Is journaling your least favorite part of scrapbooking? It’s always been the part of the layout that I’ve left for last because although I know what the photos say to me, I don’t know how to put it into words..

   I just finished reading “The Journaler’s Handbook” by Stacy White. It’s full of questions, sentences and journaling prompts for every subject you can imagine. I have to admit, that when I have a journaling prompt, it’s so much easier to start writing and my journaling is deeper and more meaningful. Now I plan the space that I’ll be journaling in at the beginning because I know that I have more to say than just a sentence or two!

   Here are some of my favorite journaling prompts from Stacy’s book:

·        How do you feel when you see your baby sleeping peacefully?

·        Share a story about shopping with your teen.

·        What questions wake you up in the middle of the night? How do you answer them – or do you?

·        When you’re upset, how does your family comfort you?

·        Talk about a memory of playing in the sand or building a sand castle.

   I learned another wonderful journaling tip from Heidi Swapp in her “She” class at CKU-A. Try journaling about yourself in the third person. It’s so incredibly freeing to talk about yourself, emotions and feelings when you start your sentence with “She”. Here are some that Heidi used in her album:

• She is amazed by babies. She loves them; treasures them; wishes they would grow slower. She loves their clean smell.
• She almost can’t bear the thought of her growing up.
• She cherishes the opportunity to watch him grow.
• She struggles to find balance.

Star of the Day Layout by Paula Thompson using third person journaling

   You can use this same third person journaling technique by using the word “they”.

“……think, reflect, remember and, yes, write the stories that will transform your scrapbooks from pretty photo albums to cherished keepsakes.” Tracy White