Computer Journaling

Computer journaling. As easy as this phrase sounds, sometimes it’s not nearly as easy to execute.

Your font ends up too large or too small. The font style you selected doesn’t look as good on the layout as it did on the screen. The rectangle you tried to type in is too wide or too tall, the printing too light or too dark. Does it have to be such an ordeal? No, it doesn’t. Computer journaling is meant to be a simple way to produce a sharp look that will help set the tone and prevent you from worrying about your own handwriting.

So what’s the best way to go about computer journaling? Here are a few tips to make the process easier:

Measure
Start by measuring the space where you want your journaling to fit on your page or project. If you’re planning on matting the journaling, keep that in mind as you gather your measurements. If you’re planning a title or a journaling section that’s more than 8” or so long, you’ll want to be sure to adjust your printer and document settings to landscape.

Make a Text Box
Open up a text program like Microsoft Word. Click on the “Insert” menu and select “Text Box”. Use the cross cursor to make a box on your document by clicking and dragging. Click on the box once to product the hand cursor. Now double-click on the box and the “Format Text Box” window will appear.

Format the Text Box
Select the tab that says “Size” and enter your desired width and height of your text box. Now select the “Text Box” tab in the menu and select the margins you’d like in your box. In other words, how far you want the text from the box edges. If you’re planning on matting your journaling, this is a good time to consider how wide you want your mat to be and consider how much white you’re planning on leaving around the text. You may want your journaling block to be 3”x3”, but want an 1/8” mat all around, plus you want to leave a 1/4” of white around the text. This means that you’ll need to have a 3/8” or .375” margin on all sides inside the box.

Next, go to the “Colors and Lines” tab in the Format Text Box. If you don’t want an actual box to appear when you print the journaling, you’ll want to be sure to select “No Line” under Line Color. You may want to keep the line to give you a guide to cut out your journaling box. If this is the case, you can select the thickness of the line under the line “Style” drop down menu. You can also choose to have a dotted, dashed or solid line here. If you want the inside of the box to be colored when it’s printed, you can select this here as well. If you don’t, be sure to select “No Fill” under fill color. Once you’ve adjusted the format of the box as you’d like it, click the “OK” button.

Type
Finally, it’s time to type in the box! Click in the box and your cursor will appear. Type your journaling. Now use your Formatting Palette to adjust the look of the text such as your font, size and alignment. Select Bold for darker text and remember that large sizes of some fonts look bold already. By going to the Format menu, then to “Character”, you can add even further effects to your text. Try embossing it, engraving it, or adding a shadow.

Print it!
Now that your font looks just as you want it, make sure your printer is turned on. If you’re printing on white, go ahead and print. If you’re planning on printing on a patterned or special paper, print it on a piece of basic typing paper or a scratch piece of paper first. If, for some reason, you decide to make an adjustment to the journaling or title, you won’t have already wasted the more expensive paper. Also, when printing on patterned or specialty paper, if you’re planning on cutting out the journaling, try to print close to the edge of the paper if possible. You can move your text box by simply clicking and dragging. This will prevent you from wasting a whole sheet of paper for a 3” block of journaling.

Scrap it!
If your print is as desired, cut it out and add it to your project. If not, make the necessary adjustments and print once more.