[donakat]

Originally Posted by MamaSchwich

Help! I am dying here... I have tried so many times to add drop shadows in my template, and it just isn't working. I have watched and read so many tutorials that kind souls here have pointed me to, but they all say, "Add drop shadows as needed." ACK! If I knew how, I would :-)... I have been trying to add it to the template layer (advice I found here) by selecting that layer, then choosing the "drop shadows" in my effects>styles palette, and dragging my preferred button over both the layer in the palette or the actual page in the working space itself. Neither one does anything. I can see the shadow on the unclipped item, but once it is clipped, you can't see a shadow.
I have tried adding the shadow both before and after clipping, neither one makes a difference. To be fair, I am certainly a newbie, and am just finally feeling like I get how the whole layers thing works. But I have been able to follow every tutorial so far, and every time when I get to the shadows part, they just say, "add as needed". PLEASE, please, please, I beg you, please can you tell me what I am doing wrong?
I can easily add drop shadows in MDS, and often just create my elements in PSE and import into MDS and add shadows there. I can't import templates there, however, so if I want to use templates and participate in desktop challenges, etc..., I need to figure out how to fix this crazy problem I am having.
Thanks for sticking with me!

LoriJoy,
Once you've clipped your paper or photo to the shape and are happy with it, then merge the clipped layer down to the shape layer. Adding a shadow now should make it appear. You can adjust the density and size of the shadow once it's on that layer. The way to add shadows is to choose the merged layer and add the shadow style by clicking on it in the style palette (that's for Photoshop, I assume it's pretty much the same in PSE). To edit the style, double-click on the icon for the effect in the layers palette.
Hope this applies and helps you.