DIY Journaling Spots

I am a firm believer in journaling on my pages, in my own (atrocious) handwriting. I have a few things from my grandparents in their handwriting that I just treasure now that they're no longer with us, and while it's a morbid thought, I want my family to feel the same way about my scrapbooks. When you see someone's handwriting, you get the sense of their presence and can almost imagine them writing the notes or recipes that they did.

CTMH has some wonderful journaling spots which I love that coordinate with the Lucky and Sophia lines, but they don't always coordinate with every paper pack I'm using. I may occasionally create my own journaling spot in the midst of creating a layout, though more often than not I'll just journal on the cardstock without doing so. But the journaling spots really finish a layout, don't they? And I think they force you to take a few moments to reflect on the feelings of the day and to relive the memories.

A few months ago I was in search of a make and take that would be simple but creative to do at a crop. My friend Connie over at Scraps & Stories suggested a journaling spot and it was beautiful!

Since then I've made a few of my own when I needed them but what I wanted to do was to take some time and make up a huge batch at once. That's what I did this week at our regular Tuesday night scrap. I cut small pieces of paper in varying sizes out of white, ivory, and kraft cardstock; used an assortment of journaling stamps; I rounded corners and used a Sizzix and a few dies. I sponged the edges with the foam tool and Chocolate ink from my distressing kit, I stamped flourishes and backgrounds in a few of my favorite colors just for accents. When I use them, I'll add extra embellishments to coordinate with the layout but the result is a huge stack of journaling spots, ready to go.

So the next time you're in a rut, maybe not inspired to scrap but you want to do something crafty, make up a batch of journaling spots and keep them in your embellishment bag so you can grab one and adhere it right into your layout.