Journaling Tips for Scrapbookers

You need to answer a few questions! Who? What? When? Where? & Why? Take a good look at each photo and answer those questions for those who will be enjoying your scrapbook pages.

Journaling Tips

• You need to answer a few questions! Who? What? When? Where? & Why? Take a good look at each photo and answer those questions for those who will be enjoying your scrapbook pages.
   
• Journaling can be a time to reflect and tell the story behind the photos you are using in your layouts. Does the person have any special talents or skills? Is the place special for a particular reason? Is the person related or a friend? Use exact dates if possible including month, day and year.
   
• For special events you are scrapbooking include lots of fun information. For a birthday party include everyone who attended, what gifts were given, the favor of the cake, and if a special theme was used.
   
• Journaling is a chance for you to share your tender feelings. Use the journaling to create heartfelt messages for family and friends. Don’t worry that you aren’t a poet or did poorly in English class. All that will be seen is that you created and recorded a memory.
   
• Journaling can be handwritten, word-processed, stamped, or done with word and alphabet stickers. Most of us don’t really like our own handwriting, but it is important that some of your scrapbook pages and journals include your handwriting so future generations can enjoy and have a small part of you as an individual.
   
• You can journal in straight lines, curves, in shapes, around the edges of the page, around the photos, under the photos, or just about anywhere you want. Experiment, have fun, explore, and journal. The more you journal, the easier it becomes.
   
• At a loss for words? Use a favorite poem, song, or saying to get you started. Learn to pay attention and listen for any “quote-able” quotes that may come your way while taking the photos.
   
• You are preserving memories. Journaling tells even more than the photographs! Think ahead, ten or twenty years from now, you may not remember the name of your first neighbor, your best friend’s cat, or your child’s first babysitter
   
• Use descriptive phrases and lots of adjectives! Write feelings and emotions rather than just the facts. Was it a cold day? What mood was grandma in? Was it morning, afternoon, evening or midnight? Your first visit to this place?

Maria Nerius is the author of Creating Your Family Heritage Scrapbook: From Ancestors to Grandchildren, Your Complete Resource and Idea Book for Creating a Treasured Heirloom