Here’s a another before and after page by Justine who is a all star Joymaker on my creative team! You may know her as @bellbrid at the Lilypad.

I love to tweak things to look as realistic as possible. Take, for example, this arrow layer from a Fiddle Dee Dee template.  I wanted to make look ‘stamped’ imperfectly over the edge of the date ticket from Spring-A-Ling Kit. Instead of running straight across the ticket and the paper like a piece of tape- I wanted to give it a hint of a break- to show the ticket was lifted just a bit off the paper.

BEFORE

 

AFTER

Here’s How:

• I added a layer mask above the ticket
• then clicked ticket layer to get marching ants
• invert selection
• select brush in black
• click mask to activate paint along edge of ticket to create a gap in the stamp
• deselect
• Done! Look how realistic that looks! 

 

 

*You could also try using a VERY thin soft edge erasure brush and sweep across in a straight line across the area where the ticket should lift from the paper.

It’s a very small detail- but one of those things that really bumps your craftmanship up a level. Varying angles and depths of shadows and creating creases and lifts are a terrific way to add a realistic touch to your pages!