Gawd I hate journaling!!!

I am the same with journaling! I've procrastinated finishing a layout because of it many times!
karen

I find journaling hard if I just try to write when I'm putting the page together. I like to write though and find it works better for me to tell the story separately (write it in a notebook) as an entirely different activity. (Does that make any sense?)

My Christmas problem is that I get a million photos but never get a decent tree shot or a decent family picture (except for our Christmas cards!)

This is a great suggestion! 
I used to "journal" on my blog regularly, and then when I had photos I wanted to scrap, I could go back and see what I was writing about during the period those photos were from. 

Christmas photos are notoriously bad. I make everyone stand by the tree for a shoot before we open gifts. Then I just try to get one good shot of each person with a gift. If I get nothing else, I am happy.

I journal on most every page or at least put a place and date. Almost always short and easy. Y'all must be doing a lot more than me.

What I'm struggling with right now is some bad pics taken at Dollywood at night at Christmas. I want the kids to remember we went there but these pics are not inspiring me. I just drug out my sketch books to see if I can get inspired.

I struggle with it, also-- sometimes. I am mostly a who/what/where/when type journaler unless I think about WHY I am making the scrapbook layout.

Example: I made a two-page layout with photos of wild horses that live near the town where we live. I had originally thought I would write about the history of the horse herd, or the history of the area in general. But when I finally did the writing, I ended up writing more about how privileged I feel to live in an area where there is still some bit of the 'wild west' because to me, that was the main reason I felt so strongly about the pictures and why I wanted to preserve them by making the layout.

Sometimes, it surprises me just how much I have to write about something when I let it flow out, sort of 'stream of consciousness' writing. I have to do it separately from making the pages, though, to get it to come out like that.

--And as for Christmas, I am totally NOT an 'occasion' scrapper, so I don't scrapbook holidays unless there's a really unique reason to do so!! It would totally kill my creativity to think I had to scrap every Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc. that came around.

I use my calendars to remind me of the what/when/where but this:

is a great idea to add a little more meaning to my layouts...thanks for pointing out this Becky Higgins technique!

(Hijack: speaking of Becky Higgins, is anyone following her trip to Europe on FB? She's taken some neat photos in London and Paris and is providing a lot of instruction and tips along the way....)

me too, I feel like half of my pages have "we had so much fun at ...."

BORING. I really only scrap fun events me and DH go to but I need to figure out a way to freshen up what I write

I hate to see really bland journaling on otherwise great layouts. The kind of thing that goes "you're so important to me and I love you so much". Well duh! What is really the point of writing that? You could put this on every single layout of your child/parent/partner/friend/dog, etc, so I see it as essentially meaningless. If you don't have anything specific to say, then just do the who, where, when stuff.

I LOVE journalling! I even taught a class on journalling a long time ago now, at my LSS.  I might suggest a couple of things...

1)As an exercise first, think about the story you want to tell, write it down and then do a layout. This upside down sort of approach can stir things up sometimes.

2) Don't force yourself to journal beyond things like date, who is in the pictures etc on every layout. Not ever layout is telling a long story, Sometimes a sentence or two is enough!

3) I think sometimes we get caught up in the reporting style..."We did this...We saw that..." and that can be a bit dry. Try some different styles of journalling: lists (top ten, currently loving, 10 things I love about you etc); write a letter to the subject of the page; make a huge title with stickers or Silhouette and have that be your journalling; use a favourite quote to get you started; have the subject of the page do the journalling ( I love seeing kids feelings and thoughts on the photos!) there are lots of other options these are just a few. I did a page pretty recently that I wrote as a "Fairy Tale" It even started "Once Upon a Time" it is in the gallery, if you want to take a peek it is here: My Unicorn

4) Why do you hate journalling? Do you feel your writing is inadequate? Do you have nothing to say? Do you hate your handwriting (or how typed journalling looks etc) think about the reasons why and work around those. For example, if you hate your handwriting practice it or used typed journalling. If you think journalling spoils your page designs study some sketches that include journalling space, use journalling cards, use hidden journalling or even journal on the back of the layout.

4) I have never taken one, but I know many, many people feel that Ali Edwards classes (and now her story kits) have been immeasurably helpful in teaching them how to see journalling differently and how to tell the stories they want to tell on their pages. So you could look into that.

ashley, I am surprised to see you say you struggle with journalling as I always enjoy the sweet poems on your pages. You make them look effortless.

Meh. Why does every picture*have to have* a story? If I have a story I want to tell that goes with the photos, then I journal it. If not, then I don't and will just add Child's name, May 2015 or something similar. Ultimately, I scrap because it makes me happy to be creative/artistic/play around with pretty paper. If I have a really important story I want to tell, say about a relative who has passed, then I will write a draft on a separate sheet first. But if the LO was basically because I wanted to make something pretty, then it's no biggie to not include any journaling. Heresy to some, I know. But then, I also rarely include titles either, for the same reason.

This is kind of what I do for my travel albums. I like having the journaling written so I don't have to think about it while I'm building my page, I just know roughly how much space I need to leave for it.  I also like that this approach gives me a chance to edit my writing to make it clearer or more succinct or lets me tell an aspect of the story I had forgotten in my first pass at writing. 

Awesome tips, impearia!! I can see why you've taught classes on this topic.  

No, journalling is far from effortless for me -- but at the same time I really value it and think it's important.  I really appreciate your kind compliment!!