Since Valentine’s Day is approaching, I decided to make a tutorial on how to create a Valentine’s Day Card. Here’s what we’ll be making:

Step 1

First off you have to download the texture pack that can be found here.  Or you can download only the image needed for the tutorial from my server here.

Next you need to get the heart that we’ll use, get it here. Or you can make one yourself.

Start off by creating a document of 1200×1200px at a resolution of 300dpi.

Step 2

Open the texture image, copy it (ctrl+a, ctrl+c) and paste it (ctrl+v) inside your document. Drag it up until you see the bottom of it (not the center as it is pasted in the document). You should have this image:

Step 3

Next we have to crop the image to delete the excessive texture. Ctrl+a and then crop it (Image>Crop). Then we have to find the middle of the image. Ctrl+r to bring up the ruler. Go over the top ruler and drag down a line to the center of the document. Do the same for the vertical line. It usually swaps automatically to the center of the image as you go with the line along your document.

Step 4

On a new layer (Layer>New>Layer), take the polygonal lasso tool

and make a selection like the one below. Start from the outer layer and go to the center and then back up again.

Step 5

Fill it with a red colour of your preference or take my example of red (#e60d00).

Step 6

Make another selection like in step 4 and fill it with red. Then take that layer and duplicate it (Layer>Duplicate Layer). Then flip it horizontally (Edit>Transform>Flip Horizontally) and place it on the left of your image. You should have this image:

Step 7

Merge those two layers (Layer>Merge Layers), flip it vertically (Edit>Transform>Flip Vertically) and place it in the lower half of your image. Your image should look like this:

Step 8

Make another two rays on the left and right of the image in the same way.

Step 9

Then change the layer to Darken.

The go to Blending Options (Layer>Layer Style>Blending Options) and select Drop Shadow, Inner Shadow, Gradient Overlay and Stroke. Then enter these values:

You should have this image:

Step 10

Because the image is too dark, create a new layer (Layer>New>Layer) and set it to Soft Light and 45% opacity. Take the Gradient Tool

change the colour to white and while holding Shift key (to make it perfect straight) draw a line from bottom up. The duplicate that layer (Layer>Duplicate Layer) and set it to Overlay with 45% opacity again.

Step 11

Create a new Layer (Layer>New>Layer) and create a circle holding down the Shift key (to make it a perfect one) using the Elliptical Marquee Tool

Set it to Soft Light. Open the Blending Options (Layer>Layer Style>Blending Options). Go to Inner Shadow and Outer Glow, and enter the following values:

Step 12

Then create a new Layer (Layer>New>Layer) and create another circle smaller than the first one. Set it to Vivid Light, opacity 80%. Open up Blending Options (Layer>Layer Style>Blending Options). Go to Inner Shadow and Outer Glow, and enter the following values:

There go to hue/saturation (Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation) and reduce the saturation by -50 and lightness by -35. You should have this image or a similar one depending on the size of your circles:

Step 13

Create a new Layer (Layer>New>Layer) and select the gradient tool, use the Radial Gradient

and make a small circle by clicking in the center of your image and dragging outwards. Lower the opacity of the layer to 70%. You should have this image:

Step 14

Paste in the heart provided at the beginning of the tutorial, or make one yourself.

Step 15

Create a new Layer (Layer>New>Layer) and select the gradient tool. Change the colour to black and make sure you have the Radial Gradient and “reverse” box selected. Make a similar gradient as we did in step 13. Click the center and drag outwards. Change the opacity to 75%.

You can stop here or you can continue and add a border and some writing. Follow on if you chose the second option.

Step 16

Create a new document double the width (2400×1200) and copy and paste your card in. From the card psd copy the last layer (the one with the shadow) and paste it in the document. Lower the opacity to 20%. Position the card image on the left and the shadow layer on the right. Take the horizontal type tool

and type in whatever you want on the right side of the card. I took this text over the internet! It’s full of Valentine texts. Check it out.

This card can be send via e-mail, post it online etc. If you want to print it, you’ll have to change the text part to be from the inside. I’ll let you think of how to do that!

Here is the finished image:

Source Files are unavailable for this tutorial! No Source Files