Digital Scrapbooking Tips

This week, a customer emailed me to ask how to make the paper clips look like they are clipped to paper.  I thought it would make a great video topic for our weekly tip.

When you purchase a kit or element set with paper clips inside, the clips are whole, complete clips.  So when you drag a clip onto a digital project, it looks as though it is sitting on top of the page. 

To make the clip look like it is actually clipping paper, drag the clip into position.

Get the Zoom tool by pressing the letter Z on the keyboard and draw a box around the clip to zoom in close.

Reduce the opacity of the fastener to 50% by selecting the clip layer and clicking on the word Opacity above the Layers Panel. Type the numerals 50 on your keyboard and press Enter. This allows you to see through the clip to the paper below.

Next, get the Eraser tool and choose a hard, round brush from the Options Bar across the top of the editing window.  Erase away the part of the paper clip that would be behind your paper by clicking and dragging the eraser over that section of the clip. Finish by increasing the opacity of the layer back to 100% again.

You can use this same technique to attach strings to tags.  Just erase away the portion of the string that would be behind the tag and it will look as though you’ve threaded it through the hole.