Thursday, April 30, 2009

Journaling Tip #1: Finding Your Voice

Hi everyone!  I hope you've been enjoying the springtime weather - if it's reached your neck of the woods yet.  With the approach of spring, the season of new beginnings, I've decided to change the focus of My Crafty Life a little bit.  I hope you like it.  It would be great if you'd post some comments to let me know....

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"I'm not good at writing."  "I don't have time to journal."  "I just did a whole bunch of layouts at a crop.  All I have to add is the journaling, when I get a chance."

Does any of this sound familiar?  I've heard it all before, and I want to tell you right now that journaling is the most important part of your scrapbooks - besides the photos, of course!  I know I've said this before, but it bears repeating:  Journaling is what separates a scrapbook from a glorified photo album.  We've all heard the saying "A picture is worth a thousand words," but that doesn't apply to scrapbooking.  When it comes to scrapbooking, it's the words that tell the story behind the photos.

The reason most people avoid journaling so much is that it can be rather daunting and intimidating.  Hopefully, I will be able to help you solve this problem in your scrapbooking.  Every week, I'm going to be giving you some suggestions to get you moving on what is perhaps the most dreaded part of scrapbooking:  JOURNALING.  Here we go....

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This week's tip is all about Finding Your Voice.

Now, I'm not talking about being more outspoken, although that's another topic I might write about.  What I mean by "finding your voice" is determining who will be reading your journaling.  For whom are you creating the layout?  Is it the people in your layout?  Is it for grandparents?  Is it for yourself?  (That's OK, you know!)   When you know your audience, then you can determine your voice.

For example, in my children's scrapbooks, I address them in my writing.  I use first-person narration, such as "We went to our favorite park," and "You looked so cute in your Halloween costume."  If I'm creating a layout for my own personal scrapbook, I might use these words:  "My children are growing up right before my eyes," or "I married my first love."  It's still first-person, but I'm speaking about them, rather than to them.

That's all there is to it.  The key is consistency.  If you begin speaking TO the subject of your layout, continue to do that throughout the entire journaling section.  Try to do it throughout the entire scrapbook.  The result will be something everyone who looks at your scrapbook will want to read, because it will sound natural and genuine.  Give it a try, and let me know if it works for you.

Happy scrapping!



Thursday, April 23, 2009

Some Inspiration

Here are two layouts that I did for the  If It's Groovy Design Team.  Please check out the blog.  It really is GROOVY!


Thanks. '08 (L) Thanks. '08 (R)

Page 6B copy



Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Are you up-to-date with your holiday layouts?

I recently went to an all-day crop for Autism, and I was able to catch up on my holiday layouts.  I only had Thanksgiving and Christmas of last year to do, so I was in pretty good shape.  Since I wasn't able to bring my Cricut (not enough outlets), and I didn't know how much of a demand there would be for the machines provided, I decided to bring my Big Kick machine.  All of the die-cut embellishments on these pages were made with my BK using different companies' dies:  circles and snowflakes (Sizzix), letters & numbers and reindeer (QuicKutz).  The gorgeous double-sided paper and matching ribbon are by Martha Stewart.  The fabulously sparkling glitter on the snowflakes and reindeers' hats is from Powder Keg.  Come on, now, everyone.  Get those holiday pages done!  Keep it simple by using coordinating products and limiting your embellishments.  Have fun!  (Don't forget to check out  If It's Groovy, where you will soon see my Thanksgiving layout.)
Christmas 2008 (L)
Christmas 2008 (R)