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Meaningful Journaling-Share The Fun Stories Too

It’s Friday.  Fun Day.  Which means we’re going to take a fun approach to our meaningful journaling.

Remember on Tuesday when I said using meaningful and authentic journaling in your layouts doesn’t mean completely sad, somber and heartwrenching layouts?  Today we’re going to look at those layouts that incorporate meaningful journaling in a fun and quirky way.  I love documenting all those fun moments in our family, and definitely love documenting those personality traits that in a few years may be gone or hidden under the mask of teenager-dom.  It's those little things that will be forgotten a month, a year or a few years down the road and I definitely want to remember them.

One thing I want to emphasis as my week ends is the importance of jotting down memories, phrases, funny quotes and journaling ideas.  I have notebooks all over the place and use my iPhone all the time to jot things down as well.  That way when I'm trying to remember one of the multiple quotes from my girls or an idea I can go to the notebook and start from there.

 

A Journaling Twist on an Event

You might think a layout about a daughter getting her ears pierced are a dime a dozen.  They are.  I’ve looked.  I wanted to go beyond that though with this event.  My daughter decided she wanted her ears pierced at age 7 and knowing I had to tell her the truth, I was honest when she asked if it would hurt.  It didn’t deter her from getting it done, even though I thought she would chicken out at the mere mention of pain.  Am I mean for taking that photo on the right in mid scream with the leftover Christmas candy cane in her hand?  You bet. After looking at these photos though it came to me what we as women go through for beauty – the waxing, the shaving, the plucking, the piercing, etc.  So this layout was a play on words and the first of many things she will do for beauty that hurt!

 

Document Those Quirks

My youngest daughter has a weird obsession with gum and you bet that after a few months of this obsession I wrote it in my handy book of scrapbook topics to document.  The October Afternoon bubble gum sticker took it to a new level and I quickly (well, with those circles not so quickly) made this layout about her obsession.  Will I remember in 10 years about this phase she had?  Highly doubtful, but I want to remember it because right now at age 6 it’s part of who she is.  That picture?  It has absolutely nothing to do with gum and she wasn’t chewing gum either, but it’s funny and goes well with this colorful, quirky layout!

 You may or may not remember this from the August 2011 gallery-No Photos.  My older daughter has a quirk as well, although I'm pretty sure hers will stay with her forever.  She's literal.  Very, very literal.  And she says things and writes things that to her are very serious and common sense, but to us they are quite funny!  We certainly don't laugh at her, but we do explain why we might chuckle a bit at things like the above 100th day of school assignment from last year!  I had to document this and it hung on the refrigerator until it went onto this layout because I loved looking at it every morning.  Although I think she will stay literal, coming from 2 very sarcastic parents we are rubbing off on her a bit and I don't want to forget this!

 

Don't Forget Yourself

Scrappers talk about this all the time and I'm going to reiterate it here again.  Your family, and especially your kids, not only want to see pages and stories about themselves, but they also want to see pages about you.  You are important and your quirks are important too.  They don't want to see you just popping up on vacation and holiday photos and layouts, but they want to know the personality you, the funny you, the thoughtful you.

This photo was taken at my daughter's birthday party in August when we did photobooth pictures for all the girls.  Never one to shy away from being silly, I donned them myself and my youngest budding photographer took my picture.  What I journaled about is another play on words.  The girls hear me say "Seriously" all.the.time. and are quite frankly sick of it I'm sure!  But it's who I am and what I do.  What I actually journaled about is my take on life in general:  never take yourself too seriously.  I'm sarcastic and will always lean towards humorous over serious in my daily life whenever I can!

What makes your family tick? What are some of those idiosyncrocies that make you a family, but also make you individuals?  I'll be honest and say this was made for a magazine call about family personalities.  It didn't get picked up, but I can say it is one of my favorite layouts over the last several months and I'm beyond glad I made it!  We each had our own square where I described our personalities and what we're into at the time.  I'm thinking this might be a yearly layout to update with photos and little tidbits of information!

Sharing

A few ladies linked me up to some of their photos and layouts about meaningful journaling that I want to share with you as well.

Diane Payne shared her layout about her daughter's zest for life in an older photo from childhood.

Linda shared her memories and thoughts about a day we all remember - September 11th and a bittersweet memory for her daughter.

Aliza shared her layout about the impact of saying sorry as a parent.

Thank You

I can't thank you all enough for reading and responding this week.  I have to say I was very nervous to fill 4 days of content, but this is where my heart is with scrapbooking and I have loved putting it all together!  You all made my week easy!

and the giveaway goes to . . .

Thank you, sweet readers for taking time to comment!! Thank you, Amy, for sponsoring our giveaway!!

And the lucky number is

give.away.day. featuring AMY SORENSEN & BIG PICTURE CLASSES

 
To continue with Christa's fabulous theme, this week's giveaway is sure to help with an aspect of your journaling you might not have thought much about: how it looks on the page.

The writer Anne Lamott says that "we write to expose the unexposed." Good journaling does just like that—brings just the right amount of light to something previously unseen. Once you’ve got that strong journaling written, the next step is to make it as visually appealing as it is emotionally appealing.

Amy Sorensen’s Big Picture Classes workshop, Textuality, will teach you how. During the four weeks of class, you’ll be energized by dozens and dozens of ways to creatively use words visually. The class examines every imaginable aspect of words on scrapbook layouts: small, medium, and large amounts of journaling; titles; text embellishments, quotes, handwriting; typography, integrating journaling into your layout’s design, and novel ways to format your words. You’ll also learn a bunch of handy tips for using your word processor in ways you might not have thought possible and gather a myriad of tricks for using your alphabet supplies in ways you never imagined.

Sound interesting?

Today's giveaway is for one seat in Amy's class. If you would like to be considered for the giveaway, please leave a comment below telling us about your current favorite alphabet product. Comments will remain open through Thursday evening. One lucky number will be drawn at random and posted on Friday. Please remember it is your responsibility to check back and to claim your lucky number by midnight on Saturday! Good luck everyone! 

Meaningful Journaling-Designing Your Story

Now that we’ve talked about the benefit and process of creating layouts with meaningful journaling, let’s talk about how we design around that.  You might be wondering how it is you will fit in all that journaling and how time consuming it may be.  Just as getting in the habit and practicing of writing your journaling, it will also take practice of how it will fit best onto your page.  This has definitely been a work in progress for me! But again, well worth it in the end when your story is finished.

Pick A Helpful Design

There are times I might have to cut down my journaling a bit.  If it gets to the point that I have to cut so much out that it is no longer the story I want to tell then I go a different route of design.  When I know it’s a story that is going to be longer than normal then I will usually design around the journaling instead of designing around the photo(s).

That’s what I did on this particular layout:

This was a page that I knew I would have a lot to say and picked a design that would allow me to do just that.  I have made pages with the strip of patterned paper on it many times, but normally it’s filled with embellishments and photos.  This time I typed out my journaling using a text box in Word, then printed it out on plain typing paper.  After I laid everything out where I figured I wanted it I tweaked the journaling until it all fit, along with the photo and embellishments.  To me, this was a story I didn’t want to cut down too much because it was important to tell in entirety.

Amy Sorenson did something similar on her layout as well.  She had lots of journaling to include and designed around that, adding that adorable photo and her title work to it.

Nancy took a different approach to fit her journaling in this layout:

Nancy also had a lot to say regarding her bumpy summer.  In order to get all of it to fit she created a soft, yet dramatic circle with stitched butterflies, then fit her journaling strips within the circle.  I’m a huge fan of journaling strips and use them all the time.  Nancy uses them on many of her layouts as well and I absolutely love them on here; and the entire story was still told.  Journaling strips are a great way to still let yourself write freely.  I normally leave an extra space between sentences, making it easier to cut the strips apart when printed.

 

Use a Fine Tip Pen

Raise your fine tip pen if you’re afraid of using your own writing on your pages…..Yep, I get nervous too and still prefer typed journaling, but Donna shows us a great way to incorporate your meaningful journaling on your layout with *gasp* your very own handwriting:

Here’s what Donna has to say about designing around journaling on her pages:

I set out to document a family tradition - our weekly visit to In-N-Out Burger.  Typically, I use journaling strips on my layouts; they have just become a part of my process now.  But sometimes I know that I will have a long story to tell and will need to include more journaling.  As I'm creating my layout I keep this in mind and I try to plan ahead by leaving enough room for the story on my page.  Sometimes I still revert to journaling strips but sometimes I know I will still need more space.  In those cases, I use my handwriting and I also tend to use lined or grid paper in my design too.  I do like a certain order in my pages and this is the easiest way to make sure that my journaling looks neat and legible.

Although I make light of using your handwriting, and while I still prefer computer generated journaling, I think it’s important to write your own from time to time.  Your family will enjoy seeing your very own writing on a page and even compare their writing to yours! 

 

Melissa Elsner reiterates this sentiment in her words about this layout:

Because I use scrapbooking for my creative journaling process, I approach it in a very similar way as a regular journal. I begin with a subject or topic. For this layout my focus was on a recent change with my job. I write everything out on some paper. I don't pay attention to grammar or punctuation. It's basically a "spew fest" as I like to call it. After getting it all out, I go back and reread.  Then, I grab photos and papers and such that I feel will compliment what my journaling is about.

I tend to hand-write my journaling as well.  I overcame my fear of using my own writing was realizing these pages are for me. And I asked myself the question, "If these were pages created by my grandma, would I want to see her own handwriting?" And the answer was "YES!" There's something special and personal about recording YOUR voice in YOUR handwriting. 

 

I always like the way Stacey always uses her handwriting too.  Many times she draws lines and journals on those lines, ensuring that everything is straight and orderly:

 

Hidden Pockets

Another way I like to add my meaningful journaling to my pages is through a pocket, or hidden journaling.  Sometimes I use this because I have several photos and not enough room for all of it, and other times I use it because the journaling is not something I want shared with all of the world wide web!  I used a pocket for this layout because there were several photos I wanted to use and also because it’s personal journaling about my daughter’s struggles and while she may not care now, she may not be so happy with me later in life!

 

 

Journal the Edges

One other “trick” I like to use to spice things up or make room for journaling is to journal around my layout, as in this one:

It is deceiving though when doing this because the first time I wrote my journaling this way I thought I would have tons of space to write and it turns out that space gets taken up very quickly by the 3^rd side!  However, it allows more space in the center for photos and embellishments.  I use this method when I have a shorter amount of journaling I want to include.

 

Hopefully this helps give you some starting points on how you can design your layout in order to fit in your meaningful journaling.  As you can see it doesn't have to be paragraphs upon paragraphs of journaling, although it can be, but as long as it is the story you want to tell then short or long is great!  Do you have some tricks you use to fit your journaling on your layouts?

Meaningful Journaling-How We Tell The Story

So you may be thinking that looking at a photo and telling me a story is the easy part and that putting it all down on paper is the hard part.  I will totally agree with you on that one!  Putting it on paper is permanent (mostly), and sharing it is definitely permanent.  Today and tomorrow we're going to look at the process of getting those thoughts and feelings down in layout form and the design behind that too.

When I talk about creating meaningful journaling on your layouts what I DO NOT mean is putting all your deep dark secrets and skeletons out for display.  What I DO mean is taking the stories we shared yesterday and putting them down on your page and writing from your heart: your feelings, your hopes, your fears, your thoughts about that time/person/event.  There are many times that I'll just start writing on a scrap piece of paper or typing on the computer my thoughts and feelings about a memory and/or photo(s).  This helps you get into practice of writing it out and getting a "feel" for your writing style.  These are your memories so there is no need for Pulitzer Prize winning prose because I can tell you that mine certainly is not!  Make it your own.  Just write.

Remember those times in high school English class when they asked you to just do "free writing"?  Yep, me too and I can tell you I never took advantage of writing time at the ripe old age of 17!  Now, I do enjoy it, especially when I get to write about my favorite subjects: my family and friends.  Look at it as adult free writing time and this time you don't have to produce anything about Shakespeare (unless you want to!)

I asked a few guests and WCS contributors to share a layout or two of their own and share their meaningful journaling process with you.  Everyone has their own way and you might find one that fits your style and gives you a jumpstart.

I chose to share a layout about what my daughter ultimately wants from me: time...

My daughter Ella and I did an impromptu photo shoot one day while she was still home with me and her sister Maya was off at school.  I remember the good time we had being silly and having fun. When I received these prints the first thing that came to mind was that I wasn't thrilled about how I looked.  When Ella saw them she was so excited and laughed about how much fun we had and the funny faces even mommy made. That's when it hit me: she does not care one iota about what I look like. She had fun with her mom.  So I journaled just that.  I journaled about what really counts as a parent and what they want and need from us.

Donna Jannuzzi was really kind to open herself to all of us and share this layout and her process:

Donna shares this about her journaling process for this particular layout:

In January of this year, our son Michael Anthony was stillborn. This was the first layout I made after our son Michael passed away. At the time, I didn't really know if I would be able to scrapbook again or at least, I didn't know when I'd be able to scrapbook again. It was surprising to me then, when just after we lost Michael I felt a pull to create. I knew that I wanted to document something that reminded me of the blessings in my life. I made this layout, but I didn't add any journaling to it at the time.  Every time I went to add journaling, well, I simply couldn't do it. It just reminded me too much of the pain I was feeling when I made this page Then, a short time after my husband and I celebrated our 6 year anniversary, I took the opportunity to finally put down some thoughts. The journaling is simple, honest, and straightforward. It reflects my thankfulness for my marriage.  My husband is an amazing source of support and strength for me and I'm certain that God knew what he was doing when he brought the two of us together.

Nancy Doren shared this layout with you about her difficult summer that ended up giving her a valuable experience too:

Here's what Nancy had to say about her journaling process: 

I'm almost always nervous to share personal journaling on my layouts. Sometimes I hold my breath when I press "Publish" on a blog post with emotional journaling, worrying that I've shared too much or that I'll regret revealing something so personal. But in my experience, the layouts with personal journaling always get the most positive response, by far. I've never shared personal journaling for which I didn't receive tons of supportive feedback. I think most people have similar experiences and they love to hear that someone else shares that experience. 

 

When I'm journaling about an event or feeling that isn't necessarily a sunshiney one, I usually end the journaling with a positive spin. I write about what the experience taught me, how I want to change in the future, or the positive impact it had on me. While I always want to be realistic, I also want to be optimistic, and ending on a positive note helps me feel good about what I've shared.

Jenni Hufford shared layout about her joyful daughter:

Jenni shares her overall process and specifically her process for this layout:

I enjoy creating some layouts that share the who, what, when, where, why, but I have found that my most cherished layouts are those that share my heart go beyond the 5 W's.   In order to accomplish this, I like to look at my photographs and think about what I truly want to remember from that moment:  maybe it's what we were doing at the time, a particular quality or trait, a struggle, or even a hope or a prayer.  For this particular layout, my daughter Jordan and her best friend were having a photography session together.  When looking at these pictures, I couldn't help but think of how I always hopes she possess the joy she has now as a small child.   I began focusing my journaling as a note to her, sharing my hope that she will always enjoy the simple pleasures of life and carry the heart of a child with her into adulthood.   I find that when I write my journaling as a note to someone (or myself) it doesn't feel as awkward or forced.  Additionaly, if the journaling is very personal to me, I will sometimes write it on a tag that can be tucked away.  Knowing that it can be hidden sometimes allows for more free-flowing journaling.

Stacey Michaud journaled about finding and meeting a new family member as an adult:

Stacey says this about writing authentic journaling on her layouts:

In order for scrapbooking to be authentic to me, I have to scrap meaningful pages that tell the story behind the photo.  A part of that involves using my pages as a journal.  I try to reflect on where I am in life, what emotions I am feeling, what is bothering me or what goals I am considering. I grab those deep thoughts we all have and explore them. I find photos to match and look for papers or embellishments to fit the theme of the page.  There are some photos and ideas that I hold until the just right paper comes along.  Once I have all the elements, I just let go. I write with honesty and I write as though I am the only one who will read it.  That helps me let go of how something sounds and focus on validating the feeling.  Once you practice a few times, that inner voice just comes naturally.

..................................................................

As you can see we all came about our journaling in different ways for these layouts, but had one thing in common: we told the story from our hearts.  The contributors shared what mattered to them either at that time in their life or through the photo(s) they were scrapping. 

Journaling can be therapeutic, as it was for Donna, and I imagine for the rest of the contributors as well.  I know for me to scrap something challenging or emotion is very, very difficult, but it's as if a boulder is lifted from me when I stand back and look at the finished layout.  It's also therapeutic to journal about a quirk or something light hearted.  Have you ever literally laughed out loud when looking at a layout?  It's awesome to relive those moments and have yet another chuckle over it!

Come back tomorrow when we'll share more journaling layouts and look at design when incorporating meaningful journaling into your work!

Meaningful Journaling-Tell Me A Story

You may know from my pages or a visit to my blog that I’m definitely not someone who is “cutting edge” when it comes to scrapbooking and paper techniques.  I like to try them, but you’ll never see me being one of the inventive ones for sure!

My forte in my creating seems to be the journaling.  This is not just writing down the who, what, where and when, but telling the full story; the meaningful story of our lives.  Sure, I love gluing paper together, but I get more excited when I get to the journaling part, which for me often comes first when creating. 

I hear scrapbookers say that this is the most important piece for them when creating, but becomes the most difficult when it comes right down to putting pen or word processor to paper.  Describing the event is easy, but going beyond that becomes the difficult part. 

That’s what we’ll be focusing on for this week: getting to the heart of meaningful journaling.  I have a few scrappers who have graciously offered to share their work along with their process for this so everyone can get a “peek” into this. 

 

If you were fortunate enough to be near grandparents, aunts and uncles you may have loved sitting and hearing about their lives, such as how they met their spouse, where they lived, what life was like, their siblings, etc.  I find that as my own girls go through the pages and books that I have made that it’s the stories they love to read and remember the most.  Of course they like seeing event layouts too, but we reminisce the most about the time I try to pay my oldest daughter, Maya, to sleep longer….

or the time my youngest daughter, Ella, decided to have a full out fit in the middle of a bike path on a busy road…..

 

We love stories and the more details and emotion, the better.  I can’t tell you how many times I have heard the story of when I left my beloved blanket (“wanky”) at my aunt’s house in Michigan when I was but 4 years old.  The way my mom describes my constant crying for 4 days, what they all went through to retrieve said wanky in the mail and the celebration we all had when it arrived is always full of gusto and maybe a wee bit of dramatics too!  But I still get whisked away to that time period in good ol’ 1977 and enjoy hearing about me and my wanky!  I have stories like this I want my children to remember and I re-tell it both verbally and through pretty papers and photos.

So that is my prompt and task for you today.  Look through some of your photos you have on hand or on your computer.  Don’t just recall the who, what, when and where, but the feelings and emotions that stir up when you look at it.  If you immediately smile at a certain photo, why is that?  If you get butterflies thinking about what happened that day, describe it.  Was the weather that day significant?  Was what the person was wearing in the photo peculiar?  Is this your child’s “signature” smile or pose, if so, when did it start and what happens when that smile or pose comes out? 

I would love to see some of your photos and memories of those photos if you are willing to share.  Link me up in the comments section to your photo on your blog or flickr and what comes to mind with that particular photo. 

Tell me a story.

Sunday Photo + Words

Photo: Stina Tillstrom (daughter of Lisa Ottosson)

scrapbook.

Scrapbook! Saturdays are going to be so much fun. Sketches, and palettes, and printables, oh my!

 

SKETCH

First, we are thrilled to welcome the talents of Donna Jannuzzi as our sketch designer. You are probably very familiar with her book from Ella Publishing and we couldn't be more excited to have her inspiring us each month with a new sketch. Thank you Donna!

Our first sketch encourages 4x6 photos for ease of use, and has lots of white space for you to leave or fill, depending on yout preference.

You may download our first Saturday Sketch here.

Beginning with Donna's sketch, I created this layout.

I found this sketch very helpful to getting more than one photo on the page--something that is often hard for me.

 

COLOR

This month our second challenge is a color challenge. Seeing this beautiful autumnal photo, we were drawn to its soothing color palette.

::source::

If you study the photo, you will notice that the colors appear in their pint (grey/blue & brown), quart (dark forest green & chartreuse), and gallon (golden yellow) measures. Not only does this add to the harmony and balance of the photo, but also lends itself to a perfectly presented color scheme. I was also excited to see the colors separate from the photo to realize that the combination is as helpful for autumn photos as it is for non-seasonal layouts.

Here is the layout I put together with the colors.

Not a fall photo in sight!! But check out that beard. My sweet husband. Or shall I say, sweet mountain man?

 

PRINTABLE

Our final Scrapbook! Saturday feature is a little freebie for you, to say thanks! Beth Proudfoot, download designer extraordinaire, will create something for us each month. This month, she designed a subway art that also has some fun other uses. It prints out in 8x10 to easily fit in a frame as art.

 

But wait! Look at all the other things you can do with it as well. Treat toppers or wrappers ...

 

... cards or treat bags ...

 

... and even scrapbook layouts!

Here is the link to download.

And while it is very fun to use this as art, please consider using it to capture some favorite autumnal photos or memories!

 

Thank you for stopping by! We hope you accept the challenge to use the sketch, the colors, and the word art to help make your scrapbooking a little more fun this week. We can't wait to see what you come up with!

hint hint ... post to Flickr, post to Flickr ...

Autumn is Awesome - Altered Day

It's Friday, the end of our Autumn is Awesome week-- I hope that you have all been inspired to fire up the paper trimmers and get some gorgeous fall projects on the go!

Today is altered day, and just wait until you see the fun projects our members have to share!

I created these place cards last October, using chipboard shapes and little trees cut from patterned paper. (The font is Edwardian Script.) I used ink to saturate the chipboard, rather than paint-- quicker, and less mess than paint:

Lisa Ottosson has two adorable projects to share-- the first is this banner made of burlap and stamped with foam stamps. (You can see more details on her blog here.)

Also, this adorable necklace, made from an acorn "hat" and a wooden bead! (Full instructions here.)

I have always wanted to do a paper wreath for my front door-- and I think this might just be the year I do it. I am totally inspired by Mariane Barone's wreath below!

 

I just love a good mini, and Monika shared a book of her autumn favourites. (I must say, not that it matters, but I agree with all of her choices!)  You can see the rest of the mini, and a bit about Monika's process here.

 

Finally, my jaw dropped when Aly sent me her paper pumpkins. Aren't they spectacular? I expect Cinderella's fairy godmother to turn them into a magic coach with a "Bibbity-Bobbity-Boo" any second! (See her instruction for these little wonders right here!)

 
So, that's all for me this week. Thank you for popping in to share my bit of autumn splendour-- it really has been a treat!

and the giveaway goes to . . .

Thank you, Scrapbook and Cards Today for sponsoring our giveaway! We are sure that you have just mae Ann Cobb very happy!

Ann, please email us at writeclickscrapbook at gmail dot com to claim your lucky number. If you could please include your mailing address we would be most appreciative. Thank you!