Titles with double meanings

I've been musing on titles that are not quite puns, as they don't have the obvious humour, but nevertheless have more than one meaning:

• It's a walk in the park
• It’s all relative
• What A star! (for someone who's scored well at GCSE)
• Hair today
• Calendar Girl
• Hold the front page!
• Picture perfect
• Hair raising
• Top Gear
• Circle
• Marry together
• Rules of engagement
• Laws

Sources for journalling prompts

Papa Bear

From scrapbook.com: tips

Another from scrapbook.com

From Bella Online (US)

From Scrap your stories also from Angie Pedersen

Journal the hurts, scrapbook the highs from Joanna Campbell Slan on Angie Pedersen's Blog of me

30 "All About Me" Scrapbook topics from Scrapjazz

I'd recommend Shimelle's blog – she’s the journalling queen! – but if you click on the link for Free Projects: Write it Down all you get is one post from January 31^st and no way to move on to the rest…. No doubt she will fix the link in due course!

Using up paper scraps: #1

I was having a bit of a sort out, seeing what I had in my paper stash, and I realised that I had a lot of scraps. I LOVE patterned papers, but the scrapbooking style I prefer at the moment is the pared-down lots-of-white-space style. And that doesn't use up a lot of paper! Yet I find it difficult to throw anything away - let's face it, I might find a use for that pretty paper even if it is only 3 inches square. After all, I make cards as well. And a cardmaker can find a use for any paper pieces that are just bigger than my smallest punch... Especially if I make small paper dolls with a selection of tiny clothes...

I have scraps left over from kits and classes from up to three years ago, scraps from paper ranges that I loved, and ranges that I didn't. I even pick up scraps from other people at crops - how could they throw away nearly half a sheet of 12 x 12? So I've been looking in earnest at ways to use up paper scraps.

Here are some that I've found recently:

• Cut out letters for titles - either using a cutting machine, or by using repositionable glue to stick them to computer paper, run them through your printer to print an outline letter on the back and cut out.

• Make paper beads: Cut strips of paper and roll them tightly around a knitting needle or similar. Stick down the ends. Leave to dry, then carefully slide off the knitting needle. Make the beads more substantial by coating the beads with a layer of PVA glue or diamond accents or similar. Stick on a LO or thread them for jewellery!

• Create a 'quilt' page: cut 4 or 5 photos into 3" squares and make up to 9 squares with patterned paper cut into squares the same size.
• Create serendipity squares with scraps of paper and use the squares on a LO.

• Use the scraps to create a mat for your photograph, as in Karen's Conga class from the UKS birthday cybercrop (unfortunately not currently available, but here is my version)

• Use up scraps in Artist at Work, a UKS class from Maria

• Use strips of papers behind a photo as a stripy mat

• Radiate strips of papers like a sun from a central pic
• Create pockets
• Punch, especially squares and circles and create a pattern on cardstock as a background to the LO
• Cover chipboard shapes
• Cut flowers out of papers and use as embellishments

I'm working on a few more ideas and will upload them in a later post :)

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.

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Write it on Wednesday - Journalling pens

Most people have a favourite pen that they like to use for journalling with.

I'm a bit fickle, personally, I'm always looking for a really good pen and I change my allegiance often.

Here are some of the pens I've used myself and been recommended:

Sharpie pens
Zig writer (I have a blue one of these and as it has two different widths it's really useful)
Gel pens are often popular
Sakura gel pens - I've had some great Sakura pens including a white one, glaze one, glitter ones, etc., but they seem variable as to how smoothly they run and how long they last.
Fountain pen - if you're not fussed about using ordinary ink, a lot of people enjoy using a favourite (often old) fountain pen for journalling - perhaps best where you're journalling on a separate piece of paper such as a journalling block, rather than all over the layout
Uniball signo - white particularly recommended

So - the challenge for today - doesn't matter what you write (did I say that??), but have a go at writing with the pens that yo have to hand. Try out a title, a saying, some journalling. Get the feel of the pens you have. You might surprise yourself!

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Write it on Wednesday - Printed quotes

I don't often use printed quotations - I find they're rather expensive when I can find quotations really easily on the Web and print them onto whatever paper matches my layout - but there's no doubt that the latter method takes longer. In this case, I had a lovely picture of my children which I wanted to scrap for their grandmother's album, and I turned to the printed quotes that came in QVC pack a few months ago. I knew the pack had a strong theme of family and selected three different elements, a transparent quotation sticker, a title and a couple of stickers. The quote:

"Life's aspirations come in the guise of children"

...summed up my feelings so that I didn't have to write my own journalling. A good quote can do that.

Often a good quotation can be the start of a layout, or it may start you off on your own journalling (I'm sure I've said this before!). Or, like this, it can be just exactly what you need, on its own.
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Scrapping inspiration - blogs and websites

Pure inspiration for the new year!
Some old, some new.... lots to borrow and hopefully nothing blue!

Scrapping the music
Mojoholder
All About Eve
Pencil Lines
Anna Bowkis 365 days

365 Gnomes
Rouge de Garance

Craft Caboodle free online craft magazine

Write it on Wednesday - How do I love thee?

How do I love thee?

Let me count the ways...
Christina Rossetti

Think of someone one you love: set down the reasons why you love them, the things about them that you love. Count the ways... here are some prompts to get you started.

I love the way you...
I love it when you...
My favourite part of your face is...
Your smile makes me ...
I love your ...
You're a great husband because ...
I'm so glad you ...

(Posted early because I'm busy this week)
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Write it on Wednesday - Why do you like this photo?

It's not often I scrap the same photo twice, but I did this one. Last thing on Christmas Day I decided to create an 8x8 album for my mother-in-law who was staying with us. I managed to finish it by the time she left on the 29th. OK, I printed out 6 copies of recent 12x12 layouts, but I also needed 14 new layouts.

I thought the subjects of the photo looked cute, so the first time I scrapped it I used a pun and called it "Ferret touching" - very touching - OK, OK, a bad pun!


This time I looked at the photo and thought again about why I liked it. Because my son has a right soppy look on his face! And I still thought they BOTH look cute!


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Write it on Wednesday - Superstitions

ow was she to know that a black cat would cross her path, just as she walked under a ladder? She tripped and the mirror she was carrying crashed to the ground. If only she hadn’t stood on the cracks in the pavement on Friday the 13th. As she nailed her upturned horse shoe to the wall, she hoped that - touch wood (the door jamb in this case) - this and her new brass elephants with trunks stretching upwards would help neutralise the seven years' bad luck she had coming...

Today why not write about a superstition that fascinates you?

For example: never leave shoes on a kitchen table.

She pulled out the grey hair, mumbling that she didn't believe in silly superstitions about five grey hairs growing in its place. So when three grew back the very next day it didn't worry her because the number was wrong...

Tell a tale about a superstition in the past that you remember or were told about.

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Christmas quotations

Many scrapping titles around Christmas are song lyrics...

• White Christmas (if we're that lucky!)
• Have yourself a merry little Christmas
• Joy to the World
• All I want for Christmas is...
• It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
• Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree
• Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
• The Night before Christmas
  

Here are some alternative Christmas quotations:

At Christmas play and make good cheer,
For Christmas comes but once a year.
- Thomas Tusser

At Christmas I no more desire a rose
Than wish a snow in May's new-fangled mirth;
But like of each thing that in season grows.
- William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), 'Love's Labour Lost'

Peace on earth will come to stay,
When we live Christmas every day.
- Helen Steiner Rice

Gifts of time and love are surely the basic ingredients of a truly merry Christmas.
- Peg Bracken

This is the message of Christmas: We are never alone.
- Taylor Caldwell (1900-1985)

It is the personal thoughtfulness, the warm human awareness, the reaching out of the self to one's fellow man that makes giving worthy of the Christmas spirit.
- Isabel Currier

I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.
- Charles Dickens (1812-1870), 'A Christmas Carol'

It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air.
- W. T. Ellis

From home to home, and heart to heart,
from one place to another.
The warmth and joy of Christmas,
brings us closer to each other.
- Emily Matthews

At Christmas, all roads lead home.
- Marjorie Holmes

It comes every year and will go on forever. And along with Christmas belong the keepsakes and the customs. Those humble, everyday things a mother clings to, and ponders, like Mary in the secret spaces of her heart.
- Marjorie Holmes

Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas.
- Calvin Coolidge

The joy of brightening other lives, bearing each others' burdens, easing other's loads and supplanting empty hearts and lives with generous gifts becomes for us the magic of Christmas.
- W. C. Jones

Heap on the wood! - the wind is chill;
But let it whistle as it will,
We'll keep our Christmas merry still.
- Sir Walter Scott

My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others. Come to think of it, why do we have to wait for Christmas to do that?
- Bob Hope

Write it on Wednesday: Food traditions

Sometimes memories can be inspired by objects, people or places in what seems like a random way. In fact, smells can be some of the most potent connectors with memories.

Are there any smells that bring up a strong memory for you?

Are there any foods that have a particular resonance? At this festive time of year especially there are often very distinctive smells associated with family traditions.

Do you have any special foods or eating traditions associated with Christmas or any other festival or family event?

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Write it on Wednesday: text messages

You can get inspiration from almost anywhere in daily life - I was deleting texts from my phone and realised that they revealed a whole relationship between me and my two teenagers. There are a lot of messages with e wondering where one of them is...

Here's a typical exchange which I am now going to immortalise in a layout...

I'm in roman, my son is in italics...

where r u?
in town
ok
just out of cinema
r u eating?
goin 2 cookieshake
okeydoke c u soon

where r u?
on the bus

where r u?
Out of film. Are trying 2 decide where to eat. will come home with Melissa later x
ok
Im on the bus home nowOK

where are you?
told u i was working l8 2day - have u got ur keys?
yes

Can you get inspiration from your text messages?

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Write it on Wednesday: My favourite things

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woollen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favourite things

You've heard it before, right?

So what are YOUR favourite things? If you love them, then even making a layout about them is likely to make you feel happy, so whenever you're a bit down, this is the job to do.

I'd been meaning for some time to make a layout about one of my favourite things - my bathroom and the art that I commissioned especially for it - dragonflies by Jaq McCaughern. I love it!

So here's the layout - in colours to match the dragonflies and the bathroom, and journalling to enhance it.
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Write it on Wednesday: Journalling babies

No, that doesn't mean get the babies to do the journalling!

Even if you haven't had babies of your own, you will have had babies in your family, and with luck you'll even have some pictures of yourself when an infant. Babies are very photogenic and photos generally make satisfying pages that everyone enjoys looking at.

So: how to scrap babies?

The cute things they say and do

If you have a baby or young child now - I know it's difficult when you're so busy - but for heaven's sake write down those cute things they say or the funny things they do. You WILL forget them later! I wish I'd been a scrapbooker when my babies were young. Luckily I was keeping a journal, so putting the text together with the photos isn't too hard.

And she toddled for two miles along the beach before we found her...

And write down too those apocryphal stories that you have been told all your life about things you did. There's a story about me when I was about two - the family had got lost on a trip out to the contry and we stopped the car to get out and see where we were. Apparently I got fed up and said "I'll find the way" and set off along the road determinedly, all by myself. They were laughing too much to stop me at first, and then they helpfully got the camera out.

Baby books

If you have a friend or relative about to give birth, a baby book is a lovely gift - not one of those that records weight and height and so on, although that might be part of it, but a themed scrapbook readymade for the mother to slot in the pics and the journalling as she goes along. A big space for hidden journalling may be best, so mum can write as much or as little as she chooses, but doesn't run out of space.

Possible themes for baby books:

• My first year: 12 pages, a pic for each month and plenty of journalling space (a great theme to remind mum)

• Nursery rhyme theme

• Animals theme

• Alphabet theme

• Colours theme: every page a different colour

• Definitions theme: baby, love, cute, motherhood, family, growing up etc.

• Play theme: teddies, bricks, dolls etc.

You could even make a book for the baby itself, with spaces for pictures and names of all the relatives - especially welcome if family are far away and the little one won't see relatives often enough to recognise them otherwise.

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Definitions

Definitions were a popular trend in scrapbooking not so long ago. But don't discount them just because they aren't quite as "trendy" as they were!

Use definitions to expand and build on the words that you come up with for your titles or subtitles. A quick way to extend your journalling!

Pick up your dictionary for a classic definition in traditional style... write it or type it in a pretty font in your wordprocessor.

There also online dictionaries and thesauruses:

• Dictionary.com

• Merriam-Webster (American)
  

Here are some to use:

Adore (a·dore) 1. to worship or honour as a deity or as divine 2. to regard with loving admiration and devotion 3. to be extremely fond of

Admire ( ad·mire ) 1. to marvel at 2. be pleased by 3. respect

Abundance ( a·bun·dance ) 1. a more than plentiful quantity of something 2. large amount

Adventure (ad-ven-ture) 1. a daring, hazardous undertaking 2. an unusual, exciting, often suspenseful experience.

Accomplish (ac·com·plish ) 1. to succeed in doing or achieving something 2. reach point in time: to arrive at the end of a period of time

Beautiful ( byoot-e-ful) 1. pleasingly attractive physical appearance 2. lovely; fine to behold 3. delicate and favourable

Believe ( be·lieve ) 1. to accept that something is true or real 2. to have faith in 3. to put one’s trust in 4. to accept as fact

Bliss (blis) 1. great or perfect happiness 2. a state of spiritual joy

Bright (brit) 1. shining with light 2. brilliant in colour or sound; vivid 3. lively and cheerful 4. favourable; hopeful 5. radiant with happiness, smiling faces, moments 6. radiating or reflection light 7. of high saturation or brilliance 8. clever or intelligent

Celebrate (sel-e-brat) 1. perform as a ritual 2. to commemorate with festivity 3. to do honour 4. have a good time

Cherub (cher*eb) 1. a type of angel characterized as a chubby, rose-cheeked child with wings 2. a child with a sweet, innocent face

Chemistry (chem·is·try) 1. study of transformation of matter: a branch of science dealing with the structure, composition, properties, and reactive characteristics of substances, especially at the atomic and molecular levels.

Cherish (cher-ish) 1. to hold dear 2. to treasure, adore, value and love 3. to keep deeply in mind

If you can - add to the definition with a thoughtful extra that is more feeling than definition:

moth·er (mu-th-er) n. 1. A woman who loves, nourishes, protects and nurtures a child. 2. A creative source; an origin. 3. Respected for her wisdom and age. 4. Maternal love and tenderness. 5. A son’s first and best friend. ♥ moth·er-in-law n. 1. The mother of your spouse. 2. A second mother or friend. ♥ nan·a (nä’nä) n. 1. Endearing form of grandmother 2. The mother of your father or mother. 3. Sweet smile, warm hugs, bedtime stories, treats and kindness, heart of gold. 4. A person with time for their grandchildren. ♥

moth*er: \'me-thar\ n 1. compassionate supporter, giver of warm hugs 2. a woman generous of herself and her love 3. a dedicated listener 4. a woman who gives selfless tender affection without expectation 5. inspiring, dependable; all caring

fa*ther \'fath-ar\ n 1. protector and guardian 2. source of strength and support 3. guide through life; honest advisor 4. person always ready to help 5. person whose tolerance and pride are unlimited 6. ready taxi-driver

A face that says it all...

Sometimes a picture really can be worth a thousand words (and you didn't hear me say that!)

Coming back from a holiday in Cornwall I realised my son had rather tiresomely pulled faces in virtually all of the photos I took, in many cases spoiling a beautiful photo of his sister smiling attractively. So I took as my theme a quote (I wish I could remember where I found it because it's PERFECT!):

"Masquerading as a normal person day after day is exhausting"

Just look at those faces!

Write it on Wednesday: Writing about Home

What does the word "home" mean to you?

Home might be a place we have not visited for a long time, or perhaps never at all. For some of us, it's just part of a personal history we create for ourselves, but for others there really is somewhere like that described by Robert Frost:

"Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in."

But even though its meaning is strongly rooted in a physical place which we can visit, in these days of frequent re-location the real power of Home is often defined more in our heads than by buildings, countries or landscapes. Of the several meanings given in the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, perhaps the most germane for the global village is a definition from as far back as 1548:

"A place, region or state to which one properly belongs, in which one’s
affections centre, or where one finds rest, refuge, or satisfaction."

So, Home can frequently be found more in memory than in geography or more in imagination than in reality, and a song, a flower, a word, or a mouthful of food can be all it takes to bring to life a whole theatre of recollection.

What photographs do you have that say "home" to you? Alternatively - start with the journalling.

When journalling to create a layout ask the questions:

• What does the word ‘home’ mean to you?
• Describe the home of your childhood.
• Describe the scent, taste or feel of home.
• Which object most evokes home for you?
• Where do you feel you ‘properly belong’ now?

Home mosaic

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Using similes as titles

The simile is a way to create a picture in the reader's mind. It can add an extra dimension to a piece of writing, a poem - or a scrapbook layout. It asks us to picture one thing as being similar to another; it does this by using the word 'like', 'as' or 'than'.

Let's look at some examples:

• Dance like an angel/princess
• Shine brightly like the star you are!
• You sparkle like a diamond
• Your words are like eyes burning deep in my soul
• 2 peas in a pod
• A face without freckles is like a sky without stars
• Life is like a Bubble Bath... a few splashes, but generally good, clean fun!
• Spring came that year like magic, and like music, and like song. -- Thomas Wolfe
• Our love is like a song that never ends

Some similies are cliché - something we have heard so often that it has lost its original power to surprise or amuse us, such as: Cool as a cucumber; like chalk and cheese; softer than silk. The same is true of many scrapbook titles. But if you haven't used them yet - they may be new to you!

• Sweet like chocolate
• Sleeping like a baby
• Blooming like a garden/weeds
• Swing like a monkey

Can you come up with some more creative similes to be titles for your layouts?
Jot down the name, the event, or a feeling that the photo immediately evokes, then "is like" and see where you go...

Jenny is like a butterfly, always flitting, never settling for long...

Hopping crazy as a cricket

As changeable as the British weather...

Your smile is like a thousand suns