Three Things : Lines (and a Designer Digitals giveaway)

Love the three things products this week... and especially love that mug! My favorite tip for journaling first starts with the mentality that words are an important part of every layout / story. From there, I'm currently loving all the cute journaling spot stamps. Stamp one journaling spot for to-the-point journaling, stamp as many as you need for long journaling!

I love that mug. Way cool.
Sometimes I'm so busy adding the photos and making sure they look right that I almost forget to include journaling. So I try to make sure that I write something - even if it's just who, what and when. Because I get totally frustrated looking back at pictures of family members and not knowing who they are, where they are and when it is.

I have found a ton of wonderful journaling type products over at Etsy shoppes which I use all the time.

I usually leave the journaling to the end of my project. Sometimes, we just need a word, sometimes, its a phrase or a sentence and sometimes it is an entire page. Thats why I usually leave it to the end to see how the project reveals itself. I have started many a project thinking it would be one way and completely comes out another, that is why I wait.
Ali, thank you for your inspiration!

I use a combination of 12x12 paper that is ledger lined and I have a "journaling basket" set up within arms reach. In that basket are label stickers, MM notebook journal things, Heidi Swapp spots, chipboard with lines on it, etc. I find it a very inviting way to journaling.
I also like to draw a line as a design element and write along it!

I do tend to put journaling off until later. What works for me, though, is to remember that if I mess it up, I can always cover it up with another piece of paper. Just get it down! Sometimes writing it up on the computer where I can edit it helps, too.
Thanks for your inspiration!

Here's a link to some (none of them are mind btw, lol)
http://www.etsy.com/search_results.php?search_type=tag_title&search_query=journaling+tags

I just write it down on the cardstock wherever there is space. :)

I like to use a post-it to jot down my thoughts while making my page. If I get interrupted, I just slap that post-it on the page so I will be ready to start where I left off, or if the page is done, it will make me do the journaling just to get it off the page.
Paula

It wasn't until recently that I started incorporating journaling into scrapping. I used to just let the picture and embellisments speak for themselves.
Nowadays, thanks to Karen Russell's narratives I have tried to get a bit of thoughts down on paper as well. Sometimes its a poem that fits, or even song lyrics. Other times I just stick a scrap of lined paper and write what I feel about the picture.

Though I hardly ever do it, journal first!! Then finish the rest.
:-)
Thanks for all the great stuff!
Shannon

I'm a digital scrapbooker, but I still love using journaling spots. Simulated post-it notes, index cards, rolodex cards, steno notepaper are all good for sliding under a photo and journaling a story. I've found that I love the layouts that have a story on them more than ones were I've just used a picture, paper and embellishments.
Can't wait to see the new templates and brushes in the store.

I keep a little basket on my scraping table that is full of journaling spots, notebooks, cardstock scraps... anything that makes it easy to just write down a story. I also justify cutting back on writing in my journal by journaling on my scrapbook pages.

When the kids say something cute or I see something I want to remember, I write it down in a notebook or put it on my blog. When I put photos in the chrono album my kids love to look at I jot down the dates and the story behind the photo so I don't forget later. Then when it's time to add words to a page, it's already written down somewhere, I just have to copy it. XX's BethBG

I feel so backwards I am so curious and want to learn to do digital and incorporate that with all my scrapbooking "stuff" I think the journaling will be easier also. But I love to use MM noteworthy little book I tear out the pages and journal the other is I type it on the computer on pretty CS and cut out and frame. Love everyone's ideas. Grace

I make myself leave a spot for journaling when I plan my LO - I find I need to give myself a space to write and fill up. I love all the new journaling cards that help give you spaces to write in.

I have been using my many journaling stamps featuring various shapes and sizes. Then I hand journal, which means I don't have to take the time messing with the computer. And it removes some of the pressure when I don't have a lot to say because my space is limited.

I keep a pen and the current project I'm working on beside my bed. At night before I do anything else I look through my album pick a page that I want to journal about and start writing. Before I know it I have the whole album full of words.

I love using Heidi Swapp's journaling spots or any other journaling tags. Even if I just get key words, phrases, or a sentence down it makes it so nice to have been able to capture the moment. Later I can easily include it in my LO.

I usually just write directly on the scrapbook page! I know it's old school but it's easy! OR I just a stamp. Stampin Up has lots of great ones too!

journal first, then build the layout

To me, the page is not complete until the journaling is done. If the story is big, I do the journaling first. If there is not so much to say, I often journal around the outside edges of the layout.

i do a little of both...note keeping to save for journaling and journaling as i go. i LOVE the american crafts slick writers for all kinds of journaling - and you never have to worry that it will smear on your surface. :)

i usually try to jot down the journaling on scrap paper first thing before i start my page. often my pages start with the story first and those are usually taken from my journal or blog. i do different things for getting it on the page, though, sometimes stamps, sometimes directly on the page,sometimes lined paper (thanks for that idea Ali!-i love office themed papers with lines now) or i use little journaling cards also.

My daily journaling has improved greatly doing Project 365 that you inspired back in Dec. I do almost all digital scraping and use text boxes, print on pictures, and all the little things that are out there. I also just got a Bamboo tablet to use my handwriting on my pages. So excited for your partnership with DD! They are my favorite. CoNGraTUlaTioNS!!!