Tutorial - Creating Frames Using Paint.NET

Many of you know I tend to use digital stamps and when I created this card last week using Bloobel Stamps I had a number of people ask me HOW I created the frames around them. I figured if there was that much interest it was probably worth doing a quick tutorial for you - I hope it helps.

Note - click on the photos to get a better look ;)

I tend to work on square cards so I like the canvas I'm working on the be the same to get a better idea of how the finished piece will look. To do this you need to set your canvas size.

Use the pop up window to set the dimensions you want to work with.

Using the Rectangle Tool and a thin Brush Width rough in your first part of the frame. From here on in the "Back" arrow will be your friend if you quickly need to remove the last step you have done. Once you move on the the next step you can only go backwards step by step.

Increase the Brush Width and draw in your second part of the frame - this can take a little bt of practice as you can't move the frames or change their dimensions once they are drawn. If you don't like the look just go back and re-draw until you do. If you look closely mine aren't perfect but who noticed once the card was done??? ;) 

To clear the inside of the frame choose the Magic Tool and click on the space. 

Hit Delete and it will become chequered which means there is no covering there and it's clear. Repeat with as many frames as you need for your project.

Simply Save As your frame to use again and again...and it can be added to as needed. 

Note - to keep the frame "cleared" of white space you MUST save it as a png file.

You can either layer your images in here or in Word. To do it in Paint.NET use the Import from File button under the Layers tab - you will need to resize your images but by dragging the corner while pressing the Shift key you will maintain it's proportions.

For my Bloobel card I coloured the space between the lines for a different look.

I have used the exact same steps here but I have made a single, larger frame and have inported the Aurora Wings digital image in behind it - the frame cleanly "cuts off" the image inside the frame letting you see what the finished result will be.

If you'd like to play with this here are the files I created for these two projects - simply click on them and save for your personal use  and ENJOY

I hope you have fun with this technique - my next challenge is to try it with circles ;)

I have also done more comprehensive tutorials using  Paint.NET which may help you understand it better and how the layering works, check them out - HERE and HERE