Thank you so much for the compliments. A lot of the stuff in my gallery was getting stale, so I thought I'd better add some new images or members would quit viewing it.
This is how I do my pulled pixel technique:
Open an image with a main subject that you want to use with the Pulled Pixel background.
Use the selection tools to select the main subject, then press Ctrl-J to copy the subject to its own layer.
Make the original image layer active and zoom in on the image to the maximum (1600%).
Use the Rectangular Marquee tool, and starting at the top edge, select a column down close to the middle of the image, ONE PIXEL wide, from top to bottom.
How many colors you get in your PP background depends on where in the image you make your 1-pixel wide selection.
Press Ctrl-J to copy that 1-pixel wide strip to a new layer.
Zoom out to about 700%
Hide the original photo layer by clicking on the eye to the left of it in the layers palette
Make the new layer with the 1-pixel wide column the active layer
Select the Move tool, then press Ctrl-T
Find the handles on the 1-pixel wide column in the middle of the image. Drag the right handle all the way to the right edge of the image. Drag the left handle all the way to the left edge of the image.
Double click the Hand tool to zoom the image out to screen size so you can see the whole image.
If the pulled pixel background is too intense, add a new blank layer beneath it and fill the blank layer with white. Then on the pulled pixel layer in the layers palette, lower the Opacity a bit until it looks better to you.
The brushes I used for the top are the Flydeco1 set mentioned in the thread on hi res brushes.
http://www.photoshopelementsuser.com...ad.php?t=23441
I used two corner brushes and then copied and pasted pieces from the corners to make the part across the top.
The lower edges and bottom was done with just the tips of a lace brush, which I rotated to go around the corners, then gave it a slight Gaussian blur.
Oh, I also used the quick and easy vignette effect to darken the edges of the pulled pixel layer with Filter > Correct Camera Distortion and pulled the Vignette slider most of the way to the left.
I think that's about it. The rose is a stock photo I've had for some time (I wish I snapped that photo!).
Diana