Creative Circles

Look around you, You'll see circles everywhere. From the wheels on your car to the big circle in the sky, circles are a basic shape in the world around us. With a circle cutter, you'll be able to cut perfect circles and create a whole world of exciting images. Use the Circle cutter to make scrapbook decorations and more.
We are dedicating this month to creating exciting circle decorations. But look around you for more ideas. You'll be surprised how many circles, or parts of circles, make up our everyday environment. Before long, you'll be seeing circles everywhere. To start please look at the basic cuts

Lettering Techniques

On my recent visit we went to Philladephia Historic district seeing many sites one being Betsy Ross's home
1. Practice makes perfect! If you are writing letters freehand, you need to practice so you can feel the arc of the letters in your hand. If you are freehansd cutting the letters out of cardstock or photo practice with blank paper first.
2. Keep the size of your page in mind when selecting letter style and size. Choose letters that will fit the space size and shape.
3. When selecting a lettering style, always choose one that fits the tone of your page. Each style has its own personality.
4. Experiment by writing the same word or phrases with several different pens and pen nibs to find one that feels comfortable and produces an appropriate lineweight for your page. Try a variety of styles.
5. Plan ahead! Always sketch out the lettering on scrap paper before fixing it to your page. If you are going to cut the letters freehand, cut them out of scrap paper first and lay them on your page, moving them around until you find the right spot and angle.

Patriotism

Our country is not the only thing to which we owe our allegiance. It is also owed to justice and to humanity. Patriotism consists not in waving the flag, but in striving that our country shall be righteous as well as strong. ~James Bryce

Photo lettering

Traveling to be with my husband Gary has been interesting as well as created many scrapbooking opportunities. Gary loves to take lots of pictures.
One technique that helps use large amounts of photos is Photo letters. Photo letters are very versatile. You can use it to create everything from fun and funky scrapbook pages to quiet and elegant ones. You may use purchased letter stencils or freehand your own unique alphabet. The techniques is especially useful if you have many photos from the same place. It's also an opportunity to use any less-than-perfect photos. A simple trim will turn them into works of art.