Attention getting titles for your scrapbook pages

Titles are important to draw the reader in no matter what venue you are using; books, songs, movies, newspaper articles, hubs and scrapbook pages, which is what we will be concentrating on for this hub. You want to communicate the mood of the page and hook your reader visually and emotional so that they’ll want to sit down, read, and become immersed in your page, or whatever the venue you need a title for.

Titles can be incorporated into your scrapbook page as a visual design element that will spark an emotion from your readers and set a mood. As a design element, it will capture and draw the readers eyes to the photograph to study and then move to the journaling to read the story. Titles can dominate your page, stand alone or be included in your journaling. Subtitles can also be used to further explain your story and further evoke the mood you are trying to set.

As in every design process, sometimes the photograph, the event, or the location will evoke emotions and a title will jump right on out at you. Other times, your page will be designed, and you are flailing about looking for the perfect title.

I personally do a lot of flailing around looking for titles and have learned, at times, to let the experts and even "amateurs," help me out.

For example:

Others - I have had other scrappers, my children, friends, relatives and even my husband study my page and make title suggestions. I do use their suggestions quite a bit because their point of view might be different than mine and they aren’t constrained by pesky rules or ingrained thoughts that at times flit through my head. There are also special title books out there to give you an assist; aptly and adroitly named Top Titles and Tips too, and The Write Words by EK Success.

Quotes - Are wonderful to use as titles and even in your journaling. These pros have sayings that have stood the test of time and why not borrow them for titles if they totally fill the bill and because they’re so popular, your readers will get the point immediately. You can even borrow quotes from loved ones that you have heard growing up and in doing that, it’ll be a wonderful addition to your journaling to tell the story of said quote.

Poems - Which I’ve covered in another hub as journaling, why not incorporate the entire poem and/or title into your page. If its a popular poem, people will get it.

Song Titles & Lyrics - These are probably the best and most fun. Everyone listens to music, has favorites and there’s nothing better than using a song title or lyrics to evoke that emotion you want to draw the reader in. I have to admit that this one is my go-to most of the time because these pros just say it way better than I. Of course everyone has a favorite band or singer, so its those titles and lyrics I incorporate the most.

Book titles - Why not? Authors have to come up with some snappy titles to get you to draw you and plunk down money to either download it to your kindle or pick up the real deal and read their books from cover to cover.

Play on words - This is a fun way to do a title and just changing the spelling of the word will get your point across on what you are trying to convey on your page.

Movies - These writers are clever in how they suck you in. Sometimes they are in your face, ambiguous, funny, serious, spooky, etc. The titles catch your attention, draw you into the trailer and then make you want to drop some money to stand in line to see it.

The point is, you want your readers to:

• Stop on your page, hub, book, movie or song.
• Once they stop, you want to draw them in.
• And once they’re in, keep them there.

I know this will surprise you, but I have some examples ----------->

In the page Fatal Attraction, my son-in-law snapped this picture of their dog Lucy that just loves me to no end. From the minute, I show up, until I leave, Lucy is in my face. I think the title best tells the story, so I didn’t do much journaling. I bet you didn’t even notice I’m holding the baby.

Egg-actly is a play on words. Again my son-in-law took this photo of Owen and Lucy playing with a toy on Easter Sunday. Both of them looking down at the floor is a priceless “oh oh” moment, and all I could think of was a raw egg splattered on the floor.

In the page ‘Oh What a Night’ it was one of those awesome adventures. I love the Four Seasons, and as a surprise, when we were staying with family in New Jersey, Tom surprised me by getting tickets to Jersey Boys in New York City. We took the train in, and before the show, we dined at Bobby Flay’s Americain restaurant. The title fit perfectly. I used foam stamps and chipboard alphas for dimension and layering. Rather than using musical notes, I denoted musical movement with some swirly bling.

Angel Unaware is a title from a book Dale Evans wrote. If you haven’t read it, its a quick, but very emotional read. You will need an entire box of tissues. After only hours after his birth, we had to let Mason go. It was a hard page to create but very emotionally freeing. He will never be forgotten.

Living Proof - a song by my favorite musician, Bruce Springsteen, says it all when a year later two healthy baby boys were born. Using the lyrics just expressed the joy and relief I was feeling about this occasion.

On a lighter note, This one’s for the girls by Martina McBride shows a younger side of my Grandmother and Aunts and of the fun they were having. Note - new songs can be used for heritage photos.

R We There Yet? That is the ever present question by kids everywhere on a road trip. This is my boy dressed like a tourist ready for a road trip, with camera and golf bags in hand.

Every child is an artist is a quote by Picasso which perfectly fits the shot I got from the boat of Shane drawing in the sand on the beach.

Remember that you are using someone else's words bound by copywrite laws, so make sure you credit them somewhere if you publish your work in the public arena. Its always good to make note on your pages somewhere for future generations who may not "get it".

Hopefully these suggestions will give you a jumpstart in your creativity and give you a few ideas where to get titles when you're stuck. Would believe in posting this hub in writing about titles, I needed a title. It's ok to laugh.