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Journaling Tips & Tools

Well, we're actually getting a tremendous compliment on your handwriting, and annika says that you should have a fun creative of your hand, right? It's done began actually, via lettuce says that their handwriting is like chicken scratches from all this fast diary writing on de embarrasses them to see see how unlike their writing is from pretty handwriting. Do you have any suggestions for radio? Okay, yeah, I have a response to that for sure. And you guys probably know where I'm going with this, right? Most of us don't love her handwriting. You guys here with me raise your hand if you love your handwriting one hand. Awesome. You're being humble it's like you have nice handwriting. Okay, you have nice. Most people don't love their handwriting. And to be quite frank, most people don't have the nicest handwriting. I like my handwriting because it's mine. I don't think it's a nice ten right now, but I like it and it's fine and and that's. Good, but point I want to drive home and what's the ...

most important thing to remember when it comes to your handwriting. As I want you to step outside of what you think about your handwriting and I want you to pretend that you just came across something from a great grandfather, he is no longer here of course okay, it came across something that was his and he hand wrote it and it was messy he was messy that was his handwriting style. What do you think about that piece of paper? The terror shit I'm pretty sure you d'oh do you learn more about him from seeing his actual pen to paper and his style and and all of that you d'oh and so get over what you think of your hand writing would be my suggestion and I know that's a little bit harsh but you have to get past what you think and keep in mind that there are loved ones present and future who are going to care deeply about seeing your handwriting because it is you and it's yours so I really don't have a whole lot of valuable suggestions for improving your handwriting. I could talk all day long about creative lettering I have a book about creative lettering and lots of ideas on step by step how to do that but we're not talking about creative lettering we're talking about handwriting. Your handwriting is like your thumbprint its unique no one has it like yours and it's special and it's a very important part of who you are. I'm a huge advocate for getting your handwriting into scrapbooks now for people who feel really, really uncomfortable with their handwriting and it really is a big turnoff for them to see see their own hand ready in the scott books a get over it be if you can't get over it put it a little bit here and there but the rest of it you can actually type out on the project life cards which way we reviewed yesterday so watch those digital segments specifically carry holt when she was talking about digital project life and she teaches you and breaks it down this is how you add text to a card and then you could print that out and put it into your album to me that's extra steps to me I want to see your handwriting but we want to do things that make us comfortable and we want to keep him simple so that will get them done ok great question and so glad that she asked. All right, so and with this topic of journaling ideas we have so many things that that we could journal about so again this is this part I'm going to share a list and it's not to overwhelm you it's to get your brain going and I want to pay attention to what sticks something's going to stick because it feels like something you probably should take note about in your mind or on paper and really make more of an effort to do this in your documentation your daily schedule it's ordinary to you so ordinary to you but I would love to see time by time, hour by hour what my grandma did I don't know what she did I mean if she was a homemaker and wasn't working outside of the home I don't know her daily schedule was I'd be curious trip itinerary souvenirs purchase current two new list I talked about that earlier take a picture of your current to do that to do list or pull it out of your notebook or get a screenshot a conversation with someone week's menu letter to child or spouse quote a child we spent time talking about that or loved one and please don't forget about what I say loved one because this is not just about the funny things kids say you've got a quote adults too song lyrics quote a famous person that just means that if you have somebody you know maybe you know someone presidential or someone who's a musician or someone who's a leader in some way someone that is famous who has said something that really strikes you and it goes along with what you're trying to express you confined quotes through our dear friend that kevin remind us about google if I think sometimes what's that one quote about gratitude something about how it's the greatest gift or the greatest virtue or you know I can think that way and do a google of those key words and it comes up that is by the way one of my favorite quotes milady quote, I don't remember movie quotes at all, but I have friends who that's like a part of their language. They're constantly quoting movies, info, fax and prices from the past favorite recipe background of an item meaning like diggin like, if you look at some thing in your house and there's more of a back story and where it came from write that down versus of scripture grocery list supply, she took somewhere, for example, you went on a trip, what did you bring with you? Like, what was in that that hand backer that carry on stats at a certain age that's like, you know, favorite movie or height and weight for little kids because we don't record that as adults, really? How old are you? D'oh, of course you know, of course you record your stats, some of us don't wantto record that some of this air just tryingto work gone that goal stats at a certain age where you going out? It was for you have a loved one. Write a note top highlights from an event who was invited when you, when you have some events, whether you hosted they're not who was invited to that today, I'm feeling feeling the blank one word just think about it today I am feeling because it's not always going to be happy or sad today I'm feeling curious today I'm feeling smart today I'm feeling accomplished today. I'm feeling frazzled can just fill in that blank. Yes, lisa invited thing I really like that because I take I don't think we write people's names down enough because I know these people I know so and so on, so on, so but thirty years from now I mean not so what I'll do is all right, my journaling on the front, and then I flip it over and write the names on the back of people in the photos. So that way, years from now, my kids are like, who is this and my memory's going to be shot? And I can just look a flipper, mick, okay, so and so and then I could tell them the story of that person, but they they may not know that person that is such a good point, and we do take it for granted. We take the pictures, we know exactly who are photographing, but that in the very first segment of this of this course, I shared an old scrapbook. You know, that I inherited and I recognized a few faces because my parents taught me about my ancestors, I don't know who those other people are. And it's not written down, so the picture the people taking the pictures obviously knew, but they probably weren't thinking that, you know, some day there would be this crazy scrap occur descendant of theirs that would care about the names of those people. What a great point! Thank you interview a loved one. We talked about that on, by the way loved one I say loved one, not just a child, if maybe you and your spouse or you and your boyfriend, girlfriend or somebody who you're with you guys air spending some time together and you have a quiet few moments asked five questions, you know, how are you feeling this month in your life or what's one of your goals right now or what's your favorite possession at the moment? What's the last thing that you purchased these are just random questions I just coming off of my head because they're random, they don't have to have a theme to them. So interview your left one's ten things I love about so and so on his or her birthday it's definitely a great way that you can document about a person without having tio think paragraphs and pros and story and just ten things really quickly you have kind of like porter wrote ten things that he loved about me, such as my great flossing skills, apparently have kids right there thoughts like we talked about make sure they're writing down in their own words, your morning routine, day time and evey routines a list of things I love lists did I already tell you guys that I love him? I love list? How about making a list of books that you're reading right now, or songs that you like or just things that you like in general dislikes hopes and fears doodles? You know, anything that you find, I know some people who every time they get on the phone call, they end up doing what are you doing? What are you writing about? That's, what you want to keep have party guests, right notes I showed you a fortieth anniversary and a wedding reception guest book you know these big events, but whenever there's a little birthday party even or something on a smaller scale, whatever it is, have the party guests themselves write notes either to the guest of honor or just their favorite memory from the event or something like that. Quotes from media about a certain event text or email conversations, jokes, rituals, excerpts from journal write a word you're feeling like happy, confused, overjoyed and then explain why so you could take that last one a step further today I am feeling exhausted, why am I feeling exhausted? Because I spent a lot of time getting ready for creative live and I was sleep deprived that's why I'm exhausted but I could expand on that bullet points of just the fax stream of consciousness you guys know what that is that's where you just right you don't think about I'm going to write about this and this is my injuries alte don't begin with the end in mind on this it's a stream of consciousness you just write whatever is coming to your mind you don't worry about spelling you don't worry about grammar you don't worry about punctuation you just right, right? Right, right, right and this is something that I know I'm not a right or per se I guess kind of I am, but I'm not really that's not my main profession and I know that for writers at least from what I understand this is something that is a great exercise of just getting it out there and certainly a lot of people journal this way poems by you or others the five w's who what when where? Why these air the basics that we've been talking about this is great information that may not be interesting we don't have to be creative with every picture that we're journaling about but the basic facts who and what and when and where and why are important to include once in a while as well dictionary definitions are another way to journal and explain kind of what's going on and I enjoy doing that myself using prom's like prompting somebody to talk about something questions you have why would we write about that because we're curious we're wondering things our kids are curious they're wondering things we write these questions down lessons learned from a past are from a person or experience this has been one of my last one has used the source but let me stick on this last one for a minute of lessons learned this has been one of my favorite things to do over the years is when I have an experience that I'm writing about and I'm recording and I want to pull out what I learned remember what we talked about earlier cultivate a good life and record it this is what I'm talking about when I take the time to record and write down what I actually got from a situation what I learned from that good or bad life is all sorts of harden and good times bad times everything in between when we take the time to pull out what we actually learned from it we're calling documenting it for ourselves as a benefit as an end result but that actual process is what makes us even better of a person so there's a lot of value in that I'm going to go into some tips for project like journaling before I do that were there any other ideas like as those wheels or spending? And I hope that they are any ideas for from you guys here or in our internet audience for other things that we want to journaling journal about that we may may not have thought about yeah, just a little one is, um my mother in law has a fascinating life story, but she doesn't want to talk when she knows that we're writing down what she's saying so sometimes when we're on a car trip, I do the same thing you did with your child, I write things down kind of, you know, secretly, yeah, because is she says seventy five years old and she's got a great life story and I want to record that too not just my kids but also capturing those bits right now when you're talking to her, I know some people actually record some people actually record, you know what they're saying? I mentioned earlier my my brother passed away last year and my parents live geographically close to him and his family and so my dad was able my parents been obviously a lot of time next his bedside during those last months because we knew that time was coming in, the cancer was it was winning and my dad took the time to record what my brother was sharing he shared a lot about his life knowing that that stage was coming to an end and my dad was I think, instead of just taking notes, what he did is he recorded it and my brother knew and he was aware of it, but he recorded I think, probably just on his iphone, and he transcribed everything that my brother shared. He has now since typed up that whole thing and given it to us as a gift to each of us, and that is a treasure because my dad didn't want to be, um he didn't want to go, I don't wantto, you know, he did it very subtly in fact, I can picture my dad probably sat the phone right there and was right there by my brother's bedside, just being with him and letting him talk and not doing this, uh, you know, and so I love that you showed that, and I'm sure she has an amazing history and what if he didn't take the time to write it down? Who was going to do that? So no pressure guys, but you mean to take responsibility for it doesn't have to be this diet long biography, but just shot these things down, man, I must is to be emotional in this segment, okay? We're going to move on oh, yes, please tell us to catch up okay, I'll tell you a little story about my own, actually. Then where we do have a quote here because my father and his brother and a whole group of their bodies went off to tour the world in the nineteen fifties, and they first stop with toronto. Canada had exactly the same moment my mother and her sister left ireland on dh. They met andi, then my father went off around the world with his journey. My mother stayed in canada, came to the u s, but they they started a huge correspondence that lasted for a couple of years. My mother been completely a non emotional person, never kept any of my ted's letters that he kept all of hers on some of these bodies who did this journey together. Very few of the mirror life. Now they wanted to recapture that story and journal adore. And in fact, he did publish a book of this. And it was. But the fact that my father had kept on my mother's letters helped put that story together. And they were all hand written they're all falling apart that really helped get that journal together and it was published as a book it's a fascinating story from me so we have to retain my parents met which is something that you know most most children don't have but seeing five six eight has put in a lovely comments is my mama passed away very unexpectedly, but one of the things that I'd love is that I have her handwriting I have the last list of our last thanksgiving meal together and that was the last time she she signed for a new dishwasher that happened to be the river that day she died so touching says it does not matter what it looks like it doesn't matter what the writing as its who wrote it on that connection will always be there it will be it's about making that connection that's what happens through the pictures that we take and the stories that we write thank you so much for sharing that um let's talk about some tips to kind of help you go ok conceptually I get it I notice is to do this but like breaking it down a little bit I want to kind of get through these quickly and then show you some more creative things with project life explain why ok, make sure just as a review may make sure that you understand it doesn't have to be lengthy but explain the why when you when you mention your fax we went to the park why did you go to the park? Is that a tradition was at random? Do you never go to the park? And so you felt like mom of the year for actually going that day? You know what I mean? Ok and also keeping cards on the go like I mentioned I keep a pack of cards, a little box of grid cards just like this in my bag at all times it's always there my kids know it's there in fact, sometimes they use them more than I do because they want to doodle and draw and they know it's going straight into their album it's a habit that we're in another thing that we want to remember is to just write don't get caught up in the style of your writing don't think about where you're going with it just right because if you don't, you will forget I don't care how awesome your memory is. I know mind stinks, but if you even if you haven't awesome memory, you will likely forget but details of specific things that happen or specific things that people say and then finally transfer your notes this is another way that you can get the journaling into your album we are texting on our phones were working on our computers, we are jotting notes on in a notebook on the kitchen counter, wherever those come from don't feel you have to do it all remember I'm not that's not what I'm advocating at all nobody is expected to do it are to document it off, but certainly you can pull from things that are already jotted down your calendar your to do list your planner from your social media and you can pull that into your project life now I'm off camera yesterday I can't remember who it was it was asked me about longer journaling or I think maybe the cards that came in the kid that was bi fold we have in every project life kid cards that are four by six and they have a score down the middle a fold a crease and those air designed so that you can instead of in a three by four pocket only having that one side you can actually unfold it and you can write your journaling on two sides on the front and two sides on the back so we quadrupled your real estate now for that longer story that you want to say and you fold it and it still sticks into the smaller three by four pocket so I wanted to illustrate that lengthy journaling can happen and your scrapbooks and that's why we have the bi fold card and obviously there's even longer things that you want to share sometimes as well excuse me, this is a new example from shirley poke she's on our creative team as well, and this is an example of how, if you look in the right hand page, that car down at the bottom that's not a typical project life card, usually it's on that three by four card, but we do offer that larger four by six space, sometimes two to write longer, longer quotes. So for those who do really enjoy expanding and writing more, we have those options, but I know most people feel like it's, so un intimidating to right on that little square that little or not square a little card with project like that three by four card. So I am often asked, I know the question's going to come up, so I'm going to address it pens, I'm biased, but my favorite pens are the project life pens that we have, they write so beautifully, so smoothly they've been manufactured for years and years and years and years before we actually put the name project life, are them because they come from a manufacturer called american crafts? You guys are probably those of you who are here who are scrap bookers and are familiar with some of these companies know the american craft is known for their pens, and so they are the manufacturer of my project life products and so it was very easy and natural to say we want project life pens we want the pens I've personally been using for many years to be available and it's just branding, you know, it's still the same pen but for those who like everything to have the same branding that's what it is so they're just beautiful I would demo but it's you know in person you can consume next year you can see you can play with them and guess why small oprah moment everybody's going home with journaling pens today, okay, you guys, you're not we'll have some more than just pens we've got large thing for you guys as well everybody everybody watching now is like, ok, why was I city in that room? Because I've got a lot of fun things to give away to you guys um, and I wanted to point out that with the pens I have some of them out of the packaging sitting here in a cup, but with those pens are a few color options there's even more options, but in the project life brand I didn't want a ton of colors because I'm a fan of classic I just personally I like it black or brown and we threw in blue and red because those are the most common color colors but you're going to notice that on the project life pins, that there are there's a little number on the tip or not on the tip, the opposite end and it we'll say either a zero one r zero three or zero five and that's because it's indicating the size of the tip and that's because each tip is its own, you know, own with so the o one is really thin, I'm not going take time to demonstrate that I have lots to get to, but zero one is very thin. Zero three is the next with zero five is even more zero eight is the biggest and it's nice and thick and so most people don't care. They're like, just give me a pen, I gotta write. I'd recommend the zero three year five, okay, but I'm persnickety about my pins and I like those kind of details and so I do care. And I think a lot of people do care about the wits as well. Okay? This is an example by somebody else on our creative team. Her name is shelly and shelly. Shelly is addressing something here that I want to illustrate and that is that the question another question it comes up with journaling is what voice do I write in? You know what I mean like do I write it from my perspective do I write it from my child's perspective and this is what I want you to ponder you're going to be really shocked that I'm saying this begin with the end in mind in this context what I mean is who is this for is it for the family? Is it just for future generations is it for that child is it for you? You know just kind of keep that hat on your head when you're writing don't stress about it don't worry if it shifts around I I'm I've gotten into a habit of the way that I journal so it works for me and my philosophy is that if I'm take my kids albums if I'm working in my child's scrapbook it's for them so I'm not talking to a general audience I'm talking to you you child I'm talking to you this is about you this is for you so in this example right here look all the way to the right and shelley wrote we spent the afternoon in the square enjoying the ice festival it was too funny watching the kids insist on getting a picture with each of the sculptures do you notice how it's very general it's broad she's not saying you did this or you did that or you know whatever she's saying as a family this was our experience that's how I write in my family journal or my family scrapbook it's different and so and my children's albums I write to the child I do not put words in their mouth and I'm not saying you shouldn't do that but some people are like I'm so cute today I just had a bath like in my cute little bomb you know that's you know that's fine and it's cute but I don't I choose not to put words in my kid's mouth because I really want them to know how I view them and how I feel about them and so you just think about that perspective and what you want to portray and that's how you journaling is going to come out ok? So let's talk about how we could involve the family a little bit more and I would just summarize it with one main thing make the stuff accessible I'm not saying all the project like product has to be spread all over the place. This is a corner of the kitchen of someone that many of us know her name is ali edwards she's a phenomenal life document er scrap occur she has an art to what she does just as much as we all do but in her own special way on dh she loves project life she was actually on our creative team last here and this is the corner of alleys kitchen the kitchen, not the office, not the bedroom in the kitchen and that's because that's the heart of their home and there's so much that happens in there and her kids are coming and go and she's coming and going and so she keeps her album out there in progress work in progress so everyone can enjoy it and the cards are there the pen is there and she can just kind of do it whenever she has the ability notice it's very far from the sink don't put your stuff by the sink splashing on the pages is not good so that would be my main advice for for making having having and helping the family to be more involved is just make the product accessible and in terms of what two journal how did journal what to take pictures of we talked about I know that our house have reminded everybody watching that this is available as a free pdf for being enrolled in the course. This not on lee is for everyday life photo ideas but it's also for every day journaling ideas and you can find that I think it's on its way course men under course materials will help you out with that actually free with enrollment so when you're enrolled it's going to be right there on the page and it's pdf you just click the link and downloads excellent thank you so much