Summer is easily the most laid-back season of the year, so why not create a laid-back title for a summer layout?
Step 1. With a pencil in hand, write the title of the page in your own handwriting, lightly moving across the page.
Step 2. Keeping your hand moving freely and lightly, outline the title that you just wrote, this time using a pen. I usually start at the bottom, working my across left to right, and then I work my way across the top, right to left. I find that the less pressure I exert on the pen and the page, the smoother and more free-flowing the title looks.
Step 3. Erase the pencil lines so that only the outline of the title is visible.
Step 4. Using an ink dauber (as I am using in the photo below), a big brush artist's pen, or a brush dipped in paint, mist, or spray ink, fill in the title. Just take it easy and go with the flow -- if you color outside the lines, no problem! It just reinforces the free-flowing, laid-back nature of the approach. Of course, if you'd rather be precise and fill in the title carefully, that's fine, too -- just do your thing!
Step 5. Build the rest of the layout around the title, or trim around the title and layer it over other items on your layout.
The laid-back approach need not be limited to the title. Consider adding other inked elements to the page, like the stamped images (from the Travel Girl "Traveler" and Midway "Carnival" stamp sets) and free-hand sunburst that I added to my layout.
This technique uses no fancy machinery or tough-to-procure materials, and it's a no-stress approach -- perfect for the scrapper who doesn't just want to scrap the summer season, but also wants to have time to enjoy it!
If you decide to try this go-with-the-flow approach, I'd love to see where it takes you! Be sure to share your layouts in the October Afternoon Flickr gallery, and leave a link here below as well, so that I won't miss it. Have fun!
-- Jill