Slowly but surely, I've been making my way back to the roots of this hobby of mine -- taking photos and telling stories about them. I've been involved in the scrapbooking industry through a variety of positions since 2005: from working with kit clubs and online stores to manufacturer design teams, from creating layouts on assignment with magazines and editing an online magazine to writing my own columns for multiple magazines and co-authoring a book about hybrid scrapping; from designing stamp and paper lines for manufacturers to creating and selling my own digital designs. My own scrapbooking style has evolved through a number of image makeovers. For the longest time, every page I made was designed to either push a product or to meet an assignment's guidelines.
Finally, though, I'm scrapping for myself again. And more and more, I'm drawn to those pages that focus on the pictures and stories, that get back to the real reason why I scrap -- and the reason that drives many of you, I'm sure, to match up paper and embellishments or spend time finding the perfect digital kit. One of the things I want to explore more is the idea of using words as a design aspect in and of itself. With that in mind, the "Letters and Words" weekly challenges were formed.
Here's how it works: Every Monday, I will post a new challenge here on my blog. If you'd like to participate, here's what you do: create your layout and upload it to your favorite gallery. Then come back and post your link in the comments. Layout links are due by Friday at midnight. Each Sunday, I'll gather my favorites and post them here on the blog. Each month, I'll choose one random participant to win a fun little prize. (While I know prizes are nice, it's my hope that you'll play along more for the fun and challenge of it than for the chance of winning a prize). Each challenge will come with a few sample layouts -- I will be looking at weekly participants to find future sample layout makers too. You can create digital, paper, or hybrid layouts -- that's up to you.
So without further ado, here's our first challenge:
You don't need an arsenal of fancy fonts in order for your words to have major impact on your page. One well-designed font, used in a variety of sizes and weights, can provide interest and innovation to any layout. Weight is the term used to describe how thick or thin a font is; weight includes settings such as bold or italics. Font size is most commonly measured in points. Using the same font in multiple weights and sizes can help to bring unity to your layout; setting off one word in a different weight or size can also emphasize an idea.
This week, your challenge is to use one font in three different point sizes, as well as bold and italics, on your layout. I posed this challenge to a few members of the digital scrapbooking community and here's what they came up with:
Lisa
Credits:
Paper - Cocktail Party by Leah Farquharson at Funky Playground Designs
Bird and Word Art - Family Tree by Audacious Designs
Frame - Kid's Play by Audacious Designs
Font: Arial
Shannon
Template: Susie by starxlr8, SimpleScrapper.com
Kit: Family Tree by Audrey Neal of Audacious Designs
Font: Century Gothic
Jen Decrow Designs - Frame Cluster
Audacious Designs - Maybell, Lovey Dovey, Simple Reflections
Font - Myriad
Now it's your turn! Remember to link your layouts here in the comments by Friday at midnight, and check back in on Sunday to see my favorites!
wow! I love this audrey ! I will play along.
Posted by: Lori Potts | June 08, 2009 at 09:21 AM
Great idea Audrey!
Posted by: RobinW | June 08, 2009 at 09:28 AM
Audrey this seems like a fantastic challenge. I think I would like to try to scrape out some time for this one myself.
Posted by: Sharia Braxton | June 08, 2009 at 09:32 AM
Sounds great! I'm going to add it to my challenge block.
Posted by: Sandie | June 08, 2009 at 11:06 AM
Oh, I love this challenge - thanks for being inspiring!!
Posted by: Char @ DigiScrapChat | June 08, 2009 at 12:54 PM
Fun layouts, I like the last one best. Challenges are fun, I will try this when I have more time to scrapbook, things are too crazy right now.
Posted by: Delightful Dwelling | June 08, 2009 at 03:30 PM
Great challenge, Audrey!
You can see mine at http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/pg.asp?cmd=display&layout_id=1498793. Thanks for letting me play!
Posted by: Gennifer | June 09, 2009 at 10:44 PM
from Melissa Stebbins (via email):
For some reason the post button isn't working for me on the comments for this post. Thanks for the inspiration. My layout is here:
http://www.digishoptalk.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=673102&ppuser=3908
Posted by: aud | June 10, 2009 at 01:42 PM