In this pre-holiday lesson we will work on creating a vintage postcard. To obtain this effect, we will combine the texture of knitwear and the texture of old paper in Photoshop, as well as add vector elements that are characteristic for the New Year holidays.
Let’s start!
Materials for the lesson:
Step 1
Choose a template.
To work with a postcard, we use a ready-made template that can be taken in the archive.
Step 2
Unzip the archive and open the PSD file. Inside you will see a group of layers that can be adjusted to your taste. I will use the Page 1 layer, which, as you noticed, is a smart object.
Double-click the right mouse button on the thumbnail of the “Page 1” layer’s smart object to open it in a new document.
Inside the “Page 1” you will find another smart object called “Your Work”. Open this smart object (as in the previous step). This layer will serve as the basis for your Christmas design.
Step 3
Let’s start creating the cover.
In the picture below you can see that I added three new layers, on which I placed two rectangles and an ellipse. I also added to the white rectangle Layer Style – Shadow (Layer Style – Drop Shadow).
Now you can add a vector image of Santa Claus.
Step 4
Create a new layer. On it, add a festive winter elements: snowflakes, trees, bells or something else. To do this, you can use brushes or prepared images.
Step 5
Add text. To do this, create a new layer, activate the tool. Horizontal text 
(T), select the font size based on the total size of your work and write the desired phrase.
If you like the font that is used in the lesson, you can take it in the archive. How to install the font can be found by clicking on the link.
Step 6
Add textures. Save the knitted fabric texture to your source folder. Move the texture to the working document. Place the knitted texture layer on top of all previous layers. If necessary, scale the image of the texture so that it completely covers the white rectangle. Change blend mode (blend mode) to Hard light (Hard Light).
Step 7
Save both PSD files opened through a smart object thumbnail. Then close them. In the work area you should have only a document with an initial greeting card. For decorating the edges of the knitted texture brush-stitches are well suited.
Step 8
Along the edge of the card, which is not filled with fabric texture, you can add snowflakes using the tool Brush (Brush tool). You can leave the snowflakes flat, or use the Layer Styles and add a stamping effect (Layer Style – Emboss (Layer Style – Bevel and Emboss)).
Other items can also be used to decorate a postcard. For my work I chose a bow.
It seems to me that the red color more closely matches the theme of the New Year holidays. Therefore, I changed the color of the bow using the adjustment layers. Color tone \ Saturationl (Hue / Saturation) and Brightness \ Contrast (Brightness / Contrast).
To make the bow look more voluminous, add to it Shadow layer styles (Drop Shadow) and Inner shadow (Inner Shadow). You can use the settings shown below:
Step 9
We come to the final step. In order to make the card look even more interesting, add to it the texture of old paper.
This texture needs to be added to the two pages of the postcard, set the layer blending mode with the paper image to Multiplication (Multiply). Also experiment with filling (fill) paper texture layers.
The postcard is ready. I hope you enjoyed my lesson!
