This tutorial was written in PSP 9 but can be done  in earlier versions

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For this tutorial you will need:

Xenofex 2 -Crumple & Burnt Edges Filter
A Map Image - a great place to look:
Perry-Castañeda Library
Map Collection
Photographs from a trip
Various tubes to go with your theme

Let's get started!

This tutorial was inspired by my recent trip to the Caribbean
 on the Queen Mary 2

Marble Background:

1. open a new canvas 100 x 100. Pick and light and a dark color in
the same color family that will go well with your map colors. 

2. Set the lighter color as Foreground and the darker as Background.
Click on your Foreground in the Materials palette and check the 
Texture box then scroll down to "galvanized metal" and select. 
Angel 0 Scale 100:
 
Select your Flood fill tool and fill with your 
dark color by right clicking, then fill again over top of this 
with your texture by left clicking. Easy marbled effect! You can
save this if you like it and want to use it another time. Minimize
it now for later:

Map Tag:

1. Open your map image (mine is a scan of one I purchased in the islands)
& resize it if it's really large ( mine is 616x437 and
it's still a little large but I will resize later) - promote 
to a layer if necessary by right clicking on "Background" in
the layers palette, Promote Background Layer.

2. In order for my map to not be too busy and interfere with the rest
of my images I want to lower the opacity, so create a new layer,
drag it below your map layer and fill it with a light neutral color.
In my case I filled it with white. Then click on your map layer to
select it and lower the opacity to around 50. Minimize for now:


3. Open up a vacation or other photo ( I'm using a pic of the Queen Mary 2
that I took from the pier in St. Kitts) and resize it to about 
250 x 160 if your map canvas is as large as mine or to a size that 
will fit nicely onto your map and still leave lots of room for other
embellishments. You may have to Sharpen your photo after resizing.

4. Make sure your photo is promoted to a layer if it says "Background"
in the layers palette. Go to Image/Canvas Size and resize both 
Height & Width by 20 pixels. You will have to uncheck the 
Lock aspect ratio option. My photo is 247x162 and I changed the
dimensions to 267x182:

5. Add a new layer in the layers palette and drag it to the bottom. Click
on your Foreground color, then on the Pattern tab and locate your
marble background we made earlier. It will be at the top. select it
then using your Flood tool, fill the bottom layer. 

6. Click on the top layer of your photo to select it and add a drop shadow
using these settings: H & V 1 Opacity 50 Blur 5. Repeat changing the
H & V to -1. Merge visible.

7. Repeat step 5 but add only 10 pixels to your height and width this time.
Flood fill your new layer which you dragged to the bottom with your
darker color. Merge visible. You should have something like this:

8. We're going to repeat step 5 one more time and add 30 pixels to your
canvas. Flood fill your new bottom layer with a neutral color 
picked out of your map. 
Choose something that co-ordinates nicely with your colors and 
will look nice with a burned edge effect.

9. Hide your top layer by clicking on the eye so that it's x'd out and
make sure your bottom layer is selected. Go to 
Effects/Alien Skin Xenofex 2.0/Crumple using these settings:

10. Go to Xenofex 2.0 again using Burnt Edges with these settings:
 
(I used the default burn color)

11. Add a drop shadow using the same settings as before adding one with
1,1 & another shadow with -1,-1.This is what you will have:
 
 Merge layers visible.

12. Finally we will position our photo on the map. Edit/Copy - now click on
your map to select it, then Edit/Paste as a new layer. Position to
a place you think it looks best. You may want to resize it some once
you see it on the map background. I resized mine 90%. You can use
the deform tool to angle if you like.
I left mine horizontal because I wanted the name of the island to 
show and I had a blank area on the lower left that I
didn't mind covering up:


13. Using your shapes tool set to rectangle with these settings:

 and set your 
background color to the beige or neutral color you used earlier,
draw out a rectangle large enough to hold some descriptive text of
your vacation. Mine looks like this:

 I created as vector so I could
fiddle with the size and placement easily. Once you're happy with it,
right click on that layer and covert to raster.

14. Apply the Xenofex 2.0 Crumple and Burnt Edges filter with the same 
settings as before:


15. Select your text tool and create as vector. Write out a title for
your trip. I used a brown shade that I picked out of the burnt edge. 
Add a drop shadow with the same settings.

16. This is where you get creative now, adding any tubes and embellishments
to go with your theme. Here's how mine looks after adding some text
of the ports I visited and some accents:


17. Hopefully you've left some room for your name! Add your text and apply
whatever effects you like. I ran my through Super Blade Pro and
added a drop shadow as before.

18. We're finally ready to finish our map! Right click and merge all layers
visible. Here is where you're going to resize it if you were working
large as I was. Just make sure that you do not check resize all layers!

19. Go back to Xenofex 2.0 Burnt Edges and apply with the same settings:


20. Select All/Selection Float and Modify Selection/Expand 10 pixels. Right 
click Promote Selection to Layer and drag to the bottom. Keep selected.
Flood fill with either your light or dark color from earlier. 

21. Apply the Crumple filter to this bottom layer. Keep selected still.

22. Expand this selection again by 10 pixels, Promote Selection to Layer and
drag this down under the last layer. Fill selection with a gold gradient,
pattern or color of your choice. This time apply the Burnt Edges filter.
You can deselect now.

23. Merge layers, visible. Add a new layer and drag this down to the bottom 
of the layers palette and fill with your marbleized pattern we made
in the beginning. Select the top merged layer and apply a drop shadow
twice, using the same settings, changing to -1,-1 for the second 
shadow.

24. Merge visible and crop away whatever extra background you have, leaving some so that it acts as a mat for your frame.

25. Frame your graphic with a simple bevel or something more elaborate. Add 
decorative corners to spice it up even more!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial.

Bratty Sweet Pea's Map
Wow this is gorgeous!

©3Angelz