There are plenty of times I only use one picture, if one picture can tell the story I want to tell. That's all I needed for my Just Temporary layout from Tuesday. I could have found other pictures that demonstrated how Mackenzie was acting at the time, but really that one photo said it all. Plus, with so much journaling, I needed the room. I also only used one picture on Three from Wednesday. To me, that picture was so Emma that I didn't need another one.
Every so often I don't journal. It's rare, but it happens. ;) Like this page I did about the girls wearing dresses in the summer. Yes, I could have added a few lines about how I love all the cute dresses they wear, but I think the title and pictures alone get the point across.
And I might just have a little (big) pile of layouts waiting for journaling
b/c I just couldn't get down what I was trying to say. Also in said pile -
layouts with just a picture and nothing else, layouts with no titles (because I
hate coming up with titles more than anything.), and layouts just needing the
date. Yep, just a date. Yet I can't seem to do that one simple thing. Although whenever I do get around to it, they'll go from the unfinished pile to the to-be-put-in-appropriate-album pile.
While I do create a lot of layouts heavy with journaling, sometimes my
journaling consists of quite a bit less. It's about making that bit count though. Get as much
as you can into those few sentences - feelings, facts, impressions, your voice,
realness.
This page only has a few sentences, but I like to think I made them count.
I found this picture of Mackenzie in a pile of pictures that need to go in albums. (Side note - last time I put pictures in an album Emma was 4 months old. She's 3 1/2 now.) I immediately focused on the stork bite above her lip. I realized I hadn't scrapbook about this tiny little birthmark and I wanted to make sure it was included in her album. Is this the most
heartfelt, meaningful journaling I've ever written? Nope. But it does tell the story and that was important to me.
On Monday, I challenged you to take a childhood photo and create a layout where journaling about the photo is the focus of the page. I said I would be playing along this week, and I did.
When I looked at this photo, I tried to imagine what Emma might ask about it years from now, if all she saw was the picture and no story to go with it. I then tried to answer those questions in my journaling.
A few random things before I go:
- When I print multiple photos, I do it at home using Photoshop Elements 4. I don't plan ahead. When I need pictures for a layout, I sit down and go through all my pictures, finding some that inspire me to create a layout. I choose what size to print based on how many there are and what I want to focus on. I don't sketch, I don't pre-plan. I base my layout design around the photos. I'm really a make-it-up-as-I-go-along kind of scrapper.
- Some of my favorite products/tools right now? Ribbon. I recently got back in to ribbon. I haven't been real creative with it, every time I use it it's the same way, although I'm not sure what the exact word for it is, I guess pleating it, maybe? Border punches. I have three and need more. Thickers. Still my favorite thing for titles. Foam squares. Most stickers are better when attached with a foam square. Circle accent stickers. These are the things I turn to over and over again when creating my pages.
- I don't worry too much about imperfections. As much as I measure to make sure things are evenly spaced, something always looks crooked. Sometimes I have typos. Sometimes I'll move something on a page and it leaves the surface of the cardstock roughed up. I leave it. If I kept trying to fix everything, I'd never get any pages done.
- In the last two weeks I've created eleven new pages. Waaaay more than I normally do in that time period! I think I'm going to step away from my scrapbook table this coming week. But just for a week, since I'm cropping with a friend next Saturday. Plus, I've really got to finish that December Daily album!
- I take that back. I have to be at the table. I need to clean it. Because this is what it looks like right now. I can't scrapbook, or pack for the crop, until this all gets cleaned up and put away. I have to say I'm not looking forward to tackling this:
I hope you've enjoyed this week. If you're not really in to journaling, I
hope something this week has prompted you to give it a try. And if you are like
me and love to journal, maybe I've given you a new way to go about it. The same goes for multi-photo pages. Maybe you'll add an extra picture or two to the next layout you create. It's been
fun blogging here at WCS, reading everyone's comments and seeing all your pages
in the Flickr gallery.
Have a great weekend,
Have a great weekend,
