Lesson 5: Journaling

by | May 30, 2022 | Memory Planning Step By Step Class | 0 comments

Welcome Back!

For this lesson, we are talking about all things journaling. Journaling is an important, but sometimes challenging part of the memory planning process. But it doesn’t have to be! Remember, you have permission to write as much or as little as you want in your memory planning. If you find your photos and decor tell the story for you, then great! Or maybe you love journaling and want to dedicate a memory planner to focus on words instead of photos. There is no right or wrong way to journal inside your memory planner. We have three examples today, and we hope you take away something useful for your own journaling practice within your memory planner.

 

Rachel Newman: Memory Planning in a Bullet-Journal

If you really enjoy journaling, why not make it the focus of your memory planner?

While I love having a memory planner with photos, I also love having a memory planner that is heavier on journaling and doesn’t rely on photos for storytelling and documenting. I stay consistent with my memory journal so that I am free to work on my memory planner at a later time. And while I do add some journaling to my memory planner, I find I’m freer with my stories and thoughts in this format.

Do you ever catch yourself feeling like your journaling has to look a certain way? The practice of journaling has an image that often goes with it: serious, contemplative with flowery prose and the perfect description. The truth is, journaling can be quite a bit simpler than that. And when I take the pressure off myself to say the “perfect” thing, I have so much more fun with the process.

Whether you are just getting started or you’ve journaled for years, I have a few tips that hopefully will cement this practice for you. First, choose how frequently you want to work on journaling, and commit to it. I know that daily journaling in my memory bullet journal is not realistic, so I establish 2-3 times each week to capture and create.

Second, collect supplies that can support your journaling. I break up my journaling with stamps and stickers that help tell my stories.

And lastly, play around with the format of your journaling by using lists, alphas, word confetti stickers, and icons. You can even vary the alignment of your journaling and embellishments as I did in this spread. I hope that journaling in your memory planner is a practice that brings you joy while you document your days.

 

Jennie McGarvey: Journaling in the Daisy Planner

Journaling! Rarely do I hear of a topic causing such discourse between memory keepers as journaling.  Some write novels and some do nothing at all.  I would guess most of us fall somewhere in between.  When it comes to memory planning, the size of the project makes it so that we need to be a bit more concise.  How do you add meaningful journaling in a smaller amount of space? Let’s talk about it?

When I think about journaling in my memory keeping and journaling on my projects in general, I tend to ask myself one question.  What will I see in this photo/page in 10-20 years? What about someone else looking at this? Will an explanation be needed? That is where I start most weeks.  I’m not perfect, though, and I know you are not, either.  So some weeks there will not be much to say, or you will not feel like saying it, or maybe you will not be able to find the words.  That’s okay.  But, let’s proceed as if it’s an ordinary week and you’re feeling like you can add some sentences to describe what is going on.
I like to include a lot of ordinary photos of what life looks like.  Photos that are not out of the ordinary and include glimpses into our space and the beings that live in our home. Often, the prompt of “currently” fits perfectly. I wanted to include the photo of my dog, as she looked cute and was sitting on our couch, where she is not allowed.  Currently helped me break down the most mundane moment – and something 20 years from now I know I will be thrilled to see. Look at your life through the lens of currently.  This works in every single situation.
Alphabet stickers! These are such under-mentioned elements.  They can title something [in this case, DOUBLE – which is what my son hit immediately following the snapshot I took of this photo] and in many cases, they stand alone.  I didn’t need to say anything else as baseball games are normal around here.  The word double lets me know what was special about this photo.  I also could have used the alphabet stickers to spell out Lucy in the photo of my dog. That would have been enough information since this photo wasn’t really anything out of the normal.
On the 23rd, my husband sent me this selfie of himself and a friend of ours. It was such a joy to see and I knew immediately I would put it in my memory planner.  Journaling was 100% necessary for two reasons.  First, I know that it’s possible someone someday will not know who is with my husband in this photo. So, the WHO is important.  But, the what is important, too. Ask yourself – will it be obvious who is in this photo and why I included it in 20 years?
This is my favorite!  For real, lists are my favorite way to journal.  It’s always so interesting to see what needed doing, to be bought, etc. Lists can be compiling a group of things, as well.  For example, what I included in my snack tray for dinner, and then a checklist/bullet points to include all of the items.
Often, grocery lists, lists of errands, etc. are such a great glimpse into the most minute details of our lives and they are so simple to include.
Don’t forget – there’s no shame in simply explaining what a photo is, too.  Often, the explanation will be obvious as to why you included that photo.  For example, I included a photo of an ice cream cone.  However, it was not an ordinary ice cream cone and including the details gave information about this delicious treat. Since I’m an ice cream fan this explanation will probably always be interesting to me!
Don’t forget to use your stamps [and word stickers, too!] as prompts! Let those help you tell the stories.  Often, stamp sets include phrases that jumpstart what you could say about what was going on or the story you are trying to tell. The try something new stamp was perfect for this photo!  I bet it would be perfect for a lot of what you have in your life, too!
If you’re not a journaler, use this as an encouragement to jump-start your written word in your projects, even if you start small to get more comfortable. If you already are able to journal easily, maybe try lists or alphabet stickers as a different way to show what is going on that week.

Christine Everett: Journaling to Catch-Up

 

When Rachel and Jennie invited me to contribute to the Journaling portion of this class I told them I was the last person they wanted, I’m so far behind and lost on how to get caught up, what could I possibly have to offer? But, then I thought if I’m struggling with being behind and not sure where to begin then I bet a lot of you are too, so I said let’s do it! I fashioned the class in such a way that you get to be a part of my self-discovery process, I share my ideas, my handwriting hang-ups, and my goals with you. This is not a do A, B, or C type of class, it’s a bit more organic, I wanted to bring you into my thoughts and then let you see how I work through each idea.

 

In the first half of the video, I talk about the pluses and minuses of using your handwriting for your journaling, my very critical view of my own handwriting (which I know a lot of you can relate to), and how to step back and be at peace with it, if for no other reason than you can get caught up pretty quickly.

 

 

In the second half of the video, I explore adding journaling via simple text boxes, no fancy software or a bunch of different fonts, just simple and clean. I used the font “Avenir Next Condensed” which is a sans serif font that will complement any layout, added a border around the text box, and added it to each section of my layout. I share the different looks of a darker border vs. a lighter border and talk about ways to streamline the process of adding type to your pages.

We hope you are enjoying the class and acquiring new ideas for memory planning. Can you believe our last lesson is next week? Don’t forget to leave a comment and let us know what has been your favorite part of the class so far. And be sure to share your memory planning pages on the Cocoa Daisy Fan Page on Facebook, too!

Until next time!

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