choosing alphas

meems

meems

New member
anyone else have a hard time choosing an alpha for a layout? Even if the kit includes an alpha it's not always the look I'm going for (as if I even know what look I'm going for).

seems like I have been struggling with this more often lately . . .

is there a secret to finding the perfect alpha?
 
There is your problem for sure.

Hahaha, sometimes it's all serendipitous-like and I just seem to know like Yoda or something, other times it makes me want to pull my hair out (like my Cut It Out layout right now :cursing: )
 
Not lately cause I think I have almost every alpha SSD sells.

As for fonts... yeah - that's another story. I just need to get my handwriting made into a font. Instead of finding something "close."
 
Oh no! Alpha issues? You just really hurt your goddess factor! :)

I'm an alpha/font addict, and I'm sure I've run into the problem...and I go shopping for more alphas. :) Sometimes I end up with another dozen alphas and still nothing to wear...I mean put on the page!
 
I really try to go by the mood of my LO - and I try to go to an opposite color to my base (i.e. if it's light, I go dark and vice versa; if it's bright, I go neutral, etc.). Other than that I really don't have many "rules". But having a gazillion alphas both helps and hurts the hunt...
 
oh Leslie that is very interesting . . . I do try to match the feel . . . but that's as far as I get.

I should have never brought this up. Now you all will notice that most of my layouts don't have titles or very much journaling or that I use word art mostly :D

I'm working up the nerve to do Stephanie's Gettin' Wordy challenge :)
 
If it helps any of you I have never looked at any of your LO's and thought-DANG SHE PICKED THE WRONG ALPHA!
 
This is a thread for Jacq or cindy. I'll let Jacq know about it so she can share her secrets with us.
 
hmm, I don't know . . . Jacq hasn't been very forthcoming with her how to scrap fast secrets . . .
 
joelsgirl said:
This is a thread for Jacq or cindy. I'll let Jacq know about it so she can share her secrets with us.
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meems said:
hmm, I don't know . . . Jacq hasn't been very forthcoming with her how to scrap fast secrets . . .
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Now Kellie and Mimi I don't have any secrets...really! (Or Kellie might have yanked it out of me a long time ago...lol)


I do however have ACDSee and even if my stash isn't tagged I make sure I get to the alpha folder of my kits and put "alpha" on the keyword section. I also have an alpha folder for the alpha packs that I have. In a way this makes viewing my alphas much better.

Sometimes I find it hard to find the perfect alpha to match my LO too, it is usually the last thing I add so fitting a title in a certain spot on the LO can be a bit of a challenge.

It is always a trial and error for me I guess...
 
I seem to have a habit of falling back on old standby's whenever I get stuck... so if all else fails, Zoe's fuzzy knitted alpha, Micheline's Bead Factory or Robin's Dressed Up Dots will work... LOL! I swear, I use them all the time!
 
mrs_jb said:
I seem to have a habit of falling back on old standby's whenever I get stuck... so if all else fails, Zoe's fuzzy knitted alpha, Micheline's Bead Factory or Robin's Dressed Up Dots will work... LOL! I swear, I use them all the time!
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u and me both..except i use the scallop alpha template more than the dots!
 
I have alpha issues too. You can always create your own by taking a chunky font and just clipping it with some paper from the kit!
 
I feel like I use Shawna's stitched cardboard, or one of Zoe's alphas on almost everything I do.

I love alphas, but I rarely use the kit alpha with a page from that kit, which is completely stupid, I know.

I also HATE mixed up alphas. Where it's 1 alpha in 3 rotating colors, or 1 alpha with caps and lower case mixed in. I'm VERY picky with my titles/alphas. It drives me insane when the kit alpha is rotating colors (a is blue, b is green, c is orange, d is red, e is blue, f is green, etc etc) because if I'm going to mix colors, I HAVE to alternate. One red letter, one blue letter, one red letter, etc. I can't do red blue red red blue blue red, I just can't! LOL! Same thing wtih caps vs lower. I want all caps, or all lower, or cap first letter and then all lower. I hate caps lower lower caps caps lower caps lower lower. Can't Do It!

I need more alphas......
 
BrodoNY0123 said:
I also HATE mixed up alphas. Where it's 1 alpha in 3 rotating colors, or 1 alpha with caps and lower case mixed in. I'm VERY picky with my titles/alphas. It drives me insane when the kit alpha is rotating colors (a is blue, b is green, c is orange, d is red, e is blue, f is green, etc etc) because if I'm going to mix colors, I HAVE to alternate. One red letter, one blue letter, one red letter, etc. I can't do red blue red red blue blue red, I just can't! LOL! Same thing wtih caps vs lower. I want all caps, or all lower, or cap first letter and then all lower. I hate caps lower lower caps caps lower caps lower lower. Can't Do It!
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I struggle with this too Col! That's why I love kits that will give an alpha in 3-4 different colors so I can rotate the way I want or not at all. And I hear ya on the caps/lower case... or the print/script mixes, I'm not good with those either. I think this says something about our personalities... LOL!
 
I'm fully aware I have an obsessive compulsive personality, LOL!! It just shows up in strange ways, like alphas on scrapbook pages! Hahahahaha.

That's why I love zoe's stuff. It's either totally customizable, or 96054 alphas in one so I can pick and choose as I wish, LOL! Crinklebets here I come! :D
 
*rofl* I so so so am the same way, Col. I will not buy or use an alpha when it's all mixed up colors. Inevitably, I have some word where it's, like, yellow yellow yellow ORANGE yellow.

I cannot even deal with that on any level. :p
 
LeeAndra said:
*rofl* I so so so am the same way, Col. I will not buy or use an alpha when it's all mixed up colors. Inevitably, I have some word where it's, like, yellow yellow yellow ORANGE yellow.

I cannot even deal with that on any level. :p
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OMG EXACTLY! LOL!
 
Ugh! Yeah, I struggle with alphas big time. I usually use what's in the kit (if there is one) because I don't have to think about it. If I don't, I almost always use Misty's distressed white alpha. That's definitely my go-to alpha!
 
sczos911 said:
As for fonts... yeah - that's another story. I just need to get my handwriting made into a font. Instead of finding something "close."
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Or do like I did, take Mandy's (done by Darcy) and assimilate it as your own bwahahahaha! My family thinks it IS my handwriting, rofl
 
You know what alphas i struggle with? Ones that are circles. Which is very weird especially coming from the the circle loving girl (seriously, EVERY layout has a circle on it somewhere and I can't stop) but those d*mn circle alphas mess me up every time!
 
LeeAndra said:
I worship and collect alphas, but HATE titlework. W-T-F?!
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i think this about sums it up for me. I just not big on journaling or titles. But I am a huge sucker for alphas :blink:. I think I'm just going to start slapping letters on my pages, y'know, just use them as an embellishment . ..

Darn it, Jacq, that's the best you can give me? ACDSee? i use ACDSee but . . . sigh. :p

Col and Jaclyn have issues . . . I don't think mixed up alphas bother me too much (like it will even matter since I don't even put a title on my page). I do prefer lowercase to upper though.

Maybe my real problem is that I can't even think of the words for a title :confused:
 
I just recolor when the color thing happens to me. I hate having 2 of the same colors next to each other when all the rest are random colors! I do love it when they put in an alpha of each color so we can pick & choose ourselves. As for the lowercase / uppercase I've only had that happen once and it didn't really bother me LOL
 
twentytinytoes said:
I just recolor when the color thing happens to me. I hate having 2 of the same colors next to each other when all the rest are random colors! I do love it when they put in an alpha of each color so we can pick & choose ourselves. As for the lowercase / uppercase I've only had that happen once and it didn't really bother me LOL
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I do that when it's easy. But for one, I spent like an hour messing with the colors and hues and levels and all that, and it still came out like crud. I just threw in the towel and went with it, cuz the rest of the alpha looked fine. Just that one dang letter I couldn't get right. It still bothers me to this day. I'll probably end up redoing the LO (and I'm not even kidding).
 
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