I think one of the most valuable attributes of the Pazzles Inspiration System is the ability to create anything I need for a project. I can choose from hundreds of fonts and most of them are free on the internet. If I can’t find exactly what I have in mind I can make it look the way I want. I have COMPLETE CONTROL over the results. I don’t need to buy a new cartridge or download to get the look I want. I don’t need to settle for something that is so-so. I don’t need to pop in one cartridge and keyboard overlay, cut ONE thing, pop in another cartridge and overlay, cut ONE more thing and repeat, repeat, repeat.

In the Summer Splash page pictured here, I altered the fonts to fit the theme. Simple ways to alter fonts are to tilt the letters or resize them as I did for the word ‘laugh’. (Use the Break text by Character option under the text menu to separate the letters.) But did you know that you can change the fonts in other ways?

I was browsing the internet for chipboard to buy and really getting a headache over it. Not because I couldn’t find any, there were lots of places that sell chipboard for very reasonable prices in every dimension I could think of. Where I really got stuck is on the thickness of the chipboard. I knew I wanted something with some rigidity and thickness to it but not so thick that I couldn’t cut it. All of these websites were referring to their thickness in things like “caliber” or “50 point” or “0.022”…0.022 what?! Is it a caliber, a point, an inch? What do those even mean?

Have you ever been in my shoes? If you haven’t, lucky you! But whether you have or have not had to deal with this headache I am here to shed some light on this tricky issue

Do you like your own handwriting? I have to admit that I don’t like mine very much. But it is mine and anyone who knows me will recognize it immediately. I remember as a teenager I envied the girls who were making their own beautiful lettering and doodles. I always wished I could do that but I struggled to get a decent grade in penmanship so making a beautiful signature was always something out of reach. I think I am too old to reinvent my penmanship but I do wish mine was prettier.

I hope you had a great Fourth of July! I know I did. I ate way too much food, stayed up way too late and had way too much to clean up on Monday. Now that I have recovered it is time to look at the pictures I took. I have 9 grandchildren who live nearby and the annual fireworks-in-the-backyard event gives me lots of great pictures to scrapbook.

I had one picture of my grandson, Jeshua, from last year that begged to be the ONLY picture on the page. I like the idea of featuring a single picture on the page but don’t always want to fill the page by using a lot of journaling. That is when I like to use paper lace overlays. They fill the page, add dimension and are a lot of fun to design. Pazzles sells a wonderful CD of paper lace designs but you can also make them yourself.

Did you know that you can make your own fonts in the Inspiration Studio Software? YES!! You can! You could take your own handwriting or maybe your children’s handwriting and turn them into fonts to cut. You can also take a favorite font and turn it into a single stroke font for journaling with our Pen Tool.