Have fun with your titles and journaling and make them your own! Things written in your own hand will mean much more to your loved ones in the years to come than journaling produced by other methods. This method is used on this Holiday Layout from Christmas but these creative titles and journaling techniques can be used for any theme.
Instructions
STEP 1:
Select your photos for your layout and roughly lay them out. Cut and mat them. Add a yarn or ribbon bow to the matted photos cut to look like ornaments.
STEP 2:
Use a piece of watercolor paper as the base of your layout and choose patterned paper for the top. The white watercolor paper will look like snow and will also allow you to be creative with water based markers on your title. Randomly stamp snowflakes on the watercolor paper, leaving room for the title. Use a pencil to lightly write your title in your handwriting. It is a good idea to combine script with block writing in your title for variety. Use the pencil lines as a guide to then create solid lettering, having lines going on each side of your penciled in writing. Use a waterproof ink for the outline once you are pleased with the design. To create a watercolor look, use water based markers inside the lettering on the areas you want the color to be darker. Take a small wet paint brush and pull the pigment from those areas, creating a lighter color in the other areas. Use characteristics of the word such as the dot of the eye to add decorative elements like the holly berry and leaf.
STEP 3:
Another option is to use the penciled in word and create an appropriate “font” such as the log writing for the word “cabin”. Use a thin pen such as a Zig Ball pen to draw the outline and details of the wood grain. Then come in with markers such as Brushables that have two shades to color the inside of the lettering.
STEP 4:
Adding shadows will give your title depth. A gray or toned down blue works great for shadows. The example uses platinum in a Brushable. Begin with the lighter color and move up to the darker shade if desired. It is always a good idea to have a scrap of the paper you are writing on to test the marker with a scribble.
STEP 5:
For journaling, cut a specific journaling panel to make it stand out and look important. You can journal on the base sheet of the layout, but if will seem more important if it has its own area. On the “Season’s Greetings” journaling panel, the tag used was an embellishment from the paper pad. A border was added to give a nice edge and handwriting used to write the journaling. Pop Dots were used to make the journaling panel stand out. If a shaped embellishment had been used on the journaling panel (like the “Celebrate” ornament), that shape could have been used as a guide for journaling in an interesting shape.
STEP 6:
Another option would to be to create a journaling panel and frame it with an element from the title. Here, the same “logs” were drawn and used to create a frame for the journaling.
STEP 7:
Look for elements in the background paper that can be cut out and used as embellishments (such as the candy cane) or use embellishments that come in the paper pad or in the same line with the paper. Add embellishments, dressing them up with glitter, ribbon or yarn,