Now I’ll be honest the last 18 months or so have been horrible when it comes to me taking photos thanks largely to my health. I want to scrap the memories and stories but with no photos at all I’m struggling on how to do it. Does anyone have any suggestions?
I have done it. I usually search my artwork for elements that help tell the story. For example, nurse cap, etc. for a doctor visit. The page then has a lot of journaling to tell the story.
I like to use the art dolls in Rebecca McMeen’s kits to stand in for a photo. I also search on google or FB for small photos that represent a part of the story like a photo of downtown. The important thing is to get your memories written down.
I would absolutely use generic and/or stock photos that relate to what I'm trying to express in my journaling. If I'm unable to find that, then absolutely using themed elements and papers to stand in the place of the photos is something I'd do next. After that, sometimes just using pretty things to surround hard stories is another tactic of "cushioning" what I'm writing about. Don't let the fact that you don't have photos stop you from using scrapbooking as a form of therapy. It's been so instrumental for me to use scrapbooking to help with chronic pain as well as depression/anxiety that like to hang out with chronic pain. And just so you know, you pretty much always remain in my prayers. I'm sending ((HUGS)). I think you are an incredibly strong young woman!
You can get nice free photos from the Unsplash site https://unsplash.com You can take screenshots from maps to document the places you’ve been. Also Wikipedia gives a lot of text for places you’re been. Also images. Nicole | NBK-Design
As much as I'm a total photo person, I do have pages with no photos, or rarely, online photos. Think about the story you want to tell. For me, I start with the writing. Then, I decide how to add to the story with elements or design. I find photoless pages easier to start with words because I know they are my main focus. Here's a few of my examples for you. This actually is my photo. But it could easily be a a stock photo or a post card. On this one, you can't really see it because I made the journaling almost the same color as the background. It was a therapeutic page for me. But if you look closely, you can see faint writing all around the middle sticker. Here's another one. The image on it is from online. Here's another one with no image at all. I embraced a kit with elements to tell my story. I apparently enjoy a good notebook on a photoless page!
Jennifer, I am sure you will succeed in recording the memories you want to do. Here is a page on which I used a photo of the calendar.... you could use a calendar image and add to the grids the things you did on those days ( hope that makes sense)
You can always use elements to stand in for photos.. or just journal and decorate with elements your journaling.
I'm a big template scrapper, so even if I don't have any photos, I will fill the photo spots with journal cards or paper and then just add journaling for my story. Like this recent page:
I agree don’t let the lack of photos stop you. Use pocket cards, stock photos and elements to support your story. Last weekend Liz released these text path templates that would be great for photo less layouts. https://the-lilypad.com/store/Journal-Writing-Shape-Templates.html
I create a lot of pages without photos. My favourite way is to create something that looks like a diary entry. other times I use templates and themed items to tell the story with my text.
Journaling descriptively can replace photos on a page, I wanted to write about the little things we have been doing and the things we are missing recently, with regards to my parents and us, no photos were used, I switched the photo spaces on a template for papers and larger elements (like the coupon and banner) in this page...…...
This page by @HeyJude is a great example of a photoless page Imagine doing something similar for how the things you have done, places you have been, memories you have made, people you have seen have made you feel? Gardening? Eating ice-cream at the beach? Walking in the woods? Baking cakes? Going to the movies? Playing at the park? Meeting a friend for coffee? Elements, Quotes, Journaling …. are all things that can tell those story without photos Stock photos can be used if you feel a page really needs a photo, maps, buildings, items around the house, food or drink items, selfies? I hope you find some inspiration to scrap your stories xx
I like to put a piece of paper where a photo would usually go and journal there often times framing it. And, I love the above ideas of journaling on a notebook in a layout.
I'm another one that will just do journaling on a page with maybe a few elements. 8 years ago I did a page about my mother with no photo of her. It was a poem that I had found online not long after she died in late 1996 that helped me through the grieving process. I chose to make the page with a starburst paper for my background and clouds/birds "in the sky" as if God is taking her to him (which is what the poem referenced). Looking at my materials list for the layout, evidently it was a layout I did for Iron Scrapper in 2012... I documented the kit info as Iron Scrapper Week 2! My Covid-19 pages are all journaling so far. No elements except the PP timeline on them.
As others have said, there are templates that may help you. And I do the "journal or filler card instead of a photo" solution, like others have mentioned. I've been trying to take screen shots of important info, so I have those details. I guess technically they're "photos," but they're not pictures of me. Rather, I look at them as news clippings or other historical ephemera.
I "steal" photos and images from the internet. For example, I wanted to journal about the movie I watched a couple of days ago so I googled the title. One of the results was the movie's IMDb entry, which contained several images from the movie. I download or make a screenshot and use them in my personal pages and journal. I even did this before the internet, cutting pictures out of magazines and such. It's just so, so easy nowadays!
@littlekiwi I was able to go through my gallery this afternoon and find some photo-less and/or stock image/screenshot layouts. Hope this helps inspire you and/or others who may be viewing this thread and need ideas! OK this one does have a little photo of me, but would have been just as good without it: I got this photo from the internet as I didn't have a photo of the phone that I owned (but mine looked just like this): And a couple where I used images of movie posters to document my fave holiday movies and fave Disney movie: Here are a couple of non-photo using journal cards to fill in where photos would normally go: This one in particular, I used a journal card but clipped it to a round shape to make a "photo": This was for a MOC challenge and I used word art to go along with my journaling: And because we don't attend the games and only watch on TV, this layout uses a combo of me taking a photo of my TV along with images that the team shared on Facebook: Finally, a layout using a screenshot of my YouTube channel: