Tuesday Tip with Joanne

Hi everyone, Joanne here with the Tuesday Tip for the week. 

Over the last week or so I have been on a little personal mission to find easier ways to get journaling on my pages. Most of the time I dont seem to incorporate it into the design then when I'm finished I cant find the right place to put it on the page. My stack of 'finished but not journaled' pages is getting a little big for my liking! I'm sure there are alot of you out there that are having or have had the same problem - so if you have any ideas please comment and let me know!

So I would like to share with you a few little tips that have helped me get more journaling onto my pages.

Hand Journaling

I know it might sound really simple but Ive heard that a huge amount of scrapbookers are too scared to handwrite on their pages for fear of making a mistake or 'ruining' their layout. I used to be one of them until I was watching a presentation online that spoke about leaving pieces of yourself for your family for after you have gone - and handwriting is a big part of who you are. Imagine if you had just a paragraph of your great-grandmothers handwriting - I know I would treasure it, as most people would. Handwriting your journaling is also the easiest and quickest way to get it done. Heres an example I made a few months ago:

Banners are a huge trend at the moment and here I have used the banner to anchor my hand written journaling.

If you just cant bring yourself to write on your layouts or dont like the look of it - write on the back of them. Ever since I had my daughter I found my memory just hasnt been able to keep up and Im scared of forgetting all the little things - so now when I complete a layout I write the journaling in pencil on the back of the page. That way when I get around to typing up all the journaling its right there for me, and also if I never get around to doing that the journaling is still there on the layout.

Computer Printed

This is one of my favourite ways to journal but it can be quite time consuming. The time it takes for me to do it this way is why my stack of to-journal pages has gotten so high! I dont have access to our printer via my laptop, I have to use my parters computer if I want to print, which can be quite a hassle (hence the influx of hand-journaled pages recently!).

Heres a little sample of typed journaling that I have cut into strips:

Products and Other Ways

There are alot of products available to help you with your journaling. If you like to make your own embellishments there are alot of stamps on the market that can help. These new Kaisercraft stamps are perfect if you have school aged children - but if you dont have kids at school you could be very creative when you ink the stamp and use a baby-wipe to remove the ink off the parts like where the middle stamp says "Subject, Grade, School" etc.

You could also write on these tags and either incorporate them into your layout or hide them behind pictures and other elements.

My post is getting a bit long now, but there is alot of other product in the Artfull Crafts store that would be great for journaling so I will just link a couple more up incase your interested!

Kaisercraft Clear Stamps
Kaisercraft Rub-ons
Die-Cuts (there is alot of different designs of these by Kaisercraft)
Basic Grey Label Stickers and Die-cut Pieces

Oh, and before I go, one last thing :) If you just cant find the words for your journaling - ask someone else to write it for you (like your partner or your children). Its great to have someone else's perspective on an event/photo. And it might also just connect them into your memory keeping just a little bit more :)

Thanks for reading!

Joanne