Scrapbook Journaling Ideas
Our lives are made up of everyday joys and sorrows, accomplishments and challenges, are these are just as interesting and worthy of remembering in scrapbooks as special occasions are. With a scrapbook journal you can set down and preserve these daily interests.
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Getting Started
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The key to keeping a scrapbook journal is making it a habit. Think realistically about the time you'll be able to devote to your journal, whether that's every day or every few days, and then plan accordingly. If you don't have a special place in your home dedicated to scrapbooking, you might want to start one. It's much harder to keep the habit if you have to dig out and repack your stash every time you want to work on your journal. And try to avoid high-traffic areas like the kitchen table; what works for a weekend project might not be sustainable in the long term.
Now, time to start experimenting! Since a journal is an ongoing project, you're much more free to try out different layouts and techniques. Go crazy and see what works! You could devote different days to all images, or all words. Or, try purchasing stationery smaller than your scrapbook pages and writing a day's worth of impressions on a single sheet. Then affix the sheet to the scrapbook page and surround it with embellishments that reflect what you've written. If you own a digital camera or camera phone, get into the habit of taking photos as you go through your day. With digital photo editing software, you can balance and crop these photos, then print them out to add to your journal.
Use What You Already Have
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Let your artistic side go wild!
When building a stash for a scrapbook journal, think like a magpie and start saving everything that makes an impression on you: magazine photos and articles, wine labels, colorful ads, postcards from friends on vacation. Whether you cut them up or mount them whole, they'll make a much more personal impact than commercial papers and embellishments. Plus, using materials you already own will help lower the cost of your scrapping habit.
If you're good at sketching or cartooning, invest in a good set of pencils and a pad of art paper. Set yourself a goal of a specific number of pieces of art per day that reflect how you feel or show something that happened to you. You can remove the drawings from the pad and mount them on your pages just as you would a photo.
Journaling the Good and the Bad
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You might be tempted to only record the "good" things that happen, or the most important events: your child's first tooth, or your wedding anniversary. And of course these should have a place in your journal. But life has its sorrows and uncertainties too: illness, the loss of friends and loved ones, career obstacles, bruised feelings. All of these are good and necessary for your journal. Writing and collage can become a kind of therapy, helping you to understand yourself better and come to terms with the whole of your life: the good, the bad, and everything in between.
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