Day Two | Keep It Simple Scrapbooking Week

Good Morning and welcome to day two of  Keep It Simple Scrapbooking Week (KISS Week). Today we are welcoming Ingunn Markiewicz and Jen Schow, both Ali Edwards Design Inc creative team members,  as they share their favorite tips to help document their stories. Enjoy!

Ingunn Markiewicz // Simplify Your Journaling with Bullet Points

Happy Tuesday, everyone! Writing is actually my favorite part of scrapbooking, and I doubt that anyone who has had to sit through an entire page of my journaling (or, cough, this run-on sentence you are currently suffering through) would say that I am known for my pithiness, but sometimes even I (see, I told you this sentence was long) balk at the idea of attempting to tie up an experience into a neat story. 

This is especially true when it comes to travel scrapbooking! I get very overwhelmed at the thought of recapping vacations in large walls of cohesive text, so I used to procrastinate for literal years before attempting to do it…by which time I had of course forgotten most of the details. 

In order to avoid this dread and procrastination (and also to avoid writing way-too-long sentences like the one I squeezed out earlier), I have now embraced the concept of bullet point journaling. It makes everything so much easier – you don’t have to worry about getting everything in the right order, or having to weave your words into a story that makes sense. I’ve also come to realize that I really do remember travels and events in moments (and smells, and sounds, and tastes, and feelings), not as stories.

This has made it really easy to go back and scrapbook those long-neglected vacations of yore. When I decided to revisit our trip to Maui in 2012, I reached out to my travel companions and asked what they remembered the most, which (a) was a delightful way to reminisce, (b) sparked some of my own memories, and (c) those little tidbits worked really well as bullet points!

They don’t have to be actual bullet points (though that is an excellent way to add color by using up your stash of enamel dots or little stars or hearts); a favorite approach of mine is to use numbers that correspond with numbered photos on the layout. 

On this particular trip to Yachats, Oregon, to run a trail race, I apparently went extra bullet point crazy throughout my pages. I started with an intro page with my top five favorite moments from the long weekend.

For the race itself, I turned the bullet points into a fun collection of stats in order to mix it up a bit.

These are interspersed with layouts with longer journaling and lots of photos and cute memorabilia in divided page protectors, but there were lots of missing pieces to the story. I decided to sit down yesterday and end the section about this trip with, you guessed it, more bullet points!

This photo of my youngest daughter and my husband is adorable, so I blew it up to 12x12 inches and wrote my bullet points directly onto it. I’m definitely a less is more girl (and this is KISS week, after all), so the only things I added were a digital stamp and physical numbers, both from the Storytelling Basics collection. 

Once again I cherished the chance to reminisce with my family (and my older daughter was thrilled to learn about her wild, deodorizer-eating ways as a toddler), and now this section of my scrapbook is full of little memories that take me right back to the Oregon Coast. Love! 

Jen Schow // When in doubt, grid it out!

Hey friends! It’s Jen Schow here to tell you about my absolute favorite + fail-proof design, a GRID! I have created so many grid layouts in my life that it was hard to whittle down what I wanted to share with you today, but let’s start with a recent layout.

I love all sorts of memory keeping, but traditional layouts are my favorite. Creating a grid is one of my favorite ways to use the journaling cards that Ali offers. On this little love layout about heart rocks, I’ve used three cards and three photos, which creates a nice balance.

Another thing I love about grids is that they take a bit of the guesswork out of creating a cohesive and balanced look. Each space can kind of corral the elements of your page. You can see on this one, I have photos, a quote, embellishment, and the title, each housed in their own little 3x4 space.

I’m sure that the grid design isn’t a new concept for anyone, really, but I’ve pulled together several other examples to illustrate the fact that you can use the same concept and vary it a little bit to get a different look each time.

Creating a grid doesn’t mean that all of the pieces have to be equal sizes. You can see in the layout above, two 4x6 shapes and two 3x4 shapes work perfectly together.

Again, you can see here that one 4x6 and two 3x4 rectangles create a great grid, which is extended on the top and bottom by patterned paper. 

On this digital layout, you can see that one whole 6x8 page is taken up by a grid of TVs, which is a fun twist.

I love creating grids with other shapes, like these hearts. It’s a bit more playful, but still orderly.

One of my favorite grid layouts uses the leftovers from some chipboard circles. I was able to include a bunch of photos for this calendar-style layout - gotta remember to try that again!

I hope you are inspired to go back to an old standby and create a grid layout soon! Maybe you can try switching it up a little to make it feel fresh. :) And when you aren’t quite sure where to start on your next story, just remember that when in doubt, grid it out!

xo Jen

We hope you enjoyed Ingunn and Jen's tips. Find more inspiration from them both on instagram! Ingunn can be found at @smultringunn and look for Jen at @craftyjenschow. Make sure to check back tomorrow for some great advice from Tazhiana Gordon-Hafele and Kasha Gage!!

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12 thoughts

  1. laura_g_ says…
    02/16/2021

    Loved ALL of these ideas and have been jotting notes down as I look (and re-look) at this post. It occured to me as I was reading Ingunn's ideas of using bullet points that I could use bullet points to organize my thoughts and feelings about difficult subjects. It mighr be easier to sit down and write my thoughts out in short billet point sentences, rather than stare at a blank page and try to write a whole page of journaling. 😊 Using grids really simplifies a layout process. Great ideaa to use up my PL cards!! Thanks ladies! You made my day!💕

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  2. jlutherdesigns says…
    02/16/2021

    Such great inspiration from these two ladies. Ingunn's approach to using bullet points is brilliant. On her Yachats, Oregon page - I love that she organized her photos, did her journaling and then numbered her photos. I've often got caught up trying to put my photos in order of the bullets, instead of letting the photos interact together as they should. Also, I keep a word doc/google doc to house my stories throughout the year and the areas where the longer stories should be are often blank because it feels overwhelming at the time to get all the stories told. I'll definitely try doing it in bullet form moving forward. Thank you so much for all the inspiration, I'm looking forward to putting it into practice.

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  3. jlmomma17 says…
    02/16/2021

    Such great tips! I'm so loving these ideas! Journaling is actually my least favorite thing to do when I scrapbook (and I write for a living! LOL) Bullet points make soooo much sense! Loved how you used the enamel dots, too.

    The grid idea is awesome, too. So aesthetically pleasing to the eye! And the chipboard circles...genius! Off to see if I can find some left over in my stash. :)

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  4. Jeannew says…
    02/16/2021

    Such great tips and beautiful layouts!

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  5. Untiedt says…
    02/16/2021

    So many good ideas. I'm not sure which one I'll try first. Thanks for the inspiration. I would have loved to see a video from you.

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  6. bookemper says…
    02/16/2021

    I love all these ideas.
    Thanks for sharing.

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  7. ChristyBridwell says…
    02/17/2021

    Love this KISS focus. This is the kind of content I've been craving! I recently deleted facebook and am working on a break from Instagram & Twitter. These posts came just in time to help me feel inspired in a way I haven't felt in years. All the love for words and sharing ideas without scrolling and scrolling.

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  8. TracieClaiborne says…
    02/17/2021

    This was so enjoyable to read and look at. Two great ideas from two great scrappers! Ingunn's words had me chuckling and smiling the whole time. I needed that today and every day! Thanks!

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  9. CarolineMcD says…
    02/17/2021

    Such great ideas here. Love the bullet point idea and the use of journal cards on traditional scrapping pages.

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  10. totteacher says…
    02/17/2021

    Holy smokes I’m so loving these simple pages! Love all the journal card uses - thank you!

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  11. justlisa says…
    02/18/2021

    Love these! Great ideas!!

    Reply 0 Replies
  12. sammie1212 says…
    02/18/2021

    Love these ideas, especially using the leftover sheet of chipboard, that’s such a clever idea! Thank for sharing.

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