Why Journal?

Lets talk for a little bit about journaling.  I know, it can be the hardest part of the layout for some people.  (Me included.)  Most of us haven't taken a creative writing class and we think our journaling is boring (at least I do).  But it can also be the most important part of the layout.

Let's face it.  None of us will be around forever.  And even if we somehow managed to pull that off, it might be that our memories won't be as good as we like.  Without journaling, your future posterity will think "wow, this is a pretty layout".  With journaling, they'll get to know more about you and your family.  And as a person who is very interested in family history, let me assure you that they will appreciate it.

Let's take a look at a layout I recently did with Winter Frolic from Recherche by KH Designs and Valarie Ostrom.  This first version is without journaling.

 

Without journaling, you can assume my cat's name is Lorenzo.  And you can see that Lorenzo is a pretty cat.  But you don't know much more.  But you deserve to know more because there is a story behind that name.

You don't have to write a small book for your journaling to be useful. As you can see I only wrote a couple of small paragraphs.  Here is how the journaling reads.

First, let me say Lorenzo is a girl.
We named her after she was rudely
kicked out of her first home.  We
didn't know if she was a boy or a
girl when we picked the name.

I had names with "snow" in mind.
Then David though of naming her
after the Prophet Lorenzo Snow,
so she became Lorenzo.  Later I
heard her called Arial and then
I knew she was a girl, but by
then was already Lorenzo to us.

The journaling isn't very long.  Only two short paragraphs.  But now you know that Lorenzo is a girl (something you never would have guessed from the layout without journaling).  You know that we are her second her home.  And you know how we picked the name Lorenzo.  You can convey a lot with just a few words.

You don't even need to write complete paragraphs to convey your message.  Here's a layout I created using Girl You R A Dreamer from Kiki Halbert Designs.

 

With this layout, I use short phrases to tell you just a little bit about what I enjoy doing most.  No actual paragraphs required.

I hope I've convinced you to include journaling on your next layout.  In the future, you will be glad you did.

Before I let you go, let me show you the two kits I used to make these layouts as they are both great kits and I highly recommend you check them out.

Winter Frolic, which I used for What's In A Name, is available in Recherche by KH Designs store at FunkyPlayground Designs.

For Just Being Me, I used Girl You R A Dreamer from Kiki Halbert Designs.  You can find this kit in her store at Scrapbook Elements.

I hope everyone has a great week and finds time to sneak in a layout or two (with some journaling).