{"id":7056,"date":"2024-07-30T00:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-30T04:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yourscrappingcafe.com\/home\/d19521157\/public_blog\/?p=7056"},"modified":"2025-07-19T10:14:05","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T14:14:05","slug":"unique-embellishment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yourscrappingcafe.com\/home\/d19521157\/public_blog\/unique-embellishment\/","title":{"rendered":"Unique Embellishment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In last week\u2019s post about creating stitches on a selection<\/a><\/strong>, I told you to check back this week to learn about a unique embellishment. I thought it might be fun to show you a cute “shaker” embellishment that can be made using that stitching technique.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s highly unusual in digital scrapbooking but nonetheless still cute & fun\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shaker Pockets<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I used to absolutely love including these in my traditional paper scrapbook layouts. But they were particularly fun when making cards \u201cback in the day\u201d. A lot of people aren\u2019t too familiar with them now. Here’s a sample just in case you aren’t sure what they are:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Shaker<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

They certainly don\u2019t have the interactive feel or mass appeal in a digital layout but they\u2019re still \u201ccute\u201d & also still available. The image above is actually a set of shaker pockets<\/a><\/strong> by Maris Lerin at DigitalScrapbooking.com.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every so often I\u2019ll include a digital one. But I will admit that I don\u2019t use them anywhere near as much as I used to back in the good old days \ud83d\ude09 I thought it might be a treat to show you how to create your own shaker pocket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So just for fun, today let\u2019s play a bit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A quick reminder before I go further…I use the current version of Photoshop Elements (PSE \u2013 2024). Some of my screen shots may look different than what you see on your screen depending on the version you are using.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A usual, I\u2019m working on a 12\u00d712 file and I\u2019ve pulled in a random pastel background just so I\u2019m not working on a white page. There\u2019s no reason this can\u2019t be accomplished on a smaller or larger scale, so do what suits you best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have this random heart shape from my stash that I\u2019ll be using as my stitching \u201ctemplate\u201d:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Heart<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I\u2019m just going to create a simple \u201cstraight\u201d stitch around this heart using the hyphen character. I\u2019m going to use the Text on Selection option in the font tool. It\u2019s the one with the T inside a \u201cdashed line\u201d box:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Text<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Next, I\u2019ll select a font. It\u2019s good to pick a font that\u2019s not too thin or \u201cfancy\u201d. You can experiment with different fonts to get different results. I\u2019m just going to use Arial Regular at 30pt and I\u2019ll keep the Color set to black for now. Again, you can experiment with different sizes to fit your needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since I want the stitching to go around the heart (for now), all I have to do is make a selection of that heart shape. If you read my post about making selections<\/a><\/strong>, you know that all I have to do is Ctrl+Click on the heart layer thumbnail. And the \u201cmarching ants\u201d will appear:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Heart<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

With the selection made I now have to click somewhere inside the selection to initiate the next step. PSE will now ask that I confirm the selection to be used for text:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Confirm<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I just click the check mark to confirm. PSE then shows a thin line \u201cpath\u201d around where the marching ants used to be. All I have to do is position my cursor at a good starting point anywhere around the path until I see the typing icon (the “I-Beam\u201d I’ve talked about before). And I click where I want to begin stitching:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Heart<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Before I begin stitching, I can now make any necessary changes to my font settings, specifically the Tracking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t know if you noticed that before this point, I didn\u2019t have the option to change things like Tracking, Leading, Justification or font \u201cattributes\u201d like bold or italic. I\u2019m not sure why PSE does things this way. But now\u2019s the time to make those initial selections. They can all be changed later if necessary:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Other<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I\u2019m going to use a tracking value of 160 because I don\u2019t want the stitches to be too close together. I\u2019m also going to set the Justification to Center align. I certainly don\u2019t need to worry about the leading or the other attributes at this point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can now start typing. As soon as I do that, PSE automatically creates a new layer above the heart shape. Which is exactly what I want since those stitches really need to be on their own layer. And I simply type hyphens until I have \u201cstitched\u201d around the entire shape:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Stitches<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Now I can re-size that \u201cstitch\u201d layer so it fits inside the heart shape:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Stitches<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

To finish the pocket look I first want to change that heart shape so it\u2019s \u201ctransparent\u201d. I can do this in several ways but the easiest is to just change the color to a soft grey (#c3c0bb) and set the opacity to 25%:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Heart<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I need to add some \u201cdimension\u201d to this heart. Right now, it looks awfully flat\u2026not much like a pocket at all. I\u2019m sure you\u2019re figuring I\u2019m just going to add a bevel. You would be correct there. But before I can do that, I need to pay attention to one thing in particular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If this was a real pocket, it would be \u201craised up\u201d around the stitches. If I apply a bevel to the heart as it is, it would only bevel around the outer edge. I need to create a beveled edge \u201caround\u201d those stitches. So, now you\u2019re likely wondering how I\u2019m going to do that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m going to \u201ccut\u201d those stiches out of the heart! To do this all I have to do is ensure the heart layer is active and then Ctrl-Click on the stitching (text) layer\u2019s thumbnail so I see the \u201cmarching ants\u201d around the stitching:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Stitches<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Ensuring that the heart layer is still active, I just press the Delete key, hide the stitches layer and cancel the selection. I now can see that the stitches have been cut out of the heart:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Stitches<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Now I\u2019ll add the bevel. I\u2019m just going to use the standard Bevel style that comes with PSE. I select the Scalloped Edge bevel. It looked okay but I do want to change the scaling. So, I go to the top tool bar and select Layer->Layer Style->Scale Effects:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Layer<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

In the image directly above you can see how the Scalloped Edge bevel looks\u2026I want it to be smoother than that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When PSE opens the Scale Effects dialog box, I set the Scale value to 80% and here\u2019s the beveled heart:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Heart<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

This is so much nicer. But next I want to add a little \u201csheen\u201d to that heart so it looks more like plastic. Thankfully I have another set of styles that will do the trick; \u201cStylin’ #187 – Plastic Pocket Styles<\/a><\/strong>\u201d by Mommyish:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Stylin'<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

If you read my prior post about using layer styles<\/a><\/strong> you already know we can\u2019t always apply more than one style to a layer. And that\u2019s the case this time. This is what I called complex style layering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, before I can apply another style to this \u201cpocket\u201d I need to duplicate the heart shape with the first style. I then simplify that duplicate layer. I can now add the plastic style to that duplicate layer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next, I load the plastic styles & select the style named \u201cPlastic Pocket 1b\u201d. I did scale it down a bit to 90% so the \u201ccrinkles\u201d didn\u2019t look quite so big:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Heart<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Not only does this plastic layer now add the sheen I wanted, it also forms the top layer of the shaker pocket. So, I now have a completed pocket. Well, almost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before I \u201cfill\u201d this pocket I want to give you another approach to the plastic layer. If you have an appropriate plastic style in your stash already you can skim past the next several paragraphs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you don\u2019t have a plastic style, you can try using a plastic texture. I found some nice, free plastic textures at Indieground<\/a><\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Freebie<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Since I am not using a style, I don\u2019t need to duplicate the heart layer. Instead, I can just pull one of those free textures above the heart layer. I\u2019ll be using the one named \u201cindieground-plastic-textures-04\u201d:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Plastic<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Then I just rotate & re-size it until I like how it fits over the heart:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Plastic<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

With the plastic layer still active I Ctrl+Click on the heart layer\u2019s thumbnail so I can create a selection of the heart shape:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Heart<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

As you can see, the selection looks like two hearts. The reason for this is because the selection is also around the stitching \u201ccut outs\u201d that I made earlier. And this is perfect, I certainly don\u2019t want plastic over those holes!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if I\u2019m not happy with how the plastic is positioned, now would be the time for me to make any adjustments. I\u2019m pretty happy with the positioning so I\u2019ll leave it as is. With that plastic layer still active I create a new layer using that heart shaped selection (Ctrl+J) and then hide (or delete) the original plastic layer:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Heart<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

As you can see, it\u2019s definitely not transparent. To fix that all I have to do is change the blend mode on the plastic layer to Lighten. Here is what happens:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Plastic<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

It\u2019s not quite the same look as when I used the plastic style but it certainly \u201caccomplishes the mission\u201d. And using a free texture is always better than having to go out and purchase a style that you may not use very often.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of which method used to create that plastic layer, it\u2019s time to fill the \u201cpocket\u201d with some scatters. I\u2019m going to go back to the version of the plastic heart created with the style. Next, I\u2019m just going to pull in a couple of random scatters from my stash and layer them under the plastic heart layer:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Bead<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

All that\u2019s left is to add the stitching back in. Traditionally, \u201creal\u201d pocket shakers don\u2019t have actual stitching as they\u2019ve been fused rather than actually sewn. Most digital pocket shakers tend to have stitching. But it certainly isn\u2019t necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I definitely don\u2019t like the black that I started with at the very beginning. But it\u2019s certainly easy to change. Now, I\u2019m kind of torn between using white or some other color that would show up better. Let\u2019 see what white looks like.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"White<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

It\u2019s hard to notice the \u201cflat\u201d white stitches right now. But I still need to add the texture to these stitches as I did with others over the past few weeks. The set of string styles by Karen Schulz (now retired) that I used in last week\u2019s post doesn\u2019t have a white option but there is a nice pink that I thought might work but it sort of clashes with the \u201cglitter scatter\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note:<\/strong> I could have opted to use Karen\u2019s stitching style since it has a white option. But I preferred to go a different direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since that string style didn\u2019t work out, I\u2019m going to just use the \u201cmanual\u201d method I outlined in my Sewing Essentials<\/a><\/strong> post so I can keep the color at white:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Stitches<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

With the shaker pocket fully assembled, it\u2019s now time to save it as a PNG so I can add it to a layout later. All I have to do is remove the background and crop the file to an appropriate size before saving it as a standalone element. Here\u2019s how it looks:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Finished<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I hope you enjoyed this and will try making a shaker pocket of your own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fill Elements For Shakers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

You can \u201cfill\u201d your shakers with all manner of bits & things which I normally refer to as scatters. Things like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n