Supplies used - Cardstock: American Crafts; Patterned papers: Fancy Pants Designs and Echo Park; Chipboard alpahbet: American Crafts; Foam alphabet: American Crafts; Alphabet stickers: October Afternoon; Die cuts: Fancy Pants Designs; Embroidery floss: DMC; Computer font: Century Gothic
It seems that we have three absolute must-haves for each layout we create: photos, journaling, and a title.
To me, the photos and journaling are easy, it's the title part that always seems to give me the most trouble. Of course, title creating became so much easier after I got a Silhouette because I can custom design and create whatever title I need to fit in any space I need. However, as much as I love my Silhouette, I also love using Thickers and the little rectangle word stickers.
Whether you are creating titles with a die cutting machine or a mix of alphabets in your stash here a few things to consider when constructing titles.
When I am creating titles, I like to use a variety of textures, styles, sizes, and colors.
For different textures:
• foam
• chipboard
• glitter
• stickers
• cardstock
For different styles:
• block fonts
• serif fonts
• san serif fonts
• script/cursive fonts
• decorative/themed/shaped fonts
For different sizes:
• mix short letters with tall letters
• mix fat letters with skinny letters
• mix lower case letters with all capitalized letters
For different colors:
• use contrasting colors
• mix and match colors from your layout
• create a monochromatic look with different shades of the same color
When it comes to placing and arranging the title, I try to keep everything tightly grouped together. I strive for equal margins between words throughout the title arrangement. I'm not saying that I get out a ruler and make sure it's all perfect. I just eyeball it and shoot for similar spacing. Sometimes this is where it can get a little tricky.
When you are using lower case letters you won't have that straight line edge and often have to work around letters that have pieces that go above and below the other letters. Like the line in the "d, p, or q." Generally, what I will do when I run into that problem is either find a way to fit a word of the title in between those longer pieces or I just overlap the word onto those pieces. You can see I overlapped my title on this layout.
When it comes to where to place my title, I almost always will add it near my journaling and then add a few embellishments to help bring attention to those important elements on my layout. Sometimes I will place it near the photo that I most want to highlight. The title will help bring attention to that special photo.
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