Fiskars Craft: Journaling

HI everyone,

I have been asked to create a post on journaling techniques - so I have :) It is nothing new- but hopefully someone will be inspired by it :). OK... so...here goes..

Journaling - What is it?

Basically it is telling the story of the photo or photos your page. There is the rare occasion when I think journaling isn't necessary and the photos speak for themselves- but i still think it is great to have at least the basics down on these pages. The what, where, who and why. I believe that these types of pages are rare though, and for me if I don't convey some meaning, emotion or sentimentality to the viewer of the page, then i think i have missed the point. So ok, I think it is important- so how to do it....

How to do

Journaling is such a personal thing, that nobody can tell you how to do it. It should reflect your personality and style, and we are all different. But i will give you some suggestions on how I and others journal. I like to remind myself that someone in the future will read what I write, so I try to include things that I would like them to know about the photo . Not just the facts, but how I felt or something interesting that happened on the day, so then the reader gets a sense of who i am, or who the person was in the photo. ok- so onto some different ways of actually compiling this journaling.....

Ways to express your self

ok so I can think of some ways to get it on the paper.... of course there are others and you are really only limited to the size of your paper and your creativity. So you can;

Create lists

write a letter

do an interview

get your children to write the journaling

hide your journaling

use quotes and poems...

Below is an example where i got my daughter to journal for me. Now she is 10- but a reluctant writer :( I wanted her to write 10 favourite things at 10 - but after much discussion, i realised i could only expect her to write one lol. But at least i have an example of her handwriting on a page :)

Different types

Some people are reluctant to include their own handwriting in their scrapbooks because they think that it isn't neat enough. I would say "Who Cares!!!!"I am sure that your kids and others in generations to come would love to see your handwriting. It adds such a personal touch. If you are worried practice first and use pencil , especially if this is going straight onto your page.

Handwriting is my favourite form of journaling. I love that it is instant - no fiddling around on a PC, making sure it fits etc - I can just write.

Some examples of including handwriting on your page....

handwriting straight onto your page

handwriting on journaling strips

handwriting on contrasting cardstock and adhering to your page

handwriting your title or part of it

handwriting on stickers, journaling blocks, punch outs etc.

handwriting on stamped journaling blocks

handwriting on notebook paper

handwriting straight onto a photograph......... and I am sure there are other ways.......

here's an example of handwriting straight onto cardstock - An old Polaroid of me lol

I used a fine point felt tipped pen and do so usually when i journal. I like to use a permanent pen, a 'sharpie' when i journal onto shiny stickers etc. and i love my white gel pen as well.

Years ago i made my handwriting into a font using fontifer.com - but i changed PCs and lost it somehow, so this week i did it again........ and I found a free site where you can make your own fonts. It is called your fonts and is pretty easy. You need a scanner and a printer. You need to download the sheet, write your letters on it, scan it into your PC, upload it to the site and they make your handwriting into a true type font :) If you follow the instructions you can't go wrong. you will need a printer,scanner and good felt tip pin. Here's a page i have done using my own handwriting, that I have creatively called "Mishell's handwriting" lol The page "Double Digits" earlier on in the post also has my handwriting font on it :) It is fast becoming a favourite :)

Here's some writing with my font :)This brings me to the big wide world of Computer Journaling! So, do you like my font? I am really happy with it. I didn’t rule any lines or anything because my handwriting isn’t perfect, so I didn’t want this to be perfect J

Computer Journaling

Here you can use your own fonts, or any font- the Internet has millions available. Using your computer you can use any size and be creative by using different shapes. You can journal onto strips as well, as I have done above. You can also use your photo editing software to journal directly onto a blank space on your photo before you print it. All the ways mentioned in the handwriting part of this post can also be used with computer journaling- like directly onto cardstock if you scrap on a smaller than 12x12 size cardstock - or on the 12x 12 cardstock if you have an A3 printer. You can also use transparency which gives the impression on the journaling being directly onto the cardstcok. Make sure you use one suitable for an ink jet printer or laser which ever you have.

Using titles, quotes and poems

Although these wont tell the entire story of a photo you may find that some pages don't need a long story to be written and you find a quote, title or a poem that says it all for that page. Again, you can use pre prepared quotes and stickers, like those in the Heidi grace and Cloud 9 ranges available. Rub on titles and quotes are also handy to add something extra to your page. I have used a Heidi grace rub on in the layout "Gamer girl" above to add something. (:sweet' is the rub on used) As well as rubons of course you can also use .......

Stickers

When i first started scrapbooking stickers were about all that was available for embellishments lol and they were not the sophisticated yummo ones you can get today! lol. Using stickers today is another way that journaling can be added to your pages as sometimes you can find exactly what you want to say already written out, so putting this on your page will be enough. And of course large stickers are great for titles. Of course you don't need to have your journaling on show either- sometimes it is very personal or you can't fit all you would like to say - this is where hidden journaling comes in handy.

Hidden journaling

If you have found a great title perhaps or a quote and your page is perfectly balanced, you may not have room to add your journaling. This is when hiding your journaling is a good option.There are many ways to do this. Here are some..

* include a mini book or album on your page that can be detached and read

* journal and place it in a made or bought pocket

* make part of your page interactive, so it opens up or concertinas out and have journaling on that

* hinge part of your layout, even the photo and journal underneath

* or use a tag hidden behind a photo or another part of your page as i have done in the layout following

Just remember to leave a note (i have put this on a little tag) so that readers know that their is something to read if they look under here, or pull the tag etc.

And here's a close up of the tag :)

Well, that's long enough i guess :) Wonder how many people got to the end????? Anyway... Some of the other lovely Fiskars Gals will be posting some other examples of different journaling this week as well- so I hope you are inspired to journal, journal, journal. We would love to see some of your creative journaling so you can send them to me i guess @ [email protected]

Happy scrapping,

Smiles

Mishell

Materials used

Double digits

Cloud 9 : Alyssa's garden Dimensional stickers,Alyssa's garden Clear Sparkle Alphas

Heid Grace: Sweetest Bug range:- Printed word accents, glitter icon stickers, Glitter cardstock Paper,double sided cardstock paper sweet stripesand Charming Collage ( both sides of each of these)

Laugh

Kimberly Poloson Nature's Flora: Clear Alphabet stickers,Epoxy Stickersjournal border stickers Double sided cardstock - vaerical variety, enchanted elegance, and luster cardstcok

Heidi grace; stamps and sweetest bug printed word accent

Tools square scalloped punch

Gamer girl

Cloud 9: Alyssa's garden; clear alpha stickers, Clear sparkle elements,and quilted sparkle cardstock

Heidi Grace: sweetest bug range borders and rub on words and glitter icon stickers

Favourite Friend

Heidi grace Sweetest bug range: flocked cardstock paper flower patch, and My garden and glitter cardstock paper sweet stripes and charming collage, rub ons and printed word accents also sweetest bug clear overlay shapes :)

Hi!! Annette here.

I thought i would share a layout on journalling with you.

I guess we are all inspired in different ways and create in different ways and for that matter different locations.

For me this layout was inspired while i was on holidays at the beach over easter. I had very limited supplies, i hadn't even remembered to take any sort of adhesive!! I had no photos as i wasn't intending to scrap, i did however have all my clear stamps, black stazon ink, my Steadler triplus fineliner pens and some white bazzill!! I scrounged around in the cupboard and found some black electrical tape, first time i have ever used it in scrapping, but i actually did 2 layouts with it and was quite happy with the results!!

Firstly i had no idea what i was going to do, so i decided to do a heading in my own hand "journalling", and decided to just see where that took me. I then stamped over it using the little flower stamp from "heidi grace - Reagans Closet" clear stamps, then i headed off down to the beach and sat with my friend under the trees and began to colour-in and cut out.

This was my creative space, lol, how can you not enjoy the process when you are in this environment!!

Kicking back in my banana lounge, i was doing my title....

All this was happening around me....

I found it quite ironic that i didn't have 1 photo to scrap with, but the whole time i was there, i was snapping away with my camera, in between colouring in, and not moving off my bottom ;0)

Anyway, I finished and cut out the title down at the beach, and then i completed the layout that night in the caravan.

this is my "pretend" photo that i made using the Fiskars flip n'flop clear stamps. Do you suppose i was inspired by my surroundings, lol!! Black electrical tape bordered my "photo", oh and just to be clear, i do NOT get around in a yellow polka dot bikini of that size, lol!!

My bright flower power heading.

This was going to be my layout and i grabbed a leftover piece of cardstock to do a bit of journalling that i was originally going to stick on the back. For someone who struggles with the journalling part, i did okay ;0) so i decided to put it on the front and make it into a little door like this...

I just added the little tab this morning, had to wait till i got home to get some double sided tape!! I simply punched half a medium squeeze punch cirlce and drew the little scalloped edge, coloured and cut around and attached to the door.