Including Handwriting on a Page

When I create, I really try to make my layouts personal.  I try to capture my children's personalities through photos, I usuallly write TO them rather than about them and I like to include samples of who they are at various stages.

Handwriting is one of my favorite things to include on a page.  I think it really gives a glimpse as to what stage they are in, makes them an active part of the layout and it also makes the layout seem more personal.  I would love to have a glimpse back on how I wrote at very stages of my development.

I created the layout below for my 8-year old daughter. 

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I wrote down some questions for her and had her answer them.  She loves doing this type of thing.  I scanned the sheet into the computer.  After I had created the layout, I brought the sheet into Photoshop, converted it to black and white.  I typed out my questions on the layout and used the rectangular marquee tool to move them over.  I then positioned them on the document.  You can see that they were originally written on a white sheet of paper.   White paper makes this a snap.  As many of you know, I love blending modes and the blending mode of "Multiply" removes white from the image.  Once I had her answers in place, I simply changed the blending mode to "Multiply" and that was it.  If it comes out a little faint, you just need to duplicate that layer.

This is such a simple technique to use.  I love this page because of her handwriting.  It makes it seem so

much more personal than if I had typed out her answers.    I hope this inspires you to include handwriting on your pages.