This tutorial was written by me on February 18, 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 Amber's beautiful tube "Gift from Lover".  Please do not use this tube without a proper license. You can purchase this tube at VM Artists here.

PTU Kit:  I am using a gorgeous kit called "My Valentine" created by Tiny Turtle Designs.  You can purchase this beautiful kit here.

PTU Animation:  I am using Rebel Dezigns awesome animation 1964 from pack 653.  You can purchase her awesome animations at CDO here.

Mask:  946 by Rachel Designs. Thank you for your awesome masks.  You can download it from her blog here. I am using the png versions for this tutorial.  

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

Font of choice for your name. I am using Bleeding Heart which you can purchase here. 

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 both method 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 often.

Let's 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 into the tag.  Resize 140% and click on the checkmark.

Close the original mask as we no longer need it.

Drag paper 16 into the tag.  Holding down the shift key, Pull up and down on the corners until it fits the canvas and click the checkmark.

Standing on the paper layer, right click and select create a clipping mask.

Drag element 105 into the tag.  Click the checkmark and move to the top center of the mask.

Select the mask paper layer as we are going to work under element 105.

Drag element 82 into the tag.  Resize 50% and move to the top right corner of element 105.

Drag element 87 into the tag.  Resize 65% and move to the top center of element 105.

Drag element 17 into the tag.  Resize 25% and move to the top left of element 82.

Drag element 62 into the tag.  Resize 45% and move to the bottom right of element 82.

Drag element 78 into the tag.  Resize 70% and move to the top left corner of element 105.

Holding down the Shift key select element 82 layer then select element 78 layer.  Hit Ctrl + G on the keyboard to group them.

I renamed each group starting from the bottom, Top Cluster, Right Cluster then Left cluster.

Select right cluster group.  Free rotate 90 degrees and move to the right of element 105.

Select the Left cluster group.  Edit>Transform>Flip Vertically then Flip Horizontal and move to the left side of element 105.

Select the top layer.

Drag element 130 into the tag.  Click the checkmark and move to the top right side of element 105.  

Drag element 40 into the tag.  Resize 18% and move to the bottom left of the left cluster. 

Drag element 119 into the tag.  Resize 50% and move to the bottom right of element 105.  Duplicate and move to the bottom left.

Drag element 16 into the tag.  Resize 17% and move to the bottom right of the flower basket on the right. 

Drag element 36 into the tag.  Resize 28% and move to the top left of the duplicate flower basket on the left. 

Drag element 104 into the tag.  Resize 20% and move to the bottom right of the duplicate flower basket on the left. 

Drag element 50 into the tag.  Resize 22% and move to the bottom right of the envelop. 

Drag element 124 into the tag.  Resize 9% and move to the bottom of the flower basket on the right. 

Drag the main tube into the tag.  Resize 40% and move to the bottom center of the mask.

Drag element 42 into the tag.  Resize 36% and move to the bottom left of the tube. Duplicate and move to the right of the tube.

Drag element 10 into the tag.  Resize 10%, mirror and move to the bottom left of the tube by her arm. 

Drag element 135 into the tag.  Resize 35% and move to the bottom left of element 10. 

Drag element 145 into the tag.  Resize 18% and move to the bottom right of the tube by her arm. 

Drag element 85 into the tag.  Resize 24% and move to the bottom center of the tube. 

Drag element 38 into the tag.  Resize 13% and move to the bottom right of the tube over the leaf. 

Drag element 70 into the tag.  Resize 8% and move to the bottom left of the bird house.

Drag element 57 into the tag.  Resize 17% and move to the bottom right of the bird house.

Drag element 107 into the tag.  Resize 8% and move to the bottom center of the bird house.

Drag element 61 into the tag.  Click the checkmark and move to the bottom right of the lantern.

Drag element 84 into the tag.  Resize 50% and move to the bottom right of element 61.

Drag element 34 into the tag.  Resize 20% and move to the bottom right of cup.

Drag element 44 into the tag.  Resize 40% and move to the bottom of the cup.

Drag element 198 into the tag.  Resize 119%, mirror and move to the bottom left of the key.

Drag element 41 into the tag.  Resize 7% and move to onto the key.

Drag element 118 into the tag.  Resize 30% and move to the bottom right of the lantern.

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.  

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

Select the Top Cluster group 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 group above and hold down the shift key and select the top layer.  Right click and paste layer styles.  Drop shadow complete :)

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.

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 :)

Open Rebel Dezigns psd file in PS.  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 odd the 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, 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 105 layer.

Back to the animation.  Click on Group 1 and drag it into your tag.  Ctrl+T and resize 30%.  Move to the top lef of element 105.  Now standing on the group layer, scroll down the layer pallet until you see the mask layer.  Holding down the Ctrl key, left click on the mask icon.  You should see marching ants.  Still standing on group 1 layer, go to Layers, Layer mask, reveal selection.

Close the original animation and don't 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.

Next is animating.

In the timeline viewer, click the drop down in the center and select Create Frame animation.

Click on the little icon (four 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 14 and hit the trash can.  Repeat for all the remaining frames.  You should be left with 13 frames in the animation window.  This is the amount of frames for our animation.

This next step is very important.  Any changes you do from here you must be on frame 1 in the animation window. It will be highlighted in blue.

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

Click on the eyeball beside each layer to make it visible.  For the white base layer you may have to click on the eyeball a couple of times to make it visible in all the animation frames.  

It's a Photoshop thing.  Expand the top cluster, right cluster and left cluster groups  You will need to click on the eyeball of each layer to make them visible.

Next, I want to slow down the animation.  With the first frame selected, hold down the shift key and click on frame 13.  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 0.1 Sec.  Now click on the play button to view the animation.  Click on it again to stop it.

Click frame 1 again so we don't accidentally make any changes.

Now to save our tag as a gif.

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

A new pop up window will appear.  Change the settings to my screen shot below.  Click on the image to enlarge it if needed.  Click save.  My screen shot will look different but the settings are the same.

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