TUTORIAL: How to Use Blendits Layered Templates in PSE 9 by CTM Robin

Hi all!  CTM Robin here bringing you a tutorial on how to use Jill's Blendits Layered Template 1 in PSE 9.

For this tutorial I'm Jill's Taste The Rainbow - Fusion Bundle

Here we go.....

I like to start by adding my photo first so that I can get an idea of what colors I want to emphasize in my background paper blends. I first added my photo to the template and clipped it to the mask.

I didn't like how dark my photo appeared so I duplicated the photo mask 2 more times to get the look that I wanted.  You can also play around with the opacity of the mask, but I wasn't able to achieve the look I was going for by doing that.

Next, I add a background paper as the base for my layout.

I begin building on the background paper by moving up through the layer masks one at a time. I've clipped the purple paper to the first mask. Let's see how it looks if I play with the opacity of the mask.

I've reduced the opacity of the mask to 75% which still allows the purple to be the main color, but it also allows the brushwork on the bottom paper to show through.

I continue clipping papers to the rest of the layers in the template. You could also clip a photo or a color layer to the masks.

I opened up one of the kit papers and used the color picker to pick a foreground color, then I followed the layer > new fill layer > solid color path to create a solid color layer to clip to the next mask.

This is what my layout looks like before I clip the color layer to the mask.

This is what it looks like after I clip the solid layer to the mask

Feel free to play around with the layers - move them, or delete them if they're not working with your vision for your finished layout.

I'm going to delete the layer that's highlighted in my layers palette in the above screenshot because it does not fit with my vision of the finished page.

This is what my page looks like now that I've deleted the layer.

Now I have two brush layers that I can clip a color or a paper to or, even replace with paint from the kit.

I have clipped a paper to the brush layer at the bottom and I deleted the brush layer at the top and replaced it with some paint from the kit.

Now I am going to replace the doodle layer at the top with a few elements and add a title.

And, here is my finished layout.

I went back and added some paint under the brush stroke at the bottom.

Tah dah!  A gorgeous mixed media page in no time at all!

That's the great thing about these templates. You can delete layers, duplicate layers or move them around. The possibilities are limitless!