Digital Masking Tutorial including Apple Users

Hi! A friend recently asked how I accomplish the digitally masking seen below and on several of the My Besties creations.

There are many digital tutorials out there, but not many for digital MASKING.

The ICONS and MENU ITEMS should be similar whether they are in WINDOWS, MAC or LINUX. Few tutorials are specifically for Apple Products.

However, even if you do not have an Apple product, I hope this MASKING TUTORIAL will be of benefit to you.

Digital Masking with Apple’s iMac

(using free apps from Apple)

1. Create a folder for your digital image and file it where you would file the digital image on your hard drive. 

2. Place the original image and the watermark image in your folder.

3. Duplicate your original image and save in your folder. If you will use more than one part of the digital image, create several duplicates of the original.

4. Create a word processing document that contains information about your digital image, like the URL for where it can be purchased, the full name of the digital image, and any other information you might need about it in the future and in writing your blog post. File it in your folder.

5. Open one of the duplicate images. Click on the EDIT option.  See steps 5a-5g. (Saving as .PNG allows for a transparent background).

5a: Click to open the image, then click on the little "edit" icon (here it shows a crayon on a pad of paper)

5b:

5c:

5d: Use your mouse.

5e:

5f: Save and Change the name of your newly cropped image.

6. Open Word Processor. In WINDOWS use any program. In Mac, use Word, OpenOffice, Pages, etc. Here I’ve used the Apple app "Pages" from iWork. Drag your digital image into the document and size as you normally would. 

6a:

6b: Then drag your .PNG creation and drop it on top of the image. Let go of it.

6c:

6d: Resize and Relocate.

6e: Copy and Paste.

6f: Drag, copy and paste for sentiment or other accessory pieces.

6g:

More samples of digital masking to enhance the image and coordinate the sentiment:

1. Streamers on My Besties Swinging St. Patrick's Day Party
2. Hearts on My Besties (ground and sentiment)
3. Additional Flora and Fauna on Aquamarine Tides image.
4. Final appearance of SNS Nesting Bird card.
5. My Besties Swinging on Beccy Muir's Pretty Blossom Branch. (branch repositioned and flowers cropped out and pasted all over image)

Note1: Creating .PNG files with OSX: Apple uses PREVIEW to open items in jpg. Open your jpg using PREVIEW then click on FILE. It has a SAVE option. Click on OPTION (next to the COMMAND KEY) and FILE at the same time and a different pull down menu appears with a SAVE AS option showing up. click on the pull down menu and choose PNG.

Note2: Creating transparent PNG files with OSX: (basically shown in the steps above) Another way is to duplicate your jpg. Then open the DUPLICATED FILE. PREVIEW opens it. across the top of the document are icons. Go all the way to the right (next to the search field). There is a crayon. Click on it and a menu appears in a new gray bar under it. All the way to the left is a square with dots around it. click there and choose the lasso. Carefully crop the section you want. When it is done, it will actually suggest saving it as a PNG and you will type OK.

Sparkle N Sprinkle Nesting Bird Image is available:

in rubber here.
digitally here.

Digital Stamping Hugs,