Creating the background of the tile

Open a new 40 pixel wide by 2000 pixel high canvas (File > New). The Color doesn't matter because we'll be covering it anyway.

Drag out a 40 x 2000 pixel rectangle. To make sure it is centered on the canvas, choose Commands > Document > Center in Document. Add the pattern you created to the rectangle (Effect panel: Fill > Pattern > Olive_stripe). You have completed the background of your background tile. :-)

Laying in colors

If you don't already have Rulers and Guides turned on, choose View and select Rulers. To enable Guides and Snap to Guides, choose View > Guides > Show Guides, and then View > Guides > Snap to guides.

Click on the top ruler and drag downward to create two horizontal guidelines. Double click on the first guideline to open the Move Guide dialog box.

Enter the number 50 in the position box and then click on OK. Double click on the second guideline. Enter the number 515 in the position box of the Move Guide dialog box. Click on OK to accept the changes and close the dialog box.

Open the Stroke panel and set the stroke to Pencil, 1-pixel hard, color = black. Open the Fill panel and set the fill color to #999966. Click on the Rectangle tool and drag out a rectangle from the guideline at the 50 pixel mark to the guideline at the 515 pixel mark, making sure the rectangle extends beyond the boundaries of the canvas on both the right and left sides. We want the stroke to be visible only at the top and bottom of the rectangle.

Drag two more horizontal guidelines and place them at the 80 and 485 pixel positions. Change the fill color to #CCCC99 and the stroke color to none. Click on the rectangle tool and drag out a rectangle between the guidelines at the 80 and 485 pixel positions, remembering to extend the rectangle past the edges of the canvas on the right and left sides. Note: the examples on the right are shown at 50% of the actual image size.

Embossing

Although you could create the embossed effect by using the Inner Bevel or Raised Emboss feature of the Effect panel (Effect panel: Bevel and Emboss > Raised emboss), a much more subtle effect is created by drawing it in manually. Here's how:

Drag new horizontal guidelines to positions 400, 410, 418, 428, 436, 446, 454, and 464. Deselect all objects on the canvas (Edit > Deselect, or click in the active window beyond the edge of the canvas). Change the stroke color to #E2E2C6. Click on the Line tool, and following the guides, draw horizontal lines at postions 80, 410, 428, 446, and 464.

Deselect all objects and change the stroke color to #999966. Click on the line tool, and following the guides, draw horizontal lines at positions 400, 418, 436, and 454. That's it! Export your background tile as a GIF.

If you'd like to see the image tiled again, click here.

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