* * Journalling with October Afternoon 9 to 5 * *

Hello all, its Laura here and I am here to show you a few ways to include and increase your journalling on your layouts, using the gorgeous October Afternoon 9 to 5 collection.

The whole collection can be found over at Sarah's Cards HERE

I always use American Crafts Precision Pens in 0.3 size for all my journalling.  I have found it to be the perfect pen for me.  It writes beautifully, works on photos and feels really comfortable for long periods of journalling.  I tend to stick just with black for my journalling but Sarah's Cards have them available in a whole host of colours HERE

I love to journal on my layouts and I always handwrite but I haven't always written as much as I do now.  Having recently looked back through several albums of old layouts I realised how little journalling was on some of the layouts, how few details I had included and how opportunities to document stories were missed.  I urge you to write, to journal and to tell those stories that accompany your photos, after all, that is the reason we scrapbook right?

But I know it can be hard, it can be daunting and lots of people talk about feeling uncomfortable handwriting on their layouts.  In this blog post I hope to give you a couple of idea on how to build up your journalling on your layouts so that slowly you can start to incoperate more writing and tell more of your stories.

There are so truly fantastic products to help you journal on your layouts and October Afternoon really excel in this department.  For years they have made the gorgeous cardstock label stickers (pictured above) that are available to co-ordinate all of their collection, but the latest CHA releases have included a few new products that offer new opportunities to incoperate journalling into your layouts.  First up at "Tidbits", small double sided diecuts with room for tiny amounts of journalling.

This layout has minimal journalling on it... but it does have some journalling.  There is some of my handwriting on there, just enough to get used to using a pen and handwriting some small details onto the page.  If you are nervous about somehow "messing up" or "getting it wrong" then using label stickers ot "tidbits" is the perfect way to start to build up your confidence, as you can journal on the piece before you add it to your layout and if you make an error, you can simply replace that piece without worrying that you have somehow ruined your layout.

Start off small... just add a date, a name, a place... some small detail that is part of the story but that might get forgotten as time goes by.  As you can see my handwriting is not the neatest, it's messy but it's mine, so I embrace that reality, I don't try to write extra neatly, I just get the details down and this helps me to relax as I am not worrying about trying to get my writing to look extra special.  I just write in my normal regular everyday style, it's messy but I'm ok with that.

Include tiny bits of writing alongside letter stickers, you don't have to write everything but try to write something!

Another new product by October Afternoon are the "doo-dads" again these are double sided die cut pieces that are the perfect colour match for each collection.  These tend to be larger pieces and are perfect for a larger collection of journalling.



Ensure that you plan your layout well so that you have enough room to incoperate one or more of these die cuts.  In this layout I have layered up a couple of the larger pieces alongside some of the label stickers and tidbits that I used in the first layout.  This stack of embellishments provide the perfect space for a more extending piece of journalling but without seeming too overwhelming.



Again I have also incoperated number stickers here to add details to my journalling.  Often these pieces have lines or grids incoperated into the design which can help to keep your journalling straight and even.  As you can see I have started writing at the top and just continued all the way down writing on several of the embellishment pieces.

 Finally if you want to include a really long story then look out for patterned papers that are plainer or have lines or grids in their design.  October Afternoon often have "B sides" that are perfect for journalling.  I always ensure that I look at both sides of a piece of patterened paper as all too often one side will be a bold pattern that might not be to my liking.  In the 9 to 5 collection there is a wonderful piece of full ledger style paper.  I used the whole piece for the background to this layout so that I could incoperate a really long story down the whole of the layout.

Don't feel nervous about journalling, just start writing and get your stories down.  There are plently of options for everyone if you want to just include a few key facts or document a long story on yourr layouts!

I hope this blog post has given you some ideas on how to use October Afternoon products for your journalling!