Thank you for all the responses!

The types of actions I'm talking about are like curled paper or bow actions. Many of them seem to be glorified layer styles but when you start with a blank page and... voila, a satin bow appears, how does that happen when you can't record brush strokes or vector shapes with the pen tool. Can you "embed" patterns or shapes or something? For instance if you have the bow outline and shading completed, can you "define as pattern" and then during the action, set the pattern, apply color and that's all there is? (assuming the pattern gets packaged neatly in the .atn file) 

I'm just curious... I'm the kind of person that likes to know how it all works... especially the things I can't figure out on my own!

I'll check out that book, Steve.  If anyone knows about actions, it's sure to be the guy from actionfx.com!

Thanks for the tips! I'll do some tests to see which works best for me!

 I agree with you about the actions! I have several that I like but they just create effects not an actual "thing".  Most of the ribbons appear to be vector shapes with black or white gradients for the "effect". I liked the satin ones because up until a few days ago, I didn't think they could be accurately drawn/painted without some expensive 3D rendering software. (Definitely NOT the case!)

One more quick question about the bow painting... and I'll leave you alone :)

When you begin painting a bow/ribbon/flower, etc. and you know it will eventually be in multiple colors, is there a specific color that you create in so that you have the most choices on colors (without losing the depth or contrast)? Also, what do you find to be the best way to recolor them? Curves is the only way to modify colors that I'm really familiar with (and then I use CMYK because of my print background!). (oops... I guess that was two questions!)

Very helpful... just need practice and I'm thinking I need to team up with Wacom :)  My "highlight areas" just look like white paint. Everything kind of looks flat. It seems that the wider the area of color, the more difficult it is for me to "smoosh" around. I've been using a trackball for the past 10 or so years and while I have great control, a tablet would make a world of difference!

My "day job" is in the printing industry so the majority of my photoshop experience is photo manipulation (any art that I've done has been created in Illustrator). I used to use Painter quite a bit (when it was still a MetaCreations entity) but now it appears that I can do many of the same types of things in PS. I just have to practice, practice, practice! After I've mastered the art of satin smooshing, I'm going to purchase the flower painting tutorial. Seems like you can just reach out and touch those rose buds! Actually, I was googling bow actions when I happened upon jaguarwoman.com and through the resource page, found this page. Sure glad I did! I'd rather do my own thing than have an action do it for me!

 Lucie,

I just figured out that I've been working on your Satin Bow painting tutorial all afternoon! I looked at your website and noticed your name. Small world, huh?! 

Thanks again!

 Thank you Lucie that is exactly what I'm looking for! I did everything the same but rasterize as a smart object. In the past I've been fudging them on multiple layers and just dealing with the warped effects (even tried masking them with strategically placed blurs and drop shadows). Most people never noticed but it's the kind of thing that bugs me!

Thanks again! I appreciate you taking the time to do a mini tutorial for me.

 I'll check it out, Thanks!

 Great! Thank you Lucie!

 I tried the tutorial but there is no option to include overlaps like there is in Illustrator. Even when I rasterized  the layer and deleted or masked a portion of the image, the bevel still changed. I'm guessing my only option is to save a png of that layer and position it over the top and delete the portions I want showing through.

The sample is a screenshot from jaguarwoman.com that shows what effect I'm hoping to achieve. The "f" could be on a different layer, however the "C"  and the "t" show what I would like to accomplish.  The capital C shows how the bevel effect clearly does not change on the overlapped portion or on the part underneath. My ultimate objective is to apply the "over and unders" to complex filigree patterns where I could change the effects as needed for whatever project I'm working on.

Thanks again!