This tutorial was written by me on October 16, 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 Nocturne's beautiful new tube "Witches".  Please do not use this tube without a proper license.  You can purchase this beautiful tube at PFD here.

FTU Kit:  I am using a gorgeous kit called "A Taste of Halloween" created by Mizteeques Digital Designs.  You can download the kit from her blog here.   Thank you for your awesome kits.

FTU Animation: I am using Sophisticat Simone's awesome bats animation.  You can download it here.

Thank you for your awesome animation.

Mask: I am using the mask 365 by Mizteeques. You can get it here.

Mask 86 by Vivienne's Paintbox.  You can get it here.

Thank you for your awesome masks.

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

Font of choice for your name.

Plug in: None

Drop shadow of choice.

Let's get started.

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.

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 Image, Image rotation, Flip Canvas Horizontal (mirror) or Flip canvas 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 Mizteeques mask into your tag.  Resize 30% and move to the top left of the canvas.

Drag Vivienne's mask into your tag.  Resize 30% and move slightly down and to the right.

Holding down the ctrl key, select Mizteeques mask in the layer pallet.  Right click and merge layers.

Drag paper 11 into your tag.  Holding down the shift key, drag the top left and bottom right corners of the paper until it fits the canvas.  Standing on the paper layer, right click and create a clipping mask.

Drag element 78 into your tag.  Resize 80% and move to the top left of the mask.

Select the layer under the frame.  

Drag paper 4 into your tag.  Resize 60% and move it into a spot you like within the frame.

Select the frame layer.  Using the magic wand, click inside the frame.  Select, modify, expand by 5.

Select the paper layer.  Layers, Layer mask, reveal selections.

Select the frame layer.

Drag element 40 into your tag.  Resize 70% and move to the top left of the frame.  

Drag element 46 into your tag.  Click the check mark and move to the top left of the frame.  Lower the opacity to 85%.

Drag element 54 into your tag.  Click the check mark and move to the left side of the frame.

Drag element 69 into your tag.  Resize 60% and move it over the tree.

Drag element 48 into your tag.  Resize 50% and move to the bottom right of the tree.

Drag element 31 into your tag.  Resize 60% and move to the bottom of the cauldron.

Drag element 55 into your tag.  Resize 70% and move to the top right of the frame.

Drag element 64 into your tag.  Resize 60% and move to the right of the mask.

Drag element 25 into your tag.  Resize 40% and move to the right of the head stone.

Drag element 7 into your tag.  Resize 30% and move to the bottom of the head stone.

Drag element 4 into your tag.  Resize 60% and move to the bottom of the flowers.

Select the tube layer you would like to use and drag it into your tag.   Resize 30% and move to the right of the frame.  See mine for placement.

Drag element 42 into your tag.  Click the check mark and move to the bottom left of the tube.

Drag element 51 into your tag.  Resize 80% and move to the bottom left of the tube.

Drag element 43 into your tag.  Resize 60% and move to the bottom right of the tube.

Drag element 5 into your tag.  Resize 60% and move to the bottom right of the tube.

Drag element 38 into your tag.  Resize 50% and move to the bottom right of the tube by the pumpkin.

Drag element 56 into your tag.  Resize 20% and move to the bottom right of the tube by the pumpkin.

Drag element 12 into your tag.  Resize 30% and move to the bottom right of the light.

Drag element 18 into your tag.  Resize 30% and move to the bottom of the tube.  See mine for placement.

Drag element 21 into your tag.  Resize 40% and move to the bottom left of the tube.

Drag element 60 into your tag.  Resize 30% and move to the bottom right of the pail.

Drag element 23 into your tag.  Resize 40% and move to the bottom left of the skulls.

Drag element 33 into your tag.  Resize 25% and move to the bottom of the potion.

Drag element 11 into your tag.  Resize 30% and move to the bottom of the books.

Drag element 16 into your tag.  Resize 40% and move to the bottom right of the books.

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.  Lower the opacity to 80%

Repeat the above step for the cat layer.

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 Simone's bat 2 psd file in PS.  You will notice that there is 16 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 the layers.  Starting from layer 16, hold down your shift key and select  layer 1.  Once all the layers are selected (the layers will be highlighted in blue) we need to group them.   

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 cloud layer above the frame.

Back to the animation.  Click on Group 1 and drag it into your tag.  Ctrl+T and resize 40%.  Move to a spot you like best.  I moved it to the center of the frame.

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 17 and hit the trash can.  Repeat for all the remaining frames.  You should be left with 16 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 16.  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.