Summer Guest post: Kirsty Smith

Kirsty is a twenty-something maths teacher who lives in London, which she firmly believes to be the greatest place in the world.  She loves to explore the city with camera, boyfriend and friends in tow and she is always amazed at the new things she finds.  All those photos and stories give her an excellent excuse to scrapbook and she can often be found surrounded by bits of pretty paper and clutching a cup of tea. Kirsty also loves macaroni cheese (as long as she gets to make it her way), singing at the top of her voice and going to the theatre as much as possible. She believes that olives are really, really gross and wishes people would stop trying to get her to like them.  You can find Kirsty over at journalofcuriousthings.co.uk and she'd love it if you stop by and say hello,

Blog: www.journalofcuriousthings.co.uk

Instagram: journalofcuriousthings

Pinterest: misssmith

Twitter: @KirstyMerran

When it comes to titles, sometimes I like to abandon the world of letter stickers completely and give my own handwriting more prominence on my scrapbook pages.  This layout seemed like the perfect opportunity to give my handwriting a workout as I knew I wanted to include a long title quoting the performance of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' that I went to see.  There are lots of ways to do this, and if you've watched Wilna's fantastic videos, or used her cut files, you'll know how beautiful handwritten titles can be.  For this page, I went right back to basics and got out my scissors...

The first thing I wanted was a cardstock template; card holds up better than paper and I've found that cardstock templates will last longer and can be used many times! In fact, the ampersand I used was a template I made from a previous page.  I practised writing out the words of my title until I was happy, and then I made the words bolder by filling them out with a pencil.  Next comes the fiddly bit: I cut them out by hand.  I can't deny that this is time-consuming, but I also find it strangely relaxing and it can easily be done while I enjoy a cup of tea and a DVD.

Once the templates were complete, I drew round them onto nice, fresh white cardstock, but any patterned paper you like will work.  If you try this, I would recommend flipping the words over and tracing around them backwards. Then any pencil marks will be on the back of your title, leaving your work pristine from the front.  Once I had cut out my title words, I carefully outlined them in black to make them pop off the white background.

White words with a black edging stand out well against almost any background, and I enjoyed constructing the rest of my page from Project Life cards and a small envelope to tuck the journaling into.  I also ripped a page of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' from a second hand copy of Shakespeare's Complete Works that I picked up; I love being able to get little details like that into my layouts.

Finally, I carefully positioned my hand-cut, handwritten title over the top of the design.  It makes a lovely focus and draws the eye down the page. All that remained was to add my journaling.  I had quite a lot to say about going to see this outdoor performance with a group of friends, so I wrote about it on paper and slid it into the envelope.  It can easily be pulled out and read, and I like that you can see my writing just peeping out behind the photo.  However, tucking it away means that the design isn't overwhelmed by massive amounts of text.  A few stars and pearls finished off the page.  So that's another Midsummer Night that will hopefully be remembered for a long time.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and that you will give your scissors a whirl to make a handwritten title!