TTT: Making an alpha

Hi everyone! Today I want to share with you an easy-peasy way to make your own alpha. This can be a great way to supplement your stash, and if you make your own, you’ll be able to customize to your heart’s content!

**I am using Photoshop CS3 for this tut. For those of you using PSP, Fran helped me out with a tutorial just for you. It will follow the PS tut.

Open a blank page in your program. I make my alphas on one 12×12 sheet. Draw your font box, choose your font, and set it to a large size (mine was set at 150).

Now comes the fun part…the decorating!! I am a style junkie (in Photoshop, not clothes LOL), so I am going to use It’s a Slumber Party {glitter styles} on my alpha. To stylize your alpha, make sure that the font layer is selected in the layers palette, and then click on the style that you want to use. Voila, your alpha now has some style!

Now, we could leave it at that, but I want to add an outline to add some definition to my alpha. On your font layer, double click on ‘Effects’ to bring up the Layer Style box. Select ‘Stroke’ at the bottom left of the box.

After selecting stroke, you can change the size and color of your outline. I’m going to use a white outline, and I’m setting the size at 15px. For me, an outline of 15px works well for a sticker effect.

And that’s it…the last thing to do is to save the alpha as a PNG file.

For our PSP users:

Pick a nice chunky font in a very large size, like 150 point. Type your word(s). Add the paper you wish to use as a new layer, I usually do it just under the font layer, so I can size it how I want, if there is a pattern. Go back to the font layer and change it to a raster by right clicking and “Convert to Raster Layer”. Then choose:

Selections > Select All
Selections > Float (this will precisely outline your text)
Selections > Invert

Then go to your paper layer and tap the Delete key to remove the excess. Either delete the typed layer or move it under your pretty paper. You could stop here, but if you want an outline around your image, follow the next step.

Do Selections > Select All and Selections > Float on the paper layer again.

Now choose:

Selections > Modify > Expand. Choose a number as you desire, I usually choose around 10-25, depending on my needs.

Then move under your pretty paper layer. If you wish to color fill a solid color, choose the color you wish, ie white, and choose the Flood Fill (F) command and click inside your marching ants.

If you wish to use another paper for your outline, do Selections > Invert again. Add another paper as your new layer underneath your first paper and tap delete. Then you can either shadow each paper layer or merge together before shadowing, however you desire.

Take a look at how Fran’s title turned out! She used Trixie Scraps’ Defining Me, which you can purchase at Scrap Matters and Gotta Pixel.

For those who can’t use Photoshop Styles, Trixie Scraps also includes individual PNG sheets for non-Photoshop users in each of her {glitter styles}…these can be clipped to your alpha just as you would clip something in a template.
You could also clip a photograph or a paper from a kit to your font to create an alpha. And in addition to alphas, you could make frames…custom shapes…the possibilities are only limited by your imagination.
I hope this has encouraged some of you to try something new! Have a wonderful week, friends.
Get ready, get set,