From Alpha to Zeta

You've seen those cute alphas out there and now you've been introduced to the joys of fonts.

But did you know that you can use fonts to make your own alphas or titles? You sure can and it is pretty easy.

I would suggest you use wide fonts such as: Yard Sale by Harold's Fonts, Halloween Spider by Claude, Singer Mears by Corianton Hale or the one I used in my layout below for the year, Shortcut by Eduardo Recife Fonts.

Start by opening the font and minimizing it. Remember you don't need to nor do you want to install these fonts in your system font folder.

Pick out the background you want to use for your alpha or title (I'm using a background by Brenda Mascari in the "Bewitched" collaboration); then go to Layers>promote background layer.



Locate you font in the font pull-down and select.



If you have your font set to floating you will have to make a new layer.



It doesn't matter what color you chose for the font as we will be deleting this layer later. Type in the letter of the alphabet or the title. If you had vector selected as your font creation, you will need to right click on the vector layer and convert it to a raster.



On the font layer: control+a, control+f, control+shift+f.



Click on the background layer and go to Selections>Invert



Hit delete on the keyboard. Control+d. Select the font layer again and delete it.



Control+a, control+f, control+shift+f. Go to Image>Crop to Selection.



And now you have your own personalized "alpha" title.



And examples using the fonts I listed above:



This come in especially handy when you have an alpha that does not include numbers; such as my 2008 in the layout below.

Template by my2monkeys; Bewitched (c)Candy Treats,
Brenda Mascari & Designed by Stina; Font: Shortcut

A guide line to Alpha

And I don't mean Centauri, but those cute pre-made alphabets that come with some kits or can be downloaded by themselves. They are fondly referred to as alphas and they are not fonts.

They can come as fulls sheets (as shown), individual alphas or both.


To use a full sheet, marquee around the tallest character you will be using. Edit>copy; then Edit>paste as a new image. (You will be repeating this for each character you will need. *See note at end if you have duplicate characters)


The next shows the one I copied from a full sheet next to an individual alpha (this alpha set came with both)


At 100% they actually are the same size. The difference being all the space around the copied image. If you are using a copy from a full sheet, you will need to: control & a (select all); control & f (float); control & shift & f (defloat). The go to Images>crop to selection.


Now you are going to want to size it. Looking at my layout, I know that I want the tallest character to be 1/2 inch tall.


Going back to the alpha: Image>resize (shift & s). AFTERTHOUGHT NOTE: Even though the panels show capital letters for keyboard shortcuts, use the lowercase letters.


In your resize dialogue box make sure the resolution is set to the measurement you use (inches or centimeters). Mine, for some reason always defaults to centimeters. In the Print size area fill in the height box. I set mine to .5; next and very important, in the pixel dimension area set it to percent. Write down the percentage number (46% on mine). This is the box and the number you will use to resize the rest of your alphas.


Copy/paste or drop/drag to your layout, then get the next alpha. Instead of putting the height in the print size area, you will put your percentage number in the pixel dimension area. Although they won't be the same size height wise they will be in proportion. Continue with remaining alphas, putting them on the layout as you finish with them. NOTE: Make sure that if you are working with individual alphas that you close them WITHOUT saving.


As you copy/paste or drag/drop the alphas will be centered on the layout. Not to fret they are on separate layers and easily moved. That is where we are headed now.


The easiest way to place the alphas is in a straight line using a guide line. Under view, make sure that rulers, guides and snap to guides is checked. Then click on the change grid, guide & snap properties.


In the properties dialogue box click on the guide tab. If the snap influence isn't already set to 15 change it to that in both boxes, change the guide colors if the color (click on the bottom color box) will be hard to see on your layout and okay.


Back on the layout, place the cursor on the ruler bar. Left click, hold and drag down a little way and release. This is just a temporary placement as PSP has a tendency to freeze if you try and place it precisely while holding it. Besides there is an easier and more accurate way.


Next you have to decide where you want your alphas to be placed. I'm working on a 12x12 layout and wanted my down at 9 3/4". What you will do next is place your cursor on the ruler bar next to the guide line.


Right click to bring up the guide properties box. In the guide position box put where you want the guide line to be place (9.75" for me) and click okay.


My guide line has now moved down 9 3/4". As you place the alphas near the guide you will feel (for the lack of a better word) a tug like placing to weak magnets near one another, snapping the alpha to the line (it will also snap to the center of the image if you get it close enough to the center). After you have finished placing all the alphas bring the guide properties box back up and click on delete.


But if you want your alphas to follow a contour, you can do that by using the pick tool (k on the keyboard) and rotating them into place.


Hope this gives you some ideas on how to use alphas and your guide lines.

NOTE: If you have duplicate characters; you don't have to keep getting it from the folder or the full sheet. Once you have it on the layout just duplicate it the number of times that you need it. (Layers>Duplicate)

template by litabells designs; A Bootiful Night (c)Trixie
Scraps & JennCk Designs; Fonts: Arial, Nightmare 5