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ISO Journaling-Heavy Layout Ideas

angiekey

angiekey

Permanent residence in the gutter
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Dec 27, 2014
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I feel like I'm beating my head against a wall. :banghead

During MOC, I noticed many comments about hating journaling and struggling with those challenges requiring more than a sentence or two. I generally have the opposite problem - too much to say on a layout - and despite my best efforts at editing for brevity, I've finally decided to just embrace the fact that I'm as much a writer as I am a photographer.

As a scrapbooker, I'm struggling to combine those two things to create well-designed layouts.

Most templates are so full of photos and embellishments, when I add in the journaling it looks like an afterthought. I do have Scrapping With Liz's Artsy Journal templates on my wish list, but even some of those don't have enough space for what I want to say.

Is the solution for me to suck it up and go back to 2-page layouts?

Any suggestions, ideas, and links to other journaling-heavy scrapbookers will receive my undying love and appreciation and virtual chocolate kisses.
 
I know Sara Gleason has several templates made for more journaling.
sgleason_birchwood_preview-01.jpg

I would look up photoless in the store (you can always add photos in some of the shapes). She also has a Grow with Love Series with prompts so the layouts have room for lots of journaling. I think Papyrus might be the same (I haven't played with those yet). Her blog may have some ideas as well. She is very much into storytelling. That's a start at least.
 
I am HUGE into telling a story however I can on my pages. I usually add it to the side or bottom of my page away from my cluster. Some of my pages have lots and lots and some just a wee bit, but I whole heartedly believe in story telling in some way! <3 <3 Sara is one of my biggest inspirations in this area!
 
like this page was a basic block template from Simple Scrapper. It only had journaling on a text around my squares but I wanted more so pushed my cluster to the side and kinda framed my story:


This one is my own design, but the circle journal spot was not enough so I added another on a circle shape to the background because I had more to say :)


Really...anywhere you have white space on a page you can add some journaling and make it look cohesive with either framing it or making it a shape or direction that works with the flow of your page more. The possibilities are endless! And, when working with a template, feel free to leave some of the spots off! Or use one of the photo spots for journaling and a journal card. I do that sooooooo much!
 
@lorryfach and @carilyne - thank you for the recommendation to check out Sara Gleason's templates. I've filled my wishlist with her beautiful designs, subscribed to her newsletter, and bookmarked her blog.

@crystalbella77 - I am now stalking your gallery. Your work is gorgeous! This is my favorite layout today - the way you added all that journaling within the pattern of the background? BRILLIANT.



@mollyc - that's an excellent idea. I've stopped reading print magazines in favor of online media, but I'm thinking this makes for a good excuse to head to Barnes & Noble for a cup of coffee and some time in their periodicals section.

Thank you, ladies, for your suggestions - virtual chocolate for everyone!
 
angiekey said:
that's an excellent idea. I've stopped reading print magazines in favor of online media, but I'm thinking this makes for a good excuse to head to Barnes & Noble for a cup of coffee and some time in their periodicals section.
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This is my Favorite thing to do on a quiet afternoon!
 
fdd_KeyToMyHeart2_DD_pvw.jpg

something like this would work for you where you could use the paint part for your journaling!
 
Also take a look at Valorie Wibben's Templates - https://the-lilypad.com/store/Valorie-Wibbens/?catid=4 -

she leaves a lot of room for you to write your journaling. I so wish I had the ability to write the story down! My sister is the one that was gifted with the ability to write. She has even written a book! Now to get her to get it published!! She just keeps trying to re-write it....... sigh.
 
When I start a layout with a story that I really want to tell I will often start with the journaling. I just type it all out to get a feel for how much space it will need on the page and then go from there. I also find that for word heavy pages a simple blocked or grid design works nicely.

Here are a couple examples of mine:






Also - You should check out Lori's (lcpereyra) gallery HERE She has gorgeous pages with LOTS of journaling.
 
Your layouts are always so inspirational!
Thanks Ashley for the finger pointing to a great gallery! I LOVED this one!
 
I love to journal too, so I'm constantly looking for ways to add more space for all that I have to say. I use a lot of templates too, so I sometimes will turn off a picture spot, or clip a plain paper to it instead and then journal there.
 
Yes, we have tons of amazing templates that are either centered in journaling or you can look into "white space" or "clean layouts" and fill them out with journaling.
 
angiekey said:
I feel like I'm beating my head against a wall. :banghead

During MOC, I noticed many comments about hating journaling and struggling with those challenges requiring more than a sentence or two. I generally have the opposite problem - too much to say on a layout - and despite my best efforts at editing for brevity, I've finally decided to just embrace the fact that I'm as much a writer as I am a photographer.

As a scrapbooker, I'm struggling to combine those two things to create well-designed layouts.

Most templates are so full of photos and embellishments, when I add in the journaling it looks like an afterthought. I do have Scrapping With Liz's Artsy Journal templates on my wish list, but even some of those don't have enough space for what I want to say.

Is the solution for me to suck it up and go back to 2-page layouts?

Any suggestions, ideas, and links to other journaling-heavy scrapbookers will receive my undying love and appreciation and virtual chocolate kisses.
Click to expand...

Two page layouts are certainly an option and have one page more photocentric with the adjoining page filled with more of the journaling. Nothing wrong with this! Another idea is to change how you see templates a bit - where there are multiple photo spots, use some of those for the journaling instead. Or use some of the element placeholders as spots for your words. You'll keep the design feel of the page but modify it to suit your needs. Also think about using the negative space on photos and cleaner page designs for your journaling if you want to stick with a single page layout. Molly's idea for looking at magazines is spot on and I've gotten lots of inspiration from those in the past (need to do that again!) Really, there are lots of options for incorporating more journaling in your pages! I think there are some great suggestions here and you may want to check out Cathy Zielske's blog as she is great at doing this, often with page blocking style designs (mostly traditional pages, but some hybrid and great for inspiration).
 
Could you do a double with one side all your photos and pretty elements, and then just have a full on 12x12 space across for oodles of journaling? I don't know if you could do ALL your pages that way, but it might have a nice look in a completed album.

Here is one where I just used my pen tool to click all around the outside of the cluster to make a text box that fit in and took advantage of all that space.
 
angiekey said:
@crystalbella77 - I am now stalking your gallery. Your work is gorgeous! This is my favorite layout today - the way you added all that journaling within the pattern of the background? BRILLIANT.
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You are seriously the sweetest! Thank you so much!! I am glad I can be a wee bit inspiring! I always want to encourage people to tell stories and it's fun to try new ways to even just put it on the page so it doesn't feel boring or like the same old thing I always do :D
 
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