I actually started this wreath last year, never finished it, and promptly forgot about it until coming across it earlier today. And since Christmas is only two days away, I figured it'd be a good time to finish it up. *grin*.

To do this tutorial, I assume that you have a working knowledge of PSP and its tools.

My selection files. Place these in your PSP selections folder. You may download them here.

Eye Candy 4000>glass.

My color chart. Right click on it and save it to your computer. Or, alternatively, you can drag it onto your canvas (just make sure it's on a new layer).

To make the wreath, you'll need to make the individual pieces first, then put them all together. Here are the pieces you'll need:

• Pinecone. Click here.
• Holly. Click here.
• Mistletoe. Click here.
• Yellow berries and leaves. Tutorial below.
• Bow. Tutorial below.
• Pine Sprig. Tutorial below.

Step 1. Open a new image 450 x 550, white background. Copy and paste your color chart as a new layer onto your canvas and move to the top out of the way. When you need a color, just click on it with your eye dropper tool.

Step 2. Add a new layer. Load selection 1. Flood fill with color #1. Keep selected.

Step 3. Add a new layer. Choose your airbrush, using settings in the screenshot, and spray some of color #2 on your leaf.

 

Step 4. Choose your retouch tool>smudge brush, using the settings in the screenshot. Smudge the color around a bit until you have something similar to mine. If you need to, you can add more color.

 

Hide your color chart and background layer. Merge visible layers. Turn your color chart and background layers back on. Duplicate the leaf twice and arrange as you wish.

Step 5. Add a new layer. Set your foreground and background colors to color #3. Choose your preset shapes tool, ellipse (retain style unchecked, antialias checked, create as vector unchecked, line width 1). Draw a small circle (hold your shift key down as you draw to make it perfectly round).

Apply Eye Candy>Glass. Click the Settings tab and choose "clear glass." Click the Bevel Profile tab and choose "subtle hump."

Duplicate this circle twice and arrange as you wish.

Hide your color chart and background layer. Merge visible layers. Cut and paste as a new image and save as a psp file.

Step 6. Return to your original canvas. Now to make the bow. You will follow the same step for each selection. The only thing that will change is the color. Here are the steps you'll follow:

• Add a new layer.
• Load the selection. Keep selected.
• Flood fill with color
• Float the selection ("Ctrl+F" on your keyboard)
• Apply a cutout, using the settings in the screenshot. The shadow color is color #6 for all the selections.

• Repeat the cutout, changing horizontal and vertical to -2

Load the selections in order. The color to use for each selection is as follows:

• Selections #2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 - Color #4.
• Selections #4, 5, 6 - Color #5.

Hide your color chart and background layers. Merge visible layers. Copy and paste as a new image. Save as a psp file.

Step 7. Add a new layer. Set your foreground color to color #1 and your background to null. Choose your draw tool, size 1 and draw a little sprig, similar to this.

Copy and paste as a new image. Save as a psp file.

Step 8. Ok, now it's time to assemble your wreath. Open up all the images that you've made. Copy and paste them as new layers onto your canvas. Use your creativity and put the pieces in a form that you like. Hint: Add a new layer. Set your foreground color to #1, choose your preset shapes tool, ellipse, line width about 10. Draw a circle to use as a guideline where to place items. If you wish, you can delete it layer.

Arrange your items around your wreath, putting each item on a new layer so you can move things around if you need to.

When you're satisfied with your creation, delete the color chart and background layers. Merge visible layers and save as a psp file.

I had a lot of fun making this wreath, and especially like the fact that all the pieces come together in such a pretty way. I hope you enjoy it as well, and I would love to see your creations. Have fun!