Filling in the bottom portion of the template

1. On the layer pallet. Make sure that the layer "Popcorn Bottom - Selection" is highlighted. To do this just click your mouse over the text. To see what it it is suppose to look like, it is highlighted on the previous image. (Sorry. you need to check on the previous page)

2. Make sure the template is still highlighted. (again shown on the previous image). To do this just click your mouse on the top bar of the image.

3. Now go to "selections" "load from disk" and select "popcornbottom".

4. You should see "the dancing ants" on the image on the lower portion of the template. If you see it, then you have selections mastered. I know, slap yourself on your forehead and say....Not as hard as I thought.

5. Now, your flood fill tool should already be highlighted, yep. in the previous image again, and click on your image. Your background should should be filled in the bottom portion of the template.

6. Click on "Selections" "Select None". Your dancing ants should disappear.

7. Now minimize your template. We will now have a little fun with filters.

Using Simple Filters "Streamer"

1. Highlight your background image. We will test to make sure the image is ready to add filters. .jpg files are ready. But even if you are using a .jpg file, go through these steps so you are familiar with it for later on down the line.

2. With your background image highlighted. Click on "colors" "increase color count" and click on "16 milliaon colors-24bit". We do this because most filters won't work unless the image is 16 million colors. So if you are working with a filter and it won't work. 99% of the time this is the reason.

3. Go to "effects" and at the bottom of the screen your filters should be there. Look for Harry's Filters. I have lots of filters but this is what you are looking for:

4. You should get this box from Harry's Filters. These are the settings that you need to make your 100% matching stripes. Gotta love this. Now you can color coordinate with no problem at all.

After you get these settings then click o.k.

I think this is a nice part of this tutorial because we are going to do a lot of repeating of what we just did. I will go through it quickly. If you can get through it without looking back, then give yourself a pat on the back. If you need to go to the previous pages, that's o.k. The objective is to learn some techniques. Also, I found that a lot of tutorial writers assume you know what you are doing. I do not. And this should get you used to reading the standard tutorials.

1. Click on "Flood Fill" load the stripped background.

2. Click on our template Image.

3. Change your layer to "Popcorn Top - Selection"

4. Go to "Selections" "load from Disk" "popcorntop.sel"

5. The top portion of the template should have the dancing ants. If so flood fill with the stripped background.