Class 16 - Andy

Hello all - Dolly here again and this is the final class of what has been an amazing weekend of fun and chatter, scrapping and recording those all important memories. Andy loved his toys so much and to show they belonged to him his name was written proudly on the bottom of his toys. So this class is all about writing - although I want you to write a lot more than just your name.

People often worry about writing on their pages, preferring to either hide the journalling or use a computer, but I promise you, in years to come it will be the fact your writing is on your pages that will help to make those memories so special.

My handwriting isn't great, but that really doesn't matter; it is me!

This class will encourage you to document special stories with more than just a who, where, when, why and what approach.

One layout focuses on a lengthier story or event, one focuses on the little things in life that are so often missed yet are the seasoning in our lives and the other - well the other is just for fun.

I can't wait to see what you come up with and most of all, I can't wait to see your writing and read your stories.

Download the instructions here

Have fun everyone and do upload your pages to our class album on our facebook page here

December Journaling Prompts

Welcome to the last journaling prompt of 2018 - wow where did this year go?!

So for this month the prompt is simple and short:

Hide your journaling!

This very definitely does not mean skip the journaling but instead put it where it can't be seen unless you are looking for it!

There are a number of reasons you may want to try this:

• Aesthetics - sometimes you want the photo and embellishments to hog the limelight and the written words feel like they are cluttering the page. Or you dislike your handwriting but recognise that in the future a loved one will enjoy having a little piece of your writing.
• The journaling may be for your eyes only, to reflect on thoughts and feelings that you want to record but don't want out on general display.
• Space - there maybe too much to write to fit in a small space but for example having a hinged photo that lifts up can give you a large chunk of space to tell your story.

 Now I am going to admit that I struggled to find examples for this as over time I have realised that I am quite fussy and once my layout goes into an album I don't like it coming out for people to access interactive elements so I rarely make pages that include hidden journaling. However I found a couple from classes I have taught over the years...

On this layout inside the pocket on the bottom right hand corner of the layout are some tags, two with additional photos and one with journaling about how I don't even like tea but that for the sake of a photo opportunity I poured and tried a cup of one of the fancy flavoured teas (I didn't like it!)

 In this variation of a grid of 9 layout I had lots of photos I wanted to include and filled the other squares with titles and embellishments however I had another photo and some journaling I also wanted to include so the centre square opens out to give me more space.

November Journaling Prompts

Eeeek sorry for the belated prompts this month (a certain irony in the prompts not being prompt) but here we are a whole week late!

This month's prompt is:

Top Ten Style - this could be a list of favourite things, a Christmas list (as shown below) a holiday destinations list or anything else you can list.


 My first example isn't a layout but a mini book I made ages ago documenting the top ten places I wanted to go to. It was a class at our Spring 2008 retreat and I was really pleased to see that since I made the book I have ticked four of the top ten off my list...

This one kind of feels like cheating a little bit because I used it to illustrate a previous promot but it includes the very sweet top ten list of Christmas things Isabelle wanted for Christmas when she was about three. Sadly now at 13 and a half the list is slightly longer and less sweet (top of the list this year is a ticket to see Hamilton!) 

October Journaling Prompts

October has come around pretty fast, it's always a busy month with several family and friends with birthdays and of course the Autumn Retreat at the end of the half term holidays!

But first things first, it's time for another  Journaling Prompt to hopefully give you an idea for your titles and journaling on your pages this month. Don't forget to come over to the ATDML # Create Facebook page and share your pages in the Journaling Prompt Gallery.

This month's prompt is:

Consider different ways to get your journaling on the page:

1. Use printed journaling direct to the page
2. Handwrite direct to the page
3. Add printed or handwritten journaling on strips of cardstock
4. Use stickers or die cuts

By varying the way you add your journaling you can create lots of different looks.

As always I have added examples below.

1.) To print direct to the page I had to be careful with my layout design, I don't own a 12x12 printer so by bisecting my layout with the large photo I could feed a piece of cardstock cut to the width of A4 through the printer and build it back to 12x12 hiding the seam with my photo.

 2.) I most often handwrite my journaling direct to the page because I feel so strongly that our handwriting is a special part of who we are. The advantage of this method is you can add as little or as much as you want and in any location. Sometimes I add lots of journaling, other times it may just be a line or so.

 

3.) Adding journaling on strips means that you can go handwritten or printed nice and easily, it looks good on the page and can make your journaling pop on a busy or dark background. These examples include strips cut into individual words as well as longer strips for a varied effect.

4.) Using stickers or die cuts for your journaling is something I sometimes do mixed up with handwriting or if I am using a long title that might double as title and journaling. This is a silhouette die cut which I just loved and it was all the journaling this page needed.

So I hope these different examples of journaling techniques have got you inspired to think about varying your journaling techniques.

September Journaling Prompts

And somehow it's September! Time for another  Journaling Prompt to hopefully give you an idea for your titles and journaling on your pages this month. Don't forget to come over to the ATDML # Create Facebook page and share your pages in the Journaling Prompt Gallery.

This month's prompt is:

Record a funny or interesting conversation you have had with someone.

As always I have added examples below.

August Journaling Prompts

Here we are again for another Journaling Prompt to hopefully give you an idea for your titles and journaling on your pages this month. Don't forget to come over to the ATDML # Create Facebook page and share your pages in the Journaling Prompt Gallery.

This month's prompt is:

Choose a famous quote to act as journaling or title for your page.

As always I have added examples below.

 

July Journaling Prompts

Here we are again for another Journaling Prompt to hopefully give you an idea for your titles and journaling on your pages this month. Don't forget to come over to the ATDML # Create Facebook page and share your pages in the Journaling Prompt Gallery.

This month's prompt is:

Conduct an interview with someone or use their answers to questions as the basis for your page.

I have included some examples from my albums as always. I have found that it is a really nice way to capture some of the little snippets that make someone uniquely them at any given point in time.

Journaling Prompts - June

Here we are again for another Journaling Prompt to hopefully give you an idea for your titles and journaling on your pages this month. Don't forget to come over to the ATDML # Create Facebook page and share your pages in the Journaling Prompt Gallery.

This month's prompt is:

Use song lyrics either as the title for your page or as the inspiration for your journaling.

I have included some examples from my albums as always. I remember being particularly inspired by this idea way way back when UKScrappers ran their Scrap Idol contest a long time ago - perhaps 2008? I did have a look back to see if I could link to the gallery but it has disappeared into the mists of time!

This is a soppy one - when Olivia was a very small baby Isabelle was going through a Dumbo watching phase so the song Baby Mine reminds me very much of snuggling on the sofa with a tiny Olivia and a wriggly and not so tiny Isabelle!

Journaling Prompts - May

Welcome to the Journaling Prompt for this month, I hope you are finding these useful to give you ideas for your journaling, titles and pages. This months prompt it:

Dedicate the majority of your page to telling a story. This could be something significant or just a funny anecdote which you do not want to forget!

As usual I have included a few examples from my scrapbook albums, I look forward to seeing yours in our Journaling Prompts Gallery over on the ATDML # Create Facebook Page

Journaling Prompts - April

Welcome back to the next instalment of our Journaling Prompts. I hope you have been enjoying them and that they are proving to be a useful and interesting way to change up your scrapbooking habits.

Don't forget that each month you can add your layouts in response to the prompts in the Journaling Prompts Gallery over on the ATDML # Create Facebook page.

This month's prompt is:

Choose and use a single word title and use the shape of the word as the main design feature on your layout. If desired add journaling in the white space around the word.

The word JOY served as the main title for the layout and the O offered me the perfect place to display my photo!

This Paige Evans die cut word AWESOME worked beautifully for photos of Izzy on a rollercoaster and was back filled with assorted papers and accented with a brightly coloured washi strip along the bottom.

Journaling Prompts - March

Welcome to this month's Journaling Prompts where once again we are hoping to inspire you to look at your journaling, titles and page themes a little differently.

This month the prompt is:

Record someone else's perspective; ask a friend or family member to hand write their memories linked to a photo you are scrapping.

As always I have included some of my own examples and would love to see your take on this - don't forget to upload them to the Journaling Prompts gallery over on the ATDML # Create Facebook page.

This layout was done for a class I taught at the Autumn 2016 ATDML retreat and features a group photo. Rather than just journal my memories I created 6 journaling blocks and a space for them in the design then I asked all the people in the photo to write their memories. (Photo of layout was taken before the last two people added their journaling)

When scrapbooking this photo of our wonderful dog Merlin I asked my Mum to journal her memories of him.

And Mum's lovely handwriting features again here. This time the photo is of my childhood, I have many happy memories of days spent on the beaches of the Isle of Wight but wanted to add variety to my album and include her thoughts.

Journaling Prompts - February

Welcome to our February Journaling prompts. I hope you all found last month's prompt to be useful! This month our prompt is:

Create a frame around your page with journaling.

Below are some of my examples, remember to upload your layouts to the Journaling Prompt gallery over on the ATDML # Create Facebook page.

This layout was based on a class Ann taught at one of the ATDML retreats and I love how the journaling is interupted by the splats and embellishment clusters but still forms a great frame to contain the photo and other page elements.

Journaling Prompts - January

On the first Sunday of every month there will be a journaling prompt to give you a little inspiration for your layouts, titles and journaling.

Where possible we will try to add some examples as well.

Please do pop over to the ATDML # Create Facebook page where you can add your photos to the journaling prompt gallery.

This months Journaling Prompt is...

Add interest to longer pieces of journaling by mixingin stickers and typed words into your handwritten journaling.

This layout using the Basic Grey Adrift collection makes use of the three co-ordinating alphabet fonts available on the sticker sheet that was in the collection.

For this layout I combined small alphabet stickers and alphabet stamps to add interest and highlight specific words. In addition I added hand drawn borders to the stickers.

Finally a mixture of letter stickers and pieces of co-ordinating cardstock cut to a size where I could fit a single word on it allowed me to add pops of colour.

Advent with ATDML - Day 13 - December Daily journal

Unlucky for some the 13th, but not for you as we continue with our seasonal craft inspiration and today I am sharing some pages from my December Daily journal. I try and do this journal each year and usually make it about half way through the month and run our of time/steam but this year I am determined to finish!

I have prepared some of my pages in advance so just need to print off the photo for the day, add my journaling and embellishments. I have kept things much more fluid in my album this year by combining 6x8 pages, some which came in a pack from Simple Stories with decorative edges and some I cut myself from kraft paper, with smaller 4x6 pages and also page protectors. I have also added in a couple of postbox cards that I purchased to send but loved them so much I wanted a couple in my album too!

I have also focused more on telling stories this time. Including the leaving up of last years Christmas wreath in the porch all year as I had not taken it down by 12th night and the tale of my husband having to crawl under the paperchains the elf had strung across my sons door for he would not let his dad take them down in case it upset the elf!!

I have combined several collections in my album from Kaisercraft Silent Night to Bo Bunny Merry & Bright and Simple Stories Classic Christmas to Stamping up and then added in just a few embellishments including sequin stars, a pack of star enamel dots, gems and seasonal washi tape. Learning from the last few years I have restricting myself to flatter embellishments in the hope my album will shut at the end of the holidays! 

  

Are you doing a December Daily journal? If you are be sure to share some pages on our Facebook page, we'd love to see them!

Pop back here tomorrow for more inspiration from Karen who has an exploding box with a surprise for us.

Go BIG on journaling

Summer holidays which for us means family days out and adventures to make the most of the time I have off work. This layout featuring Simple Stories Bloom & Grow range. It uses one of the papers with a 6" x 12" journaling piece on it featuring a floral design at the base and a faux tape piece at the top which I cut from the paper and then punched down the side with a notebook punch. 

I also used the "you", "make" & "happy" words from the same paper along with some alphabet stickers for my title "you make me happy" which I added to the journaling piece and then wrote around the rest of the paper, the grid lines making this very easy to do.

A couple more pieces of paper (including the blue floral also from the paper above) and some stickers complete this page which uses the gorgeous dotty paper as the background.

The full collection of Bloom & Grow can be found here in the shop and our gallery for July features plenty more inspiration using Simple Stories paper. Go take a look HERE >>>>