Photoshop - Burnt Paper Edges

1. Create a new document 300 x 300 px and fill with white.

2. Create a new layer and with the Rectangular Marquee Tool, draw out a selection like the one to the right and fill with #F4E7C4

3.Now with the marching ants still going go to FILTER...Texture...Texturizer with these settings:

Texture: Canvas
Scaling: 100%
Relief: 5
Light Direction: Top Right

Deselect. The rollover image to the right will show you these initial stages.

4. Go to LAYER...New Adjustment Layer and select Curves. (Make sure you check the "Group with Previous Layer" box).
In the dialog box that appears, there will be a diagonal line in the main window. Carefully click on it and enter in the Input box 180 and in the Output box 32.

This will give the "paper" a deeper tone. There are several other ways of achieving this, but this one will do.

5. Now select the Freehand Lasso Tool and, making sure you're on the "Paper" layer draw out some rough edges, holes etc. making sure that you complete a selection (i.e. go right back to the starting point). Hit Delete and the rough edges and holes will be "punched out" of the paper.

Here we've also added a bit of Drop Shadow (LAYER...Layer Styles...Drop Shadow).

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