I have always put the words first in my memory keeping and to be honest I find it very hard to scrapbook/project life if I am limited to how much journaling I can add. I do believe that photos are very important but the words bring the photo to life, give it meaning and emotion.
Quite often a story I want to tell is sparked from an embellishment or a stamp. These are also great things to use if the words just won't flow easily. I wrote a blog post about my "bucket list" (a prompt from 2015 Blog-tember challenge) and I wanted to get the story down on paper and into my album. When I first got these mini flair buttons from Feed Your Craft my first intention was to use them to document a holiday that we had recently. As I was looking at them, a different story started to unfold in my head. The words on the mini flair and my blog post were coming together in my head and I realised that I could use these to tell a different story.
Quite often when I get new products like these mini flair or stamps I just stare at them for awhile, letting my head just take them in. I let them flow around in my brain and as I sit there stories start to emerge. If the stories come quickly I grab a pen and paper and start making notes but if the story is not there I just let them sit on my desk and wait for the story to appear. It may sound a bit strange but this process has worked for me for many years and I have been able to tell so many wonderful stories.
This particular story was important for me to tell as I want my children to grab life and enjoy all that it has to offer, the good and the bad. This has been my personal mantra all through my life and I want them to understand that a good life just isn't handed to you, you have to go out and get it. I want this layout to encourage them to do so.
Don't always be in a rush to use product, let them inspire you to tell stories and record your history.
If you would like to order some of your own mini flair buttons head over to Feed Your Craft and use the coupon code TRACEY20 to get 20% of your order.
What inspires you to tell stories? I would love to hear how your stories unfold.
Love me :-)
Inspiring !!
ReplyDeleteSuch a fantastic layout, Tracey, for so many reasons! Journaling has never been a driving force to my paper projects, but that is something that has definitely changed this year. I do agree, that sometimes letting supplies marinate for a bit can bring about the best results. :)
ReplyDeleteAnother wonderful page - full of meaningful journalling and style. I like the idea of letting stuff sit around for a while until it finds its space :).
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