PaperAngel
Prolific Pea
Posts: 7,963
Jun 27, 2014 23:04:06 GMT
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Post by PaperAngel on Aug 29, 2022 4:46:08 GMT
As a spinoff of the Poll: Do you journal on layouts? thread, please share your definition of journaling. Is it basic information (e.g. who, what, when, where), a five paragraph essay, or something in between? Can it be pre-printed (e.g. typography on patterned paper, stickers, diecuts) or must it be created by you (e.g. handwritten, typed, stamped)? TIA.
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Post by AussieMeg on Aug 29, 2022 5:01:54 GMT
This is only my opinion, and I know that others differ: I don't consider names/dates/locations to be journaling. To me that is just the basics.
Journaling to me is telling more of the story.
Not journaling: Megan and Michelle - Inverloch Surf Beach - January 14th 2022
Journalling: Today Michelle and I went down to the surf beach just after lunch. It was such a hot day, it got to 38C. The beach was packed, so we walked a little way down from the surf lifesaving club to set up our beach tent. The waves were really good today, and we got some great rides on the boogie boards. After about three hours we were exhausted, so we packed up and went back to the house to shower and get ready to go to the pub for dinner. It was such a fun day, I can't wait to do it again tomorrow!
I don't always journal. Sometimes I just want to scrap a nice photo and there is no 'story' behind it. But I pretty much always add names, dates, and locations.
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scrapnnana
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,436
Jun 29, 2014 18:58:47 GMT
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Post by scrapnnana on Aug 29, 2022 6:10:30 GMT
I consider names, dates, etc. to be minimal journaling, but better than nothing but the photos and decorations without any context.. I don’t consider purchased embellishment words/.phrases to be journaling. However, that is just my own personal opinion.
But I also think it’s like scrapbooking. There is no right or wrong way to do it, and how one person defines journaling may be very different from how another scrapbooker does.
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Post by sleepingbooty on Aug 29, 2022 11:25:56 GMT
I don't think journaling is a must for scrapbooking. It's mostly playing with pretty products with a focus on photos, not a diary, so I'm completely cool with however each scrapbooker defines journaling for themselves. Some don't even put a who/what/where, maybe just a date. It's all fine by me and I never ever judge a scrappy page by its inclusion of words. For myself, however, it's different. Words come easily and first to me so they are often an integral part of my pages. It can be multiple paragraphs, it can be just a few sentences depending on the occasion pictured and documented. It's not unusual at all for me to rely heavily on writing to set the atmosphere beyond the photo. I'm not much of "this is who was here and the reason why was XYZ" writer, more someone who evokes things the pics couldn't capture (chapter in life, non-visual senses like smells and sounds, the topics that were discussed if it was a gathering, etc.). It's actually my favourite part of documenting. In many ways, scrapbooking is a way for me to expand my journaling beyond the words. Maybe that explains my minimalist aesthetic (at least in part)... Looking forward to reading (ha) more about everyone's relation to writing in this craft!
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Post by mikklynn on Aug 29, 2022 12:01:53 GMT
This is only my opinion, and I know that others differ: I don't consider names/dates/locations to be journaling. To me that is just the basics. Journaling to me is telling more of the story. Not journaling: Megan and Michelle - Inverloch Surf Beach - January 14th 2022 Journalling: Today Michelle and I went down to the surf beach just after lunch. It was such a hot day, it got to 38C. The beach was packed, so we walked a little way down from the surf lifesaving club to set up our beach tent. The waves were really good today, and we got some great rides on the boogie boards. After about three hours we were exhausted, so we packed up and went back to the house to shower and get ready to go to the pub for dinner. It was such a fun day, I can't wait to do it again tomorrow! I don't always journal. Sometimes I just want to scrap a nice photo and there is no 'story' behind it. But I pretty much always add names, dates, and locations. I agree with this. I probably journal 1/3 of my layouts.
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Post by myboysnme on Aug 29, 2022 13:38:43 GMT
I never write out a story like I would in a diary or journal. I am generally extremely minimalistic in writing names, dates, places.
I like the idea of story telling with words but my style leaves very little room for it and I feel lucky to get photos scrapped at all.
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pantsonfire
Drama Llama
Take a step back, evaluate what is important, and enjoy your life with those who you love.
Posts: 6,190
Jun 19, 2022 16:48:04 GMT
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Post by pantsonfire on Aug 29, 2022 13:49:26 GMT
Journaling to me is where you write down thoughts, feelings, hopes, desires, etc in a dedicated book.
Journaling on a layout can be basic - who, what, when, where, age(s).
Or a but kf what is going on in the photo.
I add information to my layouts/pocket pages. But I don't Journaling like one does in a book.
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pantsonfire
Drama Llama
Take a step back, evaluate what is important, and enjoy your life with those who you love.
Posts: 6,190
Jun 19, 2022 16:48:04 GMT
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Post by pantsonfire on Aug 29, 2022 13:50:03 GMT
I am more of a let the photos tell the story. But if it's something big, I write info down.
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Post by cannmom on Aug 29, 2022 13:55:30 GMT
I definitely fall in the something in-between category. Journaling is probably my least favorite part of the scrapbooking process, but I think it’s important to add some on most layouts. I usually get beyond the bare basics, but it’s never a ton of journaling.
I like to type it out instead of handwriting, but I do handwritten journaling on occasion. Don’t love my handwriting and think it looks messy, so…. My favorite technique is probably to print journaling on strips.
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Post by honeypea on Aug 29, 2022 15:17:53 GMT
Mostly I think about it like this - if I were sharing my scrapbook with someone, as they flipped through the pages what would I be inclined to narrate as they look? Why did I take that photo? What are the memories that pop into my mind when I look at it? What would I be saying about what they see. THAT’S the stuff that should be included in journaling.
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Post by wordyphotogbabe on Aug 29, 2022 17:13:12 GMT
It has phrases or, ideally, sentences for me to consider it journaling. Most of my pages are just 3-5 sentences of journaling but they almost always include the date (which I do not consider journaling), too. I don't consider a caption --- NAME OF PERSON OR EVENT/LOCATION/DATE -- to be journaling, either. In my mind, if you can see it in the photo, it's not journaling.
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Post by Linda on Aug 29, 2022 17:47:35 GMT
I almost always do at least minimal journalling - who/where/when - often I do a bit more...a few sentences or a paragraph or so - occasionally the journalling is the focus and I'll write a whole page or more and there may or may not be a photo to go with it.
It all depends on the particular page - is it just a picture I really like or one that tells its own story? Is there a story behind the pictures that I want to tell? Or is it a memory I want to preserve and maybe I can find a photo that work?
I don't think that there is a right or wrong way - although as a family historian I do urge people to please think about using names and dates at least
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craftymom101
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,793
Jul 31, 2014 5:23:25 GMT
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Post by craftymom101 on Aug 29, 2022 18:51:32 GMT
I always journal on my pages, but that’s my personal preference. I don’t think there is a right or a wrong way, but my pages look naked to me without writing on them!
I try to leave room for journaling on all of my pages, which means I don’t usually use more than 2-3 pictures on a page.
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christinec68
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,415
Location: New York, NY
Jun 26, 2014 18:02:19 GMT
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Post by christinec68 on Aug 29, 2022 18:56:08 GMT
This is only my opinion, and I know that others differ: I don't consider names/dates/locations to be journaling. To me that is just the basics. Journaling to me is telling more of the story. Not journaling: Megan and Michelle - Inverloch Surf Beach - January 14th 2022 Journalling: Today Michelle and I went down to the surf beach just after lunch. It was such a hot day, it got to 38C. The beach was packed, so we walked a little way down from the surf lifesaving club to set up our beach tent. The waves were really good today, and we got some great rides on the boogie boards. After about three hours we were exhausted, so we packed up and went back to the house to shower and get ready to go to the pub for dinner. It was such a fun day, I can't wait to do it again tomorrow! I don't always journal. Sometimes I just want to scrap a nice photo and there is no 'story' behind it. But I pretty much always add names, dates, and locations. This would pretty much be my answer word for word.
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Post by ScrapbookMyLife on Aug 29, 2022 19:59:22 GMT
For me, journaling is in my mixed media style journal. Writing down my thoughts, feelings, issues, quotes, etc...
In my scrapbook, I rarely journal, which to me is telling a story or a written explanation relating to the photo(s).
In my scrapbook, I use titles (one or more words) to document. I do not consider this journaling. I consider this embellishments, usually done with letter stickers, handwritten, die cuts that have words-sayings on them, journaling cards that have words-saying on them (here and now, good times, cheers, dancing) etc.... It is documenting information, related to the photos: Place (band name, city, bar and grill, name of beach, etc...). Event (concert, name of festival, class reunion, lunch date with niece, shopping, vacation, etc...). Names of who I am with.
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Post by Embri on Aug 29, 2022 20:02:29 GMT
To me it doesn't matter if you hand write it or print it, but journaling has to include a personal account of some kind. Date/time/place isn't journaling by itself, there's no story there. It has to give context to the events beyond the obvious.
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Post by steakgoddess on Aug 29, 2022 20:02:31 GMT
Journaling.
Ah. So when I first started scrapbooking, I called it text. Anything I’ve written on the page counts to me. Doesn’t matter if it’s the date and what it was—that’s text on the page and that’s journaling.
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laurap
Shy Member
Posts: 35
Feb 25, 2016 12:57:39 GMT
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Post by laurap on Aug 29, 2022 20:44:28 GMT
I try to make my scrapbook pages so that if someone is looking thru them no explanation is needed. I try to document what I would tell someone if we were looking thru the book together.
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MDscrapaholic
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,629
Location: Down by the bay....
Jun 25, 2014 20:49:07 GMT
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Post by MDscrapaholic on Aug 29, 2022 21:11:11 GMT
Journaling, to me, is telling the story! If it's just who, what, where, when - I'm fine with that. But if it's writing a book, I'm okay with that too! Depends on what memory I'm trying to capture, and how much of that particular thing I want to remember.
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Post by cannmom on Aug 30, 2022 0:08:17 GMT
Tonight I was re-arranging a few things in my room and I took the time to look through a few albums. I noticed that I loved looking at the layouts that I had included a story. Mostly it was some layouts of our cats ( crazy cat lady here) and the ones with their origin stories ( yes, they are all super heroes) and stories about their quirky personalities were the best. Oh yeah, the layouts with stories about DH and DS are pretty good, too. Anyway, the layout of our house in the snow was really pretty, but maybe I could have added in what we did that day. Did I have to make it to work in the snow, did we cook anything really good to eat? I don’t know, it gives me something to think about it.
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Post by grammadee on Aug 30, 2022 0:30:41 GMT
Can I say “all of the above”?
Journaling is anything that adds information about your photos. It could be as simple as date, place, &/or names of people there. It could be a multi paragraph essay—handwritten, typed, with or without sticker letters, words, or phrases—that outlines all the background, or your feelings about theses people or this place, or your hopes for the future or…
Most of my journaling is somewhere in between. It usually gives the 5W’s, and often a comment about the reaction of myself or someone else to what was happening.
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cycworker
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,398
Jun 26, 2014 0:42:38 GMT
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Post by cycworker on Aug 30, 2022 2:59:50 GMT
I think it can be any of these things depending on the person, or the pages. I do it all depending on the pictures.
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Post by 950nancy on Aug 30, 2022 3:34:37 GMT
I consider anything handwritten/typed beyond the date to be be journaling. Kind of like eating. A chip or the whole bag is eating. Different quality to it though.
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auntmimi
Full Member
Posts: 471
Jun 22, 2018 18:55:37 GMT
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Post by auntmimi on Aug 30, 2022 14:18:55 GMT
I've done some variation of each option and I consider it all journaling if it adds to the story told in the photos. I do a mix of hand-written and typed depending on what I have to say about the event or story. At a minimum, I always add a date.
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Post by katieanna on Aug 30, 2022 16:16:26 GMT
I agree that the who, what, when, where is journaling at its most basic; and I have to admit, for albums that I share, that's what most of my journaling is - unless there's a funny story or something along those lines to go with it. I usually type my journaling (or use stickers for years/dates), but I do hand journal from time to time. REAL, in-depth journaling - to me - is very personal, and is something I do only in my own personal journals.
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Post by joblackford on Aug 30, 2022 16:23:03 GMT
Mostly I think about it like this - if I were sharing my scrapbook with someone, as they flipped through the pages what would I be inclined to narrate as they look? Why did I take that photo? What are the memories that pop into my mind when I look at it? What would I be saying about what they see. THAT’S the stuff that should be included in journaling. I try to make my scrapbook pages so that if someone is looking thru them no explanation is needed. I try to document what I would tell someone if we were looking thru the book together. This is what I think journaling should be, in an ideal world. Which is to say if I found/inherited someone else's scrapbooks I would be much happier if they had this kind of journaling. If I got scrapbooks without that, just with names and dates, or with no text at all I would be a little disappointed. I could still appreciate their artistry and the photos but I'd be left wondering about what was going on, what this meant to them. If it was a stranger's scrapbook the journaling would let me know them a little, so I would care more about their pages. But it's OK not to share those things. It's like meeting a person who is very private and asks a lot of questions but doesn't talk about themselves. We all get to define what's important to us and what we want to share. Frustrating if you're trying to understand someone and they give you nothing (I'm especially thinking about relatives and ancestors who destroyed their photos/papers and didn't leave a trace) but such is life.
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Post by katieanna on Aug 30, 2022 16:24:24 GMT
I try to make my scrapbook pages so that if someone is looking thru them no explanation is needed. I try to document what I would tell someone if we were looking thru the book together. Yes!
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longhornmom
Shy Member
Posts: 39
Jun 26, 2014 4:08:12 GMT
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Post by longhornmom on Aug 30, 2022 16:40:54 GMT
I think journaling is telling a story or expressing some emotion about the layout. A way to personalize it and give the maker's perspective.
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Post by papersilly on Aug 30, 2022 18:23:04 GMT
for me, it would be just the who, what, when. i'm not into the long, flowery journaling.
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Post by riversong1963 on Aug 31, 2022 13:28:30 GMT
Journaling takes different forms for me, depending on the layout and why I'm making it. I don't think there are any rules, and I don't impose them on myself either.
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