Design Masks Digital Scrapbooking with Photoshop Brushes: (Masterly Brushes Part 4)

Design Masks Digital Scrapbooking: Self-Paced Course | Adobe Photoshop & Photoshop Elements

Design your own custom FotoBlendz clipping masks — one of the most satisfying things you can build in digital scrapbooking. With Photoshop brushes, you have everything you need to design your own masks. This session of the Masterly Brushes series teaches you how: from establishing a design foundation, to building and refining your own artsy blended masks using three distinct techniques across seven in-depth videos.

Why Designing Your Own Custom Masks Changes Everything

A FotoBlendz mask does something no simple crop can. It lets your photo breathe into the page — edges dissolving, background emerging, image and design becoming one thing instead of two.

But a purchased mask can only take you so far. When you build your own, the mask fits your photo, your supplies, and your story — not a template someone else designed for a different page entirely.

In short, this session hands you the tools and the process. Furthermore, with three distinct design approaches covered in depth, you will find the method that suits your workflow — and have the skills to adapt it every time you sit down to create.

What You Will Learn in Design Masks Digital Scrapbooking

This session covers the full process of designing your own custom blended masks — from the first roadmap to the finished, editable result. Specifically, by the end, you will know how to:

• Establish a design foundation — use your photos and digital supplies as a roadmap so every brush decision has a purpose before you begin
• Use design principles with Photoshop brushes to guide brush selection, placement, and layering in a blended-style custom mask
• Work with both .abr and .png brush files — understand the advantages and disadvantages of each so you always choose the right format for the task
• Build custom masks using three distinct techniques — a pre-position approach, a grouped layers approach, and an inverse masking approach — so you can match the method to your process
• Apply the Clipping Mask function with confidence — and understand how to use layer groups to simplify and speed up your workflow
• Modify brushes mid-process to improve and refine your mask design as it develops
• Add visual interest and depth using Layer Masks, targeted blending modes, and subtle adjustments that make the finished mask look effortless
• Keep your custom mask editable — so it stays flexible and adjustable long after the initial design is done

The 7 Design Masks Digital Scrapbooking Videos

Video 1: Introduction (6 minutes)

An overview of the session, the three design approaches, and what to expect. It sets the context before the techniques begin.

Video 2: Use a Guide (24 minutes)

The foundation for everything that follows. You will learn why a design roadmap is central to successful custom mask creation, and how to establish one using your photos and digital supplies. Furthermore, this video covers the design principles that guide brush application from the very first mark.

Video 3: Design Techniques Part 1 — Option A (22 minutes)

The first complete design approach: pre-positioning brushes to build a blended-style custom mask. Specifically, this video covers how to access and view BrushSet files, when to use .abr versus .png, the power of layer duplication, and how to introduce layer groups to simplify the process. Every advantage and disadvantage of each technique gets explained here — so you always choose the right approach for the task.

Video 4: Design Techniques Part 2 — Option B (16 minutes)

The second approach: applying your photos to an abstract custom mask design. Covered here are the importance of grouping layers, an alternative approach for Photoshop Elements users, photo placement considerations, the Clipping Mask function, and brush modifications for refining the finished result.

Going Deeper: Advanced Techniques and Creative Inspiration

Video 5: Design Techniques Part 3 — Option 2 (22 minutes)

An inverse approach to custom mask design — clever, efficient, and particularly well-suited to artsy blended pages. Additionally, this video covers the empty masking technique, working with clipping sets, best practices for creative problem solving, and how to ensure your custom mask stays editable and in place.

Video 6: Optional Techniques (26 minutes)

Everything that takes a good mask to the next level. Layer Masks, brushes, targeted blending modes, subtle adjustments, and more ways to use layer groups creatively. Simple effects, complex results.

Video 7: Creative Team Layouts (36 minutes)

Seven layouts by the Anna Aspnes Designs Creative Team, with commentary by Anna. Includes three comprehensive layout deconstructs — so you can see exactly how the techniques come together on a finished page.

Who Is This Design Masks Digital Scrapbooking Session For?

This session is for the digital scrapbooker who is ready to go beyond purchased masks and start designing their own. In particular, it is a great fit if any of the following sound familiar:

• You love FotoBlendz masks and want to understand how to build your own version from scratch
• You have Photoshop brushes and want to use them for something more purposeful than decoration
• Layer groups, clipping masks, and blending modes are tools you own but haven’t yet used together with confidence
• You want your pages to feel more artsy and blended — and you are ready to learn how that actually gets built
• You work in Adobe Photoshop or Photoshop Elements — both are covered, with verbal and written guidance for Elements throughout

Note: This session is for personal use only. Digital designers can access a limited commercial use licence separately.

What Is Included in Design Masks Digital Scrapbooking

• 7 Video Sessions — approximately 2.5 hours of instruction delivered in .MP4 format. Download and watch on your computer, or load into iTunes for viewing on a smart device. Demonstrated in Adobe Photoshop CC, with verbal and written guidance for Photoshop Elements throughout.
• Comprehensive Written Course Content — detailed written guidance in .PDF format, covering both Photoshop and Elements
• Anna Aspnes DigitalART Supplies — digital supplies included so you can recreate the class project from the first video
• BONUS BrushSet MegaPack — 60 Anna Aspnes Designs brushes in .abr and .png format, exclusive to this course and designed specifically for building custom FotoBlendz-style masks. Includes .abr files for both Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements.

This is a self-paced course. You can download all content immediately after purchase.

More Resources

• About the Masterly Brushes Series
• Create your first layout in Adobe Photoshop and Elements (with FREE Digital Scrapbook Supplies)
• ArtPlay Palettes by Anna Aspnes Designs at Oscraps

Course Availability

What Makes This Session Different

This is not a single technique tutorial. Instead, the session covers three complete design approaches in full — so you can choose the one that fits your process, your photos, and your supplies. Furthermore, because Anna explains all the advantages and disadvantages of each technique explicitly, you will not just learn what to do — you will understand why. That understanding means you can adapt the method whenever your page calls for something slightly different.

Additionally, the Creative Team video makes this session genuinely useful beyond the instruction itself. Seeing seven different layouts built from the same techniques — with full deconstructs on three of them — shows you the range of what becomes possible once the skills are yours.

The Mask You Design Is the One That Fits

A purchased mask is somebody else’s design applied to your photo. A custom mask is built around your photo — your supplies, your story, your page. This session shows you how to build it.

Ultimately, the best mask is the one you made yourself. This session gives you everything you need to do exactly that.

Got questions? Email anytime at classes@annaaspnesdesigns.com