Quirks and quotes: an authentic way to tell a story

Some of my favorite scrapbook pages or projects are those documenting both the things that my subjects say, verbatim, or the quirky things they do that make them unique.

I featured one of my favorite albums in my 2nd book, called "Things You Say," a collection of random quotes from my then 6-year-old walking quote machine, Coleman.

Here's a sample spread from that album (click on it to see it larger in a new window):

Quoting your scrapbook subjects is such an authentic and simple way to truly capture a bit of who they are, and it takes no more writing skill that the ability to report what you hear, and give it a bit of context.

To that end, I designed a new set of StoryGuide templates (both in 8.5 x 11 and 12 x 12) to help capture quotes, as well as quirks.

The template includes a journaling block for quotes, as well as one for quirks. I made an updated Cole layout over the weekend.

SUPPLIES: StoryGuide 3a (Cathy Zielske) • Olan Solids (Michelle Martin) • Krafty Ledger Paper Pack (Katie Pertiet) • Distressed Edges No. 9 (Anna Aspnes) • Avenir Font

Next, inspired by the question I asked on last Friday's sponsor giveaway (When was the last time you did a page just about you?) I decided to do a quotes and quirks page about yours truly.

On this layout, I created a hybrid version by turning off layers, resizing text blocks and then assembling it all on my dining room table. (Click on the photo to see it larger in a new window.)

I dipped into my ancient stash of patterned papers for a little swatch of Basic Grey, and I believe those little asterisks are from an equally ancient American Crafts alpha set.

There are a lot of you who do pages about yourself on a regular basis. That makes me all kinds of happy.

However, according to the comments left over the weekend, there are a great many more of you who do not or have not in a painfully long time.

If any of you have read my books or this blog over the years, you know I'm a staunch advocate of documenting the scrapbooker. Yes, all those stories you tell about all those people you love are important, but if you neglect to scrap the main story teller, you're doing a disservice to the craft. I mean it. I really do. This is me, on a scrapbooking soap box. Hear me roar.

Here's a look at my two print outs: one on white cardstock; one on photo paper.

I simply trimmed and adhered the photos and title to the background cardstock.

Here's a scan of my page, written in a second person voice, for those who like to read:

You could do this. You could write about yourself in the second person. There's like zero weirdnes with that. Zero. No, really… zilch.

I'd like you to at least consider the possibilities here.

For the love of repositionable adhesive, you have got to take a page or two and tell people something about yourself. And I don't want to hear the old, "But I'm so…boring…" or the classic cop out of, "I hate pictures of myself."

I've created a 4-page PDF downloadable handout to walk you through the steps of creating this layout. You now have zero weirdness and zero excuses.

Download CZ_HybridHowTo (file is 1.3 mb in size.)

Note: in my step by step, it shows how to drag guides out from the Ruler Bar in PSE 8.0. If you have an earlier version of PSE, you'll simply have to eyeball the repositioning of the small titles and journaling blocks.

My message for you this Monday? Keep your ears tuned to the things people say and the quirky things that only they do. Then be a savvy journalist scrapbooker and document away.

It's so much meatier than any "a good time was had by all" page ever will be. I can pretty much guarantee you that.

Oh yeah, and include yourself in the mix once in a blue moon, deal?

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Find the 8.5 x 11 StoryGuide3a here, and the 12 x 12 version here. Questions or comments? Post them and I'll do my best to answer.