Home » Home & Style » Scrapbooks » Jazzy Journaling

Jazzy Journaling

© Julie Rayl

Journaling, next to photos, is an important element of a scrapbook page. Photos show the story and journaling tells the story. The two go together, you shouldn't have one without the other.

Sometimes, though, the journaling gets left off the page. The reasons vary from no time to write information down, to not knowing what to write. It's not a good thing to leave the journaling off the page. Future generations will not know why you've included a picture of your dog rolling around in toilet paper if you don't tell them.

The most important elements of journaling are the who, what, when, where and why. These are the bare facts, and should be included on every scrapbook page. But, why stop there? Why not add some jazz to your journaling? Adding jazz to your journaling will make your pages more interesting and give life to your photographs. The following eight steps will help you add jazz to your journaling.

1. To help discover interesting ways to journal look at junk mail, magazines, commercials, and catalogs for ideas as well as design possibilities. There is a wealth of information out there. Take advantage of it, and use it on your pages.

2. Add more detail than you think is necessary. Go beyond the 5 w's. Viewers of your pages as well as yourself are going to love being able to read all the details of a particular event or story.

3. Interview the people in the photos (if possible) and use their words on your pages. This will add a unique perspective that hasn't been seen before on your pages.

4. Write your journaling in a story format. This works especially well for your kid's pages. They love to hear stories, and what better way to document their life than in a story?

5. Describe the settings in your photos. Include what the place looked like, the time, atmosphere, and smells. This makes your journaling come alive. It helps the reader to feel like they are experiencing the place themselves.

6. Create a portrait of the person on your pages. Give their physical and character traits. I have some old photographs of my relatives, and they are all in black and white. It makes it difficult to know the color of their eyes or any other distinguishing feature. I would have loved it if someone had added that information with the pictures.

7. Write your journaling in a different format. Make a list, or use a list from your daily life. Write in newspaper style. Pull out a newspaper article and study the format. This is especially good for sport pages.

The copyright of the article Jazzy Journaling in Scrapbooks is owned by . Permission to republish Jazzy Journaling in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.