Journaling Tips and Design

 Hello Everyone! Are you glad that it is finally Spring? I am! I can go outside again and take more photographs for pages.

 

Basic Journaling Design

I am going to show a couple tutorials on how you can create and layout journaling on your computer. I will post how to create a simple title and then I will show how to put a title and journaling on the same block. These are long tutorials since I am going to show a step-by-step process.

 

Creating a Title:

Many of you have possibly seen this page before on our site or newsletter:

I'm going to show how to create the "Seattle" Title shown above. Follow along these steps:

1. Open up Microsoft Power Point on your computer. I am personally using the Mac 2011 version.I recommend opening up your Power Point Document and follow along with each step. I tried doing this same process on Microsoft Word, but it didn't work for me. I highly recommend creating a title on Power Point. If anyone knows how to create this same title in Word, let me know! Pay attention to everything in the post so you do not miss any important details in each step!

 

2. Click on the Home tab. When you open up Power Point, it will show a slide with this image: Delete the Bottom Block and Click the Top Text box so it is highlighted.

 

3. Next, make sure the text box is selected in the document or these next steps will not work. Click on the Format tab and find the sizing on the far right side of the tool bar. Enter in the Height and width of Block You would like to use

For this particular title I entered 2.125 for the height and for the width I entered 6.625. The text box will change to the size you entered. (Note: the Measurements will change to the nearest hundredth, but it will still fit on the Mosaic Moments™ grid paper.)

 

4. Click on the Home tab again and click "Click to Add title". Make sure that the type is in the Center. Type in the title of your choice. In this case I typed Seattle.

 

5. Next, choose the Font you would like to use. Tip: Choose a font that fits with the style of your page. Example you would not want a fun, funky font for a page about a fancy dinner party. Experiment with different fonts and see what works for your page.

Here is a list of a few good fonts to use, be sure to check them out on your computer:

• Minion Pro (shown on this Title)
• Arial
• Baskerville
• Bell Centennial
• Didot
• Futura
• Garamond
• Goudy Old Style
• Gill Sans
• Optima
• Rockwell
• Times New Roman

Here is a list of Fonts to use sparingly:

• Comic Sans
• Courier
• Papyrus

 

6. Pick the Size that best fits the title Block. When you choose your type, make sure it fits the majority of the space in your block. See the Difference Here:

Small Title - Notice how there is a lot of empty space in this block. The type is too small for this space. You may only want to do this if intend to add embellishments around your type. (This is font size 96)

Large Title - Notice how well this font fits into the space, You may not always want your type this large, but you want to make sure it fills the majority of space at least. For this title I used font size 170 (You will need to type this number into the font size box since the largest size goes up to 96).

 

7. You may need to adjust where your title in the font box. When I originally typed the word "Seattle" it was not centered vertically in the space as shown below:

If your title does this you will need to use a couple of different tools on Power Point to help bring it to the center. First click the button shown below (click it for a closer view). There will be different number options. Pick the number that will put your title closest to the center. I personally chose 0.9.

Now it looks like this: 

Now it is more in the center, but I personally wanted to fix it a little more. If your title is still not quite to the center as you want you can right click on your title and scroll down to Format Text. Next, you will a screen come up (shown below). Choose Text Box.

You can adjust the placement of your title by adjusting the top and bottom Internal Margins shown in the Red Circle above. For my title I adjusted the top margin to 0 and I adjusted the bottom margin to 0.01.

Now my title is centered. When adjusting your title make sure that there is an approximately equal amount of space between the edge of the letters and the border of your block as shown here:

 

8. Here is the easiest part: Add Color. Choose colors that match with your page. After you add your colors make sure you add a light grey border (or white if you are printing on a dark color) to help you see where to cut your title once it is printed.

For my title I made my letters white. I can keep it this way and print it on Pewter Card stock. Or I can make my background very close to the color Pewter, and print it on White Card stock. Yes, I highly recommend printing on Card stock and not regular print paper. It's thicker, sturdier, and better quality.

Here is my final result on Power Point: Now I can print it off and stick it on my grid paper. Be sure to use and Exacto knife since you will get a straighter cut than if you use scissors.

 

 

 

Adding a Title and Journaling on the Same Block

Here is another page you may have seen before:

I made a tutorial on how to create the journal block on the bottom of this page in Microsoft Word.

 Although I used Power Point for creating titles, I found that this specific layout worked better in Microsoft Word. Follow along with each step so you can some practice before starting your own. Here are the directions:

1. Open up Microsoft Word (I am using the Mac version) and make sure you are on the home tab.

 

2. Find the text box as shown below. Click on this and make a box on the document. (click image if you need a closer view)

 

3. Now you will want to create the dimensions for your text box. Click on the Format tab find the box where you can enter dimensions on the far right side. For the height I entered 2.125 and for the width I entered 4.375 (Note: the Measurements will change to the nearest hundredth, but it will still fit on the Mosaic Moments™ grid paper.)

 

4. Go back to the home tab and choose this button to make sure the text is in the center of the text box. Choose your font and add your title (and subtitle if you want). In this case I used the font Gabriola and put in the title "Shenandoah National Park" and the subtitle "On the Skyline Drive."

 This is what my text box looks like:

 

 

5. Now you will need to change the size of the title. If you want to use a subtitle, it is usually a smaller size than the actual title as shown here: For the title I put in size 34 and for the subtitle I used size 24.

 

6. Notice that the Title and subtitle are spaced too far apart from each other. To fix this go to this icon on the home tab: A menu will come up, scroll down to the bottom and choose Line Spacing Options...

 

7. This screen will come up: Go the area shown with the red circle. Click the down arrow until. I pushed it until it said 0.5.

 

 Now the title block changed to the image below, and the spacing between the title and subtitle is better. But, notice how the title is very close to the top edge of the title block. I see this very often in scrapbooks. You need to make the space larger between the top of the letters and the edge of the block. Notice the space between the sides of the title and the title block. The space between the top of the letters and the top of the title block needs be approximately the same amount of space as on the sides.

 

8. To fix the space, right click on the text box. Scroll down to Format Text Effects... This screen will show up:

Select Text box in the menu and use the area shown in the red circle and adjust the top and bottom as needed. I just changed the top to 0.2.

Now my title and subtitle are entered correctly. Notice that the space around the title is more even now:

 9. Next you will need to make your journaling text. Click the left side of your title (or subtitle if it is the bottom) so that your type symbol shows up. In this case it will be next to the 'e' on the word "drive". Push the Return button on our keyboard Once.

To begin adding your journaling, make sure you on the home tab and click this icon so your words will start on the left:

You will need to make your font size smaller than the title. I chose size 9.5. Here is the result after I typed in my words. If your text comes out like this, it will definitely need to be fixed!

 

Please consider different fonts before you begin. - Usually I make the title a different font from the journaling. There are certain fonts that may be appropriate for your title, but not for the journaling (Example: Cracked, Curlz MT, Playbill, and Zipty Do are better as a title fonts, but they are not good for journaling since they would be too hard to read).

Here is a list of good fonts to use for journaling:

• Minion Pro
• Arial
• Baskerville
• Bell Centennial
• Didot
• Futura
• Garamond
• Goudy Old Style
• Gill Sans
• Optima (shown on this journal block)
• Rockwell
• Times New Roman

If you plan to use two different fonts for your title and journaling, pay attentions serif and san serif fonts. The rule usually is to NOT use two different san serif fonts together or two different serifs together. You want to have one serif font and the other be a san serif. Need some help with figuring out serifs and san serifs are? Read this article to learn more.

 

10. Adjust your type as needed. Here is what I had to do:

• I highlighted my journaling. Do Not highlight the titles!

• Click this icon choose the amount of spacing that looks best to you. I chose 1.15 spacing amount.
  

• Next (make sure your journaling is still highlighted) use the bar shown below and drag the arrows so that the edge of the letters align with the large title.

Here is what the Text box should like after you have lined the words with the main title:

• Next, click this icon so all of the letters line up (shown below):

Notice the difference between the right edge of the words in the text box above in comparison to this text box:

 

•  Last, to finally finish your journaling, click on the right side of the first word. In this case it would be the "W" in "We", and push the return button on your keyboard. This way there would be a good amount of space between the title and the journaling. Also Note that there should be some space between the bottom of your type and the text box so all the space between all of the Type is even around the box.

 

11. You are almost done! Add the colors of your choice and print. Be sure to add a grey border (Or white if you want to print on a dark color) around your text box so you will know where to cut your text.

Here is the final result before I print it on Card Stock:

 

Design Tip: You can apply this same design concept if you do not want to add a title with your journaling.

Be sure to check out the many pages on Snapncrop, our monthly newsletter, and Tami's blog and pay attention to how we design our journaling. Feel free to make similar designs on your pages!

 

A Few Tips on Adding Alphabet Stickers and Handwriting:

Many of you probably already know to use alphabet stickers, hand-write, and stamp to help you create title and journaling. I have a few simple tips for these:

• Using Stickers and Stamping - I like to use Alphabet stickers sometimes to create titles for my pages. So one tip is to choose stickers that fit with the colors and style on your page. When creating pages, craftsmanship is important. So before sticking your letters on, draw a line where you will place the bottom of each of the letters. When using Stamps - practice on a piece of scrap paper first to pick out the color you want and to see how you want to line up your letters. When you start to add your stickers or stamps on a Paper Tile or page, start placing down stickers in the center and work your way to the outsides of the word.

• Handwriting - I highly recommend writing out your journaling lightly with a pencil. This way you can correct any mistakes before putting down the permanent ink. Use a ruler to line up where your journaling will go. Tip: The lined jouraling Free Downloads are great for handwriting since it helps keep everything straight.

    Apply the same journaling design ideas shown in the computer tutorials when using stickers, stamps and your own handwriting.

 

Wow this was a long post! Take your time when you are reading this post and I highly suggest following each step on Power Point or Word. Let me know if you have any questions by leaving a comment here or on facebook (refer to this blog post if you do so).

Thanks for stopping by the Design Each Moment Blog!