Scrapbook Journaling Tip

As scrapbookers we are constantly advised to use our own handwriting to journal. I think it is important to use your own handwriting sometimes but I am here to shake things up a bit in the world of journaling. While it is important to have an archive of our own handwriting I also believe that there is a time and place for everything. I think that even more important than following the rules is to think outside of the box. In order to keep our journaling fresh and interesting I think we need to change it up from layout to layout. For this particular page I had a certain story to tell and I wanted to tell it on this journaling box from Bo Bunny's Note Worthy Party Notes because it was incorporated into the design of the layout. The layout is busy and all over the place so I wanted to use bold typeface to anchor the journaling on the layout. The whimsy of my own penmanship would have been too busy and not bold enough to draw attention so I needed to type out my journaling and I needed it to fit a very specific space. In order to do that I first typed out my story and then I played around with the margins to get the type to fit in approximately the area I needed. Then I printed it out on a piece of printer paper. I placed my jounaling block over the writing on the paper and held it up to the light to see how the words would fit on the block. I made a few changes and printed the new version. Again I checked it against the light to make sure I had made the correct changes. It was perfect! I put some adhesive on the journaling block and placed it on the printed paper lining it up with the lettering. Then I printed the same document again. Once it was printed I removed the journaling block from the paper and added it to my layout. I was able to achieve the effect that I wanted with this simple trick. I believe journaling is just as important as the photos we use in making our scrapbooks. Together they tell our story. As Joanna Slan said in a class I took from her recently "They say a picture is worth 1000 words but have you ever gone to your lawyer to sign a picture." When you begin a new layout before you stick anything down you should decide what you are going to say. And remember to change it up using quotes, lyrics, your own penmanship, a new font, hide it or display it. Whatever you do make sure you journal it because if you don't your story will be lost. If I help one person get out of a journaling rut with this blog post then it was time well spent. Check back... I'll be posting more ideas about journaling.

Make It Your Own

When I can't find just the right embellishment for a layout I make my own. On this layout I made the transparent butterfly using the Tattered Angels butterfly stamp from the In Flight collection. I inked the butterfly with StazOn ink and stamped it onto transparency paper and then cut it out. I adhered only the center of the butterfly onto the page using glossy accents. I bent the wings up gently to create a little movement and depth on the page. The swirly stamps below the butterfly on my layout are from a stamp that came in the same set. I stamped the entire design on the corner and then I wanted to stamp just the middle swirl just above it. Here is how I did it. First I took masking tape and taped off the part of the stamp I didn't want. Then I inked the stamp. I quickly removed the masking tape and stamped the design on my project. Since the masking tape picked up the ink for the parts of the design I didn't want on my layout I end up with the one swirl that I did want.