So often I look through people’s scrapbooks and just cringe. Not because their layouts are poorly designed, or because of their paper choices — no, the first thing I notice is a lack of journaling. When I ask the scrapbooker to share who is in the photos, or what was happening at this time, she is more than willing to show off her family and share the story. I have to wonder….Why isn’t it written down then?? What will happen to these stories when she is gone?

So many people balk at including journaling on their layouts, but it doesn’t have to feel like pulling your own teeth! Combine a few key elements, and you’re set! Consider these points when faced with adding journaling to a layout you’re working on, and you’ll tell a more meaningful tale:

The Good Ol’ 5 W’s are the absolute bare minimum for relating a story.

• Who is in the photos?
• What’s going on? An event? Or is it a “slice-of-life” moment? Describe it.
• Where were the photos taken? Name the site, and consider adding the city & state.
• When were the pictures taken? Month & year is generally sufficient, just provide some sort of historical reference point..
• Why were all these people gathered together at this event? Why this location?

Consider what is NOT included in the photos

• Who is not in the photos, but was at the event? Or who do you wish had been at the event?
• What happened right before the pictures were taken? Or right after? What part of the story do the pictures NOT tell?
• What sounds could you hear, that the photos cannot demonstrate?
• What smells were present? What smells do you associate with the people who participated in the event?
• Why was this event important enough to you that you had to capture the moments on film? What was significant about this gathering, outing, or group of people?
• What else happened in your family around the same time as the event in the photos? How does the event in the photos connect and relate to your family historical timeline?

If this were an event in your grandmother’s life, what would you want to know from her? What thoughts would you want her to jot down about an experience in her life?

• You would want her to go beyond the non-informative and uninteresting: “This is a picture of me in a dress in 1918.”
• You would want her to include personal details, like that she made that dress, or that she argued with her mother right before the photo was taken, or that the photo was taken right before she moved across the country to be with the man she loved.
• You would want to know the thoughts behind the person in the photo, her reasons for choices & decisions, and how their life played out to bring them to the point in the photo.
• You would want to know what things came to her mind as she looked at that photo years later. What sensory descriptions came to mind for her? What past dreams and current regrets?
• If these are things you would want to know about your grandmother’s photos and life, chances are good that there is someone out there wondering the same things about you. Include these kinds of journaling tidbits on your current daily life scrapbooking layouts.

By just considering these points, you’ll go beyond journaling simple captions beneath photos, to proclaiming the “5 W’s”. You’ll get at the essence of the lives of the people in your photos, and reveal a glimpse of what’s most important to you.

Don’t deal with diary dilemmas on your own – decide to direct your attention to the directory of delightful Book of Me prompts down below! (All inspired by the letter ‘D’, if you hadn’t deduced…) 25 starting points to Scrap Your Stories!

1. List your duties at home. What duties do you share with someone else? How did you arrive at that system?
2. List your duties at work.
3. Do you consider yourself to be daring?  Describe a time when you were daring, or something you would try if you were more daring.
4. What delights you?
5. If someone were to prepare a feast of culinary delights for you, what would they have to include?
6. Who personifies “dedication” in your life?
7. Describe a time when you had to make a drastic change.
8. Journal about when you learned to dance – did it come naturally to you? Who taught you?
9. What is your definition of “the Divine”, and how has it changed over the years?
10. Write about your opinion of the word “Diva” – do you deal with any divas? How are you a diva?
11. What degrees have you earned? How did you decide that was the right field for you?
12. Describe your first experience with death – how did you respond to it? What helped you cope with the new thoughts and feelings?
13. How are you different from your mother? How are you similar?
14. Journal about how you felt “different” when you were young, and how you coped with that. Do you still feel “different”? Is it more acceptable to be “different” now?
15. Which decade has been your favorite and why? What do you remember most about it?

Free Association Word Bank – “D” words

• Diligence
• Dogs
• Dating
• Desire
• Daddy
• Depression
• Danger
• Delays
• Deadlines
• Disagreement

Find the full alphabetical archive of Book of Me journaling prompts here: Book of Me, From A to Z! Scrapbook Journaling Ideas by the Letter

The alphabetical list of word-prompts was originally compiled with the help of forum members at ScrapAngels.com, and published in the site’s now-defunct ezine Illuminating Visions.  Thanks to all those who contributed.

About a million years ago, I posted an article on ScrapYourStories that offered ideas on how to scrapbook “100 Things I Love“, by Tammy Thomas. I recently noticed that digital scrapbooking designer offers a template to help bring that idea into the 21st century.

Digital scrapbooking enabler alert!  Here’s a new take on the “100 Things I Love” layout, or its sister, “100 Things You Might Not Know about Me”. Check out this 100 Things Template Set by Misty Cato.  The set comes with both a one page and two-page version with built in text paths.

What’s nice about this is that pretty much all the layout design is done for you – all you have to do is pick your digital papers, and think of those 100 things!

I usually post on this blog ideas for scrapbooking about yourself. Since my third book, The Book of Us, is about scrapbooking about your relationships, I thought I’d share some thoughts on that topic. That, and it’s my anniversary today, so marriage is on my mind.

Eighteen years ago today, at the tail end of a rather impressive ice storm, I married my husband , for richer or poorer, for better or for worse. We haven’t seen too much of the “richer”, but have definitely enjoyed far more “better” than “worse”. We both took the day off to celebrate, and just spend the day together.  We decided to  just put together our own marathon of movies that we’ve seen throughout the course of our courtship & marriage.  We figured we would be able to find pretty much anything we’d want, either in our own DVD collection, or via Netflix on demand. We don’t currently have a TV in our bedroom, so my husband suggested we temporarily move the TV and Blu-Ray into our room, so we could lay in bed all day and watch movies.

I spent an afternoon on IMDB (Internet Movie Database), looking up movies from the late 80s & early 90s, when we were dating and during our early married years.  I came up with a list of about 17 movies – fortunately, I have the ability to bend time and space, so I knew we would have no problem fitting all of those movies into a one-day movie marathon. (Do you ever have that problem? Wanting/expecting to get WAY more done in a specific time window than is humanly possible? I do – all the time.)

Here’s the list I came up with:

1. Beauty and the Beast
2. Princess Bride
3. Father of the Bride
4. French Kiss
5. 100 Girls
6. Pretty Woman
7. Flatliners
8. Matrix(s)
9. Mystery Men
10. Honeymoon in Vegas
11. Henry V
12. X-Files
13. Farscape pilot
14. Moonlighting
15. Usual Suspects
16. 6th Sense
17. Titanic
18. Incredibles
19. X-men
20. Jerry Maguire
21. As Good as it Gets
22. American Pie
23. Serenity

We wound up watching only two movies (Beauty & the Beast, and Pretty Woman), so it wasn’t really much of a “marathon”, but it was still fabulous quality time. The movies brought back a lot of memories of when our relationship was young. As a bonus, I pulled out a DVD of home movies shot during our first year of marriage – we were so YOUNG (I was 22, he was 23). Our kids were still home on winter break, so we called them in to watch the footage, and we all had a great time laughing about our youth.

My point in sharing our anniversary celebration with you is to encourage you to do something similar – even if it isn’t your anniversary, give some thought to activities you have done during the course of your relationship, and how you could host your own sort of “marathon”. It could be movies, or music, places you’ve lived, or a fashion review. It doesn’t really matter – what matters is the time you spend honoring your years together, all that you’ve come through, and activities that have contributed to a common bond between you. As in my case, you could brainstorm a list of suggestions, then decide together what “makes the cut”.

Then once you host your version of that “marathon”, scrap a layout about it. Journal about how you decided what to include, why those things are meaningful to your relationship, and what you did on “Marathon Day”. By scrapping the page, it’s like you get the enjoy the memories all over again.

I’d love to hear if anyone gives this exercise a try – please feel free to leave a comment below.

Picking back up with our list of alphabetical prompts for Book of Me scrapbook pages, here are some ideas inspired by the letter ‘C’ – 70 more reasons to Go Scrap Yourself!

1. What were your favorite classes in school?  What class(es) would you like to take now?
2. What is your favorite color? Has that changed over time?
3. What was your first car?  What car do you have now, and why did you choose it?
4. What is your dream career?  How close have you come to it?
5. Define character.  Who embodies specific strong character traits for you?
6. List 10 Good and 10 Bad choices you have made.
7. Do you believe in 2nd chances?  When have you granted one?  When have you received one?
8. Describe any childhood summer camp memories.  How do you feel about camping now?
9. If you went to college, do you still follow any of the campus events?  Do you return for Homecoming?
10. If you didn’t go to college, what did you do during that time instead?
11. Do you believe in coincidences?  Or are similar events a matter of Fate/Destiny? Do you have any personal examples?
12. What is your biggest challenge?  What is a challenge you have overcome?
13. What makes you cry?  Sappy movies? Pride in children’s accomplishments? Hurtful remarks?
14. List some of your cravings.  Do you often give in to cravings?  Describe a time when you denied a craving.
15. Describe how your creativity presents itself in your life. What examples of your creativity do you find around your home?
16. How do you react to change?
17. Describe someone in your life who embodies courage.  How/when have you been courageous?
18. Describe your first crush, and how you felt when you were near that person.
19. List various crushes you have had over the years, in a timeline format.
20. If you celebrate Christmas, what are your favorite parts/elements of the holiday?
21. If you celebrate Christmas, journal about your favorite Christmas ornament(s), including their history.
22. What do you remember most about your childhood?
23. How do you celebrate small successes in your life?
24. How do you feel about chores/cleaning?  Share any unique tips you have gathered throughout the years, including the source.
25. What about you is contagious?  What have you “caught” from other people?
26. Were/Are you a fan of any cartoons/comic books/strips?  Which ones?  What did you like best about them?
27. Compare & contrast your life 10 years ago, and now.
28. Where do you enjoy a feeling of community?  How does that group help others feel included?
29. What is your favorite candy?  How often do you indulge?
30. Are you a “cat person”?  If so, describe what makes you so.  If not, describe someone you know who is, and how you are different.
31. Compare & contrast “cat people” and “dog people”.
32. What do you think of the word “can’t“?  What did your parents think of the word?
33. In what area(s) do you have a “can-do” attitude?
34. Have you ever had to go to (judicial) court? Why? What was the result?
35. Have you ever been courted (as in wooed)? How would someone ideally/properly woo you?
36. What role does clutter play in your life?
37. What is your comfort level with chaos?  How do you avoid it?
38. List your creature comforts.
39. Describe any work you do with charities. Do you have a “pet” charity?
40. Do you have any collections?  Did your parent(s) or grandparent(s) have a memorable collection?
41. Describe someone you think has charisma.
42. List any national/global catastrophes that have occurred during your lifetime.  What do you remember most about them?
43. When are you bad company?
44. Do you like entertaining company in your home?
45. Describe how a medical condition (yours or someone else’s) has affected your life.
46. What makes a good companion?  Who has been good companion(s) to you?
47. Have you ever been a part of a cast of a play or musical?  What role did you play?
48. How do you react when someone gives you a compliment?  Do you often give compliments?
49. What disease would you most like to see cured in your lifetime?
50. Think of your life in terms of cycles.  What cycles, or phases, have you gone through?
51. What are some signs that someone cares for you?
52. Describe a day that turned out to be a comedy of errors for you.
53. Name your favorite comedy movies, or comedians.
54. Chocolate – yes/no? In what forms?
55. Describe your feelings about your country.
56. Would you describe yourself as a city or country person?  Why?
57. Are you a person that values control?  How does that play out in your life? How well does it work for you?
58. How and when has someone shown you compassion?
59. Describe a time when “circumstances beyond my control” applied for you.
60. What type of climate do you prefer?

Free Association Word Bank – “C” words

• Calm
• Candle
• Carpe Diem
• Ceremony
• Champagne
• Church
• Choir
• Children
• Clean
• Cookie

Find the full alphabetical archive of Book of Me journaling prompts here: Book of Me, From A to Z! Scrapbook Journaling Ideas by the Letter

This list was originally published the now-defunct ezine Illuminating Visions, produced by ScrapAngels.com.  It was compiled with the help of forum members at ScrapAngels.com.  Thanks to all those who contributed.

If you want to know more about your mother’s or grandmother’s (or aunt’s, or friend’s…) life, there’s an easy way to ask.  Give her  her own copy of The Book of Me!

The Book of Me - Learn how to scrap All About Me pages!

This 80-page book is the “textbook” for documenting one’s life and creating scrapbook pages with meaningful journaling.  The journaling prompts, photo ideas, and layout examples walk you through how to “milk” your life for juicy details, and getting them documented.

Give Mom or Grandma this tool, and you will be encouraging her to tell her own stories, reaffirming that you *want* to hear her stories, in her own words.  Give her this gift, and she’ll give you one right back – the gift of herself.

Learn more about The Book of Me and order signed copies direct from the author here: The Book of Me: A Guide to scrapbooking about yourself.

P.S. Mom and Grandma might also like Growing Up Me and The Book of Us, too! You can get a special discount when you order all three books!

I’ve stumbled across several new-to-me Book of Me scrapbooking challenges on various message boards, so I thought I would share the links here:

• Scrap N’ Art has a short Book of Me series going on their blog – check out post 5 of 6 on “Wise Investments“.  Scrap N’ Art is a bi-weekly traditional and digital scrapbooking, card making and paper crafting magazine, available by PDF.
• ScrapMatters has an ongoing challenge called “My Story Matters” (found via My Memories Suite’s blog).  There are about 18 challenges posted so far.
• The Cricut message board has a couple of Book of Me challenge threads – a current challenge, and an archived one.  This blog post by Miss Dee shares some layouts inspired by the current Cricut board challenge.
• The Modern Molly Mormon blog has a hopefully recurring category for Book of Me posts/challenges – here is Book of You, Part 1 and Book of You, Part 2.  The My Inkstand blog posted some journaling inspired by the first MMM post.
• Scrapbook Elements has an ongoing challenge thread, with several months’ challenges archived and lovely inspiration in the layout gallery.

Feel free to share a link to any ongoing challenges you know about.

And don’t forget to check out the book that started it all – The Book of Me: A Guide to Scrapbooking about Yourself.

Celebrate Me!

© Angie Pedersen

The core of a Book of Me scrapbook is the journaling.  It’s hard to tell your stories without words.  But that doesn’t mean that telling your stories has to be hard.  Journaling can be easy – just use lists.  You can quickly and easily create short albums about yourself based on themes – your dreams, your goals, your favorite things, childhood anecdotes.  Just jot down some quick lists and you’ve begun to tell your story – the story only you can tell.

Here are some quick ideas for list topics you can add to your Book of Me scrapbook:

Three Things – Make a “Me” album

• Three screen names you have had
• Three things you like about yourself
• Three things you don’t like about yourself
• Three parts of your heritage
• Three things that scare you
• Three of your everyday essentials
• Three things you are wearing right now
• Three of your favorite songs
• Three things I want in a relationship
• Three things you can’t do without
• Three places you want to go on vacation
• Three things you just can’t do
• Three Celebrity crushes

Ten Things – Make a “Me, X10″ album

• Ten Things I Love about (a person, i.e. my husband)
• Ten Things I Love about (a place, i.e. my hometown)
• Ten Things to do in My Lifetime
• Ten Things I Love about being a (role, i.e. a Mom, or a Christian)
• Ten Movies I Love
• Ten People Who Have Influenced Me
• Ten Places I’d Like to Travel
• Ten Things You Probably Didn’t Know about Me
• Ten Favorite Books
• Ten Things that Tick Me Off
• Ten Blessings
• Ten Favorite Music Artists/Groups
• Ten Things that Have Helped Me Grow
• Ten Favorite Family Recipes
• Ten Things in My Purse

Once you wrap your brain around scrapbooking about yourself, you can find Book of Me scrapbooking ideas just about anywhere.  I discovered one yesterday morning in church.

The minister is working his way through a sermon series on “Indispensable Relationships”, based on Dr. Leonard Sweet’s book of the same name.  And while the book (and obviously the sermon itself) is Bible-based, I think the concept could be applied to anyone’s situation, regardless of one’s chosen spiritual following.

Dr. Sweet’s book (and thus, the sermon series), uses eleven figures from the Bible to highlight key personal attributes that make up “God’s Dream Team” for one’s life.  According to Amazon, the book encourages you to not only seek out such people, but to find your place in the lives of those around you.  Interesting concept.

The sermon focused on the biblical character of Deborah, a prophetess & judge from the book of Judges (specifically Judges 4:1-10).  I’ll admit to not really knowing the story too well, and being a little hazy on the actual political details of the battle(s).  Thank goodness for Wikipedia:

The victory to which the Bible refers is the victory of the Israelites over the Egyptian supporting forces of Sisera the general of Jabin the king of Hazor. Barak agreed to this only after Deborah agreed to accompany him into battle. Judges 4:9 recounts Deborah’s assent to Barak’s request: “And she said, I will surely go with thee: notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honour; for the LORD shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kadesh.”

The key idea – and relationship attribute – to take away from this character is one of a “Back Coverer”, as in who’s “got your back”?  The minister offered several examples of when you might see examples of this attribute in people in your life.

• When someone says, “I will pray for you.”
• When someone encourages others to listen to you or to take action
• When someone guards your blind side, and takes up after your shortcomings (we all have them!)
• When a running back runs interference for the quarterback
• When someone stands up for the need of another, such as through charitable works
• someone who acts with the ethic of caring and sheltering another

As I listened to these examples of how to uncover the “Deborah” in those around us, I thought about what an interesting Book of Me layout that would make.  So I encourage you to dig deep into your memories, and uncover your own Deborah.

• Who stands by your side and has ‘got your back’?
• Who takes up your cause and champions it as their own?
• Who helps you find your own courage to stand up for your beliefs?
• And when have you been a Deborah?

I also encourage you to be aware of noteworthy personality attributes of other book characters you ‘meet’ – whether biblical or in your favorite novel.  When have you recognized those characteristics in those around you?  This concept would make an interesting theme album – character attributes brought to life, in your life.  I’d love to hear what you come up with.

Continuing with our list of alphabetical prompts sure to get your journaling juices flowing, we’ll move on to words that start with the letter “B”.  Here are 31 more reasons not to put off writing about YOUR life!

1. Do you have any brothers?  Do you wish you did/didn’t?
2. What are your religious beliefs? How have they changed throughout your life?
3. Name some specific places where you find beauty.
4. How do you deal with bereavement?
5. Have you ever been to a live ballet performance? What did you think of it?
6. Document some memorable baptism ceremonies you have attended or participated in.
7. What is your favorite way to spend your birthday?  Do a page about your most favorite birthday memory.
8. Describe some things to which you have given birth (people, creations, ideas, etc).  What was the birthing process like?
9. Document a moment of bravery you have witnessed or experienced.
10. Do you have any memories related to bowling or baseball?
11. What do you like about babies?
12. Share your thoughts about boys.
13. Do you have any particularly poignant (or embarrassing) boyfriend moments?
14. What do you remember about baking from your childhood?  Any favorite recipes for baked goods?
15. What makes you breathless (or takes your breath away)?
16. List your blessings.
17. Name your favorite bands.
18. What are your favorite books? (of all time, or your current reading list)
19. How would you like to decorate your bedroom?
20. List your favorite brands (of clothing, or food, or that your grandmother always had on hand)
21. What bothers or bugs you?
22. What board games did you play growing up?  Do you play any now?
23. Describe a memory of a blind date (or just a bad date).
24. What do you do when you’re bored?
25. Have you ever broken any bones? (yours, or someone else’s?)
26. What do you do to keep balance in your life? (Or where do you most need to find some?)
27. Do you have any memories of boats?
28. Who taught you to ride a bicycle?  Describe your childhood bike.
29. Describe your favorite memory of the beach.
30. To what do you have bragging rights?
31. Write about your favorite babysitter (or the kids for whom you most loved to babysit)

Check back soon for more Book of Me scrapbooking inspiration from the Letter C!

Find the full alphabetical archive of Book of Me journaling prompts here: Book of Me, From A to Z! Scrapbook Journaling Ideas by the Letter

This list was originally published the now-defunct ezine Illuminating Visions, produced by ScrapAngels.com.  It was compiled with the help of forum members at ScrapAngels.com.  Thanks to all those who contributed.