DarriansFrames

For those that have never installed a font here are some basic instructions: Note these instructions are based on an HP XP and may vary depending on your operating system.

Go to your start on your computer  click on your .  Then click on appearance selection. .

Click on the fonts tab

Your fonts folder will open and it looks like this:
 

Unzip the font from above open up the folder that you unzipped it too.  Click on the font's name so it is highlighted and drag it into your Font folder above and your done.

Now lets get started. 

1.  Open a new image 500 x 500 transparent.

2.  Click on you  tool and find the Darrians Frames Font and choose the letter that will represent the frame you want to use.  I used the lower case e at font size 72.   Follow my other settings for the font and make sure vector is set. 

When you use it the size will be small and will look like this:

3. Notice the box around it, and the little tiny box that also are around it.  Those are called handles and are used to change the appearance of the image.

4.  With your mouse click on one of the bottom handles and hold down your left mouse button and pull the handle down to make the frame larger.  In the center of the image is a small circle if you take your mouse and click on that circle and hold your left mouse button down you can once again reposition your image in the center.  Grab a hold of it and move it around so you see the results.  Once you have your image back in the center you can continue to grab the lower handles to resize it to your desired size.

5.  Were going to color inside of the frame so make it large enough that when you use your magic wand in it that the area you want to select is pretty much covered.

6.  Now that you have your frame made go to your layers and right click on the vector and convert it to a raster.   Right click on the raster and rename it frame.

7.  Duplicate your Frame and right click on the copy of it and rename it mnbk.  This will be the process through the entire tag.  For each section that you select your must duplicate the original frame so you can change just that section that you need to change.

8.  Depending on your frame that you choose will depend on how much you will need to use your magic wand .  My frame has lots of small areas so in order for me to get all of the center so it looks right I had to do a lot of selecting.  To choose multiple selected spots at one time hold down your shift key as your using your magic wand and you will see that your choices will stay like so:

Note:  Make sure your duplicated frame layer is activated when making your selections with your magic wand. That layer is called mnbk.

9.  Go to selections/modify/expand by 1.  With your center of your frame selected choose a color from the tube that you would like to place in the center of the frame.  Flood fill each selected spot with the color.

10.   Now with your center still selected (with the marching ants) go to your tube and right click on it and copy it.  Then go back to your duplicated frame and right click on the center of it and "paste into Section".

11.  Mine now looks like this:

12.  Go to selections and select none.

13.  Okay you should now have the basic idea of placing backgrounds and even images into your frame.  Were going to move on and add color to our frame and stain glass it.

14.  Go back to step 7 and duplicate the original frame.  Remember to do this every time you go to color a new selection. Rename each duplicated section so you know what your working on.  For demonstration I will cooler the leaves of my frame.  Note:  Make sure that each new duplicated frame is activated each time you add a new color.  Remember to go to selections/modify expand by 1 for each new color

My leaves now look like this. 

14.  Now that you have your new area colored go to effect/3d effects/inner bevel and using my settings below give you new colored selected area a brand new look.  Follow my bevel settings.

15.  My leaves look like this now:

16.  Finish up through the rest of your frame, remember to duplicate the original frame for each new color that you use, so that when you inner bevel the only thing effected will be the "New Color portion" that you just added.  Remember for every new duplicated frame to rename it so you know what portion of the frame your working on.

Add your name if you like, merge it all visible and export it as a gif