Here’s today’s question: Did you ever wish your layouts had more journaling?

By Karen Grunberg

I’m an organized person. I like to wake up every morning, make a to-do list, and then get to work. As I complete each item, I cross it off my list and it makes me a little happier each time. If I think of more items throughout the day, they go on my list and get done when their turn comes. I know it might sound odd or even a bit off to some people but I am a computer programmer by trade so having some sort of order and logic to things comes naturally to me. 

I also believe in the power of stories. I believe that even a few words, chosen carefully, can make my layout meaningful and I try to always make sure I think of the story behind my page before I sit down to make it.

This wasn’t always the case. I used to make layouts that were just a lot of photos. Or layouts that showed off my current favorite products or a technique I just learned. And while there’s nothing at all wrong with any of those things, a few years ago I went back and looked over all my layouts and realized that the ones I loved the most were the ones that had a story associated with them. The ones that were meaningful to me. I tend to forget the small, ordinary details of life so the layouts that captured those meant were the ones I treasured the most.

As someone who focuses on journaling, I often hear some of the following complaints:
- I don’t know where to start
- My stories are not interesting
- I don’t have any stories
- I don’t have any photos to go with that story
- This photo doesn’t have a story, it’s just a pretty photo
- I don’t know which part of the story to tell

I can go on and on. People have a collection of reasons for not journaling. But most people do want to journal more. They wish they did. They want to create more meaningful layouts. Ones that capture their personal stories.

The thing is, it seems that we don’t always know how to come up with story ideas. Or sometimes we have ideas but we’re not scrapping at the time so we then forget. When we actually sit to scrap, nothing comes to mind.

 
 

I decided it would be a great idea to merge my two passions: organization and storytelling and create a workshop that helped you create a system for your stories.

My goal with this class is to focus on four steps to creating your own system:

1. Collecting: finding where your stories come from, what inspires you, how do you generate more stories?
2. Organizing: how do you sort your story ideas, what details do you want to make sure to get down on paper?
3. Storing: What’s the best way to store all these stories and details? Will you have a mini book to hold or do a system on the computer?
4. Using: Now that you have your new system, how do you use it? How do you make sure it’s a living, breathing system and doesn’t get stale. When you sit to scrap, how do you find the story you need or want?

 

This way, when you have a new story idea, you know exactly where to put it so that you can find it later. And when you sit to scrap, you have all your stories right there waiting for you. You will NEVER have to worry about having story ideas ever again.

If you’ve ever struggled with coming up with story ideas or finding your stories when you need them or matching up a photo with a story, I hope you will consider taking the Book of Stories workshop.

I promise it will change the way you scrapbook.

PS: If you want to see an example of how my Book of Stories changed my scrapbooking, head on over to the inside access page at Big Picture Scrapbooking (All you have to do is create a free account if you don’t have one yet.) I have a special layout I created just for you, that shows you how I’ve used my brand-new process to make my layout more meaningful.

Comments

[UGG Classic Mini]

Your article is useful for me. It is a good article.

[Lain]

The stories are such an important part of our pages. When I look at someone else's albums, I want to know the story behind the photos! I figure people want the same from my pages, so I work hard to incorporate story into the pages, through my embellishments, design, photos, and words. Thanks for bringing this home.

[TracyBzz]

I choose this class over another (I too know my limits). Can't wait. I'm so into 'story' right now.

[kybarb]

I'm really looking forward to the class! I don't really scrapbook in the traditional sense but like to make mini books every once in awhile when a story idea hits me that involves a lot of photos(mostly old photos of my family and myself growing up). Hope the class will help me get the stories I have written organized so that I can easily have access to them when the mood strikes.

[2hounds]

I so want to take Karen's book of stories class - but I'm already signed up for a concurrent class here at BPS - and I know my limitations - I can't keep up with two classes at once; and I know that while the courses are "forever" I'm much more likely to do the class while the class is active - so - any chance of the class being repeated next year?