A Week of Journaling

Happy New Week Everyone! Nicole Harper and I get to host the blog this week, and in discussing what we wanted to focus on, we concluded that journaling would be a fun topic for us. We both love to journal, it brings us a lot of satisfaction to get the story told. But we also know that for some scrappers, it can be very difficult; so we decided to pool our talents with those of just a few of our fabulous Studio Calico members and dig deep into a few of the aspects of journaling.

My focus today is "EVERYDAY" journaling.

Pronunciation:
\ˈev-rē-ˌdā, ˌev-re-ˈ\
Function:
adjective
Date:
circa 1623

: encountered or used routinely or typically : ordinary
— ev·ery·day·ness Listen to the pronunciation of everydayness \-ˈdā-nəs\ noun


My friend Alicia introduced me once as "the everyday kind of scrapper." It was one of the biggest compliments I'd ever received as a scrapper, because it's exactly what I hope to accomplish in my journaling. Telling the everyday, mundane, hilarious, thought-provoking, embarrassing, refocusing, detail-capturing things that happen to me and my family is important to me.

I spent some time in the Studio Calico member gallery yesterday looking for this kind of journaling, and I'm happy to report, a lot of you are doing a great job capturing this type of journaling. I wish I could have included so many more layouts. There are so many of you that get the idea of capturing the everyday. It was really hard to narrow this down to just a few layouts, but time and space require that I do that. So here are a just a few of my finds:

I found this wonderful and a little nostalgic look at the everyday in Alane's gallery,


Journaling reads: "One of the best things about living on the cul-de-sac at 34 Spinning Wheel Ct. was all of the kids you had to play with. You played well past sunset almost every day. Kick the Can, Four Square, Hide & Seek, and Wagon Train. You name it: you guys did it. I always enjoyed being able to look out the window and see the branches of our tree in the front yard full of kids. Great memories!"

I asked Alane what her process for journaling was and got this amazing response. It explains why I was instantly drawn to her journaling style. Although I haven't faced breast cancer, I have had to address the possibility of not being around to see my kids grow up.

First of all I don't want to sound too dramatic, but I am a breast cancer survivor. I was diagnosed when my kids were 6 and 7, almost ten years ago now. Frankly, I didn't think I'd live this long. In a way I have been given the opportunity to see each experience from that perspective: someone looking in at my life with a tremendous feeling of gratitude. Mind you, this is not an intentional perspective, but I think it explains my outlook. Everyday things are the things with the most meaning for me. I try to capture the magic in everyday, to record not just memories, but the feelings and importance of the memories, the people, and my thoughts about them. I want my kids and my future grandkids to know me as honestly as possible. I rarely edit what I write. I often write directly "stream of consciousness" type writing directly onto the page. I go with my gut because I know that is the closest to my true self and my true feelings.

Thank you for your honesty Alane!

This page by Hera just made me smile. It's so a page I would do as well. It explains an aspect of her family's life that might not be remembered in 20 years, but now that it's in layout form, it will be the subject of family laughs for many years to come.


Journaling says: Uri always gave us white towels for Easter, Christmas, birthdays etc. Eventually the towels began to wear out and we decided our bathroom needed a facelift. But from all white to what? Papi came up with the wonderful plan that each of us could choose our own colour. Brilliant in theory, nightmare in reality. We marched off to the store and I was in heaven perusing the wall of coloured towels. I swayed between terracotta and a deep pink... Oh the possibilities. However when Tane showed up with yellow and Mika obsessed over orange, my world was crushed! Both stood their ground, neither was willing to compromise. Meantime Papi was keen to take avocado. Being the scrapbooker in the family Papi decided to leave it up to me to make the final decision whilst he disappeared with the boys. I finally settled on teal and Papi had to be content with brown. Even as we left the shop I wasn’t completely comfortable with the mix…but it’s growing on me and slowly.

I am learning to live with our new bathroom decor.

I love Hera's answer for my question on her journaling process:

Although it’s important to capture the birthdays and smiles and first steps, I believe there are equally as many landmarks and events happening in our everyday. I remember back to my own childhood when we got our first black and white TV for example or the crocheted blankets my grandmother made us for our beds. What I would give now to have an album of such family memoirs. Nevertheless as much as possible I try to document our own “day to day” wherever I can. As basic as bathroom towels may be, from the day we bought these new ones there was a huge adjustment made to our morning noon and nights. I wanted to record the reason we changed and the process of shopping for them. For the first few days, walking into this multi coloured collection took some getting used to. These towels are a peek into our lives and are now affectionately known by my youngest DS as the earth, the sky, the fire and the sun. Moreover they could well be the inspiration for my next layout.


Another scrapper that I feel consistently captures the everyday so well is just g. Gillian has also faced some life altering things that made her step back and reassess why she scrapbooks. I've learned a lot from her words of wisdom on scrapbooking and living in general.


Journaling says: One day, you'll be grown men, with careers, and wives, and kids of your own. But in my heart, I'll always think of you just. like. this.

Here's how Gillian explains her process:
I journal what I'm thinking at the time, be it inspired by the photo, or recent events during the course of our days. I like to use journaling as a means of communicating to my family. I'd like them to hear me telling them these stories as they're reading the text. And I hope to convey not just the typical "who, what, when, where" stuff, but the conversations and perceptions that form around those basics. The big moments are good and fine, but the little, every day details are what make up the majority of our lives. And I'd like my albums to reflect that.

Finally, I'd like to point out Waleska's journaling on this layout. How many pictures do you have that don't have an immediate story behind them? I love that Waleska could see past the fuzzy socks and record her love for her family this way.


Journaling says: Just us. The girls. Mom and two sisters. We're silly. We don't get to spend much time together, but when we do we have a blast. Julian took this picture of us last year trying on new super soft and colorful socks.

You can see that journaling the everyday can take up any amount of space, just tell a story that might be forgotten.

So today's challenge: do a layout about the everyday.