Alphas & Styles

re the alphas, to line them up, in photo shop CC (PSE shown in last screen shot) under Layer>Align you can align your alphas when you place them on your page.. you can even center them (distribute) too with the horizontal/vertical on align .. spacing between the letters etc. by using the Top Tool Bar or by the drop down menu under Layer>Align or Layer>Distribute

Here are two screen shots with the Align and Distribute options using the sample alpha Worn Character by Kim Jensen



1) Open up your Alpha and place on your page.
2) to line up place all the alpha letters next to each other.
3) for g’s y’s p’s and q’s they should have the base of their letters line up with the non hanging letters and the tails or hanging portions should be
level.
4) Add a guide line to help for placement until you get used to it.
5) to get even spacing or even aligning, highlight all layers of the alpha in your layer panel and then use the tools for even spacing between the letters vertically or horizontally.




PSE:


Re styles... not sure besides shadows what you have bought but you can use on fonts and papers etc. I often use the glitter ones to glitter confetti or give texture to a paper. Start with a large chunky font and play with your styles or with a paper and add texture or confetti and add glitter and play with the styles.

Hope this helps!

 

re styles Jennifer, I know you said you had a lot of them and were asking for some suggestions how to use them. I hope my explaining how I use some of the non shadow styles is a help to you

I do hope you found the alpha lining up screenshots and information that I wrote up for you, helpful as well.

 

@littlekiwi The watercolor you can use on papers just like many others. The glitter styles again most of the styles there can be used on shapes, fonts etc.

 

I'm not into alphas for the most part. If I do use alphas, it is usually the ones with the kit since I don't mix and match. But more often, I will just use a font and clip or fill it with a paper from the kit. Or use a color from the photos or kit when making it.

Good luck figuring it out.

 

Sometimes by color, sometimes by texture. Art Journaling would be a more grungy style. That is how I choose if I am not fond of an alpha. I also may use one letter of the alpha and mix that with a font for the title too...

I really love typewriter button alpha by Paula Kesselring as well as others she has, Rachel's and CD Mucosky alphas and Kim Jensen has some I really love.. Capricious being one of my favs plus rusty ones.

some samples & why I chose that way:
art journal style grunge
Rachel Jefferies | Captivating Basics - Stamped Alpha 01
https://the-lilypad.com/store/Captivating-Basics-Stamped-Alpha-01.html

art journal style grunge
CD Muckosky | Urban Scribbles - ABCs
https://the-lilypad.com/store/Urban-Scribbles-ABCs.html

By color/style
Heather Joyce | Hand Drawn Alpha 4
https://the-lilypad.com/store/Hand-Drawn-Alphas-No.4.html

by kit
Mommyish | Somebunny Special Digital Kit
https://the-lilypad.com/store/Somebunny-Special-Kit.html

by color/grunge/worn look for age style of page
Kim Jensen | Worn Character Alphas
https://the-lilypad.com/store/Worn-Character-Alphas.html

by color/grunge/worn style
Kim Jensen | Oxidized Alphas (cream, yellow & mint)
https://the-lilypad.com/store/Oxidized-Alphas.html

for numbers
Paula Kesselring | Typewriter Alphas 1 & 2
https://the-lilypad.com/store/Typewriter-Alpha-1-and-2.html

Grungy style- (also to me coffee & newspaper go together)
Kim Jensen | Recycled Newspaper Alpha
https://the-lilypad.com/store/Recycled-Newspaper-Alpha.html

more sharp and clean.. mix of 2 alphas an ink and a clean alpha
Pink Reptile Designs | CU - Inky Alpha No 1 (no longer in store)
https://the-lilypad.com/store/CU-Inky-Alpha-No1.html
Pink Reptile Designs | Choices - Kit (no longer in store)
https://the-lilypad.com/store/Choices-Kit.html

mix alpha & font
Kim Jensen | Oxidized Alpha
https://the-lilypad.com/store/Oxidized-Alphas.html

 

I love Christa's examples! when I was a guest Polly here, I used more alphas, I tried to use different alphas from the designers I was working with releases or SOSN. As I'm usually working with CT kits, I tend to use their own products.
but there are some alphas that I love, the stamped ones - by Rachel, Paula, CD Muckosky. I also love small ones like "
Worn Scuffed Chipboard Alpha" by Sahlin studio. I noticed that before, like years ago, I used to mix and match many different alphas...now I simply use wordarts and alphas from the kits...

 

Alphas and Styles are both things that I tag the previews. That way I can just bring up the alpha previews and see which one I want.

For Alphas, I usually decide based on if I'm titling my layout, and how much depth I want the title to have. I will check out if there's one in the kit first, to see if it fits. But, if there's no alpha, and I want one, then I bring up my alpha previews. I will decide before I go looking if I want big letters or small ones, and heavy or light to the weight of the alpha.

Like this layout is a fun silly page. It's also very busy pattern wise, so I knew my title would need to be a thicker alpha if I wanted it to stand out:


This title: I knew I wanted to use the watercolor alpha, because it went well with the exhibit. However, I didn't want it to draw away from the large photos. Having the whole word in the watercolor alpha pulled too much attention onto the title and away from the photos, but the softer vellum alpha has a similar feel without pulling the attention. So, I combined them together.


This layout has lots of layers, so I knew a flat alpha would work best. I tend to default to stamp alphas when I want a flat title, especially if it's not layered on other things. If it is, I tend to go with a flat paper looking alpha.


Playing with alphas has helped me get to the point where I can decide how heavy a title should be. I don't use alphas for journaling. If I need a thin title, and there's no alpha in the kit, or I'm in a hurry, I default to a font.

 

Styles - if I recall, you have photoshop CC right now, correct?

Photoshop CC lets you rearrange styles into folders. I've used it to create folders for my shadows, but I also will add in styles that match that shadow element. For example, my epoxy folder. It has an epoxy shadow as well as epoxy styles. That works for me. It may not work for you.

The other thing I will do is add a new style that I want to use to the top of my style sets. That way it's right there and I'm more likely to grab it. CC will also let you rename style sets, so I do. I add on a descriptive word - like glitter or thicker or emboss or stamps. Then I purposefully will look down the style list and read those words to decide what I want to add to my page.

Organizing styles in this way helps me to use them more often. This is also a spot where I will play with a style or two if I know I want that item to have something, but can't decide what. I'll add a metal style, a sticker style, a flair, and decide what feels right on my layout.

 

Oh! I was going to add - Quite often, I don't worry about this. I eyeball it, and let it go. Even when I paper scrapped and used a ruler I always ended up with letters not quite lined up, and it goes with my style. So - not something I worry about. I call it character.
Like, the grumpy old women above. It probably looks lined up at first glance. But, look at the bottom of the letters and the line. Yep - not all lined up.
Van gogh - because it's all caps, I used the trick above from Christa.
Selfie - Not even pretending to be lined up perfectly.

If it's something important to you, then work with the alignment tools. But, if it's not, then embrace the slightly off and don't worry about it.

 

As you have also enlightened me in the past.. there is a search in the style area of PSCC (along with brushes etc I think) that you can search by .. say shadows and the all come up or glitter etc .. it really helps find a style you want to use

 

Yep! There is:
Styles


Brushes:


Especially helpful if you forget how you filed one, but you know it's name! (I'm looking at you scatter shadow by FDD!)