This tutorial will show you how to
create a postage stamp element featuring your favorite photo in Paint Shop Pro
9.0.
1. Begin by creating a new layout
with square dimensions, 300 dpi and a transparent background. The size will
depend on how large you want your postage stamp. (File > New)
2. Activate the Rectangle Tool
(keyboard shortcut: G).
3. Select white for your background
or fill color and leave the foreground or stroke color transparent.
4. With the Rectangle Tool, draw a
square onto your layout and position it in the center of your layout.
5. Select the Eraser tool (keyboard
shortcut: X) and choose a small round brush at 100-Hardness and 100-Opacity.
The size of the brush will depend on the size of your postage stamp.
6. Activate the Grid by opening the
View menu and clicking on Grid. Make sure the Snap to Grid option is toggled
off by opening the View menu and clicking on Snap to Grid and testing your
layout to see if the function is off.
7. In order to see your work more
easily, fill the background layer with a contrasting color such as black. This
will be deleted later so the color doesn’t matter.
8. Set guidelines at all four sides
of your postage stamp.
9. Using the Eraser tool, begin
“stamping” around the edge of the stamp to give it its perforated look, using
the guidelines and grid to keep the erased areas evenly distributed. Zoom in if
necessary.
10. Continue erasing the edges until
you have a perforated edge square.
11. Open the photo you wish to put
onto your postage stamp and create a duplicate of the photo (Keyboard shortcut:
Shift+D). Close the original.
12. Crop a square area of the photo
using the Crop tool (Keyboard shortcut: R).
13. Resize the cropped image so that
it will fit onto your postage stamp (this will depend on how large your stamp
is).
14. Copy the resized photo and paste
it as a new layer onto your postage stamp.
15. Delete the background layer that
contains the contrasting color.
16. If you wish, you can add text to
the postage stamp.
17. Merge all visible layers (Layers
> Merge > Merge Visible). Your postage stamp can now be saved as a PNG file and
copied into your layout. Be sure to add a drop shadow to create depth.
