Using Your Handwriting to Document on Your Pages

Have you heard of the carnivorous plant called the Venus Fly Trap?  You may have even seen the Scooby-Doo episode with the plant!  Unlike the cartoon, the plant is very tiny and hard to find...you may even say it is illusive.

We visited Carolina Beach State Park one Saturday afternoon, and searched for it.  Carolina Beach State Park is one of the plant's natural habitats on the East Coast. We tracked through sand and floral lined trails for a couple of hours, keeping an eye out for the tiny plant.  We saw beautiful plants like the prickly pear cactus in bloom, the Sea Ox-eye, and the carnivorous pitcher plant, but not one Venus Fly Trap!

I wanted to document this memory so I reached for some DSP that coordinated with the greens and yellows from my pictures.  I used the beautiful Floral Delight and the Timeless Plaid DSPs as a border and accent pieces on my page.

I wanted floral images as embellishments, so I looked through my die stash and found several that would work! Hugs Abloom, Stylish Shapes, and Meadows dies were the sets I used, cutting images in Old Olive, Daffodil Delight and Basic White card stocks. 

I often use my computer to document on my pages, but once in a while, I will use my handwriting.  Everyone's handwriting is unique to them.  I have cards and letters from my dad, aunt and grandmother that I've kept and love to look at from time to time. Each one of their distinctive handwriting samples brings back different memories and feelings.  

I decided to document this layout from Carolina Beach Park in my own handwriting. I used a brown Stampin' Write marker to journal the title and story behind the pictures on a Basic White sheet of card stock.

 I hope that one day my family will look back at my handwriting on layouts and it will bring happy memories in their minds.

I tore a sheet of the Floral Delight DSP and the Pecan Pie Two Toned card stock at the same time to create a top and bottomed border.  Then I offset the brown beneath the floral pieces so that just about a quarter of an inch showed beneath the Floral Delight DSP.

Before adhering the papers down, I used the splatter stamp from the Elements of Text stamp set to stamp a random splatter background on the Old Olive card stock in Mossy Meadow ink.

I mounted my photos onto white card stock, then placed them on Timeless Plaid DSP to create a border around them. I also cut some photo corners from the Timeless Plaid to add as embellishments as well as my die cut pieces. 

Do you have a story to share through journaling? Be sure to use your own handwriting from time to time, even if you don't like it, because one day it will become part of the memories!