There is nothing I don’t love about Mermaid Tales! Blues, greens, ocean, mermaids… these are a few of my favorite things

The layouts in the gallery and on social media make me smile every time I spot a new one. The variety is astounding. From super arty pages (how do you guys do it?) to traditional pages filled with adorable kids, they are all fantastic and a joy to behold.

I haven’t had a chance to play with Mermaid Tales, between my trip to the states and my broken ankle, playtime has ground to a halt. But! I did *have* to make a banner to herald the arrival of Mermaid Tales.

I found both ocean-themed paper and actual mermaid tails in Heartstring Scrap Arts Mermaid Tales collection. What I didn’t find were splashes. And I love splashes! Luckily I have a little photoshop experience so I was able to make my own. I thought maybe you’d like to make your own too!

I used Adobe Photoshop for this tutorial;  Heartstring Scrap Arts Mermaid Tales collection and free Water Splash Photoshop Brushes I found on Photoshop Brushes by Brusheezy!

I start with opening photoshop, HSA Mermaid Tales paper (HSA-mermaidtales-artypp6.jpg) and her gorgeous green mermaid tail element (HSA-mermaidtales-tail2.png). Honestly? It looks pretty awesome right out of the gate!

Next I add a mask to the Mermaid Tail:

  • At the bottom of the Layers panel, click the Add Layer Mask button to create a layer mask.
  • This prevents destruction to the element itself.
  • I use a soft round brush to gently paint out part of the tail to better blend it into the water

I added a shadow to the tail to distance it a little from the background. Shadows always require a little customization depending on the background you are working with. These are my settings for this shadow, on this background:

  • I choose a dark green color from the water: #003635
  • I set the Blend Mode to: Darker Color
  • I reduced the Opacity to 54%
  • I kept Distance & Spread to 0
  • I set Size to: 21 px

My shadow wasn’t perfect. I decided it need a little warp. I also decided I needed to write/video a tutorial on warping shadows. Unfortunately I’m short on time today. But it’s coming!

The basic steps for warping a shadow:

  • First Create Layer
  • Right click on the fx on the Mermaid Tail layer
  • Choose Create Layer from the dropdown options
  • Click on the newly created shadow layer
  • Be sure you are on the Move Tool
  • Click –>Edit–>Transform–>Warp

You can now grab the corners or lines and manipulate your shadow. I just wanted to pull it down a little right at the bend to give the illusion of coming out of the water.

Great! Tail is good to go. It’s time to add in a splash. First load the Free Water Splash brushes. Karen, SnickerdoodleDesigns, wrote a great tutorial a while back to help you load those brushes: Installing Brushes in Photoshop

  • I choose Splash 3 as my brush
  • I painted it onto a new layer, in white at full opacity
  • I shrank it by 50% and rotated slightly to fit my mermaid tail
  • I also warped the splash slightly to better match my mermaid tail

Almost done! I want to add a little bit of color, matching the water in the background paper, to blend the splash with the page. I also want to add a drop shadow to pop it away from the background a little.

My settings:

  • Open the Layer Style Palette
  • Set Drop Shadow to:
    • #003635; Darker Color
    • Opacity 54%
    • Distance 16 px
    • Spread 0%
    • Size 10 px
  • Set Outer Glow to:
    • #106890; Screen
    • Opacity 35%
  • Set Gradient Overlay to a mix of medium blues & greens from the background paper
    • Blend mode: Pin Light
    • Opacity: 26%
    • Style: Linear
    • Angle: -5
  • Set Inner Glow to white; luminosity at 68% opacity

And that’s it! You are done! PHEW!

I know it’s a little finnicky. A little nit-picky, but believe me the extra effort is worth the effect it adds to your page. Just in case it’s all a little much, or you are in a hurry today, I’ve created 3 splashes for you. These are full-size, meant for 300 dpi pages, free for personal use. Enjoy!