This tutorial was written by me on August 2, 2020. The results are of my own imagination.  Any resemblance to another tutorial is purely coincidental.  

Please DO NOT claim this tutorial as your own.

This was written assuming you have a working knowledge of PSP.

Please keep in mind that I write the tutorial as I am creating it.

Sometimes I may not explain properly where to place things so please see my example if you are ever in doubt :)

Supplies needed

I am using PSP 2018 but this tutorial should work with any version.

Animation shop (optional)

PTU Tube:  I am using a beautiful tube called "Forest Elf 9" created by Verymany.  Please do not use this tube without a proper license.  

You can purchase this tube at Verymany's store here. 

PTU Kit:  I am using a gorgeous matching kit called "Gentle Forest" created by Tiny Turtle Designs.  You can purchase the kit here.

PTU Animation:  I am using Rebel Dezigns animation 731 from package 243.  You can purchase her fun animation at CDO here.

Mask:  352 by Mizteeques Masks. Thank you for your awesome masks.  You can download it from her blog here. I am using the jpg versions for this tutorial.  

Font of choice for your name.

Plug in: None

Drop shadow of choice.

Please read all the Artist's/Designer's TOU.

Vivienne's Paintbox has awesome drop shadow settings that I use a lot.  You can find the settings here and check out her awesome tutorials :)

Anytime you resize an element or tube you should sharpen it.  Go to adjust, sharpness, sharpen.

Let's get started.

Remember to save your tag often in case psp crashes.  I always save my tags as a pspimage.  It keeps all the layers and if you make tags for others you will always have the template.

Open a new 750x800 transparent image.  We will resize later.

Add a new layer and flood fill with white.

Open paper of choice.  I am using paper 3, copy and close the original.  Paste as a new layer.  Layers, new mask layer, from image and find Mizteeque's mask in the drop down.  Click ok and merge group. You can close the mask as we no longer need it.  

Copy your close up tube and paste.  Resize 60% and sharpen.  Move into a spot you like best on the mask.  I moved mine to the top right.  Once happy with placement, select the mask layer.  Select all, float, defloat and invert.  Select the close up tube and hit delete on the keyboard.  Select none and change the blend mode to soft light.

Open element 38, copy and close the original.  Select the top layer and paste.  Drop shadow and move to the top of the mask just left to the close-up tube.

Open element 41, copy and close the original.  Select the top layer and paste.  Resize 60%, sharpen and drop shadow.  Move to the top left of the mask.

Open element 31, copy and close the original.  Select the top layer and paste.  Resize 60%, mirror, sharpen and drop shadow.  Move to the top left of element 41.

Open element 35, copy and close the original.  Select the top layer and paste.  Resize 60%, sharpen and drop shadow.  Move to the top of element 41.

Open element 82, copy and close the original.  Select the top layer and paste.  Resize 80%, sharpen and drop shadow.  Move slightly to the left.

Open element 75, copy and close the original.  Select the top layer and paste.  Drop shadow and move to the far left of the mask about midway down.

Open element 112, copy and close the original.  Select the top layer and paste.  Resize 60%, mirror, sharpen and drop shadow.  Move to the bottom of element 31.

Open element 2, copy and close the original.  Select the top layer and paste.  Resize 40%, sharpen and drop shadow.  Move to the left side of the mask.  See mine for placement.

Open element 28, copy and close the original.  Select the top layer and paste.  Resize 50%, sharpen and drop shadow. 

Open element 102, copy and close the original.  Select the top layer and paste.  Resize 60%, sharpen and drop shadow.  Move to the far left of the mask.

Open element 105, copy and close the original.  Select the top layer and paste.  Resize 30%, mirror, sharpen and drop shadow.  Move to the bottom of the single antler.

Open element 87, copy and close the original.  Select the top layer and paste.  Resize 70%, sharpen and drop shadow, I changed the drop shadow color to C0C0C0.  Move over the close-up tube.

Open element 74, copy and close the original.  Select the top layer and paste.  Resize 60%, sharpen and drop shadow.  Move to the right just below the close-up tube.

Open element 78, copy and close the original.  Select the top layer and paste.  Resize 50%, sharpen and drop shadow.  Move to the bottom of the antlers. See mine for placement.

Open element 55, copy and close the original.  Select the top layer and paste.  Resize 20%, sharpen and drop shadow.  Move to the bottom right of the antlers. See mine for placement.

Open element 81, copy and close the original.  Select the top layer and paste.  Resize 20%, sharpen and drop shadow, remember to change the color back to black.  Move to the bottom left of the antlers.

Open element 108, copy and close the original.  Select the top layer and paste.  Resize 50%, sharpen and drop shadow.  Move to the center of the antlers.

Copy your tube.  Select the top layer and paste.  Resize 35%, sharpen and drop shadow. Move slightly to the left.

Open element 26, copy and close the original.  Select the top layer and paste.  Resize 40%, sharpen and drop shadow.  Move to the bottom right of the tube. See mine for placement.

Open element 25, copy and close the original.  Select the top layer and paste.  Resize 40%, sharpen and drop shadow.  Move to the bottom center of the tube. See mine for placement.

Open element 42, copy and close the original.  Select the top layer and paste.  Resize 30%, sharpen and drop shadow.  Move to the bottom left of the tube. See mine for placement.

Open element 118, copy and close the original.  Select the top layer and paste.  Resize 30%, sharpen and drop shadow.  Move to the bottom right of the tube. 

Open element 121, copy and close the original.  Select the top layer and paste.  Resize 40%, sharpen and drop shadow.  Move to the bottom left of the tube. 

Open element 78, copy and close the original.  Select the top layer and paste.  Resize 40%, sharpen and drop shadow.  Move to the bottom center of the two vases. 

Open element 81, copy and close the original.  Select the top layer and paste.  Resize 20%, sharpen and drop shadow.  Move to the bottom left of the vase.

Open element 104, copy and close the original.  Select the top layer and paste.  Resize 25%, sharpen and drop shadow.  Move to the bottom left of the right vase.

Open element 94, copy and close the original.  Select the top layer and paste.  Resize 60%, sharpen and drop shadow.  Move up slightly. See mine for placement.

Open element 106, copy and close the original.  Select the top layer and paste.  Resize 80%, sharpen and drop shadow.  Move to the down to the M is just over the top of element 121. 

Open element 98, copy and close the original.  Select the top layer and paste.  Resize 30%, sharpen and drop shadow.  Move up bottom left so the head is at the M in the wordart.  See mine for placement.

Add any other elements you like and make any adjustments to the layers.

Crop away any extra space.  Resize 650 on the longest side, all layers checked.

Add your copyright and name.

If you do not want to animate.  Hide the white background layer Save your tag and export as png.

Animating the tag.  Make sure your tag is saved as a psp image file as you do not want to loose it if psp crashes.

Might want to grab a coffee :)

Open Rebel Dezigns psd file in psp.  Shift + D to duplicate it and close the original.  Do not save any changes as a psd file will merge into one layer.  We do not want this to happen.  You will notice that there is 25 layers in this animation and it does not have the group layer.  That is ok as we are going to learn how to do this so it matches the animation layers of the tube.

We need to group all the odd layers.  Starting from layer 25, hold down your control key and select each odd layer so the next one will be 23 then 21 etc.  Once all the odd layers are selected (the layers will be highlighted in blue) we need to group them.  All odd layers selected? 

Next we need to group these layers.  Go to Layers, New layer group.  Scroll all the way to the top and you will see Group 1 with all the odd layers as sub layers.  

Select group 1, copy and close the original.  Select your tag layer and paste.  When you paste grouped layers it will always go to the top.  Standing on group one select the link icon to link all the layer.  Click the arrow beside the new group to hide all the sub layers.

Drag this group down the layer pallet to a spot you like.  I dragged it down to just above the blue silver leaf layer.  Resize by 60%.  Select the pick tool and moved it down slightly.  See mine for placement.  I applied a drop shadow to each of the frame layers using color 808080.

Ok we are now finished our tag and ready to animate.

Open Animation shop and go back to psp.

With only frame 1 of the animations visible, edit, copy special, copy merged.

Back to Animation shop.

Edit, paste as new animation or keyboard shortcut Ctrl+V.

**Back to psp.

Hide Frame 1 by clicking on the eyeball and unhide frame 3 by clicking on the eyeball. Edit, copy special, copy merged.

Back to Animation Shop.

We need to paste after current frame.  Go to edit, paste after current frame.  Keyboard shortcut  Shift+Ctrl+L**

Repeat from **to** until you have 13 frames in animation shop.  It will tell you on the bottom right corner how many frames you have.  

Go to file Save as, gif and click next and next until you hit finished.  I use the default settings.

I hope you have enjoyed my tutorial.  I would love to see your results.