Journaling In Your Scrapbook
by
Audrey Okaneko
Many people like to
add words to their scrapbooks. Words help to tell the story
behind the picture. There are several ways to add words to
your scrapbook pages.
One way to journal is
through premade words and phrases. You can find stickers,
diecuts and word cutouts, all with different phrases. You
can also use alphabet sets to create words on your pages.
One page I did has my daughter’s four high school pictures,
one from each year. Down the middle of the page I put the
letters DPHS. In 50 years, when she looks at the page,
she’ll know those 4 pictures were her four high school
pictures.
Other folks enjoy
writing in their albums. If you are going to write
on the pages, choose an ink color that matches the color
theme of your page. You can write directly on the pages, or
you can write on paper and then attach the paper right to
your scrapbook page.
How much, or how
little you journal is completely up to you. In some cases, I
just wanted a year attached to my pages, so that my kids
would have a general idea of how old they were at the
time. In other
cases I wanted a city name or building name to remind me of
where I took the picture. In yet other instances I
wanted to put people’s names and a little bit about the
people in the pictures.
I know some folks who
included song lyrics or poems with their photos. They
believe the song lyrics or poem truly tell the story of the
photos on that particular page.
I have several photos
of my own grandmother. On page one, I have just one photo of
her, and then a lot of journaling, speaking of where she was
born, what year she was born, where she grew up etc. On
other pages, I put many photos of her, with very little
journaling. It
really depends on why you are making the album, who the
album is for and what information you want to add with your
photos that will determine how much journaling you’ll
do.
If your children are
young, or your grandchildren are young, it’s fun to ask them
to write something each year and include that in the album
so they can see their writing as they grow
up.
Sometimes, if I have a
lot to say, I’ll type it on acid free paper and then cut out
what I’ve typed and add it to the page. Typed words will
allow me to say a lot more than if I write the words.
Often, we want to
include a photo or article from a newspaper on our scrapbook
pages. My suggestion is to copy the article onto acid free
paper, as the newspaper will yellow and crack with
time. One
friend has a son who was on the high school football game
during his 4 years in high school. He was often written up
in the newspaper. She copied every picture and story written
about him and he now shares those stories with his own
son.
Another technique I
use with journaling to cut shapes; ovals, hearts etc. and
then journal on those pieces of paper and then attach to my
scrapbook page.
If you are making a
scrapbook for a friend, it can be fun to share your
thoughts, versus just telling a story. For example, maybe
you and a friend had a girl’s night out and took some
photos. You can share “I remember how much we laughed and
laughed this night. My stomach hurt from us laughing so
much”. This
shares not only photos but you are also sharing yourself
with your friend.
Acid free index cards
are great for journaling. They are just the right size to
write on and then attach to your scrapbooking
pages.
There is no right or
wrong way to journal. The key is to have something in words
to help tell the story of your photo.
I'd like to thank one of our sponsors for
bringing us this page:
Printer Ink
Cartridges
|