Scrapbooking - Adding Shadows to Vellum Objects

Transparent Shadows

Adding Shadows to a Vellum Journaling Paper in Paint Shop Pro


Open your background paper and the vellum journaling paper.
We are now going to duplicate both paper. Never work on the original.
Make the vellum image active and click copy.
Make the paper image active and click paste as new layer.
The background paper now has two layers.
Make sure the vellum layer is the active layer. The active layer will be highlighted on the layer pallete.

Click on the Magic Wand Tool. Use the setting show in the screen shot.
The 'marching ants' show that everything on this layer is selected except the vellum image.
Click ' Invert Selection ' (Selections-Invert Selection).
Now the vellum is selected.
To add the shadow to the vellum, click 'Effects' - '3D Effects' - 'Drop Shadow'.
In the settings for the drop shadow, choose about a 2 offset both vertically and horizontally. Set the Blur to something like 3. This is because a vellum paper is not very thick. I have set the color to a dark shade of the vellum. As it is sort of 'see through', it will cast a colored shadow. Check the box to make the shadow on a new layer. I have left the Opacity at 100 because will play with the opacity of the shadow layer in the next step.
You will notice on the layer pallete that here is a 'chain link' on both the vellum layer and the shadow layer. This means that the layers are linked. Both layers will move together or resize together. We will adjust the opacity a little later.
While we have the vellum still selected and the shadow layer active, let's add a slight light to the top-right of the vellum. If we have a shadow, we need a reflection of the light. I have chosen white but you can also use a very light shade of the vellum. Again, we are using a 100% opacity.
Now, we will adjust the opacity of the 'dropped shadow' and the 'high-light'. It is much easier to view the effect of the shadow with the vellum not selected. So deselect it now. Use the short cut - Ctrl+D. On the layer pallete, make the shadow layer active. At the top of the pallete, slide the opacity to the left. I liked the shadow with an opacity of 30%. This will vary with the color you choose and the colors in your background paper. Just play around with it until you like the effect.
You are now ready to add a new layer above the vellum for you text.