The write stuffThere are few things as personal and unique to each of us as our handwriting. No matter how creative and expressive you can be, or how talented you are with a camera, there is an intimacy to using your own handwriting on a layout that can not be replicated. By Nicole Finlayson.
So many of us dislike — even loathe — our own handwriting, but often it seems we’re the only ones. Handwriting is such a personal piece of every person. It’s something that no one else on earth can reproduce.
I haven’t always been fond of my own handwriting, but have learned to appreciate it as an instant way of personalising a page and passing on a sincere sentiment. On my layout ‘Today I wish’, for example, the journalling was so personal that it just wouldn’t have felt right to apply it any other way than by hand. The process of writing the list on the page not only helped me record a memory, it also allowed me to work through some difficult feelings. Using one of the many ledger-style papers available at the moment allowed me to add the journalling quickly and easily.
I keep a little collection of handwritten notes and letters that are very sentimental to me, all from people who have been part of my life in someway. It even includes some pages from my old high school diaries. It’s amazing how our handwriting changes as we age, and it’s an important contribution to keep a record of who we are as we evolve. My layout‘Ready’ is like a personal letter written for my daughter. Writing it by hand allowed me to include some more decorative lettering and to highlight certain words.
Handwriting is like a thumb print. No two people could ever write the exact same way. For me, the appeal of seeing someone’s writing on a layout doesn’t come from whether their letters are perfectly formed, but more from the expression that I can see through the letters as they write their story.Adding heartfelt journalling to a layout is sincere and can be therapeutic as well — and pre-lined scrapbooking paper makes adding handwriting to a page neat and easy.
Many people think their writing is hard to read, or too messy, and worry that it might ruin their layout. But have a really good look before dismissing it. It probably isn’t worth abandoning. If it’s readable to another person, it’s probably not as bad as you think. If you really dislike your writing, then perhaps try putting it on a hidden tag — or even write on the back of the layout. Strip journalling, like that on ‘Sometimes I wish’, allows you to write a little at a time before attaching anything permanently to a page. I wrote this journalling on fabric rather than paper as the texture of the woven fibres is far more forgiving with ‘scratchy’ handwriting than paper. To make it easier to write on, I ironed some Vliesofix onto the back of the fabric first to stiffen the surface.
Handwriting can be applied virtually anywhere on a layout, and there are lots of tricks for highlighting whatever you choose to do. If you want to journal onto patterned paper, but are worried the writing will not show up,try painting the surface first, as I did on ‘Not happy’. You can also try attaching another material to write on, like vellum.
Handwriting can be a great technique for incorporating journalling into the design of a page rather than making it a dominant feature. It also allows you to slot it into any space where you can put a pen to paper. For‘I love that you love art’, I used handwriting to create a cool border pattern that became part of the layout design rather than the entire focus. For my layout ‘Still’, I again used the journalling as a background element rather than a main focal point. By handwriting these song lyrics, I was able to keep the focus on the photo, while still conveying the emotion I wanted to get across.
There are so many fabulous hand-journalling tools available right now that can assist with placement. The market is full of die-cuts and printed journalling blocks, stamps, tags, chipboard pieces and an irresistible array of pens with which to make your mark. Using a journalling block — whether pre-printed, doodled, or stamped — means mistakes made with journalling can be fixed before anything ispermanently attached to my page. I used a stamped block on ‘The boy can sk8’ for exactly this reason.
Before I add any kind of writing to a page, I always write it in pencil first.I rule and measure guidelines if necessary and then write everything in place before going over it in pen. This way, any spacing or spelling mistakes can be erased before they ruin a layout. To create handwriting that is more decorative than what you would use for everyday, try writing the letters as you normally would, but simply allow a little more space between them. This was my method with the journalling on both ‘Still’ and‘Ready’.
When you go back over your writing in pen, extend your ‘down’ strokes with a little, curly end and thicken the letters by going over each stroke two or three times. You can also add colour to certain letters or words using pen or ink.When future generations look through our albums, I doubt they’ll be criticising the messiness of the writing. More likely, they will simply be grateful to have a little piece of us that cannot be duplicated or replaced.If you haven’t done so already, definitely give your handwriting a chance.You might be surprised by how creative you can be with nothing more than a pen and paper.
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