Tuesday Tip: Twirl your Text

Happy Tuesday all! Mary here with another little tip to stretch that Vintage Postcard Creator of yours! This trick works well for twirling any text, but this is how I created the curve for the states and provinces in the Vintage Postcard Creator.

Now you can create postcards with ANY destination or greeting! Awesome.

1. Start by opening a 12x12 canvas. This is important because the size/shape of the canvas will alter the way the twirl filter works. You can test a few out and see what you like!

2. Place all of your letters from the alpha in the middle of your canvas. This is also important because where you place your text will change the way the twirl filter works. Again...trial and error is FUN!! You can see I've placed mine a little right of center.

3. Select all of your layers and merge. (Layers>Merge Down or Ctrl+E)

4. Filter>Distort>Twirl

5. The setting I used was -25 degrees, but play around with it and see what you like!!

6. Now that you have curved text, let's fit it in the postcard. I placed the postcard in the layer above the greeting.

7. I like the longer, skinnier letters, so I squish it using the bounding boxes and NOT keeping proportions constrained. When it fits in the postcard, I click the green check.

8. Now you have a lovely postcard greeting that is ready for the filling!!

Enjoy! Now if only I had a vacation planned to Hawaii...