*sigh* Why am I so journaling-challenged?

I seriously don't get it. I talk more than almost any human and I'm a decent writer, yet when it comes to journaling on a scrap page, I'm stumped!

Anyone have any creative tips? Usually I just find a nice poem or quote, but I'd like my journaling to be more meaningful.

I don't have any really creative tips, I just write what the picture/page makes me think of at the time. Some days the journaling is actually related to the pictures too, lol!

lol Leila! Most of my pictures are just like headshots, etc ... so I think that's why I have such a hard time. There is no story behind them, it's just mommy running around with a camera trying to get a photo with the least amount of motion blur as possible, lol. I've been trying to do an alphabet book, hoping that would get some creative juices flowing.

I just journal like I talk. Sometimes it makes no sense to anyone else but me, but ultimately that's what my pages are for.

I think you've identified your problem, Sheri. It's much easier to journal an actual event. I do journal some non-events...but they are "reflective" moments for me...I seem to get pretty nostalgic this time of year...my birthday is in July, Landon's in August, and Avery's is Oct. 1. The aging process just brings out lots of "remember when" types of moments for me, and I use my pages to jot them down. How I feel about those events 10 years after the fact is as important part of the memory keeping process as the original event/time in life.

SeattleSheri said:

lol Leila! Most of my pictures are just like headshots, etc ... so I think that's why I have such a hard time. There is no story behind them, it's just mommy running around with a camera trying to get a photo with the least amount of motion blur as possible, lol. I've been trying to do an alphabet book, hoping that would get some creative juices flowing.

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Just another thought, too...even if you don't have a lot to say and are just capturing shots of the kids as they go about their play, you could always do the "today you..." type of journaling. The photos themselves may not reflect the activities, but the journaling would still be meaningful to the kidlets when they are older, and the headshots still show age progression and other little things.

Sheri, I've started writing a bit each evening apart from scrapping. Sometimes I write about what we did that day, other times I write general observations about the kids; little things I don't want to forget like how Jamin has taken to calling Mya 'gorgeous' and how Mya yells at inanimate objects when they aren't doing what she wants them too. It's usually just a few sentences each evening. My plan is that these little thoughts will eventually be paired with photos from the general time in which I wrote them and become scrapbook pages.

Anyway, perhaps if you just wrote about your boys in general you'd have material to put with the head shots when you scrap.

I look at my journaling as a way for anybody who reads the pages to have a pretty good idea of what life was like for us at that moment. I am not a fabulous writer, but I am trying to get better at telling the 'story' of the picture or moment. I have also committed myself to printing a photobook at the end of the year and I am doing more descriptive LOs of my kids (what they like/don't like/personalities). It also comes down to the reason you are scrapping and why you are scrapping that particular photo. If you scrap as a creative outlet or for a CT rather than to share the story of the photo or current time, then you might have to nudge your inner storyteller just a bit to add journaling. It may sound corny and dorky at first (I always think my journaling is completely dorky), but sooner or later it will become more routine and you will have beautiful pages and beautiful stories.

i kinda hate journaling, lol. mostly because we don't ever do anything, lol. our lives are pretty boring. plus i do a lot of headshots too, or atleast crop them that way. i need to do better at this though. now that Chloe is in first grade i'm hoping she'll start to participate in more activities that give me photo opportunities to journal, lol.

Maybe you're just shallow. hahaha, just kidding!

I love to journal, but I don't make pages that are nearly as pretty as yours, so maybe you just can't have it both ways. I dunno.

If I'm stumped, sometimes I think of what I'd say if my mom/friend was looking at the page. It helps me think of meaningful journaling, or details that I would have left out otherwise.

I don't always journal - sometimes the photo or the title just says it all - in which case I just add who it is and the date and call it good. Then there are actual "things" that happen or sometimes I think (hehe) and will write that.

Laura, so true!

Krystal, I think you're exactly right. I need to scrap more meaningful memories. I think sometimes I get so caught up on trying to get a good picture, that I lose sight of the reason behind the page. I will start trying to remember the moments of that day a little more! Thanks for the tip!

Misty, you are so organized! I really admire you. I think writing a bit down on most days is a phenomenal idea. Some of the best pages I've ever seen, are centered around those moments, like the ones you mentioned! You are so good at journaling!

Corey, I totally agree! It's fun to scrap some of the activities they participate in! Michael is starting kindergarten this year, so I'm also hoping to have more of those moments.

Kristy, that totally makes sense! I think sometimes I scrap for all of those reasons!

Kellie, you totally have me laughing out loud! Perhaps I am a bit shallow (at least when it comes to this, lol). I actually wish I was "deeper" and had more meaningful pages. I truly get completely frustrated that I can't achieve it. I've always admired that about your pages, but I respectfully have to disagree with you about my pages being prettier than yours. You have absolutely gorgeous pages! No doubt! I think you're the full package and I want to be one too

Allie, that is a GREAT idea!

Leah, that is pretty much how I am right now. Although, sometimes I even find the title is an after thought, lol :blink:

I struggle with this too. I generally only journal on "event" type pages, or if there's something I really need to say.

I journal on nearly every page, and one thing that helps me is to ask myself what questions my daughters will have as they look at this picture. I want to tell the story, so my goal is to have the finished page be able to tell the story on its own, without me there having to fill in all the blanks (since I won't always be around to tell all the stories). But as you've mentioned, it's a lot harder to do with headshot-type layouts, so I don't know if my advice will be helpful for your style of scrapping or not.

rochelle789 said:

I journal on nearly every page, and one thing that helps me is to ask myself what questions my daughters will have as they look at this picture. I want to tell the story, so my goal is to have the finished page be able to tell the story on its own, without me there having to fill in all the blanks (since I won't always be around to tell all the stories). But as you've mentioned, it's a lot harder to do with headshot-type layouts, so I don't know if my advice will be helpful for your style of scrapping or not.

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This is definitely my method for the most part as well. I am learning to really love journaling...although sometimes, I think I may be a bit TOO wordy! LOL But, as an added thought, we have recently been burning home movies to DVDs and it has been so much fun to "remember" some of the fun things that the boys did at different ages that I don't remember when I look at just pictures from those days. So, it has inspired me to watch those videos again and do some journaling based on what those memories are and the emotions evoked! is that clear as mud?

I just babble.. really. I don't really document anything in most of my pages - they're really more just like reading letters or my journal. There's no today we went to the zoo stuff you know. This isn't helpful.

lol kellie.

i am pretty bad at journaling too. sometimes i wonder what the heck i am accomplishing.

I used to avoid the journaling part myself. I can't quite remember how I changed but I moved to a place in my heart where I decided that scrapbooking gave me an opportunity to tell my story and for the most part I now see my scrapbooks as love letters to my family.

I knew I wanted to write meaningful journaling that the kids could read and KNOW that they were loved. I write a lot about family stories (funny things the kids say, the story of how I lost my first tooth and how it compares to their story, memories from my childhood, games I used to play as a kid, etc.). I've started a book about memories from my childhood. I'm even including a page on how McDonald's has changed over the years because I'm old enough to be pre-Happy Meals, pre-Playlands, and pre-cable TVs in the restaurant for goodness sakes -- but kids growing up now will just assume that it has always been that way. I can only imagine what McDonald's is going to be like for their grandchildren.

Or I think about family traditions. What they were, how they got started, etc. And they don't have to be major holiday traditions, just the things that somehow made your family, your family. And if you don't have many happy childhood memories to discuss, you can write about the traditions in your home now.

Recipes can be fun. If it's a family recipe you can write about the person who handed it down, if you prepared it now you could write about who in the family liked it, who didn't, if you would make it again.

Do you have nicknames for your children? A story about their nicknames would be fun with "head shot" photos.

I have a number of books that might help as far as journaling prompts to get you started. I will try to get a list together for you tomorrow.

Journaling is def an area that a lot of people struggle with, so don't feel alone!

One tip that I've heard 94032849023 times, is to try and keep little notebooks around you (in your purse, a draw in the kitchen, on your nightstand, etc) and just jot down the funny things your kids say and do.
I love Misty's method of just taking a few minutes each night to write down something. That can come in SO handy!

Try not to force it too. If you have a page that you really want to add journaling to, but nothing is coming to you, just leave the page. Let it sit for a while. When you come back to it in a day or two you can look at it with fresh eyes, and a story might just pop out at you.

Since most of my scrapping centers around our dog, and Jordan rarely lets me take pictures of him, I don't journal a ton. But I do try and tell stories. It's kind of a weird balancing act for me, lol. I often do lots of journaling on pages centered around Jordan and I. And sometimes I'll pick a template that has lots of journaling, and just go through my pictures and see what pops out at me. Maybe Tiger did something hilarious, or Jordan did something sweet, and that story comes to mind. I do hope that when I have kids, I'll follow some of my own advice and keep some notebooks so I can tell meaningful stories in their scrapbooks.

Sara, that is pretty much how I am right now, but I'm trying to change, it's a slow work in progress

Becky, that totally makes sense!

Rochelle, that is a great way to look at it! Thank you so much for the suggestion!!!

Lauren, I've always admired your journaling. I think that I've mentioned it on every page I've commented on of yours. Whatever your doing, it definitely works (not that you need my affirmation, lol).

lol Lizzy!!

scrap2day, I definitely think you've hit the nail on the head! I agree will all of your sentiments!

Col, I totally agree. I do let some pages sit for days (unless I'm under a CT deadline) hoping something will come to me. I often have 3-4 pages in process, lol.

Sheri, I've done some pages (not all posted though) where I'll ask questions. I have this magazine I bought a few years ago with questions to ask about different things. Some are for kids, some are for your parents, etc...

It would be fun to just ask them these questions and then journal them that way. Especially at the ages they are, it will be fun for them to look back and see what they wrote when! You could almost do the same questions each year and see the changes.

The magazine I have is called Scrapbook Shortcuts with Quizzes and Questions put out by Simple Scrapbooks. I put together a whole book on my parents using these questions and made books for all the siblings.

I'm sorry. I said I would get back here today with a list of books but I'm realizing that I'm running out of time and we have family plans tonight.

I'll work on it for tomorrow.

So, here's my long list. Hope it helps.

The Photo Scribe A Writing Guide: How to Write the Stories Behind Your Photographs by Denis Ledoux
This is your at-home journaling class in a book. It takes on explaining why to journal, some of the “mistakes” that could happen because we don’t always remember things correctly and how to deal with the stories with negative emotion attached. There are also lessons for how to verify your stories with additional resources. There are exercises to complete at the end of most chapters.

That’s Life: Finding Scrapbook Inspiration In The Everyday by Nic Howard
This is a wonderful book for helping to generate really meaningful journaling. It is broken down into 7 sections – one for every day of the week. In each section there are three lessons which are really the subtopics you will be journaling about. Topics include: a typical day, the past, the future, people around us, and lessons learned. Highly recommended.

What To Write To Make Meaningful Albums by Melody Ross
Another good book for journaling inspiration. Topics include then and now, timelines, letters to others and many more.

Real. Life. Scrapbooking. By Rebecca Cooper
This is a good book for inspiration about scrapbooking about your everyday life and taking notice of the little things.

50 Moments: Scrapbook The Pages That Matter Most by Lisa Bearnson
This is a book to help generate ideas for topics to journal about. Each topic is introduced with a series of questions to help you – mainly the what, how and why. There are also quotes and example layouts throughout.

The Scrapbooker’s Almanac by Elizabeth Dillow
This book has a variety of ideas for every month of the year based on known and not-so-well known days on the calendar.

52 Scrapbooking Challenges by Elsie Flannigan
This book has a series of challenges – one for every week of the year. Some are about trying new styles of scrapbooking but some are about ideas for journaling.

What About The Words?: Creative Journaling for Scrapbookers by Memory Makers
There are some seriously creative journaling ideas in this book – everything from repeating one word to question/answer to a tv script. Just looking through it again I can find many more I want to try.

Slice of Life Scrapbooking
This is one of those Simple Scrapbooks Special Issues. It is broken down into three main categories with multiple subcategories for each. The three main categories include: Things, Places & Time. It is good inspiration whether you want to do just a page or a whole themed album.

Scrapbook Journaling Made Simple: Tips for Telling The Stories Behind Your Photos by Memory Makers
This is a great beginning journaling book. Lots of good ideas for writing the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Even after many years of journaling, I find myself going back to this book for inspiration.

Starting Points: Creating Meaningful Scrapbook Layouts From Whatever Inspires You by Linda Harrison
This is one of those books that helps you get thinking. It is broken down into 4 sections to help you start where you are and create your page from there. The four sections include: photos, words, products, and other inspirations.

I also like using books like 4,000 Questions For Getting To Know Anyone and Everyone by Barbara Ann Kipfer for journaling inspiration. Sometimes I answer the questions, sometimes I use them as “interview” questions for the subject of my layout.

I'm also a big fan of Big Picture Scrapbooking by Stacy Julian. After I read this book, I changed from a chronological scrapbooker to a topic scrapbooker. I think this really helped me in my journaling too because I started approaching layouts from more of a "what do I want my family to know about this" perspective.

I love to journal, but if I wait until I'm in the middle of a page to write I freeze and end up with a meaningless sentence or two. It just doesn't work for me to do it like that.

I get my journaling done in a few ways. First, shortly after I upload photos to the computer I write down the story behind them so that I'll still remember it even if it's months before I get them scrapped. I store the stories with the photos. Second, I have a document for each kid where I write down the cute/funny/scrapworthy comments and random stuff. I write things in it as they happen and organize by month. If I have a picture with no real story behind it, I go to the "Things You Say" document and pull a few things out that help form a picture of what the kids are like at that moment in time.

Good luck!

Debra, those are perfect suggestions, thank you!

Scrap2day, thank you for the wonderful comprehensive list! I've bookmarked this thread so I can refer to it in the future too

Rachel, thank you for the suggestions! I write down cute quotes, but I've never thought to do it for the kids to remember their stories!