Fun with Wordle!

  Hello, Memory Bound friends! We are always on the lookout for fun card ideas at Memory Bound, so I was excited when Jean recently shared this idea with me from the summer 2012 issue of Paper Creations.

The samples below, taken from the magazine article, feature a word cluster on the front of cards called a "Wordle". Wordle is a free internet site which creates interesting graphic arrangements from words (or links) which you type or paste into it. Click HERE to go to the Wordle site. 

The size of the words is governed by how frequently they're used, so in this case the card-maker typed in "PARTY" several times so that it would be the largest word in the space.

Wordle allows you to choose the number of words, colors, and arrangement of your text. After you've created and played with your Wordle until it's just the way you want it, you can print it out and cut it to fit your card. If you want more printing and re-sizing options, check out the FAQ section on the Wordle site or see my suggestions below.

 A few years back I used Wordle to create a unique text element for a scrapbook page. I had forgotten how much fun Wordle can be! Here are two samples I made quickly to show you some other design ideas. As you can see, the text arrangements generated by Wordle would be fun for cards, layouts, or even wall art!

 In this example, I pasted the URL of my personal blog into Wordle. Wordle looked at my most recent posts to generate the text, then I selected the colors and arrangement.

 

 In this example, I pasted the text from a Word document into Wordle to show you how it looks with lots of words in both the horizontal and vertical position.

 My Firefox browser settings were not compatible with Wordle, so I tried Wordle in Internet Explorer and it worked great. In order to create a re-sizable JPEG file, I took a screenshot of the Wordle text, then opened it in my photo-editing program (I use Picasa). From there, I could re-size, edit, and print the Wordle just like any photo.

Thanks, Jean, for sharing this fun idea with us! The creative possibilities are endless!
Janet