Journaling Borrowed From The Internet

Do you want to know one of my (Katie) favorite journaling secrets? I love to borrow journaling from the internet. Really! When you have a world of knowledge at your fingertips, it only makes sense to use it to tell your own stories!

Here are some examples of how information straight from the internet has helped me create some of my favorite pages:

I  have plenty of pages with pictures of my kids playing. I wasn’t really sure what else I could say about these images. Then I remembered something that an occupational therapist once told me – “Play is the Work of the Child”. I decided to do a Google search on that phrase and I found a wonderful explanation from Maria Montessori on the Child Development Institute website. I just copied and pasted the information and expanded on it a bit for my journaling. This is perfectly fine to to do for something like a personal scrapbook page. Even still, I included my source in the journaling so viewers would know where it came from.

Kristin Aagard Buggalicious Quick Page

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Here’s another time when borrowed journaling really helped me create a meaningful layout. My kids were so excited when we were one of the first ones to get a Wii back in November of 2006. I documented the whole experience on an opposing page, but I wanted to include some explanation of what a Wii actually was. I went straight to the source and copied text from the Nintendo website. I even used an image from an online ad as a background. The exact article I used is no longer on the site (it was 4 years ago), but you could still find plenty of relevant product descriptions to include on a page of your own. This would be a great trick to use when scrapping about something new like an ipad, or a unique toy like a Tickle Me Elmo.

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One of my favorite places to use internet resources for  journaling is on travel pages. With so many tourism websites, it is easy to find great material to use! When I made my travel journal for our Alaska cruise vacation, I relied heavily on the Princess Cruises website for descriptive journaling (and images).

Paislee Press Adorned kit, Travel journal project by Kim Lund at The Daily Digi

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I also use this technique for general vacation layouts. I got my journaling for this page from the Depoe Bay Chamber of Commerce website. I will add more personal journaling on the other pages I do about our family on vacation there.

Kitty Designs Templates Cinnamon Designs Cardstock Jofia Devoe Candy Beach kit (NLA) Franklin Gothic font

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It’s a real time-saver to use journaling from websites. I wouldn’t recommend you use borrowed journaling on the majority of your pages because then they wouldn’t reflect your own personal experiences. It does make sense however, to supplement your own words when someone else’s knowledge can add a meaningful piece to the memory you are sharing. There’s nothing wrong with getting a little help sometimes!

Here are a few guidelines to follow:

• Don’t copy others words without giving credit to the source, especially articles, books, and blog posts. Even if it’s just for your own personal scrapbook page, you don’t want to plagiarize. It also will make more sense on your layout if you explain where the information came from.
• It is fine to copy a product description or a list of tourist attractions from a website without credit, because those things are meant to be shared and you aren’t infringing on a copyright.
• Find a balance between using your own words and copy-and-paste journaling. You don’t want your scrapbooks to read like encyclopedia entries.

Here are some great resources to help you find journaling information online:

• Wikipedia
• Dictionary.com
• How Stuff Works
• Search engines
• Reputable tourism websites
• Official city websites or Chamber of Commerce sites
• Official company websites

Remember to let your computer help you add meaningful journaling to your scrapbook layouts. It is the gateway to a world of great information!

P.S. Leigh was the random winner chosen from those that commented in yesterday’s post.  She won $10 in product from Kim Wresh!  Check your inbox.