Hello Pebbles Friends! It’s Leanne here today, sharing a layout that encompasses documenting your story alongside that cute photo. I absolutely adore including journaling on my pages and I’m about to issue you all a challenge to try the same.  My “Do Not Fear” journaling challenge will hopefully encourage many of you to start filling in the blanks, as you scrap your pages. The step by step process will also share how, while in the planning stages, journaling can become a feature in its own right.

Do Not Fear Journaling..

It can be too easy to be distracted by all the pretty paper available. Sometimes, you just want to create and get something stuck down on a page. And both those options are perfectly fine! But I have personally found, that when I revisit my completed scrapbook layouts, the pages I value the most, are the ones that have little stories attached. Time is too short. My children, while still young, are no longer little and right now, I have a daughter on the verge of adulthood. I want to cherish as many memories as I can, especially while my kids are still living at home.

Journaling the stories can be completed with simplicity. It doesn’t need to be profound or enlightening. All that is required are the basics. Document the who, what, where, why, how and when.  The stories that accompany the photos, will quickly follow. However, knowing a few tricks is always a big step in the right direction. One of these is planning ahead for journaling placement.

Layout Process..

Having an area on your page, dedicated specifically for journaling, will make the process feel less last minute. As you create your page, you already start to automatically have in mind what you want to document. The creativity of playing with pretty papers, builds up around this concept. To recreate my layout, I have used the gorgeous My Bright Life.

step 1. Trim the background cardstock to size. Select several pieces of patterned paper from the My Bright Life collection. Trim the patterned paper into 2.25″ squares. Stitch around the outside of the cardstock edge for extra dimension.

step 2. Add small flicks of black paint to the cardstock base. Allow to dry.

step 3. Using the My Bright Life, Little Thoughts patterned paper, trim out the sentiments which relate to your story and won’t clash with the bold patterns of the larger squares that have just been cut. Layer these smaller cut out squares onto the larger ones and add machine stitching for interest.

Fussy cut flowers from My Bright Life, Fresh Picked patterned paper and position onto the layout.

step 4. When arranging placement of embellishments and layers,  position photo/s and squares closer to the top of the page. The lower third of the layout will balance the current top heavy look, with the pre-planned journaling.

Title Work..

step 5. On this page, the title is somewhat of a parody to what I’ve been sharing today. The short, sharp words, slip into place between the patterned paper and embellishment layers.

It draws the eye down the page and directs the viewer to my journaling.

Journaling strips..

The easiest way for me to complete this layout with my intended journaling, was to add it in the form of journaling strips. I could have hand written what I wanted to share directly onto the cardstock. However, I am not a fan of my hand writing and that might very well be a challenge for another day!!

step 6.  I pre-typed the story a wanted to document on the off cut from the cardstock background. Between each typed line of text, I generally hit return 3-4 times before typing again. Using my paper trimmer, I then cut between each line of text. Once all of the text has been cut out, position it in strip order before adhering it to your page.

Hopefully once the idea of planning a space for your journaling at the beginning of your creative process is put into practise, more of your stories will be start to be shared.

Thanks for visiting the blog today..x

supplies:

Little Thoughts My Bright Life patterned paper 733780

Flower Market My Bright Life patterned paper 733871

Fresh Picked My Bright Life patterned paper 733875

Flower Rows My Bright Life patterned paper 733862

Jen Hadfield My Bright Life Dimensional Stickers 733883

Jen Hadfield My Bright Life Ephemera 733884