE it!!

O.K. then!!  I think I may have gone a tad overboard with today's tutorial and samples, but I hope you were able to pick something up in here that will help in your digital creations!  And don't forget--if you don't have My Digital Studio yet, you can always try it for FREE (for 30 days) by visiting my online store!!

Happy Stamping!

Pam