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I am having a hard time getting into journaling. I really want to go back and journal on my pages before I forget what was happening. Can you ladies share with me some of the ways/tools/techniques you use to journal? I don't really need help with the scrapping or layouts, just the actual "how-to's" of ways to journal.
Can anyone share ideas or photos with me?:confused:
When I'm stuck on journaling I just sit at my laptop, open word and start typing about the event or picture. Something will usually hit me as right. Just being able to look at the journaling in "print" helps a lot.
Having the LO to look at helps.
I tend to jot a few notes on Post-Its when I sit down to really LOOK at my photos. I stick the notes on the back of each photo. When I'm ready to make a page, the notes trigger my memory and help me write the story.
When I started SBing, I hand-wrote all my journaling. Today I usually type in Word and print onto cardstock.
__________________ Do or do not - there is no try! (Yoda) / SCS Featured Stamper FS730 / Dirty Dozen Alumni
Sometimes I journal about the events of the day, but other times I journal feelings. When I journal about the events of the day, it's pretty basic and nothing special. However, even my journaling about a given day is becoming more about the feelings of the day. To me, that's part of the story and it's more important than other info we tend to write.
I have found that sometimes I want to journal a certain emotion that I am feeling and I try to find the right picture to describe it.
Finally, I also want to scrap about decisions we have made as parents that I want my kids to look back on and understand. We always say that hindsight is 20/20 and children have the ability when they grow up to look back and have that 20/20 vision of their childhood and can say `I wish Mom and Dad would have....' I want to help my kids to understand why we did certain things and why we made certain decisions - right or wrong. Most kids have angst with their parents as teens, and I hope that having insight into why we did what we did will help to mend those fences faster.
I don't know if that helps at all. I didn't really explain, but rather gave examples. I start by blathering on about whatever, and I truly put my heart into it. Then I start paring it back and making it more concise. Someone who journals like this, that is my inspiration for journaling in this way is Mamakimberly - I LOVE her journaling.
HTH:confused:
Last edited by momof2stampers; 07-03-2008 at 07:35 PM..
I love to journal! A lot of customers convert some of the journaling blocks I have on pages we are doing to additional spots for photos LOL!
There are lots of ways to journal, but if you are stuck I would start with jotting these things down on scrap paper or post it notes for each of your spreads to jump start journaling:
WHO - easy, list who is in the pics
WHAT - Christmas, birthday, BBQ, Cardinal game, float trip
WHEN - list the date if you have it or Spring 2008 or Christmas 2007 or whatever if you don't remember
WHERE - the place these pictures happened at
WHY - being more specific about the photos, such as Jordan's 7th birthday or Grandma & Grandpa's 50th Anniversary
You can just do that for journaling, or if you want to get more involved, expand on it by jotting down:
FEELING: How do the photos make you feel? How do you want this spread to make others feel.
MEMORY: What do you most remember about that day/event/pictures/person? What do you want others to know about that day/event/picture/person?
FORMATS FOR JOURNALING:
Who, What, When, Where, Why - just list it like that
Top 10 Lists about the spread
Poems
Quotes pertaining to the page
Writing as if you are writing in a journal
Writing as if you are a person from one of the pictures telling the story
Story format
Interview - ask people in the pictures what they remembered or liked about those pictures and write that as your journaling
Those are just a few of the ways I do my journaling. Hope that helps!
I am having a hard time getting into journaling. I really want to go back and journal on my pages before I forget what was happening. Can you ladies share with me some of the ways/tools/techniques you use to journal? I don't really need help with the scrapping or layouts, just the actual "how-to's" of ways to journal.
Can anyone share ideas or photos with me?:confused:
I have a little note book that i put bullet journal promps into with the date and occasion.
example;
* sydnees inch worms
* mudpies for daddy
* just some memories joggers
I just add enough info to jog my memory and when I sit down to journal it really helps; kind of like a little diary
I'm not sure if this qualifies to answer your specific question, but I usually either have very little to say (a picture is worth a thousand words - she looks adorable...what else do I have to say?) or I have waaay too much for the pages.
If the pictures are self explanatory, I just leave them with the title. If it is an event that I want to remember, or there was something going on while I took that picture that makes me like it even if it is a lousy photo, or I want to speak to my kids about what that moment meant to me or something I want them to know about themselves, etc, I tuck the journaling behind a photo.
On this page, I wont' Remember Any of This by weederberries at Splitcoaststampers I tucked 3 large tags, filled with journaling about his first trip overseas, behind the photos. Once the book is complete and I know I won't be rearranging pages, I carefully mark the location of the tag on the plastic sleeve, slip in my small cutting pad and slice it with an exacto knife and ruler. I do this for birthday party pages, and include guest lists, menu, games we played, little details that don't appear in the pictures, etc.
I created this page Sweet Beginnings by weederberries at Splitcoaststampers to chronicle my baby's milestones. Each pocket has info on accordion folded tags about 6 different categories, 1) the world on the day he was born, his birth and health history and special days (1st easter, first trip, etc) 2) eating, 3) sleeping, 4) playing, 5) mobility, 6) communication. I the pages are focused mainly on the journaling, even though it is hidden. I tucked some pictures inside a few of the pockets too, like a picture of him nursing. Hidden journaling is a great place to "hide" things you want to write down, but don't want every schmo reading.
I sometimes write sentimental things about how I felt during an event (like his first birthday), or I tell the literal story of the event (like his first hair cut).
It's great to journal the deep stuff, but don't feel like every photo needs an explanation. A picture is worth a thousand words and your layouts probably have 2 or more pictures. :-)
Journalling has always been my downfall. These are a lot of great ideas. I think that one of my goals (as if I don't have enough) for this year will be to start a journal of sorts. I won't need to write a lot, but just jot notes about the day. I will also keep track of the projects I finish and other goals I am setting for myself.
by the way - Lisa, I love your smugmug page! I would be very afraid to do this, I don't think I want to know all of the pictures I have left to scrap
there are some great tips on here thank you for sharing your ideas on journaling something that I keep leaving and saying I'll do it "LATER" but pages are still waiting to be finished.
I love to journal on my layouts...one of my fave things to do is write a letter to whoever the pic is about, and tell them how i felt. most of the time its a layout of my little boy...so I do Dear _____, mommy or daddy took this picture of you when we went ____ ...and so on and so forth! I write about his expressions, his reactions (hes only 2!) and how I felt etc! I am also someone who does a lot of hidden journalling behind pictures, that can be removed to read at a later date!
Have you tried writing something in WORD first, before you do the LO? I will make a text box in WORD, fill it with whatever needs to be said and then print it out. I will use the Journal Box as a design element on my LOs - finding the best placement for it, like I would a photo.
Kudos to you for wanting to journal. I think this is one of the most important parts of the LO and too many leave it to last, or worse, much later, and call the LO finished.
What great ideas. I'm awful about journaling on my pages, I'm always trying to think of something to say. I love to journal IN my personal journal, but describing an event or a layout in 10 words is just totally beyond me. I end up with "This is the family opening presents on Christmas". Wow how unique is that? LOL
So I'm going to go back through all these ideas and come up with some brilliant journaling. And if not brilliant, at least not so freakin obvious!
ETA: Oh and I do Digi Scrappin so it's hard to do hidden journaling unless it's a hybrid page. And I mostly do photobooks so doing hybrid pages is harder for me, and since they are 8x8 books, well, not a lot of space to journal. But I really need to get better at it, it's kind of kooky with some of my pages now!
Sometimes it is hard to come up with ideas...this one seems obvious, but thought I would share anyway. Many times when site seeing you will come across a memorial stone, or marker with history details etc...I like to take pictures of these to remind me of the actual events or historical sites...I can either journal about the picture or even add the actual picture to the page. I just posted a layout regarding Lincoln's birth place and boyhood home, in my gallery that might explain this better...There is also one with Martin Luther Kings grave site.
General journaling question
