Can we talk about journaling?

[tanteva]

I've noticed something now that I have gotten back to digi scrapping after a 5 year hiatus, and I thought I'd talk to you all about it and see if you agree and if you have any other thoughts on the subject.

What I have noticed is that the journaling part of digital scrapbooking is way more scarce than it used to be, and that the focus seems to be more on the creation of the actual image. Not saying either way is right or wrong, just sharing what I have noticed. Has anyone else thought about this?

I'm not doing lots of journaling all the time myself, but I try to at least always add the date and the place where the photo(s) are taken. I know too well how easy it is to forget stuff like that. But I also like to - when the subject is such - write down a few thoughts about the events. Now going back to old layouts, I'm really happy I've done that, because it's not always easy to remember for instance if John was 7 or 8 yo at a certain event.

Maybe it's a matter of personal taste? Or maybe it's about our personal reason for scrapping? Please share your thoughts on journaling!

Personally, it's about preserving memories for me. I think it's because I am doing genealogy, and I have old photos of people I have no idea who they are. And lots of "half-stories" of people's life. I want my son - if/when he's interested to learn more of his history - to have lots of thoughts and memories from my and our family's life to go through. Also, I love to write and read about everyday life stuff, not just the big important things. Everyday life is so easy to forget once our circumstances change.

And to end this - let me share some layouts from the gallery with some nice journaling. These are just a few I found when I did a quick browse the other day. Please feel free to share any of your own layouts where the journaling is/was important to you.

Green and Gold

• vickyday
• May 12, 2021
• 1
• #emeto designs

I used a mask twice from the kit, reshaped it and clipped two different photos of mine to them.

View media item 351337

Harry Leu Gardens

• nightshadow
• May 8, 2021
• 5

photo=personal
Fonts=Fancy and Galeforce BTN
AASPN ArtsyKardz Escape
Cluster=parts of Anna...

Template Challenge.5

• Mary Davies
• May 4, 2021
• 6
• template challenge 5

Photo of my Grandchildren.

Bathroom Decoration

• Glori2
• Apr 27, 2021
• 3

I just love the feel of my bathroom now that it has been updated and redecorated from what was...

 

[faerywings]

In the beginning of digi-scrapping, I was moving from paper scrapping pages of my kids to hybrid (using clip art and elements that I made and printed), then finally to all digital. I have never been a big journaler but always had a few sentences describing the photos. The more I moved away from memory keeping (in other words, the less my kids would let me photograph them!), it was easier and easier to ignore journaling. Every once in a while I would pump out a block of journaling but that was most likely in response to a challenge prompt.
That said, my DD who is now 22, was looking through her scrapbooks I made way back when. She loved seeing the photos of herself but really laughed at the journaling. That seemed to trigger more memories than the actual photos. I always felt strange with the journaling, it felt "forced" - Here is Caitlyn at XXX. She had so much fun, it was a great day! But even though it sounded artificial to me, she seemed to get a kickkout of it and since I was making the books for her,, I guess that is what really mattered.

 

[faerywings]

Argh!!! I was looking through some of my old LOs to see the journaling, and did I NOT use Spell Check -EVER??????? ROTF!!!

 

[AZK]

I've never been a big journaler, but I do at least add the "what, where, and when". As I have fewer and fewer personal photos to scrap (I've pretty much scrapped all the older family photos I had access to), my focus is more on the photo manipulation and playing around with different effects, and some of those don't even need the 3 W's.

 

[scrap-genie]

I'm a big believer in journaling. It always makes me sad to see old family photos scrapped with nothing about them, maybe even not who or when. Like Eva I'm doing genealogy and want my family photos scrapped with the stories. But I also like to do simple days and how they felt. Those of us who've done Project 52/365 have to come up with something to explain those daily photos and I enjoy looking back at the books I've printed from the years I did them. Some of us also scrap trip photos and those just wouldn't make sense to me without journaling. For good examples of trip LOs see the gallery of @nancyr

 

[tanteva]

Interesting to see how you all think. I really should go back and check my old layouts, maybe I'm not journaling as much as I think I do. I'm not sharing my scrapbooking with anyone - unless in the galleries with other scrappers. I mean with family and friends. I don't most of them know I'm doing it.

 

[tanteva]

Lorraine @Scrapmemories reminded me in her thread about Old tricks, that I used to make layouts with different lists. That's a great way to get some journaling into your layouts. Made one today, just to get the feel for it again.

5 things I've learned during the last 5 years

• tanteva
• May 20, 2021
• 1

Dug deep into my stash and found this template from a challenge at Oscraps 5th Birthday Party!

Adding the translation here to save you from having to learn Swedish ... or go to the gallery and read it

Translation:
5 things I've learned during the last 5 years
1. Don't trust the brain
Generalized anxiety makes it make up things
2. Crochet clothes
I could crochet before but first now I can make decent clothes
3. I'm allowed to say no
My life is mine and I decide who and what
4. Cook vegetarian food
It was a bit difficult to become vegetarian but now it's easy to make good food.
5. Meditate
Have always thought it was hard and that it's wrong to lose concentration.

 

[Cherylndesigns]

I've never been a big journal-er. Back in the day of paper pages, I wrote the pertinent information on the back of the pages. Granted, I can't do that anymore, because I have the pages printed into books. I try to tell my story with my pictures, the elements and the word art. I DO put the date somewhere on the page (if there are pictures on it). SO many of my pages are Art Journaling, so I don't need to journal on them.

 

[veer]

Gosh I usually use quotes, which reflect my feelings about a photo. But when I make designs for my yearbook, I do tell a story, usually about trips or birds I've spotted.

WaterColor Template Album No. 1

• veer
• May 13, 2021
• 12

WaterColor Template Album No. 1 By Anna Aspnes
There had been plans for some time to make a new...

 

[Kythe]

Not much of a talker or writer either. I find even writing in the daily O's really hard. No one needs to hear the trivialities of my life as they are not interesting in the least. If I do write on a LO it would be an event that has meaning.
Usually I will put a title or quote but mostly the picture does the talking.

 

[tanteva]

I have to disagree ... It's the everyday life that are MOST of our life. And what is trivial to me, can be really interesting for someone else, you never know. But I'm not saying everyone has to do it, it's just what I feel.

I can totally understand if someone doesn't want to share their life with the entire world (even though I, myself, have absolutely no problem telling everyone everything LOL), but for the near and dear these things can be of big interest. Maybe not your child, but your grandchild, or great grandchild even.

We are all part of the history of the world.

 

[faerywings]

I understand @Kythe ! which is why I try to never pressure anyone to share more than they are comfortable- I will be honest that I do worry when people who regularly post don't post for a bit but that is just me, I worry about *everything* - just ask my family Ha!!
Like I described up there^^, the things that my kids liked about the journaling that was so bland and boring and forced to me is what they enjoyed the most- the bland little bits of everyday life. I will always struggle with that but I also appreciate that the daily "bits" of being is also pretty cool to look back on.
Just think about the journals that women kept centuries ago- lists of food, the weather, "receipts" of medicine. Today we find that fascinating, but back then, it was probably just one more chore to them.

@tanteva - this made me chuckle:

even though I, myself, have absolutely no problem telling everyone everything LOL

Obviously- SAME! LOL! But in all seriousness, this part:

And what is trivial to me, can be really interesting for someone else, you never know.

is also very true.

The bottom line when it comes to journaling/sharing/etc-- whatever works for you is the best way to go

 

[tanteva]

I think it's the genealogist in my that talks. What I would have payed for anything left by my grand parents. Or their parents. If I'm lucky, I can find a photo, but most of them are faceless.

 

[LSlycord]

I think it's the genealogist in my that talks. What I would have payed for anything left by my grand parents. Or their parents. If I'm lucky, I can find a photo, but most of them are faceless.

I am like you and Jean. I also love genealogy and have many old stories and photos but want more. As an older parent, I want to make sure that my kids have the opportunity to hear the stories after I am gone. They are everything---family is everything--and I want them to know that's how I felt when they are older and I'm not around.

 

[felis]

Not much of a talker or writer either. I find even writing in the daily O's really hard. No one needs to hear the trivialities of my life as they are not interesting in the least. If I do write on a LO it would be an event that has meaning.
Usually I will put a title or quote but mostly the picture does the talking.

I'm sorry, but I can't agree on that! I don't know how much you are in YouTube, but that's the same thing that they did just they are in more fancy way. By vlogin or posting your daily life you give courage to others that they aren't the only one who suffer with that: no matter whether it's boredom, financial troubles, mental health, broken heart. We need to see unperfect people, so to can feels more connected with the society.
Although I'm very scared that The Daily O's is public and I'm careful to not connect my Oscraps layouts with my Instagram too often, as it would be horrible if someone of the odd men that send me unappropriated messages there come here and he will be able to learn everything about me. That's really freaks me out!
When I make family layouts I also not share them public as they aren't for everybody eyes!

 

[tanteva]

Maybe it's just that digital scrapbooking has evolved into something else? As I said, it might just be about WHY we do it? For some it might be that they do digital scrapbooking to get a chance to be creative - play with pictures and do ART. For others it's about preserving memories - like traditional scrapbooking. (I mean with papers.)

As long as we're all happy - I'm happy!

Let's not start shaming eachother for doing things differently. Remember how "real" scrapbookers jumped on us that went digital - that we didn't do it "properly".

I'm just a firm believer in thinking about WHY we do things a certain way, cuz you never know when you're just stuck in old ways, and not even thinking why.

It's like that story about the Christmas ham. Have you heard that? If so ... quit reading, cuz, I'm gonna try and re-tell it.

A woman was visiting a friend when she was preparing the Christmas ham, when she noticed her friend cutting off a chunk of the ham before she put it in the oven. "Why did you do that?", she asked, thinking she'd missed some great cooking hack. Her friend looked at her a bit stunned, and said: "I have no idea. My mom always did that."

The next day she called her mom and asked, and she was as stunned as her daugther and said that her mom always used to do it like that, but she had no idea why.

She in turn phoned her mother and asked. Her mother started laughing and said: "When me and dad were newly weds, we lived in a small apartment with a small oven, and I had to do that to make the ham fit into the oven. I just kept doing that."

 

[faerywings]

I still feel scarred by this:

Remember how "real" scrapbookers jumped on us that went digital - that we didn't do it "properly".

As for the ham story, I hadn't heard that before my my mom has told me many versions of it from her family

 

[Kythe]

That ham story is funny. My daughter just bought a new place with a really small kitchen. We were talking about her taking over the hosting of family dinners now that she has a bigger place. The problem is the small kitchen has a really small stove. She thinks that it may not be big enough to cook a 22lb turkey! Maybe she should cut off the drumsticks! ha ha

 

[Kathy McD]

As a new member, and newish digi-scrapper, I struggle with journaling even on a good day. I have one son, 45, and don’t have grand children, so I often wonder who will even see my layouts after I’m gone? But then. I realize this creative time is for ME...and I find that I am adding a few lines because I enjoy reminiscing. Interesting to hear others perspectives...

 

[tanteva]

As a new member, and newish digi-scrapper, I struggle with journaling even on a good day. I have one son, 45, and don’t have grand children, so I often wonder who will even see my layouts after I’m gone? But then. I realize this creative time is for ME...and I find that I am adding a few lines because I enjoy reminiscing. Interesting to hear others perspectives...

I must say I'm happy that I've added journaling on my layouts, cuz when I go back to old layouts - I often wouldn't have any clue what the pictures are or when they are taken. My brain cannot contain information - it's full of holes. LOL

 

[Kathy McD]

I must say I'm happy that I've added journaling on my layouts, cuz when I go back to old layouts - I often wouldn't have any clue what the pictures are or when they are taken. My brain cannot contain information - it's full of holes. LOL

Absolutely! Darn that “age” thing!