This tutorial was written by me on May 23, 2021. 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 PS.

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 Adobe Photoshop 2021, but this tutorial should work with any version.

You can download the 7-day trial of PS here.

PTU Tube:  I am using Sheokate's gorgeous tube "Elvira".  I am using the extended license tube.  Please do not use this tube without a proper license.

You can purchase this beauty at Elegance Fly here.

PTU Kit:  I am using a gorgeous kit called "Elvira" created by Hania's Design.  This kit matches Sheokate's gorgeous tube.  You can purchase her beautiful kit at Elegancy Fly here.

Animation:  I am using Rebel Dezigns gorgeous animation 2060 from package 685.  You can purchase her animation here.

Mask:  I am using Rachel's gorgeous mask 946 and 948.  I am using the png versions for this tutorial.  Thank you for creating these gorgeous masks.  You can download it from her blog here.

Please see Rene's Animation How-to for PS here. 

Font of choice for your name.

Plug in: None.

Drop shadow of choice.

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

To open an image, I click on the element or paper in the file folder and drag it into PS.

To transfer an element or paper in PS to my tag, I left click and drag it into my working canvas. 

The other way is to left click and drag the element from the folder right onto your tag.

Either way you will get the same results, but the resizing will be different :).  I will be using the methods for this tutorial.

For resizing and rotating I use the CTRL + T command.

To mirror or Flip go to Edit>Transform>Flip Horizontal (mirror) or Flip vertical (Flip).

Remember to save your tag often.

Let us get started.

Open a new 800x800 transparent image.  We will resize later.

Go to layers, New fill layer, solid color.  When the pop-up window appears type in FFFFFF and click ok.

Drag Rachel's mask 946 into the tag and click the check mark.  I moved to the top left of the canvas.

Drag paper 4 into the tag.  Resize 17% and move over the mask.  Right click on the paper layer and create a clipping mask.

Drag Rachel's mask 948 into the tag and click the check mark.  I moved to the bottom right of the canvas.

Drag paper 8 into the tag.  Resize 17% and move over the mask.  Right click on the paper layer and create a clipping mask.

Drag element 96 into the tag.  Resize 23.92% and move into place.

Drag element 110 into the tag.  Resize 16.34% and move to the bottom of the top mask.  Duplicate, move to the lower left of the first element 110.  Duplicate again and move to the lower right.  See mine for placement.

Holding the Ctrl key on the keyboard, select each of the 110 layers.  Right click and merge layers.

Drag element 94 into the tag.  Resize 19.89% and move into place.

Drag wordart 9 into the tag.  Resize 19.62% and move into place.

Drag element 75 into the tag.  Resize 11.68% and move into place.

Drag element 114 into the tag.  Resize 8.76% and move into place.

Drag element 24 into the tag.  Resize 8% and move into place.

Drag element 46 into the tag.  Resize 13.74% and move into place.

Drag element 13 into the tag.  Resize 10.21% and move into place.

Drag element 1 into the tag.  Resize 6.85% and move into place.

Drag element 44 into the tag.  Resize 12.54% and move into place.

Drag element 52 into the tag.  Resize 19.64% and move into place.

Drag element 51 into the tag.  Resize 9.79% and move into place.

Drag element 62 into the tag.  Resize 5.27% and move into place.

Drag element 23 into the tag.  Resize 23.92% and move into place.

Duplicate element 1, drag above element 23 and move into place.

Drag element 31 into the tag.  Resize 16.85% and move into place.

Drag element 43 into the tag.  Resize 15.21% and move into place.

Drag element 22 into the tag.  Resize 14.31% and move into place.

Drag element 39 into the tag.  Resize 8.95% and move into place.

Drag element 57 into the tag.  Resize 13% and move into place.

Drag element 85 into the tag.  Resize 13.94% and move into place.

Drag element 95 into the tag.  Resize 19.97% and move into place.

Drag element 119 into the tag.  Resize 22.02% and move into place.

Drag element 103 into the tag.  Resize 11.44% and move into place.

Unhide the layers you would like to use for your tag by clicking on the eyeball on the left side of the layer.

Now hold down the Ctrl key and clicking on each of the visible layers.  Go to Layers>Group layers or hit Ctrl + G on the keyboard.

Drag the group into the tag.  Right click on the group and Convert to Smart Object.  Resize 14% and move into place.

Drag element 106 into the tag.  Resize 9.36% and move into place.

Drag element 55 into the tag.  Resize 10.03% and move into place.

Drag element 69 into the tag.  Resize 10.89% and move into place.

Drag element 88 into the tag.  Resize 12.02% and move into place.

Drag element 58 into the tag.  Resize 17.21% and move into place.

Drag element 99 into the tag.  Resize 14.82% and move into place.

Drag element 70 into the tag.  Resize 11.82% and move into place.

Drag element 92 into the tag.  Resize 18.54% and move into place.

Drag element 10 into the tag.  Resize 7.37% and move into place.

Drag element 81 into the tag.  Resize 7.90% and move into place.

Drag element 60 into the tag.  Resize 6.92% and move into place.

Drag element 97 into the tag.  Resize 11.97% and move into place.

Drag element 104 into the tag.  Resize 8.01% and move into place.

Drag element 113 into the tag.  Resize 7.91% and move into place.

Drag element 112 into the tag.  Resize 8.24% and move into place.

Drag element 108 into the tag.  Resize 6.59% and move into place.

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

Crop away any extra space. 

Image>Image Size and resize 650 on the longest side. Resample checked and Bicubic Sharper (reduction) is selected.

Oh, almost forgot we need to drop shadow all our elements.  I do the drop shadow at the end :)

Select the element on the bottom of your tag in the layer pallet and double click it.

A layer style window will pop up.  Click on Drop shadow. and use the following settings.

Now right click on the layer you just applied the drop shadow.  Click copy layer style.

Now click on the layer above and hold down the shift key, select the top layer.

Right click and paste layer styles.  Drop shadow complete :)

Add your copyright and name.

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

Might want to grab a coffee :)

Select the tube layer, right click and duplicate.

 Standing on the duplicate layer, right click and clear layer style.  Go to Filter, Blur, Gaussian Blur and type in 3.  Click ok.  Change the blend mode to soft light.

 Open Kiya Designs psd file in PS.  You will notice that there is 25 layers in this animation and it does not have the group layer. 

We need to group all the layers.  Starting from layer 25, hold down your shift key and select layer 1.  This will select all the layers.

 Next we need to group these layers.  Go to Layers, Group layers or Ctrl + G on the Keyboard.  You will see group 1 folder at the top.  Make sure Group 1 is selected.

 Select the layer you would like the animation to be placed.  I selected element 110 layer.

Back to the animation.  Click on Group 1 and drag it into your tag.  CTRL + T and resize 70%.  Move over element 110 so it covers the entire pond.

Hold down the CTRL key and click on the thumbnail of element 110.

Once you see the marching ants, standing on group 1 layer, go to Layers>Layer Mask>Reveal Selection.

Close the original animation and do not save changes.

Click on the little white arrow beside Group 1 to expand it.  Click on the eyeball of each layer to hide it but leave frame layer 1 visible.  Click on the arrow beside group one to hide it as we do not want to accidentally make any changes.

Next make sure your Timeline viewer is open on the bottom of PS.  I you do not see a row that has Timeline on the bottom, go to Windows, Timeline.

In the center of the Timeline viewer, you will see a drop-down box.  On the drop down select Create Frame Animations.

Next is animating.

Click on the little icon (four white lines) at the right end of the animation screen then select make frames from layers.

You are going to see a big mess in the animation window, but we are going to fix this.

Click on the first frame and click on the trash can in the animation window.  Repeat this until you reach the first frame of the animation. 

Now you should be at the first frame of the animation.  Click on frame 26 and hit the trash can.  Repeat for all the remaining frames.  You should be left with 25 frames in the animation window.  This is the number of frames for our animation.

This next step is particularly important.  Any changes you do from here you must be on frame 1 in the Timeline viewer. It will be highlighted in white.

Go to the bottom of your tag in the layer’s pallet.  Make sure you have animation frame 1 selected.

Next, I want to slow down the animation.  With the first frame selected, hold down the shift key and click on frame 25.  This will select all the frames.

Next, click on the little black arrow beside the 0 sec as we want to change the speed.  A pop-up window will appear. 

I selected 0.2 Sec.  Now click on the play button to view the animation.  Click on it again to stop it.

Click frame 1 again so we do not accidentally make any changes.

Now to save our tag as a gif.

Go to File>Export>Save for Web (Legacy).

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