Wednesday 20 May 2015

That Year: Scrapbooking a List Holiday Style

I'm loving a list (or two or maybe three) today. Because even though I'm a firm believer in the power of words on a scrapbook page, I'm still quite sure they don't have to be grand ones..

From High in the Sky; Scrapbooking in a List for Get It Scrapped

..there are no prizes for literary composition when scrapbooking. But if someone finds your album on a shelf, reaches up a hand and pulls it out, maybe even blows the dust away before cracking it open, think: what would you wish she might find? Something she didn't know already. News,, history, facts. You can provide all of that with a list. Doesn't have to be fancy, doesn't have to be long: a list will still pack a punch because lists give good gossip. They can offer rich detail, quickly.

That's why my holiday notebook every year (and actually it is the same notebook, every year for the past four. It's a fat one)usually holds lists and very little else.

When Get It Scrapped asked for a layout with a list I knew where to turn, straight to the red hardbacked two-in-a-pack-from-Tescos notebook I pull out of my rucksack every night while I'm away. My lists aren't startlingly original, I haven't spent hours creating curious titles. They are simple, basic, because it's in that stripped back simplicity that we can find how should I put it? - that we can find the way it happened. The picture of how we were living at any given moment, any day we care to choose. That's why I write What I Wore, What I Read, What I Ate, What I Watched. Brought together, they start to build a bigger picture.

And it's a bigger picture with options. Each one of these lists on its own could have been turned into page: together, there's the basis of an album, right there. Between the pages about the places we see, I like to add the pages which remind us who we were, when we were there.


There are plenty more ideas for ways to use lists in scrapbooking over at Get It Scrapped

28 comments:

Lizzy Hill said...

Fabulous! I adore a list. We just saw Jack Reacher on TV this year [yeah, we're hiding under a bush!!!]..... I think this is brill......especially for 'future generations'....& those THICKERS ARE SUCH FAVES I wanna steal 'em off your page cyber-ly.....and sparkling delish 2013 numbers. Perfect!!!

This West London Life said...

I've never really included lists on a scrapbook page ... maybe I should start?

scrappyjacky said...

I'm addicted to lists....yet rarely use them on a page......I probably should.
Love your page.

Cheri said...

I've done a few pages with lists, but I can think of plenty more that would make for interesting reading!

Anonymous said...

Oh, Sian...so many things to love...the LO (perfection!), the fact you have a holiday notebook (my Dad always kept one; its a precious *treasure*), your writing....that background paper (what is it? I have fallen in scrappy-love with it!)?!

Ladkyis said...

Holiday journals and notebooks are something I have done since I was a child. Lots have been lost or destroyed by jealous first husband but enough remain and the scrapbooks made from them are still around because they were with my parents. I think that one day they will go to the county archive as the life of an ordinary citizen

Jennifer Shaw said...

A great page. Lists are the best!

KraftyKaren said...

I'm a listaholic but can only think of two layouts in 11 years when I have used them for my journalling. Great layout and a fab way of summing up what was going on for you that year

Karen said...

I started keeping a travel journal several years ago. I think the idea of lists is a great one. I'm starting a new one this summer on our "big" trip, so it's perfect timing.

Melissa said...

I love lists, but I've really not used them in my travel journals so much. . . but I'm going to try it starting tomorrow! :)

Julia said...

Such a great idea - I love lists for every day life but like others have not really used them in my journalling. Time to change that! Love your page x

Sian said...

Thank you :) The background paper is from MME's On Trend collection

Sian said...

Maybe someone will make a film from them, like the Victoria Wood one about the Mass Observation Project

Ali said...

I'm a bit of a list addict - this is a great :-) (p.s. thanks for visiting my blog xxx)

Barbara Eads said...

I couldn't agree more! That's why, this year for "A Year of Memories"---we're making a book of lists. A list is an easy way to capture the basics and whatever else you choose to include. With as many scrapbooks as I have, I dream that they will wind up on a dusty old shelf somewhere in the future---just waiting to be "cracked!"

Fiona@Staring at the Sea said...

That's an interesting approach to a page. Gotta love a list.

Maria Ontiveros said...

This makes me want to go add journaling to those "UFO" or "unfinished object" pages. Not lots and lots but a few every year.
Rinda

Missus Wookie said...

I love lists and find them useful to add to a 'non specific' photo - going to scrapbook this weekend and will add a page with a list to my inspiration :)

alexa said...

Just beautifully put together, Sian! Such a joy to let the eye wander over your colour choices, placing and texture, and that's before enjoying the rich economy of the lists. Lovely, lovely, lovely ...

Unknown said...

Yes, I love this idea and though I would love to think my kids will want my albums, I would be happy for them to go to the local archive. Imagine what someone would think 100, or 200 years from now. We adore our Tom's diary, my great great....something grandad who wrote a diary 200 years ago.

Unknown said...

Great page and I LOVE this idea #totallystealingit!!! I am glad you have a 'basic' notebook and a 'basic' list. What a simple starting point!

Susanne said...

Oh I need to do more list scrapping - it really does tell a bigger story. Lovely page.

JO SOWERBY said...

Ah yes, visiting Moomin shops. The highpoint of any trip to Moomin land. Now what are Twizzlers? I imagine some kind of sweety. I love how you've added so much information into your page, I keep diaries of all my big trips, which I haven't finished scrapbooking yet. I find it fascinating going back over what I did and it is always a lovely way to then be able to write down my memories when I get to the sticking and journalling. I really like the gold journalling paper as the background, very sparkly
Jo xxxx

Lou said...

Such a great page Sian. I used lists a lot in my florida album. it's a great way of getting a lot of information onto a layout.

Jo said...

I love lists but I've never thought of using them on a layout, I will now though!

Susan said...

I am an obsessive list-keeper and they often make their way on to my pages. They're a quick and easy way to pack a lot of information on to a small space. Love your page and all the fun details you chose to records (especially the food part!).

Curlywiggles said...

Hi Sian, thanks for stopping by my blog. I did stop blogging for around 2 years, but missed it and picked up again a couple times a month. I think I'd do it more often if it wasn't for the faff of photographing and editing my layouts, such a time suck! I've enjoyed seeing your articles in jot magazine, go you! Love this layout, the design and the journalling, it's good to get this stuff documented it's the kind of stuff you tend to forget over time.

Gail said...

The page looks great Sian (and I recognize that place). Love the idea of what you write down in your travel journal. I always start out well but it quickly disappears from thought - probably because I go into too much detail. Shorter lists are probably the way to go.

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