Ny favourite journalling techniques

I was looking over some of my previous posts, and which are my favourite journalling ideas that I have used again and again in my own scrapping.

The idea of using a kenning was a helpful one – and fun too.

What’s in a name? works for placenames as well as people’s names.

Why do you like this photo? Works for 99% of the photos I scrap. A question you can always ask and answer. And then no doubt other aspects of the photo will come to mind and before you know it you need a whole journalling page!

And I haven’t done this one again – text messages – but it was such a successful layout that I’m pretty sure I will soon! And that was one of the first layouts I had the idea for and THEN took the picture :)

Free daily journalling prompts

I have collected all my journalling prompts and am offering them starting today as a free ongoing journalling class or daily journalling prompts to use as you like.

We'll be having themes, and the first week's is MUSIC.

The prompts are suitable for scrapbooking, blogging or art journalling.

Come along and join me! And if you'd like to be on the design team (occasional contributions not every day!), let me know.

Daily Journalling Prompts Blog

The new blog will have short helpful prompts.

I'll continue to add longer journalling inspiration and
techniques (and scrapping organisation tips) to this blog at least twice a week.

Journalling about people: try a kenning

What's a kenning then?

Here's Wikipedia's definition which is rather heavy on the ancient Scandinavian roots.

Kennings come from Old English and Norse poetry, and they describe something without using its actual name, e.g. 'mouse catcher ' was a cat, a sword was a 'skull-splitter' and a river a 'swan road'.

So a kenning "names something without using its name". They can be like riddle poems - what am I describing?

Kids learn them in school these days: here are lots of kennings from youngsters, on the children's writing website Kids on the Net.


You probably remember a Coke advert which did something similar. The advantage is you can do it to name anything, and it can be different each time. When you don't want to just put the same old word or name on a LO - why not embellish with a kenning instead?

Clines - get deeper into your journalling

When you're journalling, especially if you're using just one or two words, it’s important to find the word that accurately describes what you're trying to express. Common words such as "happy", "handsome", "cute", can be over-used: and once you've been scrapbooking longer than a year or so you start to be desperate for more! Here's a technique to explore a few different words to use.

For example: there are many words for degrees of heat in addition to the word ‘hot’. A cline is a graduated list of words to give shades of meaning, for example:

• Whitehot
• Red-hot
• Steaming
• Boiling
• Simmering
• Hot
• Warm
• Tepid
• Luke-warm
• Blood warm
• Body temperature
• Cool
• Chilly
• Cold
• Freezing
• Frozen.

Once you have your list of words, you can pick one that's perhaps more meaningful than the obvious!

Write it on Wednesday - Seasonal Inspiration

Seasonal inspiration

Last weekend the weather was glorious, cold but bright, sunny and dry. I took advantage by wrapping up warm and heading off on a trip to see some famous snowdrops. It really made me think - so I guess the way to journal is simply to write about how I feel...

The children were off on weekend trips of their own and it was one of those increasingly frequent times when my husband and I were on our own and able to do "grown-up" things. Although it is odd to do things without the children, it is comforting to realise that we still have things to say to one another and can enjoy ourselves as a couple.

The snowdrops are more than a sign of growth in the spring of a new year, they are a sign of our own new style of life. One in which we must let the youngsters poke their heads up out of the family soil into the light of their own lives. As parents we must feed and nurture their roots while allowing the buds to open into lovely flowers. Then, as parents, we become free to stroll quietly a while, view and admire the beautiful blossoms.

More Write it on Wednesday

Write it on Wednesday - What’s in a name?

What’s in a name?

Juliet: in Romeo and Juliet:

Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague? it is not hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name which is no part of thee
Take all myself.

A US couple in 2001 who tried to find a corporate sponsor for their baby son failed to find a bidder. Jason Black and Frances Schroeder used eBay and Yahoo! to auction the name of their third child. They were aiming for at least $500,000 so they could name their little boy Cisco, Microsoft, Intel, or whatever. But time ran out. Under New York State law, the deadline to put a first name on the boy's birth certificate came and went without a substantial offer. So instead, his parents decided to simply call him - Zane.

If you think about it, there are probably many stories about names. And not just people’s names, but names of houses, boats, pets…

What’s the story behind that name? What happened when someone got the name wrong? What name do you like best?

More Write it on Wednesday