One of my blog readers emailed me with a question about textures and blend modes, so I"m making this small little tut for her and anyone else who would like to know how to overlay in PSP. =)
1. File>New. Create a new image, change the size to whatever size you want your paper to be(for digital scrapbooking that would be 12x12 inches). Resolution 300 DPI, transparency checked.

2. Use your paintbucket tool to floodfill your blank canvas with a color/gradient of your choice. I am using a blue/green/brown gradient, since it was still set there from my last kit. ;D

3. Open your texture(assuming this has been made/bought beforehand...your texture should be the same size as the paper you are working on). Edit>Copy. Minimize or close.
4. Edit>Paste as a New Layer onto your canvas. Make sure your texture is the top layer(Layers>Arrange>Bring to Top).
5. Go to your Layers palette(if it's not visible, you can turn it on by going to View>Palettes>Layers. You should see something like this:

6. To make things easier for you, right click into your top layer(Raster 2...this should be your texture). Choose Rename, now name it something like Texture 1. This is a big help if you add more layers later on.
7. You see the word Normal? This is your blending mode controller. If you click on the arrow, you will get a pop up of blending options...Darken, Lighten, Color etc. Farther down, you will see an option called Overlay. This is the one that is probably used the most when adding a texture(though you could experiment with all the blend modes and get all kinds of neat effects!) But for now, select Overlay.

8. Check out your paper...do you like what you see? If not, you could go back and change your opacity(the lever with the #100 on it) or switch to a different blend mode. Or you could do what I always like to do, and add another texture! Or maybe a grungy edge.


It's so much fun to play around with your blend modes! Experiment...use your brushes...you will find so many ways to make a paper interesting!
(((hugs and stuffs)))