Something is really, really missing. As I have been travelling around the galleries in the digi world I have been noticing time and time again that there are no words. I see lots and lots of incredibly talented scrappers who are scrapping amazingly beautiful layouts, but I keep asking myself, where are the words?
I know people scrapbook for all different reasons. Some people do it purely for the artistic expression and creative release. It really isn’t about the legacy they leave behind, but rather, for the experience of actually making the page. But for most of us, the motivation to leave a legacy, a piece of our heart, drives (at least in part) the creation of our pages. Without journaling, our pages are just pretty pictures and elements. Future generations will look at them and not even know who is in the pictures, much less why we loved them. Don’t you want to savor the feelings in your heart for others to see?
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When we released our 10 Reasons Art and Album last week, I really wanted to make something with it. I knew I wasn’t going to have time for a whole album, but with Valentine’s Day approaching, wanted to make a page for my husband.
Look at these two layouts. The first one is a tribute to my man. It tells him that I love him (which is true!) It is a nice layout and a sweet sentiment.
But you know what? It is missing something! For me, it isn’t enough to tell him I love him. I want him to know why. I want him to know the things about him that make me feel lucky to be with him. And right now, the way he is with our kids is topping the list. So this layout better portrays what is in my heart. And not only did I tell him I love the kind of dad he is, but also I was able to sneak in two other reasons.
If journaling is hard for you, don’t worry! The more you do it the more naturally it comes. There is no “right” way to journal! It doesn’t have to be long and drawn out mushy sentiments. Journaling can take many forms. As I looked through my own albums I saw that I journal in lots of different ways! If you get stuck on some of your love pages, try some of these ideas:
1. List format: A simple list can work well. It gets the point across! Top ten lists keep you stretching and searching within your heart for more. In this two-page layout I listed a bunch of little things about my son that was loving at the time (and yes, I know, I am the queen of typos. These were fixed before printing 
)
2. A letter to someone or something: Sometimes, talking “to” someone or something makes it easier to share what we are feeling.
3. Pretend like you are talking: written and spoken language tend to be different. As your write, just imagine that you are just talking to a friend and sharing about something you love. Write like you speak, even if it isn’t gramatically correct.
4. Question and answer format: sometimes it is easier to answer a direct quesiton rather than “start from scratch.”
5. An acronym: Sometimes, using the first letters of a persons name or a place we love helps us get creative when trying to share what is inside our hearts
6. Record real conversations: Nothing is truer to life than the actual words spoken!
7. Take 5 W’s approach: who? what? when? where? why?
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If the placing of your journaling on your scrapbook page is more of a problem, try some of these ideas:
1. Shaped journaling or text on a path: Sometimes we can help convey meaning through shape or flow. (For some great premade text paths try these by Jen Caputo! That is what I used on the two page layout below)
2. Journaling as a border: sometimes there isn’t a great place to put our journaling. Instead of using a frame or other border, why not use journaling? That was the case in this layout. I loved the TIC TAC TOE theme I had but I just felt like without words, it was missing something. The journaled frame was the perfect accent and the perfect way to share how I felt about these people!
3. Random words: Rather than writing out a lengthy journaling block, try putting random words on your page. They can convey the same meaning and they are fun to read!
4. Add another page! Sometimes I get done with a layout and love it. But then as I look at it I realize it is missing the story. Rather than redo the whole page I just add another one! For example, this past weekend I made this page. But as I looked at it, I realized that there was more to it. There were reasons that I wanted to make a page about being creative. So, I just flipped the page and added the story behind why the pictures are important to me.
5. Journal on a photo. From an artistic standpoint, it is sometimes hard to find the right place to put our journaling. Why not try adding journaling on top of a photo!
6. Hidden Journaling: If you are willing to give hybrid a try, you can take advantage of one of the great things about paper scrapping — hidden journaling. In this layout all of my journaling is hidden underneath the photo.
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Go ahead, take a look through your albums. Imagine yourself as your own grandchild and great grandchild a few generations from now. What do you learn about yourself? Are the stories there? Do you know what the photos are about? Think on your own grandparents. What do you wish you knew about them? Do you ever look at photos of them and wonder what they are all about? Yes, the pretty papers, unique embellishments, and cool photo treatments are FUN. I love new digi supplies as much as the next person. But I want to leave a story behind. My story. The story of my family. And to do that, there have to be words.
So come on…try it out. Look at one of the journaling ideas above and give it a try!
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You’ve written a good article on journaling tips! However, I totally agree with Jang on why I don’t post any journaling in my online layouts. I really thought this was understood as to why so many of us DON’T. I do turn on the layers of journaling when it comes time to print as was pointed out.
Yes.Yes.Yes.I agree with EVERYTHING.EVERYTHING you have to say here. Call it getting back to basics or not having as much time to scrap like I used to, but I am all about the journaling lately & will continue to do so. I believe it is SOOOOOOO important & what I want out of my pages.
This post is amazing and so true… I agree with everything you said and will add this to my faves everytime I get blank in journal.
Thanks!
Thanks for this post! I need to learn how to do more journaling on my layouts. I’m pretty new to any form of scrapbooking and I have such a tough time finding words. I will keep practicing adding my story…I’ll believe you when you say it will get easier.
You’ve asked a question that I’d like to address.
Where are the words to go with the layouts?
When I first started scrapping and posting the pictures of those pages, I had journaling on all of them. Maybe not as much as some I’ve seen but they all had the names and dates and a description of the event. I was pretty proud of a lot of them. It was shortly after I started that someone told me that I should be careful in what I write on my layouts as it’s not only other scrappers that frequent the sites to look at pictures of kids, family, pets, houses, etc. She said that some people troll the sites for pictures and/or information (specifically of our cute little children) that might be used for not so nice purposes. I know that we like to believe that we’re safe and secure in our little world, but with the advent of “modern technology” it wouldn’t take long for some of those people to figure out where a person lives based on all the wonderful journaling that is sometimes added to a layout (not to mention things added to your profile like the city and state you live in) or for them to have a name to go with your very pretty picture. I know a lot of people will laugh and call me paranoid and that’s certainly their right, but I can’t/won’t ever put my family and/or friends in that position and “words” will never appear on anything I post on the web. So you see, it’s not that I need help with how or what kind of “words” to put on my layouts…it’s that I can’t/won’t chance it.
I think there are a lot of others out there like me who for this very reason will not post “words” on their web layouts. I bet a lot of them always make sure to turn on the journaling layers when printing (for themselves) so their family and friends can read their heartfelt “words”.
I totally agree with the sentiment of others who have commented. Scrapping is an outlet for keeping the memories we have gathered. Not just for ourselves but for those who come behind us. One thing I plan to do is to create a storybook with my daughter’s albumns. Tell her story. One of the things she loves me to do is to go through her picture albumns and tell her about the pictures I’ve gathered of her. She loves the bits and pieces that she hears and wants to hear them over and over again. Journaling is the best way to do that in a scrap page. Thank you for highlighting this! I’m lovin’ this site and I can’t wait to visit every day!
Oh. My. Gosh. THANK YOU for this post! I look at my LOs in galleries (most of which I’ve deleted) and always think I’ve put too many words on them – because I *am* the story teller. *That* is why I scrapbook. Sure, when I sit down and look at a scrapbook with someone I’m telling them the story…but what happens when I’M DEAD and the people I’ve told the story can’t REMEMBER IT?! That is why I write when I scrap. It’s also why designers don’t want someone like me on their CT. I’m not going to showcase every single element in the kit on a single page with a single little bitty photo (a trend I’m seeing and part of why I rarely post in online galleries any longer). I’m going to showcase my *photo(s)* and *tell the story*. I’m working on my son’s birth album right now. I have one LO in it that is ALL journaling – it’s his birth story and it is side by side with a page that is almost all photos (with a few little one line bits under them) of him being delivered via c-section.
I was struck by this very thought the last time I had an album printed. It never failed that the layouts that my friends and family liked best were the ones with lots of journaling. Thanks for a great reminder, Janet.
Can you hear me standing on my sofa applauding you?!!? To me, journaling is THE most important thing. I love journaling around the perimeter technique – I’ve done it many times. It works so well as a design element, as well as gets important stuff down.
Thanks again for getting the word out (HAHA!)
What a fabulous post! You are so right about journaling, and I appreciate the reminder. Thanks for all the great ideas and examples!
I’ve noticed the same thing and applaud you for giving the “push” to add some words … I know I could be MUCH better at it! Fabulous ideas to get me started
Thanks so much for this post! Every time I look at the Gallery Standouts selections I am dismayed that the majority of layouts have no meaningful journaling. I understand that it is the artistic merit of these layouts that catches the eye, but in the end what will hold greatest meaning is the story that accompanies the pictures – the words that give life to the images and trigger memories that far exceed the captured scene. Especially when the story keeper is no longer with us. When my son is 30 and reminiscing I want him to know more than just that mum had a great eye for colour and design. I want him to know who he was at all the amzing ages and stages we journeyed with him, and who we were in those moments in time – the good and the bad. Blessings to the Storytellers, your families will thank you for keeping their truth.
Thanks for the thought-provoking journalling triggers. I really am going to try harder to start my page with the location of the story in mind rather than trying to toss it in after the fact.
Great job again! I looked through the gallery and gave up after 10 pages of layouts without any stories! This is a great reminder to get the story told- we won’t always be around to tell others verbally, so it’s important to have that written down.
yes, you are so right!
I started to scrap to capture our special moments and ended up with some artsy pages. but several months ago I realized what I was doing and went back to my roots. so since that I journal on almoste every page in one or another page.
thank you so much!
Oh I just love your blog…
This post was perfect for me, too. I am fairly new to digi-scrapping and I’ve been struggling with trying to get more journaling on my pages. You have really inspired me today!
It makes me so sad when scrappers tell the story in the layout description in the gallery…that doesn’t get printed with the actual layout. Why scrap if you don’t tell the story behind it? What’s the point? Great post!
Amen to that sister! I agree with you that the latest trend I have noticed is that the photos are getting ever so tiny, tiny (most times only a head) and lack of journaling. For me, photos and journaling are foremost, then pretty papers and minimal embellishments. But to each their own. Love the examples and timely article. Keep up the good work.
Hugs,
Kait (LovelyMissKait)
hI… I am always short of words but after reading your post!.. i will work being more “writter” AND YOUR EXAMPLEAS are GREAT!!… this is the best best page!
Thanks!!
I bought the bag!… great thinks and looking for other!
a hug from Colombia
Soffy
Great post as a new digital scrapbooker I sometimes get caught up in the process of making the page, or fustrated(not remembering shortcuts) by time I get to the journaling, times up and I need to do other things. I now keep a note book to remember what I intended to journal if it can’t been done right away I can return later. Thanks for the reminder. love this site!
Thank you for this post! Your layouts gave me the help I needed for a page I couldn’t figure out what was missing, but I didn’t want the journaling to take away from the photo….THANKS!
Can you hear my applause? I get really upset when I see layouts winning contests without so much as a DATE on them. I always pretend that if a total stranger were reading my layout, would they understand who was on it (within reason, ie., if the layout is in a family album, I don’t have to explain who my kid is over and over again) and what I wanted to convey? If a stranger doesn’t get it, then I start over. I have a BOX full of photos from my father in law (who has passed) that I have no idea what they are. I AM that stranger and I would so appreciate some sort of information. Journaling is UBER important! Great article!
I couldn’t agree with you more. I notice it all the time. I am a journaler- for me,my page isn’t done unless I somehow tell the story that goes with it. Journaling seems to be another one of those things that goes in trends and right now in the digi world, sinlge photo pages are the ones to do.
I realized that my layouts were missing journaling some time ago. I have been actively working on including the story as well as the photos, I am so pleased with the result and I know that when I am gone the stories will live on.
LOVE this post, Janet. I’ve noticed this trend too and while I’ve certainly been “guilty” of not including the story behind the photos, my favorite pages are always those that leave a little piece of my life for others to read and enjoy.
Thanks for an awesome and timely post!
Excellent post……I don’t think I’ve been journaling much lately and it really does make a difference on a page for me…
Thanks for the reminder – another AWESOME post!
Thank you! This is the best post of Daily Digi so far.
Keep up the inspiration!
I’m glad you did this post. I am really bad about journaling because I don’t feel like I have much to say. I do a lot of who, what, where, when. Thanks for the encouragement and inspiration. I think I’ll try something today.
I disagree that a scrapper who doesn’t do much journaling on the page doesn’t want to leave a legacy. For one, the photos tell a lot of stories by themselves. Also, you’re forgetting about the word-of-mouth stories you tell about each picture every time you sit down with someone to look at your album. I don’t believe a page without journaling is any less of a preserved memory.
Wow, this was the greatest article! I am so inspired, I wish I could leave work, and scrap scrap scrap (journal, journal, journal!).
I also really related to the idea of being creative, totally driven to create something precious and memorable and expressive and worthwhile and lovely, but not being necessarily talented at the things people consider “art” like painting, sculpting, etc. I have always written journals, and cards that people REALLY like because I REALLY write them, not just “best wishes” and stuff, and have been told I’m a good writer, but as a single mom, supporting 4 kids, time for frivolous pursuits not being available, well, there’s not much time for that.
So anyway, I have found knitting as a creative outlet and become entirely addicted and determined to keep all my kids and descendants nice and warm, but NOW I have found digi-scrapping, and am able to combine my desire to create with my desire to leave my descendants true info about the lives of the people who have come before them, AND it gives me more chances to play with all the beautiful colors and color combinations that God has so lovingly provided for us (you know, you can do 4-5 layouts a day, but it takes a bit longer to knit a sweater or blankie).
Anyway, thanks, this is really really the best thing I have read in a long time!
I’m glad you are encouraging the story. I do try to tell the story because I think I know what or when or who but I have to remember that others won’t know that. And typos well I tend to save as jpg for space reasons so I let the typo go unless its totally incorrect information. And I look back at my paper albums and they have “typos” too.
Thank You so much for being a “journaling advocate”!!! The biggest reason I scrapbook is to tell the story, not just show off cute elements/papers!
I love your ideas! I’m going to have to try a few!