Page Layouts With Hearts, Stars and Circles

Here's a fun idea for those post-Valentine's Day photos, engagement/wedding photos, Mother's Day or any someone-you-love photos.  The die-cut hearts, templates and colored paper make it quick and easy!  Some layout ideas for stars and circles are shown below.

TIP:  Use pigma pens (like Zig) to make the dots around circles.

Family Albums

Elaine Cannon, former general Young Women president, said, "Our posterity has a right to know their roots without scrounging for them."  That's why I am dedicated to making sure I leave my own information so that my descendants won't have to work so hard to find out about me or our family and ancestors.  I consider it keeping my genealogy up-to-date! Here are my scrapbooking and family history posts, etc.

by Cathy Guisewite

Posts

Touch of Class Graduation Layouts

Baby Album Page Layouts

Photo Capturing Your Pet

Photo Preservation Tips

Recipe Album Layout

Holiday Photo Tips

Fast, Beautiful Album Pages

Be Organized And Do Fast Pages

Family Vacation Layouts and Journaling

Heritage Albums
Journaling and Merger Layouts

Page Layouts with Hearts, Stars and Circles
Scrapbook Layout: The Balance Game
Fast, Beautiful Album Pages

Family History Posts

Country Girl
Not Your Grandma's Journal

Ensign Classic Issue on Family History (Jan. 1977)

Do You Know Your Family? (FHE)

Family Reunion Calendars (FHE)
A Book of Remembrance
Book of Remembrance: A Sacred Family Record
Book of Remembrance FAQs
Kid-Sized Personal Histories (FHE)

Family History Quotes

Anyone can leave money to their children, grandchildren, etc.  But we are the only ones who can leave them our memories, and they are truly worth more than money. ~Ethel Jackson Price

If you are going to write about your days, you had better be doing something to write about. ~Caroline Eyring Miner

Three Best Family History Books
Scrapbooking with Memory Makers
This is literally the best scrapbooking book that I have found and I have looked at a lot of them.  I have gotten so many good ideas for pages in my albums, such as creative ideas for all the leftover photos.  (ISBN 0883639289)  
Family History Scrapbooking by Becky Higgins
Everything you need to know to get started (and be really organized) with family history scrapping. (ISBN 1933516623)
Timeless Treasures by Emilie Barnes
This is a charming little book that I kept (and I don't keep many) because of all the great family history ideas such as having everyone outline their hands on a sheet used as a Thanksgiving or Christmas Day tablecloth and then later embroidering this or turning it into a one-of-a-kind quilt.


Traditions

Stake/Ward-Branch/Home Visitor's Guest Book:  “The Lord has called a modern prophet, President Spencer W. Kimball. It is a great privilege to live at the same time as President Kimball. I remember when I was in Oklahoma with a man whose father had been a stake president there for about fourteen years. The stake president kept a visitor’s guest book for General Authorities and other special guests to sign. It was a pretty thick book, as I recall, and it had the signatures of Joseph Fielding Smith, Matthew Cowley, Adam S. Bennion, and other great leaders. There was space for the date and the person’s name, position, and hobby. Under one entry in 1954 I read these words: ‘Name—Spencer W. Kimball; position—Apostle; Hobby—I love people.’ I kept turning the pages, and I saw that President Kimball had revisited the stake ten years later. Except for the date, everything was the same, including ‘Hobby—I love people.’ I think when the prophet loves us so much, we can love him and pray for him too.”  ~Vaughn J. Featherstone, Friend, Aug-Sep 1984

Journaling and Merger Layouts

Journaling

I like rereading these old Idea Books from Creative Memories 'cause I'll always find something I haven't tried yet.  The journaling is something I do, but I have to admit it takes me a while to get around to it.  This is terrible because pictures need to be journaled while it's fresh in our minds, and besides how interesting are family photos without words?

"Bullet Journaling includes the who, what, where, when, and why written either under each photo or as a paragraph detailing events on an entire page.  It is normally a list of words, descriptive phrases or sentences that capture the main details of the event.

"Quick Captions and Comments journaling lets you reflect on what is happening in a photo and may tell why you took the photo.  Often, captions or subtitles can set a mood or tone, and they may describe what the thought and feelings of the pictures are.  Examples include quotations, anecdotes or poems.

"Storytelling is writing the facts or information of the event in paragraph form.  This provides a full illustration of the event and will capture more of the details.  If you are writing from the heart and sharing special feelings, storytelling may be your best option."  (Scrapbook Page Design and Layout Ideas, Vol. VII, p. 11; Illustrations by Shelly Parks 1/94 and Adapted from article by Nancy G. Hill).

Merger Layouts

The layout photo at the top shows a type of Merger Layout where you mount miscellaneous photos from different events on a single page or two-page spread.  I did a whole album based on "themes."  It turned out really cute and interesting ("Counting Sheep," "Boo Boo Page," "Water Fun," "Smiles"...).  

I save room in my albums by arranging photos by seasons, unless it's something like Christmas which gets its own page.  That way I don't use too many duplicate photos, and only the most interesting and well-taken photos are displayed in my albums.  The rest are kept on disc or (as with my pre-cd photos) in a photo box.  

From now on, I plan on using one color of ink for photos from the same event on my 2-page season layouts.  Such as for Fall I might use deep purple, burnt orange, and sienna for the three autumn birthdays--another color for the annual campout and corresponding school colors for cheerleading and cross country.  I really like the idea of similar colored photo mounting paper for pictures from the same events.  (Inspired from Scrapbook Page Design and Layout Ideas, Vol. VII, p. 77).

Not Your Grandma's Journal!

"Capture the Norm"

The last talk I gave was on Gratitude--not the typical talk on gratitude for our Heavenly Father and the Savior, but showing appreciation to everyone in our lives as a way of showing God and Jesus our gratitude to them.  After recording the talk with a little tape recorder, I listened daily to it at least twice while taking my walk before arriving home.  I was so familiar with my talk by the time I gave it (I started about a month in advance--they give us a lot of notice), that I didn't have to use my notes as much as usual.  Later, I found that whenever my spirits were low, I could listen to the talk and it would always perk me up.  

A story from President Eyring that I shared in my talk inspired me to keep a gratitude journal much like his own ("O Remember, Remember," Ensign, Oct. 2007, 67).  To me, my blog really is a (homemaking) journal that I am leaving to my children and posterity.  It will be printed into book form.  Not only is the present recorded, but also a collection of the past which has brought so much back to my remembrance.  
I have learned to  keep a file of all my family member's talks for many years, and have recorded the recent talk I gave, as well as a few old ones, as blog posts.  I love to go through them and rediscover the teachings therein.  Reading my son's first talk which was on Father's Day brings tears to my eyes--how quickly they grow up!
When teaching a family history class at church, I discovered so many great talks including President Spencer W. Kimball's (1895-1985) "The Angels May Quote from It," (New Era, Oct. 1975, 4-5).  So it was no surprise how much I enjoyed reading the March 2011 New Era's article, "Remember to Remember," which referred to both President Eyring's and President Kimball's talks, both of which I was very familiar and highly recommend.  Many quotes by people such as these are also recorded in my journals and blog.

Newspaper Clippings

Tickets

The article's suggestions work especially well for those of us who love to scrapbook.  Scrapbooks can contain special letters (such as those you write to your future self), newspaper clippings (photo-copied onto acid-free paper), and travel pages with maps, tickets, and brochures.  My scrapbooks contain many "everyday" shots, which the article recommends--they are not just for portraits!  You want to remember what your home looked like, including the bedrooms, exterior, gardens, kitchen--even the phone.  My advice, (which is what I have done for the past thirty years since I got my first camera), has been to always include at least one person (or a pet) in all of the pictures.  Believe it or not, the photos are soooo much more interesting.  Once-in-a-while, there might be a beautiful scenic shot or a picture with nature as the subject (such as when a hummingbird landed on my husband's finger in the garage), but most family photo album photos should include people.  

Include People!

Missionary Album

I am currently working on a "hall of fame" much like my Grandma Jordan had in her spacious, old-fashioned hall that will have family portraits and such to make this boring spot a little brighter.  Included in this hall will be a 12 x 12 framed scrapbook page of my husband's mission, which includes the Oakland Temple from thirty years ago.  I also made a smaller scrapbook of his mission, (small because he had a lot of pictures of "scenes" that I didn't find particularly interesting). In family home evening, we recorded my husband describing these photos to us and the background information which jogged his memory, and then we heard some really interesting stories!  I used this information to journal in his little missionary scrapbook, and kept the recording for anytime I need a good laugh.

My own scriptures are really another form of journaling for me.  I have developed a particular way to mark my scriptures--some of what I learned in seminary and BYU and some of my own making.  One thing that I do that might be unusual is to mark scriptures that are probably the origins of a heap of "sayings."  My grandma and mother always used the most interesting sayings, and I noticed that in a lot of historical fiction such as Gone with the Wind and the Little House series, many of these sayings are also found in the Bible.  Very few people use this picturesque, old way of speaking, although it is still prevalent among the elder folks in the south.  Many young people today have no clue what many sayings mean and really cannot understand fine literature or the King James version of the Bible.  Rather than clue them in, educators are dumbing the writings down!  My scriptures are yet another way for me to journal not only spiritual things, but also a way of recording these old sayings for my posterity.
Sometimes writing in an old-fashioned journal leads to writers-block.  Journal writing prompts are a great way to get you writing when you can't think of anything worth writing about.  Scrapbooking found on the Pages tabs of this blog, (listed under the blog title), has many handouts that I used for teaching scrapbook classes.  Some of these handouts lists photo journaling prompts for scrapbooks that would also work well for a traditional journal.  Also a list of writing prompts is found in "Remember to Remember" on page 19.  Here's a family history journal jar (more for adults) found at http://www.christysclipart.com on the Relief Society Page, (Christy's Clipart is also on Facebook).

Be Organized And Do Fast Pages

It really helps to go through your pages and plan them ahead. Sometimes I use sticky notes on my actual album pages to write notes to remind me what order, theme, idea I'm using from a publication, etc.  Then I put the stack of photos I'll be choosing from in a zip-lock baggy with those photo album pages.  I stack them just like they would be organized in the album, and then I place them in a photo box that's designed for photo album pages.  Everything's ready to go when I finally get a chance to settle down and start scrapping.  Also, it's so important to journal your album pages.  You might use a combination of the photojournaling suggestions, or stick to one, depending on your personality, available time, etc.  Digital cameras, the internet and computer have all revolutionized scrapbooking.  Now everything can be done by the click of a button.  This makes journaling a breeze!  

I used this information from Melinda Dye to get started back in 1995:

1. Collect all of your photos and memorabilia into one spot.  Look in old photo albums, drawers, hope chests, baby and wedding books and relative's homes.

2. Put photos in chronological order and/or events:  Weddings, baby books, high school years, special trips and growing-up phases.  Sort your photos by putting them in stacks that resemble years, then sort into months, seasons, events or outings.  Use envelopes from the developer, rubber bands and Ziploc bags to keep photos and memorabilia in order.  Slip in the memorabilia (cards, brochures, ticket stubs, etc.) where it belongs, or it will be forgotten.

3. Next, collect cropping tools (templates, trimmer, scissors, pen, etc.) into one place.  Crop all of the photos for several pages or for one time period, but keep them in order (this may seem risky but this is the key to doing it fast).  Lay out the photos by month or event.  Next, see if you want to do something special with them and how many pages you want to devote to the theme.

4. Collect supplies and tools into one spot (I set up a card table in  my living room where the kids play; they can see me, but don't need my full attention).  Sometimes it is helpful to put tools in a basket or large bowl for easy access.  You can separate colored paper in an accordion file folder and stickers can be divided by themes in Ziplock bags.  The key to getting lots done quickly is having easy access to photos and supplies.

5. Take every free minute during the day to work.  Get up early and stay up  late when there are fewer interruptions.  At the end of the work period, re-organize the work space and drape your table with a sheet to protect your photos.  Another time-saver option:  Complete every aspect of the page before moving to the next page (I write all captions, dates,  names, etc., before I do stickers).

6. Just like exercise, we have to set time aside to work on our albums.  Schedule album time into your  monthly calendar.  Attend workshops, schedule one full Saturday a month, work a few hours every Sunday afternoon or set up a work party with friends.  Set a goal to complete cute, simple and fast pages that have great memories preserved and enjoy your completed albums!  

Don't forget--working on your photo album is not a matter of time, it's a matter of commitment!

("Do It and Stick to It, Be Organized And Do Fast Pages," by Melinda Dye, Creative Memories)