Scrapbook Lettering Tips

Letter Perfect
You, too, can have beautifully lettered titles in your scrapbooks. Follow these easy steps:

1. First create the title on scrap paper, using a guide of two parallel lines placed as far apart as the letters are high. Add a straight dashed line between them for lowercase letters and crossbars. Add slanting lines if the letters slant. Mark a vertical line at the center of the guide.
2. To center the title, count the letters and spaces. If it’s an odd number, place the middle letter on the center line. If it’s an even number, place the center line between the middle letters. Trace or draw the letters from the middle forward, then from the middle backward.
3. To create your own lettering, draw stick letters on your guide. Widen them and embellish with serifs, scrolls or flourishes. Try enlarging the first letter and adding dots or a rose vine-let your imagination go!
4. Check and double-check the spelling.
5. When you’re happy with what you’ve got, trace the title onto tracing paper. Place the tracing on the scrapbook page, slip transfer paper (available at craft stores) beneath it, and retrace the lines with a stylus or dried-out ballpoint pen.

Abolish Acid
If worries about acid content keep newspaper clippings, certificates and other mementos out of your memory album, rest easy with Archival Mist. It’s a nontoxic, odorless spray that neutralizes acid without harming documents, wetting them, or causing ink to run. Although it’s not intended for photos, it’s safe to use on materials such as mats that come into contact with them. One 5.3-ounce bottle covers at least 25 square feet of paper keepsakes (typically, 300 clippings) and costs approximately $40 per bottle. For more information, call Preservation Technologies at (800) 416-2665 or go to www.ptlp.com on the Web.

Journaling Magic
If you’ve ever fretted over a sloping paragraph in your scrapbook, Journaling Genie laser-cut templates are for you. Use a pencil to trace the lines on paper, write your thoughts in ink, and erase the pencil lines. Ten themed templates let you journal in shapes such as a heart, baby bottle and spirals. There’s even one for creating arched, straight or around-the-corner titles. Journaling Genies retail for $4.99 each. Check craft stores or for more information call Chatterbox, Inc. at (888) 272-3010.