Creativity Starters: Journaling

I want to share with you how to get creative with your journaling. Sometimes it is hard to know what to say and just how to say it. Other times it is what we say that starts an entire layout, so knowing how to say it or how to think of it are the keys. Here are 20 more ways to get creative! Enjoy!

1. What made you laugh this week? Scrapbook the story and why it made you chuckle.
2. When you come across a quote that you love, use it to begin the journaling on a page.
3. Journal using one of the 5 senses.
4. Choose 3 adjectives that describe the event and then explain why you chose them.
5. Create a mini-album using the words to your favorite children's story but replace the illustrations with your own photos.
6. Start with a favorite movie quote that your family recites often.
7. Include an applicable scripture on your layout.
8. Pick a random date from 2005-2008. Got it? Use your diary entry from that date to create a layout. If you don't keep a journal, find your photos taken closest to that date and scrapbook them.
9. Create a page about how the weather makes you feel.
10. Take photos of your favorite object. Journal about why the piece is your favorite, what it means to you and any stories about it.
11. Ask a family member to share a favorite memory from a day, week, month or year of their life. Summarize the story in your words or write down what the family member said verbatim. You'll record a great piece of family history!
12. Think of a favorite advertising campaign (example: MasterCard's "Priceless" campaign) and use it as a starting point for your journaling.
13. Carry a small notebook with you and record the daily happenings around you. At the end of the week create a layout using those details to create a summary of the week's happenings.
14. Not sure what to scrapbook next? Write down your available themes and occasions and put them in a jar, and pull out a winner!
15. Create a Mad Lib approach on a page about your kids. Write down the story leaving blanks along the way. Have your kids fill in the blanks in their own words.
16. Record your favorite recipe and the story behind it.
17. Jot down how far in advance you know about the event being scrapbooked, the preparations you made for it, the timeline of the event and who attended.
18. Share how the topic you are scrapbooking reminds you of another experience. you could include how the previous event helped inspire or prepare you for this one. Or describe the fun times you had at both activities-you'll get 2 events scrapbooked on one layout!
19. Ready to start journaling? Simply write non-stop for 2 minutes without worrying if your text makes sense. At the end of two minutes read your thoughts. Pull out a couple of sentences that best capture your memory of the event.
20. If you were to have guessed 5 years ago what the event your scrapbooking would have been like, what would you have expected? How does that compare to your expectations of the event the day before it happened? Write your thoughts about the event and use them to show how your perception has changed over time.

Creativity Starters: Inspiration

1. Pick three colors you love and create a page with them. Don't try to match the photos to the colors-chances are, the photos will look good with the color scheme.
2. Browse an artbook and find a piece to inspire your design.
3. Rip a page from a non-scrapbooking magazine and create a layout using its color scheme, design or theme.
4. Visit your local craft store and purchase a product you have never used before. Play!
5. Use a fortune from a fortune cookie as a journaling prompt to record a to-be-scrapbooked event from a new perspective.
6. Think of your scrapbook stash. Which product did you think of first? Create a page using it.
7. Let the message on a Dove Promise chocolate wrapper inspire part of your page. For example: if you find a wrapper (like the author did) that says,"Life may change us but we start and end with family." then create a layout where the first and last photos on the layout are pictures of your family.
8. What colors are you wearing today? Use the colors as color-scheme inspiration on a page.
9. Pack your camera in your purse and then pay attention to the signs you see through out the day. Photograph a favorite and let it serve as inspiration for a design.
10. Create a page using inspiration from the design on a fast food cup or bag.
11. Ask your child what shape would support the theme of your layout, then create the shape using your paper, tags or embellishments.
12. Create a page using inspiration from a favorite website.
13. Scraplift a layout from a recent issue of Creating Keepsakes Magazine.
14. Use a Becky Higgins sketch (refer to CK Magazine) as a starter for a layout, but add an element you normally wouldn't include.
15. Check out the page calls at CreatingKeepsakes.com. Choose one that appeals to you and create a page. Scan or take a digital photo of the page and then submit it for the call.
16. Make a layout where the title is inspired by a corporate logo (either in theme or design or both).
17. Use the color most prevalent in your closet to create a monochromatic layout.
18. Let the song you have listened to the most this week inspire a page topic.
19. Hang your favorite soon-to-be scrapped photos (one photo representing each event) on a wall display so you can brainstorm ways to scrapbook them.
20. Look through your album. Find a layout you have already finished, then rotate the design sideways or upside down and "scraplift" the layout using this new design approach.

There they are: 20 ways to get inspiration to begin the task of preserving your memories. Good Luck! I would love to hear from you about how this helped you. Happy Scrappin!

100 Creativity Starters

I recently came across an article in one of my scrapbooking magazines that I actually tore out and have plans to frame for my office/workspace. It is an article of 100 Creativity Starters. How many times have you had a few minutes to spare and wanted to get out your scrapbooks or dust off the photo printer only to sit there and look at the book or printer as if it were an alien from another planet?
If you are like me you are busy, busy trying to make sure your kids have what they need and that the animals have what they need and that your husband is not wearing his high-waters to work today and that you have enough gas to get from home to school, school to work, work to home and home to the ball field!! Time?? What is time?
I have decided to share this article with you. but I didn't want to overwhelm you with all 100 at once. So, I thought I would keep it simple and do five installments of 20 starters. I plan to package them, if you will, into categories that we use most often when trying to be creative and not knowing where to start.
So enjoy them, copy them, write them down or post it note them to your mirror in the bathroom. Do whatever you need to do to practice them. I promise you it will make you a better Mother, Wife and Friend. As the age old saying goes, "If Momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!" Or something to that effect!!

Buddies!

What is a Buddy? To me it is someone who is fun to be around and enjoys the same things as you do. It is someone you can have fun with doing the greatest adventure or even just the simplest nothing.
Recently my family and my best friends family buddied up and went to Chattanooga, TN. to let our sons experience "A Day Out With Thomas". A whole day dedicated to the little blue train who learns many BIG life lessons.
Misty's son, Andrew has been into Thomas for quite some time. He is 5 and about to start Kindergarten in the fall. Some would say he is about to move on to older things now, and while I see that side of him, some days he is still "little baby Andrew" with a choo-choo in his hand.
My son, Jake, who is a little over 3 is into Thomas but only has maybe 5 trains and is content to just play with those 5 trains and not add any more of them to his collection.
Together they are buddies, bound by the common place of the railway. They both can't wait to ride the Polar Express and drink chocolate milk when it comes to Chattanooga this winter. I love to see them play together. I love to hear them talk and laugh about the same things. I love to see those two little boys in their Thomas Shirts giggle and run without a care in the world. If only my life could be as carefree as their world is right now.
Have you ever thought about your Buddy? Take a few minutes and think about this person or people in your life. Think about the good times and the bad times. Get out old pictures and scrapbook them. I know you will be glad that you did. I am thankful for so many things. One of them is that through my buddy Misty, my son has found his buddy Andrew! The circle can continue and I know our train, with all of its cars, has a long track ahead of it.

Remembering

This is Memorial Day Weekend. I thought I would share with you one of CTMH's paper packs that works well for any American Holiday and that is this one...Blue Ribbon. I love the way this July 4th layout turned out. I believe it is important that we scrapbook those times or people in our lives that served our country.

Today my family and I were riding around town doing some shopping. We drove down Medical Center Parkway and noticed thousands, it seemed, American Flags lining one of the fields along the street. Those flags have never been there before. There was a spotlight so that they could be seen at night to guide the way and remind us of all the men and women who have given their lives for our country. If you have not seen this sight yet you should take a few minutes and experience it.

My husband and I were able to teach our children something today. Our kids were able to list family members who have served this country and they were so proud to be able to do so. They liked that those flags honored or memorialized them. Alexis is ten years old now and one could tell that it touched her heart in a special way. Jake is three now and he understood what the flags meant. I could tell he did when he said, "Thats what my Grandpa did" referring to Ron's father. I just thought it was sweet and it was a memory that I will never forget.

So please teach your children about our military. Let them know that you used to not have a choice as to whether you went in or not. Remind them that some families lost every father, son, grandson, brother or uncle that they had. Teach them what the flag stands for and how it should be respected.

I wish you all a happy and safe Memorial Day Weekend!

My "Good Times" Friend!

Meet my "Good Times" friend. Her name is Glenna but most people don't get that right anyway so she answers to most anything. Glenna is special to me and I will tell you why. She is always enthusiastic about CTMH. No one else is like her and if I could convince her to become a CTMH consultant she would really excel at it! Maybe one day I can get her on my team.

I like Glenna because she is real; when she is in a bad mood everyone knows and thats ok, we accept her as she is. I love it when she bangs her fist on her desk. If you have not seen that you should, it is great!

I like Glenna because she loves her family and they always come first. From Tim, her husband, to Taylor, Faith and Elijah; one knows that Glenna loves her family of 5. Even when her husband brought home a baby rabitt that turned out to be a cute, furry, little ball of (insert curse word here)!

I like Glenna because she is funny and when you get her laughing, even at herself, she gets to a point where she snorts and OMG it is the funniest thing you have ever heard! Thats how we got the phrase "Good Times" or is that when she cries and snorts??

I like Glenna because she loves my stories about my family. Not too many people can listen to a story about a "Punkin Pats" and roll in the floor laughing at it with you. From the stories about spankings to the ones that are sad and back to the funny and happy ones, she is always by my side laughing, crying, or snorting with me!

I posted this tonight because I want everyone to know how important our friends are in our lives. They lift us up, they cry with us, they laugh with us, they experience life with us. I have many, many friends and I am going to introduce you to one every now and then. Be sure and take pictures of you and your friends. Be sure and scrap those moments and write down the little details. One day you will be so very glad that you did.

Animal Cookies Workshop!

Hey! This is a little sneak peak at my May Workshop called Animal Cookies! This is CTMH's newest paper and I love it!

If you would like to come to the workshop I still have room. You do not have to be an expert scrapbooker either. I will take you through it step by step. You will be amazed at what you can do.

There is still enough paper left over to make cards if you would like to. I am offering two dates for the workshop due to the Memorial Day Holiday. The dates are Friday, May 29th at 7pm and then Friday, June 5th at 7pm. Both nights are at my house and you can email me for directions at mwogan@comcast.net or you may visit my website by clicking on the Idea Book link to the right of this post.

I am so excited! I think this is going to be great!

My Little Cookie Monsters!

The other day my husband decided to make cookies with the kids. They were going to make them from scratch! I had had a horrible stomach virus and also had hurt my back that day. But I still wanted to catch them on film. Ron instructed Jake on how to measure and pour flour. He wasn't too sure at first, but after he was told that it was ok to get messy he had a blast as you can see by his messy hands and cheesy grin!

Alexis was next with the brown sugar and chocolate chips! As we all know it doesn't take much for her to get messy anyway! She was kind of amazed at how sticky brown sugar is and in pure Alexis form decided to wipe it all over her tank top. What a nerd!

The cookies turned out great and I think they were pretty much gone in just a couple of days. I will always remember the classic grins and giggles of my two little cookie monsters in the kitchen that day!

When will the Sun Come Out?

This has been the rainiest month and we are only 9 days into it! I have had a lot of time to craft though and thats a great thing.

I wanted to share a project that I made called a True Fit Folio. It is made from a CTMH file folder that has been folded accordian style and then glued at certain intervals to create the pockets. You then create several tags that have room for journaling and pictures. Top those tags with ribbon pulls and they easily slide in and out of the Folio.

This makes the perfect gift for any of your special occassions. I have used the CTMH paper pack called That's Amore. I love the soft colors and the pattern of the flourishes. If you would like to make one of these Folio's please contact me and I can get you the supplies and instructions. If you would like I can meet with you and help you design your own.

Well, what do you know? The sun just started to shine! Maybe this will be a beutiful day after all.

TGIF

This is a card that I made for my secret pal who lives in Wisconsin. I am part of a card making unit and each month we make 2 handmade cards and send them to our pal. At the end of the 6 months you reveal yourself! Of course you can make extra things too. I try and do this for her whenever I can.

This is a birthday card. I always use CTMH products of course. The shimmery green is a pearl paint that we sell. It is actually irridescent and can be mixed with any of our re-inkers to create just the perfect shade. I chose Juniper for this card and used one of our newer paper packs called Unforgetable. I am really pleased with the way it turned out.

First Post!

I am new to blogging. I just recently learned a little about it. I have always kept a diary, but this is the new way to have a diary. The only difference is, everyone CAN read this one! I am posting some pictures of my 30th birthday. Me and my girlfriends had such a blast! We went to The Big Bang in Nashville. It was awesome. I would love to go back there every month!