Journaling is telling the story of your photos and memories. An album without any journaling may be fun to look at now, but it may not mean much in years to come. When you look at old photos from years ago can you remember all the names to go with the faces? Do you remember why the photo was taken or where or even what was happening on that occasion? These are the reasons why journaling is important.

Journaling personalises your page by noting names, date and place of the event. Be specific, but try to make it interesting as well. Sometimes it is appropriate to include feelings or thoughts.

You might write a simple headline like "At The Beach" and supplement it with the four W's: who, what, when, where and why. Or you might write long journal entries with thoughts, observations, quotes, song lyrics-whatever it takes to tell your story. And you might use different journaling with different kinds of pages.

You can write directly on your background paper if you wish, but writing on a separate piece of paper and adding it to the page is easier and looks more polished. In that case, you only need a black acid-free pen.

You can also use a computer to journal your story-write out your story and print it onto acid-free paper. This allows you to spell-check, use the grammar function and mix font types and sizes. It also frees you from worrying about your handwriting.

How can you tell your story? You can speak in the first person ("I spent the summer in Barcelona.") if you choose, or tell the story from your family's point of view ("The Smith Family Reunion"). You can tell the story to your children ("You were so excited on your third birthday"). And don't be shy about using a few creative writing techniques, from "Once Upon a Time" to Top-10 lists.

When journaling, make sure you use pens that are permanent as well as photo-safe. Look for pens that are acid free, fade proof, and waterproof.

There are many creative ways that you can do your journaling to add variety to your pages:

• Journaling Genies can be bought in a variety of shapes and fun designs, trace these onto your pages lightly if you want to erase the outline or for a permanent outline use archival quality pens to outline the shape [eg baby bottle] and use pencil lines inside the shape and erase them after the ink has dried
• Write around the edge of a single photo
• Write around the edge of the entire page, creating a frame for the photos
• Use coloured pens that co-ordinate and complement your page
• Draw a shape either by hand or use a template [eg heart, star etc] lightly in pencil. Journal inside, keeping within the shape, filing it up. Once filled, erase the pencil.
• Try different fonts
• Journal onto different pieces of paper or vellum and add to your page with paper fasteners
• Draw fancy borders or patterns around your journaling on your page

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