This tutorial was written by me on January 9, 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 Verymany's beautiful tube "Emilie".  Please do not use this tube without a proper license.   You can purchase this beauty here.

PTU Kit:  I am using a gorgeous kit called "Kisses at Midnight" created by Doodle by Design.  You can purchase it here.

PTU Animation:  I am using Rebel Dezigns awesome animation from pack 632.  You can purchase her awesome animations at CDO here.

Mask:  351 by Mizteeques. 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. 

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 Mizteeque's mask into your tag and click the check mark.  Move up slightly

Drag paper 13 into your tag.  Hold down the shift key and pull up and down on the corners until it fills the canvas. Click the check mark.  

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

Drag element 106 into the tag.  Click the check mark.

Drag frame 1 into the tag.  Click the check mark and move to the upper right corner of the mask.

Select the layer under the frame and drag paper 12 into the tag.  Move into a spot you like best inside the frame.

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

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

Drag the close up tube into the tag.  Resize 50% and move it into the frame.  Holding down the ctrl key, click on the mask layer on the paper.  You should see marching ants.

Standing on the close up tube layer, go to Layers>Layer Mask>Reveal selection.  Change the blend mode to screen.

Select the frame layer.

Drag element 110 into the tag.  Resize 55% and move to the top right of the frame.

Drag element 29 into the tag.  Click on the check mark and move to the top right of the frame.

Drag element 38 into the tag.  Resize 60% and move to the left side of the balloons.

Drag element 7 into the tag.  Resize 50% and move to the bottom left of the frame.

Drag element 28 into the tag.  Resize 40%, rotate 10 degrees and move to the bottom of the balloons.

Drag element 67 into the tag.  Click the check mark and move over the disco ball.

Drag element 76 into the tag.  Resize 20% and move to the bottom of the fan.

Drag element 74 into the tag.  Resize 30% and move to the bottom of the disco ball.

Drag element 27 into the tag.  Resize 40% and move to the bottom left of the disco ball.

Drag element 114 into the tag.  Click the check mark and move over the frame.

Drag element 51 into the tag.  Resize 20% and move to the bottom right of the frame.

Drag element 86 into the tag.  Resize 40% and move to the bottom of the bird cage.  Duplicate and move to the bottom of the star.

Drag element 47 into the tag.  Resize 10% and move to the bottom left of the star.

Drag element 58 into the tag.  Resize 18% and move to the bottom left of the present.

Drag the main tube into the tag.  Resize 35% and move to the upper right of the mask.

Drag element 17 into the tag.  Resize 60% and move to the tube in front of the bent leg.

Drag element 1 into the tag.  Resize 20% and move to the tube in front of the bent leg.

Drag element 35 into the tag.  Resize 40% and move to the bottom left of the cake.

Drag element 14 into the tag.  Resize 12% and move to the bottom right of the cake.

Drag element 46 into the tag.  Resize 10% and move to the bottom of the bucket.

Drag element 42 into the tag.  Resize 15% and move to the bottom left of the bucket.

Drag element 31 into the tag.  Resize 45% and move to the bottom left of the cake.

Drag word art 4 into the tag.  Resize 50% and move to the bottom right of the black present.

Drag element 54 into the tag.  Resize 15% and move to the bottom of the cat.

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.  

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 disco ball layer.

Back to the animation.  Click on Group 1 and drag it into your tag.  Ctrl+T and resize 30%.  Move it in front of the disco ball.  

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, Timeline.

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 typed 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.