This tutorial was written by me on January 1, 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 "Hot Cocoa".  Please do not use this tube without a proper license. You can purchase this tube at VM Artists.

PTU Kit:  I am using a gorgeous kit called "Hot Cocoa" created by Doodle by Design.  You can purchase this beautiful kit here.

PTU Animation:  I am using Rebel Dezigns awesome animation from pack 620.  You can purchase her awesome animations at CDO here.

Mask:  None

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

Font of choice for your name. I am using Winter Melody 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).

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 element 111 into the tag.  Resize 65% and move to the center of the canvas.  Hit Ctrl + T and pull in the right side slightly.

Drag element 110 into the tag.  Click the check mark and move to the bottom left of the mask.  Duplicate and move to the top right.

Drag element 29 into the tag.  Resize 75% and move to the top left of the mask.

Drag element 120 into the tag.  Resize 80%, rotate -85 degrees and move to the top right of the mask.

Drag element 121 into the tag.  Click the check mark and move to the left of the mask.  Duplicate and move to the right side of the mask.  Drag this layer under the coffee bean layer.

Select element 121.

Drag element 80 into the tag.  Resize 30% and move to the top left of the mask.  

Drag Frame 1 into the tag.  Click the check mark.

Select the layer under the frame.  Drag paper 10 into your tag.  Resize 75% and move into the frame.

Select the frame layer.  Using the magic wand, click inside the frame.  Select>Modify>expand by 3.

Select the paper layer.  Go to Layers>Layer Mask>Reveal selection.

Still standing on the paper layer, drag the close up tube into the tag.  Resize 50% and move into the frame.

Once you have it in a place you like, hold down the Ctrl key and click on the mask thumbnail on the paper layer.

You should see marching ants.  

Still on the close up tube layer, go to Layers>Layer Mask>Reveal selection and change the blend mode to overlay.

Select the frame layer.

Drag element 78 into the tag.  Resize 30%, rotate 90 degrees and move to the right of the frame.

Drag element 56 into the tag.  Resize 60% and move to the left of the frame by the rose cluster.

Drag element 16 into the tag.  Resize 45% and move to the left of the frame by the rose cluster.

Drag element 26 into the tag.  Resize 8% and move to the left of the bird house.

Drag element 77 into the tag.  Resize 20% and move to the bottom of the bird house.

Drag element 4 into the tag.  Resize 30% and move to the bottom left of the frame.

Drag wordart 4 into the tag.  Resize 30% and move to the middle left of the snowflake.

Drag element 13 into the tag.  Resize 30% and move to the bottom of the snowflake.

Drag element 89 into the tag.  Resize 50% and move to the bottom left of the frame.

Drag element 96 into the tag.  Resize 25% and move to the bottom right of the frame.

Drag element 40 into the tag.  Resize 10% and move to the bottom right of the frame.

Drag element 101 into the tag.  Resize 40% and move to the bottom right of the frame.

Drag element 27 into the tag.  Resize 30% and move to the bottom left of element 89.

Drag element 90 into the tag.  Resize 30% and move to the bottom center of the frame.

Drag element 50 into the tag.  Resize 70% and move to the bottom of the frame.

Drag element 32 into the tag.  Resize 35% and move to the bottom left of the ribbon.

Drag element 12 into the tag.  Resize 20% and move to the bottom left of the lantern.

Drag the main tube into the tag.  Resize 35% and move to the lower left of the mask.

Drag element 106 into the tag.  Resize 20% and move over the tube's legs.

Drag element 2 into the tag.  Resize 25% and move by the tube's left knee.

Drag element 7 into the tag.  Resize 18% and move to the bottom left of the tube by the boot.

Drag element 38 into the tag.  Resize 25% and move to the bottom right of the cup.

Drag element 34 into the tag.  Resize 25% and move to the top right of the flower cluster on the frame.

Drag Wordart 1 into the tag.  Click the check mark and move to the bottom left of the tube.

Drag element 35 into the tag.  Resize 20% and move to the bottom of the W and I.

Drag element 42 into the tag.  Resize 15% and move to the bottom of the R and F.

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 layer under the paper layer.  Rick click and paste layer styles.  

Select the frame layer, holding down the shift key, 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 the close up tube layer.

Back to the animation.  Click on Group 1 and drag it into your tag.  Ctrl + T and resize 60%.  Move to the center of the frame.  Now standing on the group layer, Holding down the Ctrl key, left click on the mask thumbnail on the close up tube.  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 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.

Please check out Rene's animation basic tutorials if you are new to animating in PS.  Link at the top.

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 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 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.