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What is Scrapbook Journaling?

G. Wiesen
G. Wiesen

Scrapbook journaling is a combination of typical journal or diary writing with the artistic craftiness of scrapbooking. Most journals tend to be places where people write their thoughts and feelings, to express things they may not otherwise feel comfortable telling other people. A scrapbook is a book that someone decorates and creates using pictures, cutouts, stamps, text, and other materials to create a lasting record of events or occasions. Scrapbook journaling seeks to combine these two concepts to create a journal where someone can write down his or her thoughts and feelings, while also embellishing those ideas with drawings, cutouts, stamps, pictures, and other creative touches.

The idea of scrapbook journaling is not revolutionary; many people who keep journals or diaries tend to occasionally draw inside them. Some types of scrapbook journaling, however, are far more elaborate than a typical journal with a few drawings on the inside when someone was not sure what else to write. The freely flowing ideas that typically fill a journal are accompanied by the structure, layout, and planning that usually goes into making a scrapbook. By combining these two concepts, someone is free to be more creative and imaginative both in expressing his or her artistic qualities and in relaying thoughts and feelings to the journal.

Scissors for scrapbook journaling.
Scissors for scrapbook journaling.

These two ideas are typically combined in one of two different ways, though a combination of the two is certainly possible. Often a person will start off with a journal that he or she is writing in, and then adds embellishments similar to scrapbooking. This can include photographs, paper cutouts, drawn images, stamps, and any other additions often found in scrapbooks. These will often be incorporated into the writing, and may reflect the ideas being written about or the events that occur in an entry.

Many people will write down basic ideas and outlines in journals they can embellish later with scrapbook techniques.
Many people will write down basic ideas and outlines in journals they can embellish later with scrapbook techniques.

The other common way that scrapbook journaling can happen is for someone to begin creating a scrapbook and start adding written entries to it much like a journal. In this type of situation, pages are created with a preconceived vision of a layout and templates can be used to create a scrapbook. Nice paper can often be used and written on separately, and then this can be attached to the pages of the scrapbook using glue dots or other fasteners. This type of scrapbook journaling may be more structured than the former, but both are intended to create a final product of great personal and artistic expression.

Discussion Comments

wiesen

Practice and being mindful of your handwriting can have a tremendous impact. Try writing more slowly and making an effort to spell out each letter. Practice writing out different phrases or sentences to see what letter combinations you can improve upon to make your writing better.

As was said, there are books and websites that you can use for this. You might even think about calligraphy classes to really learn some showy handwriting styles.

MissDaphne

@jennythelib - I have pretty bad handwriting, too. I was actually able to improve it somewhat as an adult by checking out a handwriting book from the library, believe it or not. I'm a teacher and I was embarrassed by my handwriting on the board. That might be something for you to look into.

And you could always use printable pages, but I wouldn't suggest it. Here's the thing: it is *your* scrapbook. Can you imagine your descendants looking at it after you're gone, or no longer able to scrapbook? Would you rather they say affectionately, "Mom had such bad handwriting. I remember my teachers could hardly read her notes," or "Mom always did buy the highest-quality ink cartridges"?

jennythelib

I've also heard the term "scrapbooking journaling" used to refer to just the brief bits that most people write on the pages, like a brief note about what date it was, where you went, and a couple funny things that happened.

My problem is that I have terrible handwriting! I try to make my pages so pretty, but I get embarrassed by my terrible handwriting and feel like it makes the whole thing look bad! Any suggestions?

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    • Scissors for scrapbook journaling.
      By: terex
      Scissors for scrapbook journaling.
    • Many people will write down basic ideas and outlines in journals they can embellish later with scrapbook techniques.
      By: Microstock Man
      Many people will write down basic ideas and outlines in journals they can embellish later with scrapbook techniques.
    • A scrapbook is a book that a person creates and decorates using pictures and cutouts in order to preserve memories.
      By: Monkey Business
      A scrapbook is a book that a person creates and decorates using pictures and cutouts in order to preserve memories.
    • Twine, clothes pins, and card paper are examples of items that can be found around the house and repurposed for scapbooking.
      By: Sergey Mostovoy
      Twine, clothes pins, and card paper are examples of items that can be found around the house and repurposed for scapbooking.