Journaling Prescription

A prescription for journaling. What are we talking about?
We have heard it many times, "Journaling is hard for me, I really don't know what to write"
It can be hard to start, but once you get a handle on it, your pictures just seems to write the journaling all by themselves.

Lets look at the whole journaling issue.
We are told to journal the pages according to the pictures. What about the before the picture and even after the picture. Or the trip to get the picture? Lots of the story can be wasted if we just write about that one little picture. Say you have a picture of your child sitting on a rock by the lake and you put a title that says something like, a beautiful day, memories etc. So lets say that this was part of a great day, a spur of the moment outing that ended with a picture taken a dusk by the lake. How about the rest of the story behind the picture.

Now for Debbie's prescription for Journaling. I thought about this for a while.
There is definately the Who, What, When and Where journaling rule, but there is also other things that apply with the whole journaling idea. Things that you can use to make the journaling part much easier. So lets see if I can try and map them out, or give you my prescription to heal your journaling slump!

1. Memoriabila: Yep keep those theatre tickets or amusement park passes, programs. They make a great ways to add journaling to your layout. Remember the where and when. They usually have a date and a time and a place, and the event you went to. These things are awesome to work into a layout.

2. Use a list or calendar. Timeline once again. Its great to list out the places you seen or the things you did on your vacation etc.

3. Reciepts, certificates, etc. Remember the first drivers license? So you got the real thing, the permit is a great thing to put in your scrapbook, or how about the trip to get your license, driving test receipts etc. These things are all perfect ideas to add to your pages to help define the journaling crunch.

Camping trips can include the receipt from the campgrounds. They usually have a logo on them. Water parks the same, so keep a look out for things you can use.

4.Keep those Christmas lists, or Birthday lists your children create: These are the best things to look back on when doing a Holiday layout. Don't throw these away, incorporate them in your scrapbooking. They ususally have their name on them, a list of the presents they want and their own handwritting. These are great!

There it is a my prescription to make journaling easier. Don't forget to include the basics, but look around and see what else there is that you can incorporate into a layout.

Its great to put some of these things on your layouts. Don't be afraid of a crumpled up note your child gave to you or even one of those cards they create just because. Believe me in 20 years will be so glad you kept them and safely stored them in your scrapbooks.

Journal, Journal and More Journaling. The more you do it the better you become!

Article by:

Debbie Ruggles