Digital Mosaic Tutorial and Free Template

In case you haven’t already heard, the new collaborative kit created by Gina Marie Huff (of Weeds and Wildflowers Design) and Gina Miller is now available at Gina Miller Designs, and it is 20% off too (great deal, because this is a massive kit)! I loved working with this kit, and I know I will get lots of use out of it!! So, without further ado, here’s a page I made with the fab designs:

For Page Credits *Click Here* 

Photoshop Tips and Tricks

• I made the page look like it has scalloped edges by starting with a plain white 12×12 page, placing the scallop-edged cardboard just inside the edges, then adding drop shadows (check these posts for drop shadow ideas).
• To make the paper clip and ball chain look more realistic, I added drop shadows, then I used the eraser tool to erase a few sections to make the items look like they are wrapped around other elements on the page.
• I created a new flower element (top left) by extracting part of a flower doodle and placing it over some patterned paper.

Technique: Create a Digital Mosaic (Free Mosaic Template Below)

Here’s a fun way to include many different patterned papers (or even photos) on one page and infuse your layout with lots of color and texture!

In Photoshop, start with a blank 12×12, 300dpi document (I used Photoshop CS for this project; the steps may vary in other versions).   

Step 1 Select Layer> Layer Style> Blending Options. Click on the words “Pattern Overlay”.  In the drop-down menu to the right, select the pattern called Nebula, with the opacity set to 100% and the scale set to 1000%. Click “OK”. Using the paint bucket, click inside the layer to fill the layer with the pattern (make sure the fill mode at the top of the screen is set to pattern, not foreground). Select Layer> Flatten Image.

Step 2  Select Filter> Texture> Stained Glass. For my project, I used these settings: Cell Size = 49, Border Thickness = 20, Light Intensity = 0. Because my foreground color in the tool pallet was set to white, the grout color between the sections is white. You can play around with the settings, but keep in mind that bigger cells mean less work and they usually make the paper look more appealing. And you will want to keep the Light Intensity set to “0″, because it will make the next step much more simple. Once you are happy with your settings, click “OK”.

Step 3 Using the Magic Wand tool, select one of the cells. Then, use Select> Similar to select other cells of the same color range (changing the tolerance value, at the top of your screen, will cause this function to select a larger or smaller range of colors).

Step 4 Right-click inside the selection and select “Layer via Copy” to duplicate the selected cells in a new layer. Keep returning to the background layer to repeat steps 3 and 4 selecting all the different color ranges. You will end up with several layers of randomly scattered cells.

Step 5 After you have finished separating all of the cells onto different layers, you can begin adding your digital papers. Choose a layer of cells that you’d like to cover. Open a paper file and use the keyboard shortcuts ctrl+a and ctrl+c to quickly “select all” and copy the paper. Switching back to your mosaic document, use ctrl+v, ctrl+g and ctrl+e to quickly paste the paper above the selected layer, group the paper with the cells below and merge the two layers together (NOTE: these shortcuts all work in PSCS, but they might be different in other versions). Repeat for each layer of colored cells.

 

Step 6 After all of your cells are covered with paper, you can decide what to do with the grout. You can leave it as is, or add a full sheet of patterned paper directly above the background layer, which will add even more color and texture to the image.

Here’s my finished mosaic, using lots of gorgeous papers from the new kit by Gina and Gina!

I know this technique might sound like a lot of work, but it really is pretty simple to do. Once you’ve made your mosaic, you can flatten it and use it as the background for a page, or even make a new paper out of it, like I did for the layout above. There are so many great uses for mosaics on your scrapbook page and you get lots of different looks out of them by using different papers or photos. Go ahead, try it !

Free Mosaic Template

If you’d like to try the mosaic look without making your own from scratch, you’re in luck . I made a template out of mine, so all you will need to do is open the template and follow steps five and six above, until you have your very own beautiful design! I also included a separate grout layer, in case you just want a solid color in between the cells (the layer is at the very top, but the visibility is turned off – just click on the layer to turn it on).

*Click Here to Download*

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