Basic Stationery




This tutorial is my own creation. Any resemblance to another is purely co-incidental. Please do not pull it apart and claim it as your own. Do not copy, translate or place on another site without my written permission. You are more than welcome to use this tutorial in a group setting, but please link to this page only.

Tools needed to complete this tutorial:-

Paint Shop Pro V9

A tube of your choice.

The tube used in this tutorial is used with permission from the very talented tuber Jazzl.


  1. Open a 1054 x 800 transparent image.

  2. Open your tube and using your eye dropper chose two complimenting colours from the tube for your foreground and background colour.

  3. Edit, copy your tube and you can now close it down.

  4. Edit, paste as a new layer onto the 1054 x 800 transparent image.

  5. Using your mover tool, move it close to the top left corner.

  6. Resize the tube if needed.

  7. In your layer palette, duplicate the tube layer and using your mover tool, move it towards the middle of the transparent image.

  8. Lower the opacity to around 35%

  9. In your layer palette, select the original tube layer.

  10. Effects, 3D Effects, Drop shadow and use the following settings:-

    • Vertical:      2
    • Horizontal:      5
    • Opacity:      75
    • Blur:      10
    • Color:      Black
    • Shadow on new layer:      UNchecked

  11. Make sure that layer 1 is the active layer and flood fill with the darkest of your two chosen colours.

  12. Add a new layer and flood fill with the lightest of the two chosen colours.

  13. Click on your selection tool and set it to ellipse.

  14. Set the feather to 25.

  15. Draw a long ellipse shape from the top of your tube to the bottom of the 1054 x 800 image.

  16. Selections, invert.

  17. Hit the delete key.

    (This doesn’t need to be exact)

  18. Once you’ve done this, if you want the ellipse shape further down, just use your mover tool to move it around.

  19. Add a texture to your background if you like.

  20. Add a new layer for your watermark.

  21. Merge all, flatten.

  22. File, Export, JPEG Optimizer and follow through the instructions.

  23. You can now take this into letter creator.




    ©AushortyDesigns – June 2006