Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Getting the Memories Down

The one question that I am most often asked is "how do you come up with your page designs?" I've never been quite sure how to answer that, but I've been thinking lately and paying attention to what inspires me to create. I've come to realize that it's all about the story for me. All of my pages seem to revolve first around a memory that I want to get down, cool products I want to use and supporting photos third.

I thought I'd show you how I organize all of those ideas and stories so that when I sit down to scrap, I have a variety to choose from.

Since I'm so not a chronological scrapper, I keep a notebook which is part photo log and part journal. As soon as I upload a set of pictures, I look through them and start to jot down notes and memories.

I've been doing this since my son was born in 2005. I didn't scrap much for the first 2 years of his life, but I got the stories down. And so now 5 years later, I can sit down with pictures from his first bath and the journaling is authentic to that time.

I recently sat down with the leftovers from my July WIP Kit and made a new photo log. I start out with these composition notebooks from Staples. I love that they are lined with graph paper because not only do I journal on these, I also keep odd notes and page sketches whenever an idea strikes me.


I decorated the front and back covers and sealed them with a thin coat of Mod Podge in matte finish. I may add a second coat of Mod Podge since I know that this book will get alot of wear and tear.

Now I'm all ready for my next batch of memories!

7 comments:

Susi said...

Great idea...I have notes everywhere..why I never thought to put them all together in a notebook is beyond me. I am going to start doing this TODAY! TFS!

Trish said...

Totally adorable!! And GRAPH PAPER?? That is cute enough to warrant a trip to Staples!!

BabyBokChoy said...

Cute altered notebook!!! I love your idea Nancy!

Laura T. said...

What a super idea, and that notebook is just adorable.

borcherding said...

AWESOME! super, super cute!

sherree said...

I love this idea I have really struggled with my memory keeping. I am going to try this, thank you :)

Debbi Tehrani said...

Love your journal! I also start with the story--that's so important to me. Love your work!