Titles

Like you, I have tons of alphas. When I first started scrapping I was practically addicted to them. I needed to have every single package of Thickers in as many colours as I could get them in.

Nowadays, I find that I don't use my alphas as much. Most of the time I find them too 'structured' for the layout. So today I'm going to show you how to make a hand-cut title. I usually use this technique when I'm looking for a bit more flow or to soften up a layout. There are other ways to do this, but this is what I find the easiest and what works for me.

Step 1: Write your title in cursive in pencil.

Step 2: Outline your title. This is where you determine how thick or thin you want your title to be.

Step 3: Cut your title. Don't worry about it being perfect! I think half the fun of hand-cut titles are that they're supposed to look hand cut.
Step 4: Once I finish cutting it out, I usually erase all my pencil marks. I then go back and make new marks for letters that usually have an empty space - e, o, l, p, etc. These marks show where I'm going to cut next.


Step 5: Using fingertip scissors or a craft knife, cut on your pencil marks. Feel free to go back and adjust once you see the finished product. And you're done! Easy!


Here are some examples of my layouts with hand-cut titles:

This last title was cut from Hambly Rub-Ons, making it super tricky. I ended up adhering it to plain white paper so I could use pop-dots underneath to make it stand out.