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

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?

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Titles for summer holiday Los

I know it's an odd time of year to be thinking of it, but I've been thinking up some summer and holiday themes titles for layouts:

• Just add water
• Splash!
• Water, water, everywhere
• Sun, sea and sand
• An English Summer
• Beachcomber
• The Shell Seekers
• Splish Splash
• Life’s a beach
• Seaside frolics
• Beach babes
• Beach boys

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

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

Write it on Wednesday: Mondegreens

There's a name for misheard song lyrics - they are mondegreens.
There's a lovely story behind this name:

The word mondegreen, meaning a mishearing of a popular phrase or song lyric , was coined by the writer Sylvia Wright.

As a child she had heard the Scottish ballad " The Bonny Earl ofMurray" and had believed that one stanza went like this:

Ye Highlands and Ye Lowlands
Oh where hae you been?
They hae slay the Earl of Murray,
And Lady Mondegreen.

Poor Lady Mondegreen, thought Sylvia Wright . A tragic heroine dying with her liege; how poetic. When it turned out, some years later, that what they had actually done was ‘ slay the Earl of Murray and lay him on the green’ , Wright was so distraught by the sudden disappearance of her heroine that she memorialized her with a neologism.

An Aussie friend's son’s class at school used to sing the first line of the Australian national anthem as:

Australia’s sunset ostriches.

(Australia’s sons let us rejoice – now amended to ‘Australians all let us rejoice’)

I remember a few from prayers and hymns at school as well...
More recently, I thought for some time that the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "The Zephyr Song" had the lyrics - "Fly away on my cellphone..." I thought it was somewhat fanciful to describe a mobile phone call in such terms!

Have you a mondegreen to share? (Can you find one on the Web?) Is there a mondegreen that could inspire a LO for you? Could you use it as the title?

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Write it on Wednesday: inspiration from quotes

One of my favourite quotes is something like:

"It's not the days in your life that count, but the life in your days."

I've seen it attributed to Brian White and, as
"Don't seek more days in your life but more life in your days", to Charles Swindoll

Inspirational quotes can inspire titles and journalling. It's one of the simplest ways to journal - you hardly have to write anything yourself there are so many great quotes to choose from. (See my post here for some great sites for quotes and sayings.)

Here's today's starter for ten...

"It's not what you do in life ..."

Decide on your own ending to the quote: choose one of these or make up your own to suit your picture and the story you want to scrap! e.g.

... that matters - it's who you are.
... it's what you finish! (Katherine Hepburn)
... that counts, it's what you bring to what you do that counts.
... it's the way that you do it.
... that counts, it's where you left your mark in things you tried to do that counts.
... that makes you who you are, it's who you are that makes you do what you do. (Cirek Brecy)
... that counts, but how much you enjoy doing whatever you do.

photo by monceau

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"English" & British slang titles

After seeing a great list of Australian slang titles and some wonderful Scots ones (how lucky the Scots are to have English AND lots of wonderful dialect words to use), I thought I'd start compiling a list of uniquely English words and phrases for titles. We have too much US influence (down with cupcakes!)

Plodging (NE slang for paddling)
Time for tea
Two for tea
Nosh
Lubbly Jubbly!
London Calling!
Bonkers
Giddy up!
You’re A star (A* grade)
Pearly princess
Top Gear
Exterminate!
X-Factor
Yorkshire Pudding
We’re all going on a Summer Holiday!
Specs appeal
Ground Force
Telly Addict
Anyone for a beer?
One for the road
Angel of the North
Wotcha!
Gotcha!
Alright Petal!
Wet wet wet ... (after the summer we've had!)

If you've done or can think of any uniquely English titles, please let me know in the comments?

Quotations, quotes, sayings, titles and journalling

Where to find quotes, quotations and sayings for your scrapbook pages...

Denny’s Quotes: http://www.dennydavis.net/index.html Amazingly comprehensive

Simple Scrapbooks magazine Quote Archive: http://www.simplescrapbooksmag.com/quotes/

Two Peas Pea Soup: http://twopeasinabucket.kaboose.com/res.asp

Scrapbook.com: http://www.scrapbook.com/quotes.php

Scrapbooking Quotes: http://www.stickersnfun.com/quotes.asp with some interesting Australian slang...

The Quote Garden (not specifically scrapbooking): http://www.quotegarden.com/

Brainy Quote (not specifically scrapbooking): http://www.brainyquote.com/

You can also personalise your Google homepage (see http://www.igoogle.com/) and include inspirational quotes every day as one or more of the elements.

Mine come from Quotations of the Day
http://www.quotationspage.com/qotd.html

and

The Quotations Page
http://www.quotationspage.com/

My favourite quotation of all time?

' Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.' William Morris

Now there’s a challenge to scrapbook!

Transitions and changes

Ali Edwards, in one of her Studio A columns (PDF file) for Creating Keepsakes magazine talks about documenting transitions in one’s life. Every one of Ali’s layouts set off a lightbulb in my head. I’ve never been a chronological scrapper and I don’t stick to albums of particular people either. Ali’s attitude exactly suits the way I want to document the essence of the moment, the feelings, the traditions, the way we are or were at a point in time.

I am at a point of transition now. It has been crystallised by Scrapdolly’s All Work and No Play challenge. I just can’t do the challenge – the prompts are too painful. My work situation is uncertain and I’m not sure what to do for the best. I am so unsure that I took on a career counsellor, and I couldn’t even begin to answer the first set of questions she sent me.

So scrapping and journalling other times of transition in my life are strangely comforting in helping me decide where to go from here.

Here are some titles:

Transitions
Changes
What a difference a year makes
From X to Y
My new XXX
A tapestry of changes
Transformation
Differences

And some quotations to inspire:

"It is not the years but the changes that make us grow." - Neal Maxwell
"All appears to change when we change." - Henri-Frédéric Amiel
"BE the change you want to see in the world." - Mahatma Gandhi
"Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced." - James A. Baldwin
"Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me." - Carol Burnett

Here are some journalling prompts to add to Ali’s great article.

What was the most significant transition in your life?
I changed when ...
What I wish most was different is ...
When I look back, I see I coped with change by ...
If I could go back in time for just one hour and change something it would be when...

Vertical titles

I saw some stamps that had interesting vertical titles, so I started creating some of my own.

Here are the ways these images can be used:

1) Print backwards on a transparency and use as a home-made rub-on
2) Trace for craft robo - (GSD available as soon as I get the chance...)
3) Print on card or patterned paper and mat onto LO
4) Print on base cardstock (print on a strip and cover the join with ribbon/paper etc.)