The Scientific Method: Tips for Journaling on Your Photos

I know some of you might be a little squeamish about the idea of writing directly on your photos. However, in this day and age of digital prints, you really should consider trying it. It's a great way to add some visual interest to your layouts. In some cases, it helps compensate for not so great photography.

 All you need is a photo with some extra white space and a permanent marker. I like to use Bic Mark-its since they are acid free. American Crafts has a selection of slick writers markers which work well too.

 There was a lot of open space in these photos which makes them a good candidate for journaling directly onto the photo. My cats are playing a game in which they stick their paws under the door. One cat must catch the other cat's paw. The story is not very obvious, so journaling is a must.Writing on the photo compensates for the stretch of ugly grey carpet.I can include more photos in the layout design and still have a lot of story written. I used a ruler to help me stay a little more even as I wrote.

 The background is a grainy photo taken while we were driving in the car. I purposefully blew it up to a larger size, knowing there was a lot of white space in the sky. I was then able to layer page elements, photos and journaling over the photo. The larger photo becomes part of the background, adding visual interest.











Tips:
-If you are nervous about writing directly on the photos, consider using scrap pieces of cardstock to journal on. Then add your journal strips to the photo.
-Choose photos with lots of white space. While on outings, look for opportunities to take photos with interesting backgrounds. Include those backgrounds or large sections of sky in the photo knowing you can journal on the open spaces later.
- If you make a mistake, correct it by using journal strips for some words in your journaling. You can also use acrylic paint the same way you use white out.

Don't be nervous about writing on your photos. Think of it as another way to embellish your layout. If all else fails, you can always print another photo.

Related articles

• Add Your Scrapbook Page Journaling Directly to Photos
• Ideas for Writing Scrapbook Page Journaling in the Form of a Letter
• 4 Reasons to Design A Scrapbook Page with Generous White Space

Journal Your Christmas 2012: 10 on the 10th

Going through my scrapbook supplies, I realize that I have a nice assortment of paper. This year, I have cut back on acquiring a lot of newer patterned papers in the hopes of spending my limited budget on tools. Tools are a great investment and they help make older papers new again when you learn a new technique. Today, I thought I would share 10 things I would like to acquire in 2013.

1. a Coharu Label maker. It prints on washi tape and it looks cute.

2. I have been wanting to try printmaking for awhile now.

3. I have heard good things about the Pitt pens and want to try some.

4. some type of airbrush system for pens and markers would work nicely with stencils.

5. I would like to learn more ways to use gelatos and perhaps aquire more of them.

6. I would like to add more embossing folders to my collection. The ones from 10 second studio are very unique.

7. Snow cap mixative sounds intriguing to me

8. I am not sure if the Tim Holtz stamp binder would be the key. I just know I want to find a better way to organize and store my stamps.

9. I adore these little wood veneer shapes. I have some but want more!

10. Inktense pencils and perhaps some pan pastels too. I really want to explore more mixed media techniques in 2013.

While a little bit of newer paper did make it's way into my supplies, I limited my paper purchases to pnly things I loved during 2012 and managed to add some new tools and techniques instead. I hope to do the same for 2013.

Journal Your Christmas 2012: Planning

It's been a few days since I have even looked at a prompt. I am not feeling guilty or behind though. I am ok with it. I had a few health issues last week and my son was presenting his final projects for the term. So those things came first. The nice thing about Journal your Christmas is that I can skip around in the prompts or even combine a few days together. I have a layout I had wanted to share for the day 2 prompt, but instead, I though I would skip to planning.

If I were doing December Daily, I would have already felt so far behind. Not so for JYC. My plan to get caught up is to read through the prompts I have missed, make a list, and then see which ones I might be able to do together or a few in one day. I never planned to make a layout a day. I didn't want that pressure right now. So that's the game plan for today. To simply catch up on reading the prompts.

What the planning prompt was really all about is about planning a Christmas party. I am not planning one but rather, have decided to plan a 12-12-12 fun day with my son. We googled it, but it seems to always bring up doom and gloom. I guess 12-12-12 is the end of the Mayan calendar. We decided to mix our holiday activities with a few of the things we did not get to do for Halloween.



Plans for the day include:
1. lots of holiday crafts
2. playing some zombie games, including Modern warfare 3( what's the end of the world without a zombie apocolypse?!?!)
3. having a snow man pizza for lunch    
4. making jello monsters and jello worms
5. building our Rice Krispy Treat train set.

We have most of our ingredients and crafts ready to go. I just need to acquire the pizza fixings. I am sure you will see some upcoming photos. Meanwhile, I am off to go catch up on the JYC2012 prompts!

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• Journal Your Christmas 2012
• Journal Your Christmas 2012: the Beginning
• Kit it Out: Journal Your Christmas 2012 Edition