This tutorial was written by me on November 11, 2026. 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 Adobe Photoshop 2026 but this tutorial should work with any version.

You can download the 7 day trial of PS here.

PTU Kit:  I am using a gorgeous kit called "Gothic Winter" created by Starlite and Soul.  This kit contains an AI tube that I used in this tutorial. You can purchase the kit here.

FTU Mask:  Mask 41 by Vivienne.  Thank you for your masks.  You can grab it here.

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

Font of choice for your name.

Plug in: None

Drop shadow of choice.

Notes:

I learned how to use PS for tags by trying tutorials from Tutorials by Rene.  You can find her tutorials here.

I use the CTRL + T command for resizing and rotating.

Click on the images to make them larger.

Resizing:  Click on the link to lock the W: and H: for resizing.

Rotating:

This is for rotating to the right enter 15 degrees.  To rotate to the left you would enter -15 degrees

To mirror or Flip go to Edit>Transform>Flip Horizontal (mirror) or Flip vertical (Flip).

Don't worry about the drop shadow as I add it at the end of the tutorial.

Remember to save often.

The resizing in this tutorial should also work in PSP.

You might want to grab a coffee or something to drink as my tutorials are lengthy due to how many elements I use in the tag.

Let's get started.

First,  we need to convert the jpg mask into a png.

You can find the tutorial here.

Now that our mask is ready we can continue.  Note:  I will be adding the mask at the end of this tutorial.

Open a new 850x850 transparent image.  

Add a new Raster layer.

Go to layers, new fill layer, solid color.  When the pop-up window appears type in FFFFFF and click ok.

Open Element 91 in PS.  Select Layer 1 in the layer pallet and drag it into your tag.  Right click on the element and convert to a smart object.  Resize 52% and move to the top center of the tag.

I will be repeating the Open element/paper, select Layer 1 in the layer pallet and drag it into your tag.  Right click on the element and convert to a smart object for the all the elements/papers before resizing.  I will not be including this step in the remainder of the tutorial.

Element 1:  Resize 63% and move to the right of element 91.

Element 30:  Resize 50% and move to the left of element 1.  

Paper 7:  Resize 40%.  Drag this layer under element 30 layer.  Move the paper into a spot you like best in the opening of element 30.  Select your lasso tool on the left of PS.

Holding down the left mouse button, draw a selection around the outside of the opening of element 30.  Don't worry if it goes past the bottom of element 30 as we will be covering this with element.  Once you have make you selection.  Still standing on the paper layer, click the mask icon on the bottom of the layers pallet.

Select element 30.

Element 70:  Resize 19% and move to the top left of element 30.

Element 74:  Resize 52% and move to the lower left of element 70.

Element 86:  Resize 57% and move to the bottom of element 74.

Element 69:  Resize 13%, mirror and move to the lower left of element 86.

Element 36:  Resize 47%, mirror and move to the lower right of element 86.

Element 83:  Resize 28% and move to the lower left of element 36.

Element 40:  Resize 11% and move to the bottom left of element 83.

Element 46:  Resize 15% and move to the upper right of element 83.

Element 12:  Resize 15%, mirror and move to the bottom of element 40.

Element 101:  Resize 12% and move to the right of element 40.

Element 99:  Resize 12% and move to the far right of element 101.

Element 87:  Resize 16% and move to the upper middle of elements 101 and 99.

Element 57:  Resize 12% and move to the lower left of element 101.

Element 9:  Resize 13% and move to the lower right of element 99.

Element 98:  Resize 13%, mirror and move to the lower left of element 9.

Element 41:  Resize 17% and move to the left of element 98.

Element 34:  Resize 42% and move to the lower left of the house.  See my example for placement.

Element 77:  Resize 16% and move to the lower right of element 34.

Element 86:  Resize 55% and move to the bottom of element 34.

SS_GothicWinter_AiTubeSAS:  Resize 25% and move to the bottom left of element 34.

Go so Filters>Sharpen>unsharpen mask and apply the following settings:  Amount 20, Radius 5 and Threshold 5.  Click ok.

Element 115:  Resize 14% and move to the lower right of element 86. 

Element 8:  Resize 12% and move to the lower left of element 115.

Element 104:  Resize 6% and move to the lower left of element 8.  Apply the same unsharpen mask as used on the tube.

Element 3:  Resize 14% and move to the bottom center of the fountain.

Element 19:  Resize 12% and move to the lower right of element 3.

Element 73:  Resize 10% and move to the lower left of element 19.

Element 2:  Resize 19% and move to the lower left of element 73.

Element 56:  Resize 9% and move to the bottom left of element 2.

Element 47:  Resize 8% and move to the lower right of element 56.

Add any other elements or make any adjustments you would like on the tag.

Time for some Drop Shadow. 

Select the element on the bottom of your tag in the layer pallet and double click it or click the FX button on the bottom of the layer pallet.

It's Element 91 on my tag.

A layer style window will pop up.  Click on Drop shadow. and use the following settings:

Click on image to enlarge it.

Now right click on the layer you just applied the drop shadow.  Click copy layer style.

Select element 1, right click and paste layer style.

Select element 30 layer.  Hold down the shift key and select the top layer.  Right click and paste layer style.  Drop shadow is now complete :).

Now for the masks.

Open the PNG mask you just made.  Move it to the top left of the tag.  

You will see some of it sticking out under the house and fountain.  To fix this, add a mask layer by clicking on the mask icon at the bottom of the layers pallet.  Make black your foreground as we want to hide this part of the mask.  Standing on the mask thumbnail (you should see a white box around the mask thumbnail).

Select the brush tool.  I have a brush size set to 50 everything else is the same.  Make sure the mask thumbnail is selected. Using the paint brush, paint the portion of the mask you want to hide.  Select the move tool again.

Paper 13:  Resize 77% and move it over your mask.  Right click the paper layer and select create a clipping mask.  The nice thing about a clipping mask is you can move the paper around until you find a spot you like best.

Add the png mask again.  Resize 65% and mirror.  Move over to the far right of the house.  Duplicate paper 13 and drag it above the new mask layer.  Right click the paper layer and select create a clipping mask. Move the paper around until you see a spot you like best.

Add the png mask again.  This time we are going to create some ground coverage.  Resize W: 84.03 and H: 15.66 click the check mark.  Move this to the bottom of where the tube is sitting.  See my example for placement.

Paper 8:  Resize 70%.  Right click and create a clipping mask.  Move the paper into a spot you like best.

Now select the mask layer under paper 8.  Hold down the shift key and select paper 8 clipping mask layer.  Right click and duplicate.  Move this under the snow and sled.  See my example for placement.

Resize the mask layer only by W: 92.82% and H: 15.66%.  Now select the paper layer and move it into a spot you like best.

Duplicate the mask and paper 8 layer and move this under the teddy bear.  Resize the mask part only by W:-92.84 and H: 15.66.

Duplicate the mask and paper 8 layer one more time.  Move this under the house layer.  Move the paper into a spot you like best.

Crop away any extra space and resize your tag if you like.

Add your copyright and name.

Save as a psd file if you want to add some animation or make tags for others.

I have the animation tutorial here if you would like to add some animation.  Click on the link and it will take you so the how to animate tutorial.

If you do not want to animate.

Hide the white background layer.

Save your tag and export as png.

Go to File>Export>Save for Web and use the following settings:

Click on image to enlarge it.

I hope you have enjoyed my tutorial.