Hi. This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV. I'm going to show you how to create a fun,
festive, custom-made, Christmas holiday card that you can send to your family and friends.
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I'm using this great seamless
snowflake pattern I found on Graphic Stock for this project. If you're not already a
member of Graphic Stock, you can find some patterns to use in the meantime by searching
in your Browser's Images for " seamless patterns". Keep in mind, you're not going to find nearly
as many choices as found on Graphics Stock and many may not be royalty-free nor high
resolution. Go to Edit and "Define Pattern". Name it whatever you like and click OK or
press Enter or Return. Create a new document by going to File and New. Name it whatever
you like. Its width and height can be any amount you want but to ensure that your results
will look similar to mine, make its resolution 150 pixels per inch. The Color Mode is RGB
and 8 bits per Channel. Then, click OK or press Enter or Return. Click the Adjustment
Layer icon and click "Pattern". I'll reduce its scale to 20%, but feel free to make it
any amount. Then, click OK. Open your "Horizontal Type Tool" and pick a font. I'm using "Bodoni
BE Regular". I provided its link in my video's description below. I'll temporarily make its
size: 100 points, Smooth and Center Alignment. It doesn't matter what color it is, since
we're going add a Color Overlay. Click on your document and type out your text. If you
have 2 lines or more and want to adjust the space between the lines, highlight all your
text and go to Window and Character. Drag the "Leading" icon to the left or right. To
adjust its size, click your Move Tool and press Ctrl or Cmd + T to open your Transform
Tool. Go to a corner and when you see a diagonal, double-arrow, press and hold Alt or Option
+ Shift as you drag it out or in. To reposition your text, go inside the Transform and drag
it. Then, press Enter or Return. To center it on your document, press Ctrl or Cmd A to
select it all and click the "Align Horizontal Centers" icon. To deselect it, press Ctrl
or Cmd + D. Click the "fx" icon and click "Color Overlay". Click the color box and pick
a color for your text.. Since I already know the color I want, I'll type it in the hexadecimal
field. Once you pick your color, click OK on the Color Picker. Click "Stroke". I'll
the make the Size: 10 pixels and the Position: Outside. Click the color box, pick a color
for the stroke and click OK. Click "Bevel & Emboss". The Style is "Inner Bevel", the
Technique is "Chisel Hard" and the Depth is 70%. The Direction is "Up", the Size is 250
pixels and the Soften is 0. Uncheck "Global Light" and make the Angle between 120 and
125 degrees and the Altitude: 30 degrees. The Highlight Mode is "Color Dodge" and its
Opacity is 100%. The Shadow Mode is Multiply and its opacity is 25%. Click "Contour". Open
the "fly-out" list and click the gear icon. Click "Small List" and click "Cone Inverted".
Click "Outer Glow". The Blend Mode is "Dissolve", the Opacity is 100%, the Noise is 0% and the
color is white. The Technique is Softer, the Spread is 60% and the Size is 20 pixels. Then,
click OK. We can close the Character panel now. Next, we'll add a drop shadow to the
entire text including its Layer Styles. The best way to do this is to first convert the
text layer into a Smart Object. This will also allow us to edit or even replace our
text without having to redo any of the effects. Click the icon at the upper, right corner
of the Layers panel and click "Convert to Smart Object". Click the "fx" icon and click
"Drop Shadow". The Blend Mode is "Multiply" and the Opacity is 40%. Uncheck "Global Light".
The Angle is 135 degrees, the Distance is 34 pixels, the Spread is 0% and the Size is
16 pixels. Then, click OK or press Enter or Return. Next, we'll add a name at the bottom.
Open your "Horizontal Type Tool" and pick another font. I'm using "Beachman Script Regular".
If you'd like to use it, I provided its link, as well. Click your document and type out
your text. If you want to adjust the space between two characters, click between those
characters and press and hold Alt or Option as you press the right or left arrow key on
your keyboard. To center the name, open your Move Tool and as before, press Ctrl or Cmd
+ A to select it all and click the "Align Horizontal Centers" icon. Then, deselect it.
I'd like to slide the "Merry Christmas" text up a bit, so I'll make that layer active and
press and hold the "Up" arrow key on my keyboard. Make your Text name layer active and click
the "fx" icon. Click "Color Overlay", click the color box and pick a color you like. For
this example, I'll pick white. Then, click OK. Click "Stroke". It should be the same
color you picked as the stroke for your other text. Make its size: 7 pixels and the Position:
Outside. Click "Drop Shadow". The Blend Mode is "Multiply" and the Opacity is 40%. Uncheck
"Global Light". The Angle is 135 degrees, the Distance is 17 pixels, the Spread is 0%
and the Size is 10 pixels. Then, click OK. Next, we'll add a festive border. Click the
New Layer icon to make a new layer. Fill it with any color. It doesn't matter what color
it is, since we'll be making the color itself invisible. I'll press Ctrl or Cmd + Delete
to fill it with my background color, which is white. Reduce the Fill to 0%. This makes
whatever is filling the layer invisible, but it'll retain the visibility of all the effects
that we'll be adding TO the layer. Double-click the thumbnail of the layer to open its Layer
Style window. Click Stroke. The Size is 20 pixels, the Position is "Inside and the Opacity
is 100%. Click the color box and click the slightly darker color inside your top text.
Then, click OK. Click "Bevel & Emboss". The Style is "Inner Bevel", the Technique is "Chisel
Hard" and the Depth is 100%. The Direction is "Up", the Size is 14 pixels and the Soften
is 0. Uncheck "Global Light. The Angle is 132 degrees and the Altitude is 30 degrees.
The Highlight Mode is Screen and its opacity is 50%. The Shadow Mode is Multiply and its
opacity is 20%. Click "Contour". Open the fly-out list and click " Rolling Slope Ascending".
Click "Inner Glow". The Blend Mode is "Dissolve", the Opacity is 50% and the color is white.
The Technique it "Softer, the Source is "Edge", the Choke is 30% and the Size is 70 pixels.
Then, click OK. Lastly, we'll add a soft, dark vignette surrounding the outer edge of
your background pattern. Click the Pattern layer to make it active and go to Filter and
"Lens Correction". When this window appears, click "Convert to Smart Object". Click the
"Custom" tab and drag the Vignette slider all the way to the left. Then, click OK. This
is Marty from Blue Lightning TV. Thanks for watching!