I’m so excited to present you one of my favorite tricks on how to turn fonts and elements into a sticker. It’s very easy and I use this technique over and over on my pages. The most common way I use it for is to turn fonts into an alpha (for better visibility on the page), but I use this same technique with brushes, stamps and other elements to get an even more interesting look.

I picked two of my older layouts (you can tell by the different page format I used) to show you what I mean.

Here’s what I do …

I start by choosing the text tool and a font, and write the desired text anywhere on my canvas (placement will come last).

I re-size and change the color of everything until it’s exactly as I need it for my page. (On the second image above I actually clipped a paper to my font – the one I used for the big fat title).

Now, I pick a paper from the kit (white or very light color works best for the traditional sticker look). This one I place directly underneath my text (in the layers panel that is) and slightly reduce the size so it won’t go over the edges of my canvas (this is useful later when I need to place my title).

I go back and choose the text layer again. Now I press “W” to select the Magic Wand tool. With the text layer selected, I click anywhere outside the text area, which will select everything but the text (marching ants). Now in the drop down menu “Select” I go to “Modify” and choose “Contract”. A new window will pop up, where I can define the size (how much of my original selection will be contracted. I usually use a measure between 10 and 20, mostly 15. Click “Ok”. The selected area has been expanded a bit.

Depending on how “clean” the font is that I used, I may have to make the edges a little more smooth. I do that by clicking on “Refine Edges” in the “Select” menu. A new window will open, where I play with the “Smooth” controller (depending on how fuzzy the font is, I go all the way up to 100).

Once I’m done adjusting the selection, the magic can take place. Simply choose the paper layer (underneath the text layer in the layer panel) and hit “Delete”. It will delete the entire selection, leaving us only with the text and the paper underneath. I merge the two, add a drop shadow, place it wherever I need it on my page, and voila – I have a nice looking sticker!

Please bear in mind that this is only one of many ways how to achieve this effect. I will show you another technique on how to get a very similar effect in the future. Until then, I hope you’ll enjoy making stickers for your pages!