Hello Digital Artists! If you’re like me, you love to push a button & have magic happen. In Photoshop, and Elements, these are the styles buttons in the Styles menu. Both programs come with some fun presets, and there’s a world of styles out there to acquire & install. So how exactly does the install piece work?

I’m working in Photoshop with a paper from Mixed Media by Erin for our LAD: Secret Garden. My font is Need A Sketch { Font } by The Urban Fairy. The style set is free for our SUPERsize Members during the LAD: Secret Garden by Schwarzwald Design. All that out of the way, this install works for any style set you’ve downloaded & unzipped. Let’s get started!

You can open the Layer Styles menu in one of three ways:

  1. Top Menu click Window > Styles
  2. Top Menu click Layer > choose Layer Style from the flyout > pick any option
  3. Layers Palette menu click on the fx icon

I choose the first option because it opens the Styles Menu vs the Styles Pop-Up box (options 1 & 2). This is how we will import new styles to our workspace.

  1. Click on the three teeny-tiny lines at the top of the Styles Menu
  2. Choose Import Styles from the flyout

Once you click on Import Styles you get a pop-out to your file explorer or file manager. Navigate to the style set you want to import.
Important: your style set must be unzipped!

  1. Navigate to your dowloaded Styles
  2. Click on Load

Most styles come in a folder. Simply click the little > on the left of the folder name to expand the folder.

This set of styles comes with two additional subfolders, simply click > to expand once more.

I’ve chosen to expand just the Grunge Paper Styles subfolder.

Since I’m working with the Grunge Paper Styles first:

  • Make sure you are on a Paper Layer
    • Mine was a locked background
    • I double-clicked on the Lock to unlock it
    • This renamed my Background layer to Layer 0
  • I hid my Text Layer for visibility

Now I can quickly & easily add a Style to my paper. I can click any style in the Style Menu and it will apply to my Layer 0!

  • I clicked swd-secret-garden-ls13

That’s it! Next let’s turn the Text Layer back on and expanded the Grunge Text Styles subfolder.

  • Make sure you are on the Text Layer
  • Click the teeny-tiny > to the left of the subfolder to expand the Grunge Text Styles

Now I can quickly & easily add a Style to my text. I can click any style in the Style Menu and it will apply to my Layer 0!

  • I clicked swd-secret-garden-ls05

That’s it! You now have stylized both your paper & your text. You can edit any style by clicking on the fx icon, but that’s a story for another day.

Two extra little tidbits about the Styles Menu:

  1. You can search for any style in your Styles in the Search Box
  2. Your most recently used styles are “remembered” at the top, much like recent brushes etc.