Custom shape help for CS3 pleas

I'm used to PSE6, where it automatically crops to the shape you draw out with the cookie cutter tool. But it doesn't do that in PS, at least for me,lol. All I get out of it is a rectangle or whatever shape that's drawn with a red line to define it. How do you *cut* out the shape?

What I do is rasterize the layer after I've drawn out the shape. Then I use the magic wand to select the shape and Ctrl J (Command J fo Mac maybe??) to cut shape to a new layer. You can also move the rasterized shape below the layer you want to take that shape and do a clipping mask. It's Ctrl Alt G on a PC for that. (Ok, you can do the second option without rasterizing. HTH)

Yeah you want to use a clipping mask. I usually do it using the layer palette. Put the paper you want to clip to the shape above the shape layer, put your cursor in between the two layers and then hold down the ALT key. Your cursor should change to what looks like two overlapping circles - click and it will create a clipping mask.

Tried holding the alt key. Lynette, this is frustrating,lol. All it did was toggle back and forth between the pages. I looked for help via google and found zip.
I think i'll start again tomorrow when my mind's sharper.

btw, ty

Hmm, the ALT key should work. You have to make sure your cursor is placed on the line between the two layers.

Here's directions from Adobe in case that helps (click where it says Create Clipping Mask): http://livedocs.adobe.com/en_US/Pho...WSfd1234e1c4b69f30ea53e41001031ab64-7853.html

I'm not sure what version of PS you have, but there are several ways to do it.

* Use the custom shape tool to make the shape you want
* Place the paper over it and keep the paper layer highlighted on the layers palette
* Hit ctrl+alt+g to create a clipping mask (you can also right click on the paper layer and select "create clipping mask")

Alternatively, you can make your paper into a pattern and use your blending options to add it to your shape. There are a couple other ways too, but those are the easiest. HTH!

Thanks Lynette. I'll check out the link. I was very tired and very, very frustrated at that point last night, lol. It was also extremely windy last night and the net was glitchy at staying on. So frustration levels were doubled,lol.
Thanks Sheri. I use CE3. I'm learning to translate all windows click actions to Mac,lol. The program is on the Macintosh, you see .