My children know they are not always (ever?) angels, and while I wouldn’t want to air all their mischief and misdeeds in my digital scrapbooking layouts, I do want to be “real” with my journaling. How can I be loving, respectful, and still write realistic journaling?
I tend to adopt a conversational tone with my journaling. Grammar is important to me, but I sometimes write in incomplete sentences and thoughts, depending on the topic of the layout. For the page below, I think I achieved the right balance of “loving, yet real” by using a mischievous, conversational approach to the journaling. I wrote as if I were talking to my son – a very informal approach appropriate to the silliness of the photo and page.
Journaling for the page reads:
General silliness often abounds at our house, what with three boys and all. There are times that you carry things way too far and get in trouble, or someone gets hurt. But I love the times like these, when you think up something so creative and so silly that we all just have to giggle and giggle – and oh yeah, take a picture to remind ourselves later of the fun we have together, in between being annoyed by one another. I love you, my silly mischief maker!
Think about journaling the “real” moments in your family the next time you grab a moment to do some digital scrapbooking. Let your words pour out of your fingers (as you type) with their natural flow as if spoken. Let your own brand of humor shine with realistic journaling, and be willing to reveal some of the craziness that goes on in your home!
Digital scrapbooking products used:
Article written by Cheri Thieleke