How To Recolor your Press Cards (a photoshop tutorial)

A lot of you have written in asking if it’s possible to change the colors of press cards files.  Yes, it is most definitely possible and ridiculously easy to do too! recoloring just takes a few simple (even if you’re a photoshop newbie) steps. There are a couple of different ways you can go about recoloring a layer in photoshop, I’m going to walk you through one of them. (Note: the steps and screenshots are written for CS5 but can easily be adapted to earlier versions of photoshop, including photoshop elements.)

STEP ONE – Open one of your press cards PNG (not pdf) files.  I’m using presscardno1-1.png in this tutorial.

STEP TWO – Click on layer style button at the bottom of the LAYERS PALETTE. (layer > layer style

STEP THREE – Select COLOR OVERLAY.  (layer > layer style > color overlay)

STEP FOUR – The LAYER STYLE window will come up. Click on the color swatch box (next to BLEND MODE) to bring up the color palette.

This window will pop up.  You can select your new color by clicking on the color spectrum or manually entering the RGB values.

You can also pick a color form the swatches palette (located at top right).

STEP FIVE – Once you’ve picked your new color, click OK on the SELECT OVERLAY COLOR window, then click OK on the LAYER STYLE window and there you have it.  Now you’re ready to print your newly recolored cards!

If you want to recolor a specific part of the file, like the word “PLACES” for instance, you’ll have to first isolate that object before applying the color overlay. Read on.

STEP SIX – Select the MARQUEE TOOL. We’ll be using the tool to select “PLACES”

STEP SEVEN – Place the mouse where you want to begin your selection (I start at the top left), then holding down the LEFT mouse button, drag the mouse to make your selection, then release the mouse button. You should now see a dotted outline around your selection.

STEP EIGHT – Right click on your mouse and select LAYER VIA CUT

STEP NINE – Because “PLACES” is in its own layer (layer 1) you can change the color without affecting the rest of the file.

STEP TEN – Follow Steps 1 – 5 to recolor PLACES (layer 1)

You can also do the reverse – apply a color overlay to LAYER 0. Or apply color overlays to BOTH layers.  Or isolate more objects (RIGHT NOW, THIS WEEK, etc.) from the file. Now that you know how to separate things out into its own layer you’ve opened up so many customization options! Have fun.

AN IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT YOUR PRESS CARDS FILES

In the process of writing this tutorial I ended up making layered psd files where the TEXT and the LABELS reside in its own layer.  Now you can easily recolor one or the other (or both layers!).  A few of you mentioned that you liked the look of the red labels paired with black text  so the PSD file is formatted this way but you can easily change the colors of either layers by following Steps 1 – 5 in the tutorial above. Hope you find this update helpful!

To access the updated files, just go back to the original download links that were sent to you when you purchased the kit(s).

Blog Comments

Thank you so much, was wondering how to do this this afternoon and now I know 🙂

Yay!

I’ve been wondering about this. thanks for the tutorial, Liz.

Hope you find it useful Debbie!

You are amazing! Thanks for this!

Shucks. Thank you.

I end up with a big box of color that you can’t see through. what am I doing wrong?

Sounds like you’re working in the PDF file, make sure you’re using the PNG file.

Liz, you are the BEST EVER!!!! You explained this so simply. Now I can really make my journaling cards unique to me. You are changing the way that I document my family. And I cannot thank you enough for all that you share! 🙂

Seriously? You just made my day Tracy. Thank you!!

I am seriously grinning from ear to ear. So excited now that I know how to edit the files and play around with these journaling cards in my PL album. THANK YOU! (Btw, directions were so clear and simple – thank you!)

Thank you so much for listening, Liz. I Googled it, but the tutorials I found were complicated. Learning PS can be so frustrating at times!

Thanks so much for the tutorial! I’ve always wondered how to create a layer from a selection! Now I know! 🙂 I figured out that in PSE 8, I had to add a fill layer using the little half-white/half-black circle button at the bottom of the layers palette (layer styles in not an option), choose “solid color”, then pick my color, and then finally clip the color layer to the layer that I made from the selection. It works! 🙂

Thank you for this! I was trying to figure out how to do it in PSE. 🙂 For the border stamp, I did the same thing, but used the magic wand to select just the stamp and then the paint bucket to “pour” the color into the selection.

What does “clip” the color layer mean?

Hello Liz
I was wondering, what is the difference between Png and Psd files? Better yet, what is Png.
I know I should goggle this:)
Thanks

[…] How To Recolor your Press Cards (a photoshop tutorial) – 1 freebie(s)? […]

thank you so much, this was so helpful! Off to play 🙂

just tried it! thanks so much!!
: )

wonderful tutorial liz! love these cards.

btw…would you consider making these cards in a 4×6 size? I have a project brewing in my brain and I would love to use your product to create it:)

Working on the 4×6 cards today. 🙂

Yay! Thanks for the quick reply and I’m totally looking forward to the cards.

I’m just now dabbling in digi scrappin’ and love both the “This Much” kit “Generations”. I keep dreaming of more pages to make:) Thanks for all you do!

[…] How to Recolor Journal Cards from Paislee Press […]

I am having trouble recoloring. I can’t find the LAYERS STYLE button in PSE10. I found “Layer Style” in the drop down menu but don’t see anything about color overlay. Has anyone else had this problem?

Read comment #8. 🙂

Is there a PSE tutorial for this?

Having broken or smashed windows or doors?

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