Recipes For Great Journaling

by Nicole Humphrey | More from this Blogger

30 Mar 2006 07:10 AM

One of the hardest decisions to make, in regards to journaling is thinking of what you want to say on your page, or how you want to say it. In previous entries, I've given you the basic process to begin your journaling.

But I often hear scrapbookers say they need some inspiration for telling the stories, capturing the memories and making their album full of more than just elaborately designed cardstock and pictures.

Consider a Journaling Recipe. A Journaling Recipe is a formula you can use for just about any page theme. It makes scrapbooking easier when you can pick one and go with it. In fact, you can even build an entire page around one of the journaling recipes.

When I am flipping through scrapbook magazines, or browsing on the Internet, I keep a notebook handy. I jot down journaling ideas and then formulate them into a recipe myself. They are handy when I need some inspiration.

Here are a few of my favorite Journaling Recipes that I've found:

• Recipe #1. Top Ten Lists (or any number): These are so easy to do. Examples: Top Ten Reasons Why I Love You, Top Eight Ways to Have a Great Christmas, Top Five Things I Love to Eat, Top Ten Must Have Items in my Purse, Top Ten Adorable Things Katie Says, Five Ways To Carve a Pumpkin, etc.
• Recipe #2: Receipts: Use your receipts from the grocery store, school supply shopping, new clothes, the receipt from your first car, Christmas shopping, the doctor's bill for a surgery or appointment, etc.
• Recipe #3: Facts: Recording facts is probably one of the easiest ways to journal - if you take a trip to the zoo, find out facts about the zoo or certain animals (perhaps a favorite), Find out facts about your doctor's office, or about birth's and baby names the year that your child was born, etc. You might learn a thing or two as well.
• Recipe #4: Letters: Write a letter to the person pictured. Or perhaps a thank you note to the doctor who delivered that little miracle you are holding. Be creative and you can even write a letter to the zoo keepers thanking them for displaying your child's favorite animal. These are great ways to get the information about what happened at that event, in a creative way.
• Recipe #5: File a report: Create a mock police report on how that coffee mug got spilled or how that glass got broken or write a "newspaper" story on the winning t-ball game or that special class party. Another fun way is to do an "Extra! Extra!" edition perhaps detailing an engagement, or marriage, etc.
• Recipe #6: List of Words: Add a list of words that describes something or someplace in your photographs. Describe physical or character traits of the person pictured, or words that go with an event.

You do not have to be an excellent writer to tell about your family, because nobody is going to grade you. I promise. Your future family members will be so happy to have the stories of your life they won't care about spelling, grammar and handwriting. So get started today, and when you get stuck, use a recipe above.

Learn more about Nicole Humphrey

Nicole Humphrey is a freelance writer, consultant for CTMH and a Sr. Blogger for families.com. She resides in St. Charles, Missouri with Mike and their five children and two furbabies.

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Andrea M (2525) 31 Mar 2006 03:36 PM

Great ideas! I love the filing a report since so many things happen with no one knowing WHO did it:) Thanks!!!

Nicole Humphrey (15757) 31 Mar 2006 03:53 PM

Thanks for your sweet comment. Yes, as a parent with children of any age, there is always an invisible person named "not me" that lives within your family home. Filing a report is a cute way to record that disaster and add humor to it. Good luck! (oh and you're quite welcome!)