Including Handwriting on a Scrapbook Page

In terms of traditional paper scrapping vs. digital scrapping, the ONLY advantage I can see to paper scrapbooking is the idea that you can easily include handwriting. I have a thing for handwriting. I think it makes everything so much more personal. My mom's letters and her recipes are among my most treasured items....her handwriting brings me a sense of peace. Again, I must emphasize that as far as I'm concerned that is THE ONLY advantage to paper scrapbooking and there are certainly ways of getting around it in the digital world. I know that it is possible to have your handwriting made into a font. I have been meaning to do this and need to get on the ball. It will be interesting to see because I have been told that I have pretty "unique" handwriting. I don't know that I necessarily want my handwriting on my pages but I think down the road, my children will probably appreciate it just like I feel about my mom's handwriting. Last week I was working on a heritage page for my husband's great grandfather. He was a very successful doctor and I came across a note he had written to his daughter (my husband's grandmother) on one of the medical journals in which he had been published. Upon finding his handwriting, I instantly felt like I knew this man. His writing is on the bottom of the page. Tonight I was working on a page about how much Ellie loves to write stories. I thought it would be fun to include part of the story on the page. She was embarrassed to have it on there but I think down the road, she will enjoy seeing how she wrote in first grade.

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It is easy to include something handwritten on a digital page. I just open the document that contains the handwriting. I use the magic wand tool. I have "anti-alias" checked and "continguous" is NOT checked. I tap on the writing. It will bring up marching ants. I then switch over to the "move tool" (arrow) and drag it onto my page. I position it where I want to to be and then click on my blending modes in my layers palette. My second favorite blending mode is "multiply" and that is what I am using here (Hard Light is my favorite but I'll save that for another day). It allows the background to erase and makes the text appear as though it was written on the digital scrapbook paper. I adjust the opacity to my liking and that is it. Simple. Let's just say that I'm a HUGE fan of blending modes!

I just can't say enough about digital scrapbooking...there are so many tools to play with and the possibilities are endless.

I hope you all have a safe and happy weekend!