By now you have noticed and possibly shopped the Doily Trend Watch. You might have played along with the Trend Watch Challenge. Continuing the doily theme check out the latest episode of The Hybrid Variety Show where a slew of doilies are on display. Today, you guessed it, more doily talk! I am going to share with you some tips on shadowing doilies. I took photos of both lace and paper doilies as a point of reference for creating shadows. This visual reference will help aid in creating realistic shadows. In looking at the photos you can see that the doilies do not lay perfectly flat. The shadow beneath the doilies varies in darkness and in depth. Let’s talk about the different types of doilies that are available as digital products. There are all sorts of doilies available for purchase. The sample image below includes the most common doilies.   Now that you have seen the different types of doilies I can further demonstrate how to add a shadow to a doily. In the sample below the doily has too much shadow and appears to be floating above the background paper.

In the sample below the doily has too little shadow and is lying too close to the background paper.

In the sample below the doily has just the right amount of shadow. These are the drop shadow settings I will use when a doily is tucked under a lot of other layers on my layout or when I am short on time.

Now that you have an idea of the settings needed to create a nice shadow on a doily, let’s take it a step further and create a more realistic shadow.

In the image below the warp tool is used to manipulate the shadow layer for realism.

There are other ways to manipulate the shadow layer. Smudging is an option I like to use, because I can really control what parts of the shadow layer I am manipulating. In the image below the smudge tool is used.  

I hope these tips help you create fabulous shadows for the doilies on your next layout or project! If you haven’t played the Trend Watch Challenge there is still time. If you play you could win a $5 gift certificate!