My "Long" Tutorial

Hi all. I hope you've been having a great week.

It's my turn to put up a tutorial for Scrap Everything! and I've chosen a subject close to my heart - long titles. Now this is not your standard tutorial as I'm not going to show you a new technique, rather it's a new way of looking and thinking about the design of your pages.

I often use long titles on my pages and I find they serve multiple purposes - they explain what the layout is about, they often replace journalling and they become a design element in their own right.

Here's one of the longest titles I've ever done:

Yes, it's an older layout so please forgive the papers, but the title is a good example of a VERY long one! The trick with a long title is to vary the font colours, sizes and shapes. It also must be readable and make sense. Make sure it roughly flows from top left to bottom right, as this is how we normally read text. This doesn't mean you have to physically start in the top left corner, just make sure that the general flow of the text runs that way. Note how my title is split into two sections but, because it runs in a logical way, it is still easy to read.

Here's one featuring my gorgeous nephew:

When using a long title like this, there's no need for any extra journalling, however you might like to add the date and place the photo was taken. Notice how the font sizes vary enormously. With this layout, my key word was "cutest". I wanted this to form the base under the photo. After this I really just fiddled with different letters until it looked right.

Here's one you might have seen in Scrapbooking Memories recently.

This time, I kept the title in a block rather than spread across the page. The title on this one combines with the photo to tell the story. The title tells us he couldn't blow the candles and out and the picture tells us why! (Note that his sister in the background has got the right action happening!)

And lastly, here's one that's not strictly laid out like a title but it's more than just jounalling.

I hope you've got some inspiration to try some longer titles. Go mad with your letter stickers! Try mixing chipboard letters, stickers and hand writing. I'm a strong believer that you can never have too many lettering options. I have drawers full of chipboard letters, Thickers and letter stickers. It's also really handy to have some smaller words and letters too. Mini alphas are great!

I'd love to hear if you make a layout with a long title!

Heather