Archive for journaling – Page 2

2008 Family Yearbooks

By Tara Brown · Comments (0)
Monday, January 12th, 2009

With 2008 coming to a close and 2009 already underway, now is the time tocamping-family-1 remember and record all of your family’s 2008 adventures.   There are 100′s and 100′s of events and moments worth recording from just one single year.  So how do we organize and and stay on top of all those stories?

Here are a few simple rules I follow each January as I record and write about the stories of our year.

1. Don’t wait! Get a jump on your family yearbook as soon as you can.  Have a goal to finish it by January 31 of the new year.

2. Get your family involved.  Have your husband, children, grandparents and friends share their favorite memories, stories and photos.

3. Do an A-Z book.  When you’re “chronologically” challenged, resort to the A-Z style.  Pick a few favorite pictures and memories that work with the intended letter.

4. Use your calendar from the previous year.  Sometimes flipping through your old calendars will help remind you forgotten events.

5. Try out Cherish’s Bound Family Yearbook Story Starter.  I use one of these every year.  With it’s pages of questions and room to write our year is organized and ready in no time at all.

6. Keep it simple.  Less is more…

Hope these simple tips will help motivate you and help you tell your family’s stories year after year.

Happy New Year!

Tara

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Categories : Digital, journaling, Keep it Simple
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Baby Ultrasound Journaling

By scrapadmin · Comments (0)
Thursday, November 20th, 2008

Baby Ultrasound Journaling

By: Vera Raposo

The instructions read: “Drink 800 ounces of water, then wait 45 minutes and don’t use the bathroom prior to your scheduled ultrasound. You must have a full bladder.” Say what?! First the baby is already kicking your bladder, and then you’re supposed to drink, drink, drink and then hold it? That must be some kind of sick joke.

Unfortunately it’s no joke. Any woman who has endured an ultrasound will tell you that’s the real deal. Apparently your innards need to be extended in order for the sonographer to better view your unborn baby. Notwithstanding the first time you see your little miracle moving, sucking her (or his) thumb and sometimes waving, you will forget all about the fact that your teeth are floating.

In fact, what you will be feeling and thinking is an indescribable experience. As soon as you get home, you will want to journal as much as you can remember: What were you initial impressions? Was it what you thought it would be like? Did seeing your baby somehow make you love your child even more than you thought possible? Even though you knew you were going to be a mom, did seeing your baby on the screen solidify that fact? Did you find out the gender? Did baby cooperate? Or was junior shy?

You will be given a couple of different photos documenting your child’s first film appearance. Don’t let your baby’s first promo pictures end up in a drawer. Put them in your Ultrasound Scrapbook. Depending on an array of variables, you may have more then one set of ultrasound pictures to add to your scrap book. If you have your first set taken at week 21, and then another ultrasound done at week 38 you’ll have an excellent comparison to show how much your baby is developing. Years later your child will love looking at his skeleton.

Try to wait long enough to put your latest ultrasound pictures into a scrap book before you show off the most recent installment in your pregnancy saga. Your coworkers will be more apt to give your photos more than simple a cursory glance.

Even if you create journal entries and a scrap book merely for your own benefit, you will be glad you did. Most mothers will tell you that they had a touch of “pregnancy brain” (aka forgetfulness). You want to make sure you don’t omit any chapters in this beautiful journey.

Article Source: http://www.scrapventurearticles.com

Vera Raposo is the Scrapper’s Business Coach. Sign up for her personal mailing list at www.VeraRaposo.com and get tips and resources to help all of your scrap ventures succeed.

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Categories : journaling
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Preserving Thanksgiving Memories

By scrapadmin · Comments (0)
Saturday, November 15th, 2008

Preserving Thanksgiving Memories for Scrapbooking by Rachel Paxton

Last year our family tried out a new way to preserve Thanksgiving memories, and the result was truly a treasured keepsake.

A day or two before Thanksgiving, my daughter and I used a turkey rubber stamp to make place cards for all of our family members. We colored the place cards with colored pencils and wrote people’s names on them with a metallic gold pen.

We then cut up strips of paper to put into a small basket to distribute before Thanksgiving dinner. The day of Thanksgiving, after all of the guests had arrived, we handed out the slips of paper and asked everyone to write down something they were thankful for.

Now you should have seen the looks I got! Keep in mind that there were family members of all ages, from young teenagers to adults. Most of them looked at me like I was crazy (because this memory-making stuff is all new to them), but I told them they had to do it before they could eat.

So they all sat to write down what they were thankful for. Some came up with something very quickly, and others sat there perplexed and worried they were going to spell something wrong. Several didn’t write anything down at all.

The end result was a wide variety of very thoughtful answers. I put away the slips of paper, made sure to take some good family pictures (carving the turkey, eating dinner, visiting with each other, napping after dinner), and made sure to keep some of the place cards.

I don’t always get to my scrapbook pages immediately after an event like this. I do, however, make sure everything is in one place so that I can assemble my pages when I’m ready.

I later went to the store to buy some pre-cut Thanksgiving and fall images for my scrapbook pages, and then framed my pictures with some coordinating cardstock pieces. I then laid out two scrapbook pages with the photos, a couple of the turkey place cards, and most of the slips of paper people had written on. I tried to arrange a person’s slip of paper near their photo.

My finished project was by no means fancy or a work of art, but it will always be an irreplaceable treasured family keepsake.

Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom of four. For scrapbooking, card making, gift-giving ideas, and more family memory-making activities, visit http://www.crafty-moms.com.

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com

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Categories : Album Ideas, journaling

I Don't Know Where To Begin

By Tara Brown · Comments (0)
Monday, October 13th, 2008

This past weekend I attended a very large women’s expo in Orlando as a vendor with Cherish Bound. Sitting among the sea of booths I had a very steady flow of traffic, but I also had many concerned and overwhelmed memory keepers lurking around.  When talking with guests and even neighboring vendors I could sense their sincere  love for memories, stories and pictures, but many were very frustrated and commented, “I don’t know where to begin.”

That seems to be a standard theme among new memory keepers.  Believe it or not there are 1000′s and 1000′s of people who have never attempted the memory keeping process.  99% want to, but most just “don’t know where to begin”.

I have a few tips and a little advice for the aspiring memory/story/photo keeper.

  1. Start with the NOW.  Do not go back and do your life history, yet.  That is the past and it was stay the past.  But the longer you keep forgetting about the “now” the more past you’ll have to catch up with.
  2. Keep it Simple!  Start with a simple story, one simple memory, one simple and small event.  Maybe a first birthday, 10th Anniversary, dance recital, etc.  Stick with a “one-even” type of project.
  3. If it’s your kid’s event or your spouse was involved in the memory, get them involved.  Let your family help you with the story and journaling.  Everyone has a different side to the story and everyone deserve to be heard.  This takes pressure off of you and let’s everyone share the responsibility, not to mention a great evening around the dinner table.
  4. Only use products that are easy to use, for beginners, or help you organize and write your stories.  By going out and purchasing all kinds of “stuff” you’re still not getting your memories preserved.  The process of putting your memories together is not all about buying “stuff”.  It’s just “stuff” until it’s in a finished book.  Cherish Bound offers Story Starters that help you organize and write your stories and memories in order, with detail, and in themes.
  5. Look into going digital.  By going digital and doing the storybook styles you eliminate the need for tools and products you may not use, no mess and no printing!  This can save you 100′s of dollars and hours and hours of time.

My area of expertise is keeping it simple, going digital, and writing and publishing your families stories.  There are so many simple ways to preserve your memories and stories.  By keeping it simple you’ll find a place to begin and you’ll begin accomplishing the rewarding task of memory keeping one story at a time.

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Categories : Digital, journaling, Keep it Simple, Products
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Importance of Journaling

By scrapadmin · Comments (0)
Tuesday, August 26th, 2008

Is it really important to journal in my scrapbook? by Vanessa Calleja

Looking through my grandma’s scrapbooks I always had to ask “Who is this?”  She shared the information proudly.  But, over the years, some of the details became foggy.  After she passed away there was no one left to ask. By journaling in your scrapbooks, you can make sure your story is told.  It only takes a few minutes and can be inexpensive.

The only tool you really need for this project is an acid free journaling pen.  You can pick these up at any craft store for a few dollars.  Once you have this, you are ready to start.

There are three simple steps to journaling in your scrapbook.

Who is in the photo?  This is the first question that you need to answer.  Be as complete as you can.  If you know the person’s full name, write it down.  You can write Mom under the photo, but I usually put the person’s given name on the first page.  This is good for Family Tree information later down the road.

When was the photo taken?  Even if you don’t know the exact date, if you know what year the photo was taken in you are all set.  You can even put a time frame, for example, 1999-2000.

What is happening in the photo?  It could be a vacation, a family reunion, a trip to the zoo, a baptism, etc.  If you took the photo it was a memorable event.  So, make sure you write it down.  If you aren’t sure what is happening you can always share a story about the person in the photo.

Where did this occur?  This is not as important as the name and date of the photo, but I like to add this when I can.  If a photo is taken  in front of your house, write that down.  Some people look at the faces in a photo.  Other people focus on the surroundings.

No matter how much information you have you should include it in your scrapbooks.  You may not have every piece of the puzzle, but you may come across someone in your family that can fill in the blanks.

It is important to share your story.  Telling someone the story as they look through your photos doesn’t guarantee they will remember.  In a few minutes you can journal the story and be sure it is told for generations!

Vanessa Calleja is a freelance writer specializing in scrapbooking, pets, family relationships, & health and wellness topics. Learn more secrets and tips on organizing the memories you cherish at memories to cherish.

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com

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Categories : journaling

Is journalling important?

By scrapadmin · Comments (0)
Friday, April 11th, 2008

Is it really important to journal in my scrapbook?

Looking through my grandma’s scrapbooks I always had to ask “Who is this?” She shared the information proudly. But, over the years, some of the details became foggy. After she passed away there was no one left to ask. By journaling in your scrapbooks, you can make sure your story is told. It only takes a few minutes and can be inexpensive.

The only tool you really need for this project is an acid free journaling pen. You can pick these up at any craft store for a few dollars. Once you have this, you are ready to start.

There are three simple steps to journaling in your scrapbook.

Who is in the photo? This is the first question that you need to answer. Be as complete as you can. If you know the person’s full name, write it down. You can write Mom under the photo, but I usually put the person’s given name on the first page. This is good for Family Tree information later down the road.

When was the photo taken? Even if you don’t know the exact date, if you know what year the photo was taken in you are all set. You can even put a time frame, for example, 1999-2000.

What is happening in the photo? It could be a vacation, a family reunion, a trip to the zoo, a baptism, etc. If you took the photo it was a memorable event. So, make sure you write it down. If you aren’t sure what is happening you can always share a story about the person in the photo.

Where did this occur? This is not as important as the name and date of the photo, but I like to add this when I can. If a photo is taken in front of your house, write that down. Some people look at the faces in a photo. Other people focus on the surroundings.

No matter how much information you have you should include it in your scrapbooks. You may not have every piece of the puzzle, but you may come across someone in your family that can fill in the blanks.

It is important to share your story. Telling someone the story as they look through your photos doesn’t guarantee they will remember. In a few minutes you can journal the story and be sure it is told for generations!

Vanessa Calleja is a freelance writer specializing in scrapbooking, pets, family relationships, & health and wellness topics. Learn more secrets and tips on organizing the memories you cherish at memories to cherish.

 

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Categories : journaling

Scrap about Yourself

By scrapadmin · Comments (0)
Saturday, March 15th, 2008

You are a Diamond So Scrapbook About Yourself

by Fion Lim

As a devoted scrapper, you probably gain satisfaction from scrapbooking about others.

Oftentimes, you are the one glaring missing light in your scrapbook albums. Simply because you’re so caught up with hiding behind the camera and being a fixated shutterbug. Either that or you’re tied up scrapbooking about others that you missed out on scrapbooking about yourself.

Somehow, it’s happening too frequently.

Ever thought about why you should take a step back and start scrapbooking about yourself? Ever wonder how scrapbooking about “you” could bring out the shine in you?

Come on, you are special, there’s no way to deny it. Rare like a diamond. Just probably covered up in layers and needed some polishing to bring out the natural shine. And scrapbooking is a powerful method to reveal the rareness in you.

There’s so many glowing benefits to creating scrapbooks all
about you:

1) Leaving Behind an Everlasting Legacy

For the people who will never get the chance of meeting and knowing you, your scrapbooks about yourself will leave behind memories of you as a person. It’s a mean of letting them discover and know about you.

I once read of a mother who was seized with terminal stage of cancer. In her final days, instead of resting, she struggled to put together scrapbook albums of herself. Why? Just so that her two very young toddlers will get to know about the mommy whom they’ll never see in person again. The scrapbooks will be constant reminders to the kids of their mommy’s love for them and her thoughts about them.

It’s a heart-wrenching story, but it’s a wake up call that you don’t have an eternity. You have to take steps now to make time to leave behind a part of who you are. Like they said, “You’ll never know”…

2) Showing the World You as an Individual

Yes, besides being known as the scrapbooker who so lovingly and tenderly put together the family scrapbooks, your children and present or future grandchildren would want to know how you look like. They’ll wonder “How did Granny Kate look like when she’s a baby? And what did she look like when she’s a young woman?”

You’re likely to have the same curiosity of your ancestors too.  So do showcase your changing faces or appearances throughout the years or decades. Come out from behind your camera, and ask or plead with someone else to take over the role of the photographer.

You are important and you need to be in those pages.

3) Revealing the Real You

By scrapbooking, you’ll immortalize a part of yourself in a permanent way. And through reading your journaling, others will get to know you in an intimate sort of way. You are granting them permission to be privy to your inner world of thoughts, which are usually hidden by the superficialities of your daily life. Your journaling will reveal the authentic side of you that
many may not have the privilege to know of otherwise.

Do consider leaving those alluring computer fonts aside for a while, and write in your own handwriting. It may not be perfect but it’s much more personal. Your handwriting is undeniably a part of you.

4) Passing on Your Beliefs and Values

Worried that your values and beliefs will be lost forever to your future generations? Scrapbooking about them is a great way to ensue that they’ll get passed on from one generation to the next. “Great-grandma Emily is a strong believer of filial piety.  It’s her strongest trait…”

Your scrapbook albums will likely become treasured family keepsakes, where your words will echo and impact on your future generations’ lives.

5) Pulling You Out from a Crossroad

There’s probably times in your life when you feel uncertain and lost about yourself. It’s like your identity has gone missing. I’ve been at such a crossroad before too.

At such disheartening moments, try scrapbooking on themes like “What Makes Me So Unique”, “The Many Hats That I wear” and “Top 10 Things that I’m Most Proud”. These themes will once again call attention to your own uniqueness. Such meaningful pages will reinforce the value in you as an individual.

If you’re daring enough, try “10 Things I Like About You”. This is where you’ll have to get a couple of your closest kin and friends to each make a list of things they like about you.  You’ll have to cast away your shyness and get those lists from the people you care about.

Because someday when you feel like you’re in the dumps, pull out these precious little lists, read over them and call to your mind that you are wanted and loved by others.

So instead of dwelling on your failures and imperfections, these powerful lists will push you forward and make you look at the positive traits of yourself.

6) Pump You Up with Pride

When you’re done with some scrapbooks on yourself, flip through them occasionally.

You’ll find yourself looking at you with a renewed sense of respect and pride. Be it as a mother, nurturer, wife, partner, daughter, sister, colleague or dreamer, your scrapbook albums will showcase you in different roles. It’ll tell others that you aren’t merely just a mom.

The pages will remind you that you have meaningful contributions to make in various roles.

Are you beginning to see the therapeutic wonders of scrapbooking about yourself? Doesn’t it reaffirm the goodness within you and unleash the power of you being a diamond?

Aren’t the above reasons compelling enough to cajole you into scrapbooking about yourself?

Each delayed moment is a moment lost forever. So take positive steps now to uncover the diamond in you to share with others.

Happy scrapping about yourself!  

About the author:  Fion Lim is the creator of www.everything-about-scrapbooking.com – Here’s your how-to-guide to learning about scrapbooking. Find free online scrapbooking ideas, tips, inspirations, articles and resources to quotes, poems and fonts right here.

 

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Categories : journaling, Motivation
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