If you would like to see a fully-illustrated tutorial or would like to learn how Cassie turned her photos into an illustration using blending modes and filters, download her tutorial, “How’d They Do That? No. 11: Sticker Art” available at Designer Digitals.

Here are the steps for turning an extracted photo into a sticker:

1.  
   1. Create a new layer and position it beneath your extracted image layer in the Layers palette.
   2. Cmd/Ctrl-click on the thumbnail of the original extracted image layer in the Layers palette to make it an active selection.
   3. Go to Select > Modify > Expand. Type a value of 20 pixels and click OK.
   4. Go to Select > Modify > Smooth. Type a value of 10 pixels and click OK. (This step helps avoid jagged edges).
   5. Press the D key to reset your foreground/background colors.
   6. Press Cmd/Ctrl-Delete to fill the active selection with white. Press Cmd/Ctrl-D to deselect.
   7. Click on the extracted photo layer in the layers palette, hold down the Cmd/Ctrl key and click on the white sticker layer to select both layers.
   8. Click the chain link icon in the Layers palette to link them all together. You could also merge them into one layer if you know for sure that you won’t want to change anything (Layer > Merge Layers, or Cmd/Ctrl-E). 

Cassie’s Sticker Technique from “Life Online” (Pg. 58, October/November 2008 issue)