Michele Skinner - Your Words, Your Story: Add Meaningful Journaling to Your Layouts

Your
Words
YOUR STORY

ADD MEANINGFUL JOURNALING TO YOUR LAYOUTS

MicheleSkinner

Cincinnati, Ohio
www.mycraftivity.com

IN THE AUTHORS WORDS

I have been a writer my entire life. Even when I dabbled in other areas, I would always come backto writing. When I found scrapbooking and realized that I could both write and express myselfvisually, I knew that the universe was sending me a glorious present! Being on design teamsand getting published were never my focus, though I have been lucky enough to designfor several web sites and have had work in Paper Kuts, Ivy Cottage, Creating Keepsakes and Simple Scrapbooks. My outlook on being published changed drasticallyin 2006 when, on a whim, I entered and won a spot on the 2007 Memory MakersMasters team. What a blessing! Without Memory Makers belief in me and mywork, you wouldnt be holding this book in your hands right now. My family andmy love of words and photography are the main focus of my pages, and regardlessof where I go now with this hobby, that focus will never change.

Your Words, Your Story. Copyright 2008 by Michele Skinner. Manufactured in China. All rights reserved. It is permissible for the purchaser to make the projects contained herein and sell them at fairs, bazaars and craft shows. No other part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote a brief passage in review. Published by Memory Makers Books, an imprint of F+W Publications, Inc., 4700 East Galbraith Road, Cincinnati, Ohio 45236. (800) 289-0963. First edition.

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Distributed in Australia by Capricorn Link
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eISBN: 978-1-59963-312-1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Skinner, Michele.

Your words, your story : add meaningful journaling to your layouts / Michele Skinner. -- 1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-59963-027-4 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Photograph albums. 2. Scrapbook journaling. 3. Scrapbooking. I. Title.
TR501.S554 2008
745.593--dc22

2008023366

Editor: Kristin Boys
Designer: Corrie Schaffeld
Art Coordinator: Eileen Aber
Production Coordinator: Matt Wagner
Photographers: Tim Grondin; John Carrico, Alias Imaging
Stylists: Nora Martini, Lauren Emmerling

Metric Conversion Chart

DEDICATION

This is dedicated to Marc, who told me to write a book. And to Henryand Harper, who make life worth writing about.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Thank you to Jess and Molly, who gave me those first few sheets of paper andstickers eight years ago and started me on this journey.

Thank you to my parents, who never told me to go outside and play when I shutmyself in my room for hours, drawing and writing.

Thank you to my amazing editors and friends at F+W Publications: Christine,Kristin, Corrie, Eileen, Amy and the rest of the Memory Makers family. You are allso dear, and you know youll never be rid of me!

Thank you to my crazy-talented contributors: Sue, Nisa, Sandra, Nicole, Catherine,Katrina, and Crystal. I am in awe of your talents and moved by your stories,but more importantly, I am so proud to call you all my friends!

Thank you to the scores of scrappers with whom I talked about journaling over thecourse of this project. Your open and honest answers inspired me, and your candidresponses and concerns made me want to write the very best possible bookfor you. I hope in some small way this book will help you find ways to get yourvoice on the page.

And last, but not least, thank you to coffee, vodka and all the people I begged,bribed and paid to watch my children so I could write this book. Without yoursupport and availability, this never would have gotten done almost on time.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

What About the Story?

PART 1:
YOUR WORDS: FIND THEM!

PART 2:
YOUR STORY: USE IT !

WHAT ABOUT
THE STORY?

I got into scrapbooking because I needed a baby book for my son that fit my styleno cartoon characters, no perfect family tree, no clich pastels. In the beginning, scrapping was mostly about getting photos down on pretty paper and adding a clever title, but then one day it hit me that this was my opportunity to tell my children the stories of their lives.

Scrapbooking is, of course, about the photos and the paper. But what about the story? What do our children get from all the hours and money we spend on pages? We want them to know who they are, who we are, what life is like. I imagine my kids will quickly turn past pages that have a cute portrait photo, lots of arty embellishments, and a beautiful title or quote. The pages that will really grab their attention will be the ones that tell a story. I wish my own family had done that. To read my mothers thoughts of me when I was a child would be priceless.