Everyone who scrapbooks with a computer owns some fonts, in fact, probably lots of fonts. With the wide variety of fonts (many of them free) it is easy to quickly have a large collection of fonts. Fonts provide variety and give a nice, graphic look to a scrapbook page.

I own lots of fonts. There is a drawback, though. It is time-consuming. It takes time to look at all the fonts, sample them with my text and decide which is best for a layout. To save time, I have learned to cut down my decision-making time. Here are some guidelines to make the decision-making easier.

• Pick a few favorites and only deviate when necessary. There are so many  fonts; don't spend your time choosing between them. Instead find a few favorite fonts for journaling and for titles and stick with them. Overuse them. This will cut down your font decision-making time greatly. It will also provide some continuity to your pages. For journaling, I like Garamond.  Others prefer Helvetica, Arial, and Veranda. For titles,  I like the classic look of Arial, Century Gothic and Myriad Pro. In my layout "Storybookland Canal Boats" I used Myriad Pro for the title and Garamond for the text .
  
  
  
  
• Use a special font when it fits. We all have fun, funky fonts. These fonts can be just perfect for certain things. Consider these fonts only when they really fit the layout. For example, I used the Disney Print font when doing a layout about Disneyland.
  
  
  
  
• Use a special font when it immediately comes to mind. We all have a vague idea of what fonts we own. If one is really critical for a layout, there's a good chance we will remember it. If you are doing a layout and a certain font comes to mind, then consider it. For example, when I did a layout about the Renaissance Faire, I remembered I owned a font called King Arthur. It was a good fit.

• Use a special font when you want to say something extra special. Sometimes a page is just so special it calls for a unique font. Maybe you want to use a handwriting font, a grunge font or an elegant font. Browse through the fonts that correlate with what you want expressed in the layout. In my layout "Pew Box" I wanted to emphasis the "old" feeling of these old pew boxes so I did the title in You Are Loved font and kept the journaling simple with Garamond.
  
  
  
  

Simplify your use of fonts, but be flexible for special layouts.

Supplies: Pattie Knox: Chat Freebie 06 11 08, Jessie Edwards: Title Lines and Clean and Serene Solids, Katie Pertiet: Decorative Scissors and white cabana paper, Anna Aspnes: MonoBlendz Confiture Paperie, designerdigitals.com