Write. Click. Scrapbook.

Mother's Day Celebrations

Each night as I tuck my girls in, we read a book, say our prayers, and then sing song after song until they fall asleep. (Yes, I know. I'm indulging them. I am certain that I really only a year or two left of snuggling them before bed, so I am taking full advantage of the love!!)

One of the songs that sticks in my head is one I grew up singing, Mother, I Love You. Here are the lyrics:

1. Mother, I love you; mother, I do.
Father in Heaven has sent me to you.
When I am near you, I love to hear you
Singing so softly that you love me too.

2. Mother, I love you; mother, I do.
I want to help you because I love you.
I want to mind you; I want to find you
Happy and smiling because I love you.
Mother, I love you; I love you, I do.

I often find myself humming it during the day. And it totally makes me think of my mom and how much I DO love her. I hope that if I sing it to my girls enough then they will grow up and sing it and think of me kindly, too!! Not a bad strategy, no? And one day hopefully they will get married and have kids that I can sing to, too. 

 

LAYOUT IDEA: GRANDMOTHERS

Grandma layouts don't need to be just sappy bits o' love. Sometimes you can let them just capture the real deal. My oldest and his grandma like to banter--they are both teaser-types; there is much guffawing when they are together! We got to spend two days together in March. And for their parting together pic, this is what we got:

Silly, no? I love it. I also have a whole selection of blurry photos from Nigel doing the duck and dip to avoid the kissing love. Another relationship trait/quirk/regular that needs to be recorded.

 

Another idea for a grandma page is to document similarities. We all love to fit in with our families; seeing how we are alike gives us such a sense of belonging!

 

And let's not forget how much we love photos of grandmas with their tiny babies. LisaO made this sweet layout.

Mmm. Love that.

We have a few teammembers who have lost grandparents lately. They all would like to remind you to take more photos. And be sure to get in those photos.

 

MOTHER'S DAY GIFT IDEA: BIRTHDATE ART

This year, why not make something personal? How about a bit of wall art that respresents all the grandkids? Depending on how many grandkids there are (one of the kids in my sunday school class has 90 cousins - this might not work for her!), a list of birthdays is graphic, fun, and helpful!

And if you don't have grandkids yet, you could make one for your mom that has the birthdays of all the kids in your family. Or all the people in your family. No rules!! I've even made them for special events in a couple's life. Anything that is important to your mom or grandma would work!

 

Thank you for stopping by. I hope you are enjoying our week. Please stop back tomorrow for our final day of preparations!

Scrapbooking Over the Fold Day 5: Journaling

 

Jennifer Larson again, finishing out the week of two-page design. I'm so glad you could come and visit! Thank you so much. I hope you got inspired this week to create over the fold!

 

Today is all about Journaling. I'll be sharing various ways to incorporate different amount of journaling.

 

1. Lots of journaling

A two-page spread leaves lots of room for photos and journaling. This is a lot of journaling for me. I had found lots of photos of my boys cooperating and playing together, so I paired four of them and saved a photo-sized spot to write about their cooperation. I created a text box in word to fill just the right amount of space.

 

Here Christa Paustenbaugh used the space even more than I did and made almost the whole page a journaling block. I love how she fit 6 photos on both pages while still having a substantial journaling block and a stellar focal point photo.

 

And here's another terrific one, this time by Aliza Deutsch. She paired one photo with one substantial journaling block. What an amazing use of two pages!

 

2. A medium amount of journaling

This describes my journaling style pretty well. I journal enough to tell the story, and maybe since I'm an English teacher, I come to the point swiftly. So I generally journal a medium amount. Here I have space between my two photo block, so I cut journaling strips, wrote it out, and inked the edges of the strips before adhering them.

 

More medium-sized journaling, though less than the last. Journaling spots are good for fitting a certain amount in a limited space. You could practice on lined paper to make sure it fits, though to be honest, I mostly Wing It.

 

Here's a stamped journaling spot, similar to what I did on the last. Enough to tell my story without too much space.

 

3. Little journaling

In this case I basically just labeled the one photo. The nice thing about a lot of photos? They alone can tell the story. Just one line of journaling can give the context for the photos to tell their tale.

 

4. No Journaling

Sometimes the photos are so evocative, they don't need any words beyond the title. On this page, two things did that: the words "Work then Play" which I used in the title, and the way I set the three work photos together and the one play photo on a different mat. DESIGN NOTE: I used an old die cut snowflake paper to serve as a misting template for the background. I used similar mist colors to the patterned paper on the page.

 

5. And now for something a little different

I did a medium amoutn of journaling here, but I set it up differently: I was telling the story of severe weather at a ball game, so I selected photos and used journaling strips to tell the story. What was different? I set the strips next to the photos to tell the story, sort of like a graphic novel.

 

Isn't this an amazing page? Katie Ehmann set her photos on one side and the journaling and title on the other, but she didn't stick with linear strips; she built them into a shape! So much fun.

 

Thank you again for stopping by this week and sharing my thoughts about two-page scrapbooking. I hope you have fun scrapbooking the rest of April and beyond!

 

Chatty Cathy

No that title does not refer to my long winded posts this week! Today we are talking about journaling conversations and quotes. I have always found this type of journaling so amusing. My boys say the funniest things sometimes. I have a hard time remembering to write them down so I can remember to scrap them though. Lately, I've been using Oh Life! each night to give a summary of my day. This helps with my Project Life pages and I also have been able to capture a few nuggets from our day including funny stories, quotes and conversations.

Today you are in luck. This month's gallery theme is Conversations that means you have a whole slew of fantastic layouts to garner some inspiration from. I thought I'd highlight a few of them here. Simply click on the image to go to the gallery for a more detailed view.

First up, here is my contribution to the gallery this month. A couple of interesting tips when writing conversations down. If you don't want to attribute each line to someone using NAME:, then you just need to make sure that you include the person that the line is directed to in the line of journaling. As well, I assigned different colors to each person which helps you follow the conversation.

I love how Valerie O'Neall used masks here to designate who is speaking each line of conversation.

Amy Coose offered up this page that has text conversations on it. I love this modern take on how we communicate!

I do have a few pages to share that are not in the gallery this month. First up, Francine Clouden sent me this darling page about her son talking on the phone.I love the series of photos of him on the phone.

I have a few pages that come from deep in my vault of layouts. The first is this page, Chabooska! A funny thing my son Sam used to say when he was 2. One thing I noticed when I look at my older pages is that scrapping simply means that my pages really don't feel dated at all. Look at that conversation bubble from 2006!

 

Next I have another funny from Sam. A little rude perhaps, but my husband is a good sport. We really had quite a chuckle about this. I think the extracted photos and the patterned background give this a cartoonish feeling.

 And so you don't think I only scrapbook using extractions, here's one about an overheard conversation.

And for our last download of the week...

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Today our download is from Snips & Snails Designs at One Story Down. Stephanne is an amazing designer and so prolific. She often creates a fabulous main kit and then offers a slew of really creative add-ons including paint splatters, alphas, and journal cards. Her kits are filled to the brim with everything you need to create the perfect page. She really does a great job including something for everyone. I never need to worry about finding a matching button or another item when I sit down to scrap with her kits. Please be sure to go check out her store and leave her a thank you on her blog!

If you scrap digitally, you should check out the matching kit to these journal cards, Wish You Were Here. It's chock full of fun travel themed items.

I created this page of my son fishing using it. It really is a fantastic kit. The map papers alone are just divine! But I digress...

Aliza Deutsch used the printable to scrap this funny "thing" her son said. Aliza kept that conversation on a scrap of paper and when she came across this photo she knew she had the perfect pairing. I think the photo of him wearing the helmet is hysterical and so fits the page! 

I hope you had as much fun as I did this week. Have fun playing with those freebies. A big thank you to the designers at One Story Down for donating their time and creativity to my week. Those ladies just rock!

Until next time,  

 

The Lost Art of Letter Writing

Letter writing is certainly a lost art. I can't remember the last time I sat down to write a letter. It's all email all the time for me. Letter writing is a great journaling jump start. It's really easy to write Dear Dad and then write your journaling and close with Love, Me. It allows you to get your thoughts down and helps keep the journaling personal and relevant. There is something about this format that helps me write about difficult topics.

Here I wrote a letter to my mother. She passed away in 2000 and she would have loved this get together last year. It was a great way to remember her and get my feelings out about who's missing from this photo.

And not to be forgotten, here is a difficult letter to my father about his cancer diagnosis and treatment. It's hard living so far away and not really understanding all that is going on.

My son was having a particularly tough month. I wrote him this letter that talked about some of the things that were going on and reminding him how much we love him! A monthly letter to your children is a great way to wrap up the month.

I couldn't resist scanning in this thank you card from my 11-year old son. I just love that he took the time to thank me for my help and the personal touch of his handwriting just adds so much to the page!

Our resident journaling queen, Amy Sorenson, uses the letter format to write a letter to her son about his relationship with his sister. I love that she reminds him that she'll be his sister forever. As always, Amy's journaling is poignant and full of great storytelling details.

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Aliza Deutsch writes an amusing letter to her sons about her crazy photo taking habit! She explains the way in which it helps her to see beauty in the world around her.

Here Aliza writes a tongue in cheek letter to the love of her life, her iPod!

 And lastly, Aliza writes a love letter to a favorite eatery, hoping to meet again.

Today's journal cards are letter themed and come to you from Kim at Two More Days at One Story Down. I love the postage stamp theme and the air mail border! A great way to add some journaling to a page or Project Life spread! Kim is new to One Story Down and I'm falling in love with her graphic papers and adorable embellishments. Please stop by Kim's store or her blog and say hello!

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Lisa Ottosson took up the challenge and used two of these cards to write a letter to herself! A fantastic way to journal a bit about yourself. You could even write a letter to a past self or a future self for a fun twist!

Happy Valentine's Day! Maybe you can write a little letter to your sweetie tonight. Be back tomorrow for my last day!

Take care,

List It

I'm an inveterate list maker. I can not survive without lists. They really keep me organized and help me remember what I need to do. I love using lists on scrapbook pages too. I was surprised when I went through my pages to find over 20 pages with lists on them! It was hard to narrow it down. I use lists in a variety of ways in my scrapbooking. I've done top ten lists, lists of books, lists of chores, lists of birthdays, a list of the things we've done in a month or a year, and even lists of names I call my kitty!

 

Lists are just an easy way to get some journaling down without having to labor over paragraphs and grammar! It's easy to write out ten ways you love your son for instance...

or a list of favorite events for each month of the past year...

or even a bucket lists full of things you'd like to do!

Lisa Ottoson shared this list of what is making her happy right now...

Christine Newman shares these two layouts. The first a list of reasons that she loves her husband.

The second a list of things she loved in January. What a great way to do a monthly round up!

Erin Sweeney created this fabulous graphic page that lists five of each of her children's current activities. I love how she used a grid here but broke it up with a variety of sizes.

Lists are central to today's freebie download as well. Nerdy Scrapper Studios at One Story Down created these cute list journaling cards just for you.

 

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Shinta's designs are heavily influenced by her drawings and doodles. She incorporates them into her kits and her papers designs. Her kits are full of whimsy and so unique. Be sure to stop by her blog and check out her store for more cute goodies!

I used the To Do list card in the pack, to document five things that I do everyday. I love how whimsical and handdrawn the card looks.

If you head on over to One Story Down's Facebook page, they are having a Valentine's Facebook hop with loads of free digital goodies. Be sure to click on each name in the LIST! Worth checking out!

Until tomorrow...

 

Ask & You Shall Receive

Hi there! It's Celeste back again for another week of blogging. This week I've decided to tackle a few jump start ideas for journaling on pages. Sometimes I seem to have loads of photos that don't really tell a story, but I want them in my books with some meaningful journaling. Hopefully you'll gain some ideas for future pages. I'll be sharing layouts from the team and have a few downloadable freebies to share. So let's get started.

Interviews are a great way to learn more about your subject. An interesting idea would be to ask the same set of questions over time. Maybe on a birthday or New Year's or at the beginning of the school year. The questions will really tell a lot about your subject's interests as time goes by.

But where to get lists of questions? I find that if you ask on your favorite forum there is invariably someone who chimes in with a list or page they've created. I've used the sites below before as well.

Back to School Interview

New Year's Family Interview

Memory Jar Prompts

New Year's Questionnaire

Birthday Interview Questionnaire

Half Birthday Interview

I used a combination of prompts from the sites above to create a couple of Q&A type pages. The first of my son...

 

And the second about my niece. I actually called her on the phone and asked her the questions!

 

Paula Gilarde asked her kids a series of questions. Some of their answers will make you go AWWW!

 

Another thing you can do is expand on just one answer and create a page around that. You could even put together a whole mini-album using the answers.When asked what his favorite book was, my son regularly answered the Percy Jackson series. I knew I had to devote a whole page to this in my books and the result was this page.

I promised freebies, didn't I?

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ALTERNATE DOWNLOAD

 

This week five designers from One Story Down have generously provided downloadable journaling cards that you can use digitally or print to jump start your journaling on a page! Today's designer is Kathryn from the Edits. Kathryn not only designs fabulous digital scrapbooking products, she is a fabulous photographer who also has come up with some amazing actions and other tools to make your photos just pop. Be sure to check out her store!

I tasked the lovely ladies from the write. click. scrapbook. team to use these cards this week on a page. Paula Gilarde used the cards in her Project Life album. I always seem to come up a photo or two short each week. An interview is a fabulous way to fill one or two of the blocks on your spread!

I'll be back tomorrow with another idea for you! Until then, happy scrappin'...

Write! Saturday

I confess: Valentine’s Day is my absolute least-favorite holiday. (You can read HERE if you’re curious as to why!  ) I don’t like overly-sentimental novels or schmaltzy love cards, and romantic movies have to work really hard at avoiding cheesiness before I’ll watch them. I think I’m allergic to sappiness.

Now that I’ve perhaps painted myself as a crusty anti-romance Scrooge, let me also confess: even I am not immune to the February explosion of hearts and roses. All the Valentine’s Day hoopla reminds me that it’s important to make a record of our love stories of all kinds—the romantic sort, of course, but also the love between parent and child, between siblings or parents or friends.

But, holy cow, have you ever sat down to write about how you feel about someone? It’s hard to write it without sounding mushy! (Which makes me admire even more the writers—of novels, screenplays, poetry, and yes, even cards—who manage it.) For example, think about how you feel about your husband. How do you put it into words? Writing "I love you" doesn’t really convey what you mean, and adding modifiers ("I love you SO MUCH!!!) doesn’t change it. So sometimes we go to cliched language: "I love you so much my heart just wants to burst!" And then your pinkie’s reaching for the backspace key because that doesn’t really say it either.

It’s hard!

Here’s the strange thing about writing about emotion: one of the best ways to do it (without getting trapped in sentimentality) is to not to describe the emotion. Instead, try writing about something specific and concrete that evokes the emotion. Let’s go back to how you feel about your husband. You love him, but "love" is pretty generic. So, get specific: the emotion that fills you up when you see him doing something altogether ordinary for you, like taking the garbage can to the curb. There’s not really a word for that emotion, but something specific about the emotion can convey what you feel: you could write about how it builds on pieces of your history (that fight your once had about the garbage can, maybe) or what he knows about you (you’re just never dressed early enough to get it out on time) or what it reveals about him (he’d never let a Tuesday go by without dragging the can to the curb), and you’ll have written about how you love him without, possibly, ever even having used the word "love." The concrete (things we can see, hear, touch, taste, smell) and the specific (not "I love you because you’re helpful" but "I love you because you make sure our garbage can always gets dumped") bring emotion to real and sincere expression.

Without cheesiness!

So! Here area few specific and concrete ideas to help you write your love stories:

 

1.  Write about something you say that expresses emotion.

Whenever my teenagers leave for a night out, I send them with a little cash, a hug, and this admonition: "Don't kiss any girls!" (or boys, as the case calls for!) Those four words stand in for the 5-minute-long talking to I'd like to send them off with, something about not doing anything stupid and trying to make good choices and not drinking anything they shouldn't and definitely not smoking anything at all and not getting in cars with drivers they don't trust and be good and strong and oh yeah, have fun and I love you. None of which they want to hear but all of which must be conveyed, and I've said my "don't kiss any boys" phrase for so long it stands in for everything else.

We all have things we say in our relationships that stand in for what we really feel but might not be able to say. Recording them on a layout is a great way to express how you feel about a person without getting too mushy. Here's a layout about a little ditty I still sing to my now-7-year-old son:

 

2.  Write about something your relationship is teaching you.

I believe that the shape our relationships take is formed by the experiences we have within them, both good and bad. If we pay attention we can always learn something about improving them. What is something you are learning right now in one of your relationships? Here, I journaled about my marriage and its current knowledge:

 

 

3.  Write about a memory that is a touchstone in your relationship.

Love is also built on memory, and some of those memories we return to over and over. Because we revisit the important ones, they take on even more significance. Writing about the memory and why it is important to you is a form of expressing your affection. What memory is particularly important to you in one of your relationships? Francine shared this layout about the last time she nursed her son, with a photo of one of the first times:

 

And I wrote about a memory from a trip that continues to remind me of what's important:

 

 

Christa wrote about the contrast between her memories and her reality:

 

4.  Write about a habit the other person has that has become endearing to you.

Sometimes habits are annoying. Sometimes they just don't get noticed very much. But they definitely help to define a person, and you taking notice of them is a way of making them important.

I wrote about my daughter's tendency to make puns:

(I realized as I was making this layout that I've never written any of her puns down. So I left all that blank space on the bottom for writing in future puns.)

 

5.   Write about one small and specific thing that the person does which you love.

Remember: specific things express emotion better than emotional words do. What is something one of your special people does right now (these things are sometimes fleeting!) that makes you feel loved? Journal about it!

Here, I fully intended to write about how my son Nathan is always willing to let me have a bite of what he is eating. I ended up feeling like writing about something completely different, so I went with the inspiration instead of the goal:

 

Lisa wrote a list of specific things she loves about her daughter:

 

While Aliza wrote a paragraph of them about her son:

 

6.  Finish this sentence: I love you as much as _______________.

This prompt comes from the children’s book I Love You as Much...by Laura Krauss Melmud. It uses specific things (animals and the things they love) to express how the mom feels for her new baby. It's really a sort of magical prompt if you let yourself get carried away with it—the concreteness of the objects you're using bring a vividness to the journaling because we can imagine them in our heads. This was one of my kids' favorite board books, but Kaleb loved it especially. I used the rhythm of the book to infuse my silly rhymes with a similar beat:

 

(Instead of Melmud's animal images, I used objects that are common to our autumn experiences.)

 

And Valerie finishes us up with this layout that also makes a comparison:

Make sure to share with us one of your love stories.

 

Digging Deeper

I've been taking it easy on you, but now it's time to explore ways to dig deeper on those layouts about us. I challenge you to really try and stretch yourself with your journaling. It's so easy to write a sentence and call it good. I know because I do it all. the. time. But it's something I'm trying to get better at, especially when the topic calls for it. When digging deeper, also think about how your color palette may affect and enhance the mood of your page. 

Today I have a series of journaling prompts and layout ideas to hopefully get those journaling juices flowing. 

1. What's going on in your life right now, this very moment?

Take a minute to jot down what's going on in your life right now. When you think you're done journaling, push yourself to write a little more. You might be surprised with you have in front of you...in a good way.

Here's my version of "Right Now..."

 

2. Finish this phrase: "I am..."

Jennie describes herself with some basic adjectives.

 

3. Discuss a character trait that makes you who you are.

Christa shares about being optimistic. I love that great smile and girly, sophisticated color palette.

 

4. What are some things life has taught you?

Diane shares her "two cents" in this gorgeous layout.

 

5. Room for Improvement

In what area of your life can you improve on something? Lisa shares a layout about how she used to say she had low self-confidence, but then realized she really didn't

 

6. Talk about the tough stuff

Life isn't always unicorns and rainbows, so your scrapbooking does not have to be either. Celebrate some of life's struggles or maybe even some silly little wrinkles like Christine.

A Few More Prompts

• What do you like best about yourself?
• What matters most?
• What makes you sad?
• What's your 5-year plan? or your 10-year plan?
• What are you thankful for?
• Write a letter to your younger self.

 

No Holiday Photo? No Problem.

Merry Christmas everyone! Aliza here blogging at wcs for the first time on this special day. I hope you are all snuggled and warm, and enjoying some fabulous holiday memories in the making.

 Now what can a nice, Orthodox, Jewish girl like myself possibly have to share about scrapbooking on Christmas day? I don't really have Christmas layouts of my own to share with you, true. But, I do have some experience scrapbooking holiday memories without photos of the actual day. See, according to the Orthodox tradition, on many important Jewish holidays, like during the Passover Seder, and Rosh Hashana, taking pictures is not allowed. For years, while I scrapbooked bike rides, and first days of school, and general cuteness, this important part of our family heritage went undocumented. I needed to find another way to tell this story. Now, there are also lots of holidays where I can take pictures, like Chanukah and Thanksgiving. But I sometimes run into another problem. I am not a great multitasker. So, when family and friends and general celebration is afoot, I sometimes forget to take pictures. Or, when I do take them, the lighting and composition are not always great, and, well, not everyone is always looking their best. 

So, if you are busy today enjoying your family and your holiday, and you don't get behind the camera, I say, tell your story anyway.

How?

Like this:

 

Use Your Words

I use this phrase a lot as a preschool teacher, and it is equally helpful for us here, as well. I don't have any photos of our Seders in progress, but I do have a photo of the table set before the holiday began, and I have my words to describe what this table and this room look like just a few hours later. And part of the story is that it looks the same every year. 

I used  similar approach for the holiday of Shavuot. More flowers for the photo (because flowers are always pretty), and words to tell the story of what made that particular holiday special. No fancy story telling. Just a list of some of the things that happened. 

 

Capture the Preparations

 There is a lot of tradition surrounding a holiday that happens before the holiday itself begins. Like every year, before Passover, we bring out a box of all the Passover projects that my kids have made at school over the years. And, every year, they love to look back at their old work.

 

In my home, though, and perhaps yours too, capturing all the REAL preparations, requires one more step.

 

Embrace the Underwear 

I'm sorry, did she just say "embrace the underwear?" 

Yes. I did. Because here is something else about my family. As these beautiful, touching, holiday memories unfold, not everyone is fully dressed in their holiday best. What can I say? We are not a formal bunch. In years past, I might have rejected some of these photos as "unscrapworthy," but I find the story they tell, and the relationships they document, too complelling to let them go any longer. 

 

Did I mention we are not a formal bunch?

 

And if you can embrace the underwear, you can certainly embrace some poor lighting and composition, too. Jenny said that living in Minnesota in a small house with few windows, lighting and composition are always a challenge. So she prints her photos small to make up for it.

So, if you miss some photo ops today, you can still tell your stories of the day. And if your home and your family, like mine, do not always look like a page out of Martha Stewart Living, embrace them and their imperfections because they are yours and they are real.

 

I do have one Christmas layout that I can leave you with today, because we do have one Christmas day tradition. Every year, we turn the channel to TBS and watch A Christmas Story.

 

Happy Holidays, Everyone!

write.

Lately I’ve been re-reading the book A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman. It’s a fairly remarkable book that explores each of the five senses—sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell. It’s reminded me of just how necessary it is to include sensory details in our journaling.

Why necessary?

Well, first consider this thought from Ackerman’s book:

There is no way in which to understand the world without first detecting it through the radar-net of our senses. . . [they] don’t just make sense of life in bold or subtle acts of clarity, they tear reality apart into vibrant morsels and reassemble them into a meaningful pattern.

It is through our senses that we understand and experience the world—so when we include sensory details in our journaling, we help the person reading it experience what we are writing about (a trip to the zoo, a moment in time, a birthday celebration, an injury, a funny story) along with us.

Sensory details (words that describe how something looks, tastes, sounds, feels, or smells) bring an immediacy to journaling that cannot come in any other way. They help readers to imagine something similar to what is in your head, because they also add specifics: a flower can be pretty, for example, but how do you see "pretty" in your head? But if the flower is violet, with a tinge of green on the tips and a delicate scent like powdered sugar—you can start to imagine that flower. (I'd like to plant it in my yard!)

When you are thinking about your journaling, spend some time on the sensory details. A carnival, for example, wouldn’t be a carnival without its alluring and mysterious combination of scents—the hot smell of the grease on the rides’ gears, someone’s cigarette smoke and someone else’s sun screen and, underlining everything, the sweetness of cotton candy.

"Smell," wrote Helen Keller, "is a potent wizard that transports us across thousands of miles and all the years we have lived." Though it might be the truest for smell—which is the sense most closely associated with memory in our brains—it goes for the others as well. Engage the reader’s and you bring her along whatever miles or years you need to in order to get to the one experience you’re describing.

Most of the time, sensory details are woven into the fabric of the writing, like here:

 
(the holidays are full of sensory experiences!)

In this layout’s journaling, the sensory details include touch (warm, silky, squishy), sight (the twinkly lights that sparkle off glittery ornaments), and scent (the dusty air from the heater). They help tell the story without being the point of the story.

Other times, you might try writing just about the sensory details, like Aliza did in this layout about the textures she discovered during a trip to Israel. I love how her photographs, supplies, and design all connect with her journaling—which includes touch and sight—in a thematic way.

In my layout, I wanted to focus just on the scents that go along with autumn:

Writing about the sensory details is a great way to develop journaling for photos you're not sure what to journal about. They help your journaling sparkle—but the thinking and writing itself will help you remember more than you think. So that's today's Write. challenge:

Grab a photo or a group of photos you want to scrap but aren't sure how to journal about.

Spend a few minutes thinking about either the textures or the scents associated with something from the photos.

Write some journaling that focuses on those sensory details.

As always, I'd be delighted if you linked us up to your words and stories.