How To Create Wavy Text For FREE

 

How To Make Wavy Text FOR FREE - No Cricut Access Subscription Required!
Lots of options for customizing the types of wave, and your projects can be exported as svgs.

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Reminder - I'm an affiliate for a number of sites, including Creative Fabrica.  That means that if you click on the links in this post and make a purchase, I may earn a commission.  It in no way effects the price you pay.
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https://www.photopea.com/

Photopea is a  FREE web based image program.
I'm told it mimics a lot of the features of Adobe Photoshop, but I can't verify that myself, not being a photoshop user myself.  :-)

First, click on "new project"

Choose "Print" there in the middle, then a size...  I chose A4 which is close enough to 8.5x11.

Then change the background from white to transparent, BEFORE clicking Create.

Now we have a blank canvas.

The text tool is the T on the left

When you click on it, the cursor will by default be tiny.  At the top of the screen, change the size to 300p, and it will be much easier to see what you are doing.  

Now this is one of the things I really love about Photopea - I do not have to install my fonts!

As many of you know, I prefer NOT to install hundreds of craft fonts on my computer.  Because I mainly work in word processing, it would be tedious to have to scroll through hundreds of craft fonts to find the fonts I actually want to use most of the time.  I prefer to keep my fonts in folders, sorted by type and use, and only look at the ones that would work best for whatever my current project is.  To see more about how I use all of these fonts in Design Space without installing them, go here:

https://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/2024/02/no-i-do-not-install-my-fonts-for-cricut.html

To use a font in Photopea, you upload it.

Choose File/Open

Browse to find the font on your device, then open it.

Now under font, find the font you added, and you can use it.  Here, the font I am using is 

Small Town Christmas.  It's a font duo, and it's usually on sale for around $7.50

[or free if you have a CF subscription]

https://www.creativefabrica.com/product/small-town-christmas-duo/ref/89681/

Drag the cursor across the text to select it all, 

then choose center  from the lines at the top of the screen.

After I centered the text, it all slid halfway off my canvas, to the left.  To move it back

Click on the Selection tool - that arrow on the top left

Now you can drag the text around to where you want it.

To change the text spacing, use the Paragraph tool

That's the backwards P to the right of your canvas.  When you click on it, you will get options.

To change your text colors, double click on your text, select the part you want to change, then find the color bar, right beside the size bar, at the top of the screen.

When you click on that, check the box beside "web colors", for a neat variety box that I think makes it easier to choose.

Double click on your text again, select it all, then at the top right, choose "Warp"

A new box will pop up. From there you can choose your warp style

(Wave is very popular right now!)

Play with the sliders to see what they do. The percentage of bend is most useful, but it's fun to see options here.

IMPORTANT

Once you get your wave the way you want it - click on the check mark to "lock it in"

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SAVING AS AN SVG

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One of the neatest parts of this, to me, is that once I have a font and size I like, I can create multiple text boxes on this canvas.  Each one appears on the left.  Each can be saved as their own file.  

To save just one of the boxes, click on the eye beside the one you do not want.  

But first,  we need to make these files smaller.  Remember, we made them huge to see what we were doing, but if the svgs are too large, Cricut Design Space will have trouble loading them.

Select the item on the right.

Then on the top left, choose edit/free transform

Now you can click on the box and drag it to resize.

Now, File/Export As/SVG

The canvas that pops up appears blank.  Scroll to the right if you want to make sure your text is actually there. :-)

On this screen, you need to make sure "Vectorize Text" is checked.

This is crucial.   Don't forget.  Vectorize text.

Now you can upload your svg to design space, just as you would with any other svg.

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