Are we losing meaning?

Kellie - posted on 08/24/2011

This is exactly why I focus on family stories when I scrap. I really feel that the story behind the photos gets lost in all the embellishments. I am working on a book right now with all my memories of my childhood photos. After I am done, it will be about 100 pages I think.... but at least my children will know my stories.

Jessica - posted on 08/08/2011

I agree that journalling is lost on so many people's albums nowdays and it does seem to be all about embellishing which I don't think should be done until the end. Whilst I don't write a full length story on every page I do write the most important part to tell the story behind the photos. My daighter has just turned 2 and she will grow up knowing what her likes & dislikes were at each age, her routine at each age & a little 3 sentence story about her photos of her young childhood.
I love your thoughts Dani on the child's perspective from an older age & what they remember - I plan to do my perspective in my family albums but their albums will defintely be their stories when they are old enough to tell me them - Can't wait to bring my children into the creative process with me! Nothing quite like a child farting at school & it being the most hillarious thing ever to them :)
Thank-you for reminding me that this is what journalling should include too!

Jamie - posted on 03/08/2009

Sabrina, your book is beautiful! I agree, pictures fade and memories get lost over the years. To those who think it's all about the pictures and not the journaling, how many old pictures of your great-grandparents or great-great-grandparents do you have where you have no idea why the pictures were taken? I've seen so many old photos end up in the trash because no one knows why they were taken and who is in them. 100 years from now, when you and your children are gone, who's going to be the memory keeper? Sure, the pictures spark YOUR memory and your children's memories, but how will your great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren's memories be sparked? Stories get fuzzy or worst yet, forgotten after a few generations.

You don't have to go on and on in your journaling with tiny details, but it's nice to put down the who, what, when, where, and why of the pictures. Sometimes the sentimental stuff is nice, but if that's not your thing, that's fine too. If you are worried about the journaling being from only your perspective, ask the people in the pictures at the time what the picture/time/event means to them. However, in my opintion, it's better to have only one perspective than none at all.

Sabrina - posted on 03/08/2009

I know some of you are saying it is all about the pictures, which is great. But let me ask you when your pictures fade and you have no idea what is going on in those photos and you are not here to tell the story. The memory is lost. Please look at this book i have created, if there were no words on these pages the story would be lost.

http://www.heritagemakers.com/index.cfm?...

My daughter will never meet my grandfather or really know my grandmother but throughs these books and what we journal they will.

Also when we write about our kids and how there were as children gives them perspective on they are as adults.

Please think about this when you think journaling is not important!

Liz - posted on 03/08/2009

I think the stories are so important. I wish my grandparents had left me their stories. I asked my grandmother before she passed away to write down some of her story, but she said it wasn't interesting. I'm not going to leave my children with the same fate. I want them to know our story and to love reading about it and looking at the pictures. I don't over embellish either, and I hate layouts that are a huge page and a timy photo! I want the photo to be the main element and I want the story, sentiment or feeling behind the photo.

Dani - posted on 03/07/2009

Maybe it is generational, I'm probably older than most.  My grandparents were born in the early 1900s and didn't go to school much so Grandpa never learned to read or write and my Grandma managed to get to 8th grade.  They took pictures of their farm animals, garden, orchard, dogs, hunting trips, fishing trips, my mom, etc.  None of them have words written because they couldn't write.  If the fact that there is no writing on some of the pictures/pages make them less special to some that's sad, but definitely not to me.  I could look at those pictures and tell you the names of all the dogs they had over the years because I spent so much time with them, looking at pictures hearing their stories, I don't need words as reminders.

I agree that journaling is important, but   I don't think words are more important than the pictures.  Isn't the saying "A picture is worth a thousand words".  I guess that's my philosophy. I'd rather look at pages with 4 or 5 pictures and a short note, than a page with one picture and a long paragraph. I look at my kids books as pages to spark their memories, not narrate them.

I think embellishments should be the last thing added to a page and they should be simple and add to the story, not detract.    Like most things in life, simple is better.

Simone - posted on 03/07/2009

It's interesting to see a few different viewpoints on this and I guess it depends on the person and scrapbook in question. Personally I have a memory like a goldfish so I'm keen to record what I can both for myself and family/friends while it's still in there.

To quote Annette:

"It is always heartwarming to open a letter or card from a loved one and see their handwriting. I feel that our albums should express this as well.

How meaningful for our children to see how much we love them in our own words."

I love that, or finding notes on the back of photos, or recognising someone by their handwriting.

Perhaps it might be a generation thing.. Photos are so flippantly taken and discarded nowdays and so much is typed, not written..

Wow, this is getting interesting lol

Annette - posted on 03/06/2009

Unfortunately, I disagree. I come from a long line of what is now referred to as "scrapbooking". When I look at these pages from my grandparents, I have no interest in how pretty the embellishments are. This is my history.

Dani - posted on 03/06/2009

When you've been scrapbooking 15 years and have a teenager who will look through your books, you realize that journaling isn't all that appreciated.  I also know from my scrapping circle, it's the same with their kids. One thing my son has taught me is that my memories of a certain event are WAY WAY WAY different than what was important to him.    

I journal on most pages, but I keep it brief.  For me scrapbooking is all about pictures, I can look at my scrapbooks that my mom made for me  that have no words (you know back in the day of photo corners) and have my memories, not my Mom's perspective. 

I have used some of my son's journals that he kept in elementary school on pages, makes you realize that they don't care if it was a beautiful day of 80 degrees and he was partnered with so and so for the 3-legged race, they were more interested in the grasshopper that was jumping around or the woodpecker in the tree.  Or that winning the dodgeball tournament was forgotten, but the fact that "Jimmy"  tripped and pushed over "Susie" was the best memory and as a parent, I never even noticed that.  Or that he was in the Geography Bee and up on stage and came in 3rd, he remembers that so and so farted and all the boys giggling and the principal eyeballing them.

So yes, journaling is important, but it's only from our perspective, we never really get inside their heads to truly reflect THEIR memories.   Believe me, you may want them to remember a special Easter Egg hunt, but what they remember is that before you left the house the shelf in the kitchen fell off the wall and landed on an opened can of spaghettios and the kitchen and ceiling covered in sauce and me saying not the best things.    They tend to remember the things you wish they'd forget!  ;)

Jamie - posted on 03/05/2009

I am not a huge embelisher either. I too am a Heritage Makers Consultant and believe in sharing the full story behind the pictures. You can easily lose a picture and story in too many embelishments. A few things to dress up the page are nice but the focus should really be on the pictures and stories, not how pretty the page looks and how much is on it.

Sabrina - posted on 03/04/2009

I agree with you. I have been a traditional scrapbooker for years and I used to do a couple words per page. I struggled with journaking. About three years ago i joined a company called Heritage Makers (online-storybooking comapny) It was then i realized that every photo without a story is a memory lost. That is the vision and mission of the company. The company has taught me that it is what I write now that will be the most impactfull ten years from now.

Sabrina

www.memorybookmaker.com

Annette - posted on 03/03/2009

I am an art director that also loves to scrapbook. My pages are MUCH cleaner than what you see in the scrapbooking magazines. I think that handwritten notes beside pictures are the best way to convey their true meaning.

It is always heartwarming to open a letter or card from a loved one and see their handwriting. I feel that our albums should express this as well.

How meaningful for our children to see how much we love them in our own words.