Category Archives: Type

Stripes

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I love sending cards to everyone, but it’s easier for me to create for women (lots of flowers) and children (animals) than teenage boys and men. They are harder though cars and sports are a place to start.  Sometimes even architecture or ocean scene are appreciated.  But for a real masculine look, type your sentiment over stripes.  Here is how to create the stripes.

Stripes

Open New document of 1 inch by 1 inch

Pull guide to ½” line to divide the area in 2 equal parts

Use Rectangular marquee to select an area of 1” by ½” and Fill with Black, gray or whatever color you want

Now Ctrl/Cmd D to deselect

Ctrl/Cmd A to select the whole area and Fill – Define Pattern  –  I called it Stripes

Now open New document for your card – ie. 5×7

Layer – New Fill Layer – Pattern (it will use the last pattern created)

You can adjust the width of stripes by the % dropdown

Fonts in this card – Arial for “Happy” and “Day” – Magnolia for “Father’s”

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Outline Your Text

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I haven’t been adding as many blog posts recently as I have a Facebook group now for people interested in creating greeting cards and other printed materials with their photos.  For detailed how-tos I refer them to the blog.  Please go to Facebook – Groups and search for PhotoGraphics to join!

text outline examplestext outline

Text Outline

1.Start with a blank layer and some text, this will work for shapes too.

2. Right click/Cmd click on the layer name in the layers palette. Select rasterize layer. Ctrl/Cmd click on the layer thumbnail to select the type. Create a new blank layer.

3. Edit>stroke. Try 3-10 pixel stroke depending on the resolution of your image. Pick your color. Click Center in the Location dropdown.

Click ok.

Gold Lettering

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Icy Branches Gold

I love using gold lettering around the holidays.  If you are familiar with Photoshop layers, give this a try.  Otherwise it might be more difficult, but you can do it!!

I used the font Blacksword for this card, but use whatever you want. The effect will be more pronounced on thicker font styles.

Type your words using the Text tool. Photoshop will make its own layer for the text.

Double click on the T in the text layer and choose a warm orange color. You can change this later.

Now click on the Text layer outside the “T” box to get Layer Styles.  Click on Bevel and Emboss. Be sure to click on that option to get all the adjustments.

Depth – 225

Size 8

Gloss Contour – use 2nd option on the 2nd row – Ring Contour

And there you go!

Gold lettering

 

 

Warp Text

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warp-textI love creating greeting cards and often add text to my photos. There are so many fonts to work with and special effects. Thought I would pass along a clever and easy technique in Photoshop.

  1. Type your text, pick a font and color.
  2. Double click your type layer.
  3. Edit > Transform > Warp.
  4. On the toolbar you will see a dropdown with None. Click on this to discover many warp varieties. You can customize each one on the toolbar.

I have included the font and warp style for each of these examples.