Journaling on your Scrapbook Layouts

Question of the Week:

Is Journaling Important?

I’ve stressed the importance of journaling in this blog and I still believe it is. What is the point of sticking photos together when there’s no accompanying explanation or story behind the photos. That’s what makes scrapbooking different from just sticking all the photos in your album.

No, you don’t have to be a ‘writer’ and write long prose for each of your layouts — here are some ways to tell the ’story’ behind your photos:

1. Quick and simple — write down the date, the occasion and who were present (in the photos).
2. Use quotes, poems, lyrics of a song that is relevant to your layout. There are so many resources available but one of my favourites is from 2peas. An example of this is my layout here.
3. Use your own thoughts and feelings — I know, I know easier said than done.

When I started scrapbooking two years ago, I initially used quotes or poems because I did not feel confident enough to write my own thoughts but as I go along, I find that it’s easier and sometimes, when my thoughts are jumbled in my head, I try to get around it by writing them down either in my notebook or the computer and sometimes, I start a layout with the journaling at hand and then I find the photo that will best fit what I have written. I have used this technique for B is for Balance and D is for Dad layouts.
For more journaling tips and to get your creative writing juices flowing, check this out: Top 10 Journaling Tips.