This tutorial was written by me on October 24, 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 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 CS5 but this tutorial should work with any version.

You can download the 7 day trial of ps here.

PTU Tube:  I am using a beautiful tube called "Doberman" 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 "Graveyard Bones" created by Tiny Turtle Designs.  You can purchase the kit here.

PTU Animation:  I am using Rebel Dezigns awesome animation from pack 140.  You can purchase her animation at CDO here.

FTU Wordart.  I am using Dee's awesome wordart "Bones N Groans".  Thank you for your wordart.  You can find it here. Unfortunately the wordart is no longer available.  

Mask:  88 by Vivienne's Paintbox. Thank you for your awesome masks.  You can download it from her blog here. I am using the png 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.

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 :).  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 your tag often in case PS crashes.  I always save my tags as a psd image.  It keeps all the layers and if you make tags for others you will always have the template.

Let's get started.

File>new 800x800 px transparent image.  We will resize later.

Add a new layer and flood fill with white.

Select mask 88 and drag it into the tag.  Your free transformation box will appear.  Click the link icon between the W and H and type 35%.  Click ok.  

Drag paper 5 into your tag.  Holding down the shift key, pull the top left corner and bottom right corner of the paper until it fits the canvas.  Click the check mark.  Right click on the paper layer and create a clipping mask.

Drag element 40 into your tag.  Resize 40% and move to the top of the mask.

Drag element 145 into your tag.  Resize 40% and move to the top left of the mask over the moon.

Drag element 41 into your tag.  Resize 40% and move to the top of the mask over the right side of the moon.

Drag element 83 into your tag.  Click on the check mark and move to the top over the moon.

Drag element 39 into your tag.  Resize 30% and move to the top of the house.

Drag element 9 into your tag.  Click on the check mark and move to the bottom left of the house.  Duplicate and move to the bottom right of the house.

Drag element 12 into your tag.  Resize 60% and move to the lower left of the house.

Drag element 128 into your tag.  Resize 30% and move to the center of the gate and change the blend mode to soft light.

Drag element 107 into your tag.  Resize 10% and move to the top right of the gate.

Drag element 135 into your tag.  Resize 30% and move to the lower left of the gate.

Drag element 131 into your tag.  Resize 40% and move to the bottom of element 135.

Drag element 113 into your tag.  Resize 40% and move to the bottom right of of the house so it covers the bottom of the tree.

Drag element 17 into your tag.  Click on the check mark and move to the lower left of the mask so it is on the fog.  See mine for placement.

Drag element 129 into your tag.  Resize 50% and move to the lower left of the mask.

Drag element 152 into your tag.  Resize 30% and move to the bottom right of the cauldron.

Drag element 150 into your tag.  Resize 25% and move to the center of the cauldron.

Drag element 114 into your tag.  Resize 30% and move to the bottom right of the spirits bottle.

Drag element 137 into your tag.  Resize 30% and move to the bottom center of the spirits bottle.

Drag element 126 into your tag.  Resize 50% and move to the lower left of the cauldron.

Drag element 127 into your tag.  Resize 30% and move to the lower left of the record player.

Drag element 138 into your tag.  Resize 8% and move to the bottom of the books.

Drag element 133 into your tag.  Resize 40% and move to the right of the books.

Drag element 106 into your tag.  Resize 30% and move to the lower right of the mask.

Drag element 70 into your tag.  Resize 70% and move to the lower left of the pumpkin.

Drag element 115 into your tag.  Resize 20% and move to the lower right of the pumpkin.

Drag element 112 into your tag.  Resize 25% and move to the lower left of the spell book.

Select the main tube.  click and drag it over to your tag.  Hit Ctrl + T.  In your tool bar. Click on the link between the Width and Height to lock them.  When we type in a number it will resize both the width and Height as the same time.  Type 35% in the Width and then click on the check mark at the end of the tool bar.  Move the tube to the bottom of the mask.

Drag Dee's wordart WA4B into your tag.  Resize 15% and move to the bottom of the Doberman.

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.  See my settings below.

Oh almost forgot we need to drop shadow all of our elements.  I actually 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.  

Select the tube layer and duplicate it.  Right click on the duplicate and clear layer style.  Filter, Blur Gaussian blur set to 3.  Click ok.  Change the blend mode to soft light. 

Select the wordart layer.  Double click it and add a stroke style with the following:

Size 3, Position: Outside, Blend mode normal, Opacity 100%, Fill Type: color set to black.  Click ok.

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 :)

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 the cauldron layer.

Back to the animation.  Click on Group 1 and drag it into your tag.  Ctrl+T and resize 25%.  Move to a spot you like best.  I moved it over the top of the cauldron.  With the group folder selected, change the blend mode to Screen.

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 animation viewer is open on the bottom of PS.  I you do not see a row that has Animation (Frames) on the bottom, go to Windows, Animation.

Next is animating.

Click on the little icon at the right end of the animation screen then select make frames from layers.

When the pop up shows 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.  Do not touch the group layer.

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 other and set the ani to 0.15 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, save for web device.

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.