Have you ever gotten a lamp, torch, lights of some kind in a kit & wished for it to be glowing, sparkling, on? I have a solution for you! Here’s a very quick & easy tip to make those lights glow & sparkle. I’m working in Photoshop CC, but this will work in Elements as well, and I’m thinking it can be adapted for most softwares with layers & layer styles. Ready? Let’s go.

I’m starting with a paper & an element from recent prizes in our LAD Fall Barn Raising, and a pack of Illuminate from the incomparable Jen Maddocks Designs:

The first thing I do is open the paper, and then drag the lantern element into the layer above the paper.

I also add a quick drop shadow to the lantern, just to make it stand out from the background a little. Next I drag in Jen’s Illuminate. I picked one from her wonderful Home For Christmas {Illuminate} and place it directly, centered, above the lantern:

It’s good. Not great. I need it to look a little more like it’s in the lantern. You’d think that would be hard, but NO! It’s easy. Simply change the blend mode to Screen and the light magically jumps inside the lantern.
Note: Be sure you are on the illuminate layer when you change the blend mode.

And that’s it! Your Quick Tip of the day to add some sparkle & glow to your element. Try playing with the other blend modes to get additional cool effects.