Making small knot Ribbons appear attached?

[pokohoho]

How do you make ribbons and other string elements appear properly "on" tags and other embellishments? I love the look of Katie Pertiet's Gingham bow set (and the Tie It Embellies too!). But when I put them on top of a tag, they just seem to float there. There is no obvious area to erase for a 'behind' effect. But maybe I just don't know what to erase on those triangular knots? Adding a drop shadow, which, IMHO, is paramount to a realistic 3d look, just worsens the appearance of float. Is there a way to partially shadow? My "layer knocks out drop shadow" box is checked, and I set my knock out effect to "deep" but without making any apparent difference. I set those settings on the ribbon, maybe I need to set them on the tag? Any help, tips, techniques or otherwise would be greatly appreciated. thanks!

[HeidiKnight]

For realistic drop shadows, I usually put a duplicate of the bow below the tag/element. Then I can make the shadows different - a smaller shadow on top of the tag and a bigger, darker shadow on the bow behind the tag. This makes the shadow more realistic I think. I also adjust the shadow size, spread, opacity, and color until I like it.

[Cassie Jones (1gr8muggle)]

You can also add a drop shadow to the ribbon, then go to Layer > Layer Style > Create Layer. This will make a separate layer of your drop shadow that you will then be able to manipulate independently of the element. Then maybe you could adjust it's opacity, erase parts, transform/warp it a bit to help achieve a realistic look.

(this is for PS CS users. It can also be done in PSE, but I'm not *positive* that the menu path is the same.)

[HeidiKnight]

Oh, I like that! I finally figured that out - thanks Cassie!

[FlowerGirl]

Originally Posted by 1gr8muggle

Layer > Layer Style > Create Layer.

Awesome tip here! I've been doing this the hard way until now

Thanks!