Titles Die Cut into the Background

Christmas preparations are in full swing at our house, that's why it's been really quiet here on the blog. We're running from school events to church events and doing a little bit of shopping here and there. (I'm *almost* done shopping...not even close on wrapping though.) I'm looking forward to having the kids home from school for a while throughout the holidays. We're going to spend lots of time baking, reading, watching Christmas movies, and spending time with family. Now, if only my Mr. had a few extra days off work... 

While I taking it easy a few days ago I was very slowly working on some projects for Elle's Studio (they were supposed to be revealed on the 10th, oops!). For my last month working with Elle's Studio I decided I wanted to do my three projects with my titles die cut right into the background of my pages. This technique works best when you have a title that isn't very long and you use a blocky font.

 I cut "Cowgirl Princess" out with my Silhouette and outlined it with a black pen. I then placed a piece of red patterned paper behind the white cardstock...and I had an easy peasy title!

This next project is a little bit different because I used 2 fonts. I used a script font for part of the title and I used a blocky font for the main word in my title.

 If you're going to use this technique with a script font make sure the title is short enough that you can cut the letters in a large size.

 Instead of putting one solid sheet of patterned paper behind the "ROLL" portion of the title I put several strips of patterned papers behind the white cardstock.

 This last project was the most difficult. I did a lot of welding and very carefully placed the words in the title on this one. I wanted to make room for the embellishments on top of the white cardstock. I used a script font and a blocky font on this one too.

 Isn't that an adorable little tree? It's a cut file from Elle's Studio. You can find it HERE. I cut the tree out of green patterned paper and added a few enamel dots to make ornaments.

I love how my background die cut titles turned out. It was an easy (and inexpensive) way to make a big impact using only patterned paper and cardstock. Do you have an easy way to make your titles stand out? I'd love to hear your ideas.

Let's Talk Tuesday: Combining Fonts to Create Eye Catching Titles

{If you're looking for the Hip Kit/Elle's Studio blog hop and giveaway, you can find it HERE)
Combining fonts to create bold, eye catching titles is one of my favorite techniques. I use it all.the.time. I have a secret recipe for perfect font combinations:

1. Use a script font (one that looks kind of like cursive handwriting) combined with a block font.
2. One font must be thicker and bolder than the other one. I usually use the script font as the thinner font and the block font as the bolder one.

Let me show you what I mean. This Turkey Dinner layout is a perfect example.

The "turkey" part of the title is created with a chipboard alphabet from Bella Blvd and the "dinner" portion of the title is cut from dark brown cardstock using my Silhouette Machine.

Here's an example of a premade die 0cut title that uses the same guidelines that I adhere to. Gotta Love This

This diecut is from Kerri Bradford Studios. Notice that the "gotta" portion of the title is in script and the "love this" portion of the title is a block font.

The last example I have for you today is the title of a mini album I created for American Crafts (there's a tutorial with this album too, you can find that HERE)

Do you have a secret (or not so secret) plan for combining fonts? I'd love to hear your method.