The Power Of Scrapbook Journaling

by: Elaine Clay

By journaling your pages you will transform an ordinary collection of photographs into a vibrant and visual storyboard - telling the stories behind the pictures, revealing hidden memories and emotions.
It will give your scrapbooks a unique and intimate feel, it is this personal touch that turns your albums into something very special.

That is the power of scrapbooking journaling and why it is one of the most important elements of your scrapbooks.

What to write

When you are doing your scrapbook journaling think about the people who will read it in the future. Try and remember that they weren't there, give them as many details as you can so that they can relive your memories and stories for themselves.

One favorite scrapbook journaling technique is to write using the 5 W's method.

- Who :: who's in the photo, who took it and who else was present. It is important to name the people in the pictures you use. People change throughout their lives, especially children, so it is vital to tell readers who they are looking at.

- What :: what is the photo about? Describe what is happening.

- Where :: where is the event in your photo taking place? Give some background information.

- When :: when was the photograph taken? Give a specific date and include the year if possible.

- Why :: why did you use this photo? Does it show a special event like a wedding or a milestone birthday? Explain why it is so memorable.

Tell the story

Don't be afraid of scrapbook journaling. Just ask yourself, "What would I want to tell future generations about the photos on my page?" and then write it down.

A tip to remember is that all stories have a beginning, a middle and an end.

For example, a nice way to start off your scrapbooking journaling is to give your album a title page.

Use one of your favorite photos and write down who or what your album is about, you can even include famous sayings, quotes or a special poem if you want.

This leads nicely onto the 'middle' part of your story, the actual scrapbook pages and when you get to the 'end' make a page about yourself. Perhaps use a picture of you working on one of the pages and explain why you have made the scrapbook.

Elaine Clay is the owner of Online-Scrapbooking-Guide.com :: your one-stop online scrapbooking resource. Find inspiration, increase your creativity and have fun with our helpful tips, ideas, articles and much more.

- Feel free to use the above article on your web site or ezine. Provided that it is published in it's entirety, including my resource box above and a live clickable link to: http://www.online-scrapbooking-guide.com

Need A Scrapbook Journaling Idea?

by: Elaine Clay

Try using song lyrics in your next layout.

Song lyrics can be a great source of title and page inspiration for a scraper.

Music and songs play an important part in our lives. Hearing a song again can evoke a lot of emotion, bringing back fond memories of special times, special people and special places.

Of course, different songs mean different things to different people - but you can use songs to 'tap' into those memories to create unique, and highly personal scrapbook pages.

How do you use lyrics on your pages?

Well, here's a scrapbook journaling idea for you to try using a wedding layout as an example.

If the bride and groom have their own special song then you use that to add a personal touch. If not, don't worry find another suitable song instead, there are lots of song lyric web sites on the internet that you can browse.

Pick a section from your chosen song for example, the first verse of "A Groovy Kind of Love"Ø by Phil Collins and journal the lyrics around the edges of your page.

Then embellish your border with some appropriate wedding stickers, die-cuts or punches. Tie it all neatly together, by using the title of the chosen song as the accent title for your layout.

What about a friendship page? You could use some of the lyrics from "You've Got a Friend" by Carole King, maybe decorate your border with musical notes.

Doing a page about someone's birthday? You could journal the words from "Happy Birthday" and embellish the border with cakes, candles or other birthday memorabilia.

Don't limit yourself to just a section of a song, use all of it if you want to.

Write or print out the complete song lyrics onto some nice paper and add it to your page. If you don't have the room left on your album page make a pocket envelope to put your song sheet into.

You can apply this scrapbook journaling idea to any kind of page theme, not just the ones listed here as examples.

There have been tens of thousands of songs published over the years covering all sorts of subjects - the possibilities for the resourceful scraper are endless.

Just make sure that the song title or lyric you are going to use is suitable for the theme of your layout and you'll soon add a quick, simple and memorable piece of journaling to your page.
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Elaine Clay is the owner of http://www.online-scrapbooking-guide.com :: your one-stop online scrapbooking resource. Find inspiration, increase your creativity and have fun with our helpful tips, ideas, articles and much more.

- Feel free to use the above article on your web site or ezine. Provided that it is published in it's entirety, including my resource box above and a live clickable link to: http://www.online-scrapbooking-guide.com