Journal Camp Dates

Before I get on with the Journal Camp announcement, a big happy birthday today, to our beloved Feline April Fool! Baggle is 14 years old today!

]Happy Birthday Baggle Buddy!

Announcement of Journal Camp dates

I am pleased to announce the dates for Journal Camp!

Journal Camp will be released every Tuesday starting May 4, 2010 and going for five weeks. There will be a pre-camp “meeting” posted Tuesday April 27 with suggestions for things you’ll want to have handy for the exercises at camp. The freebies start at the pre-camp meeting, so be sure to stop by! It’s my hope that after the five weeks, everyone who comes to Journal Camp will journal better and with more comfort.

There will be freebies, exercises, posting bonuses and random winners every week.



I want to clear up a couple of questions right off the bat.

There is absolutely no charge for Journal Camp.

I’m doing this because I love to journal! I get comments often on my scrapbook layouts about my journaling. Many times people say they wish the could journal like me. I’m not doing this so anyone can journal like me. I’m doing this so if you participate, you can learn to journal like a better YOU. That’s even better than doing it like me!

If you’re wondering what makes me qualified to be the Journal Camp counselor, I wrote the programs and taught Pubic Access classes in cable TV. Members of the community came in to learn how to produce community TV programs and I was the instructor. I wrote classes to make the process of learning studio equipment, editing and computer graphics easy to learn and get results. That’s for what I’m striving with Journal Camp. I want to be able to help anyone I’ve ever read in chat who says, “I can’t journal,” or “I hate journaling,” to be better and more comfortable in adding that important part of scrapbooking to their layouts.

Okay, the big question for those that aren’t regulars in my coffee shop on the Information Superhighway is probably: An extensive tutorial with freebies and prizes for FREE, what’s the catch?

No catch. This is just something about which I am passionate. Before Digitalegacies had the Designs on the end and it was the name I used as my scrapbook designer name, it was a small video company in Michigan. I created Musical Photobooks, slide shows set to music on DVD. I even did a Digital Greeting card, a regular card with a custom DVD inside. I’ve seen those advertised on TV by one of the big photo companies now. My business didn’t survive because the depression we’re in now started in the Detroit area, plagued by the mistakes of the auto industry, first. I gave back deposits on products people really wanted to buy because they got their hours cut or lost their jobs entirely. I met people at business showcases who loved the idea and had many events, gifts, reasons they would love to have one, but couldn’t afford what everyone said were very reasonable prices.

Talking with potential clients about why they wanted my products, it was often preserving their own past, their memories and their family. When things get rough, you really concentrate on what you DO have.

That’s what we do when we scrapbook. It’s focusing on what we have, cherishing it and preserving it. Journaling is such a big part of that. Adding the facts and little stories to the photos that make the picture complete. We’re preserving our heritage with scans of old photos and documenting our current day for the future. Remember, the photos we take today will one day be old photos and the books we create for things going on now will one day be heritage books!

So, it’s important to be able to create the best pages, including journaling. I could have written this class and pedaled it to sites that charge for scrapbooking classes. I could even charge for it on my own. But there are plenty of people who don’t have the disposable income to spend on a class to learn how to journal. I understand that. If it comes down to a choice between a class and a new kit so you can continue to scrap, or if right now you really only scrap with freebies and RAKs because you have other responsibilities for your funds, you shouldn’t be shut out of this and exercises that could make you even better in your hobby. When I had to maintain equipment and buy raw materials for my business, I couldn’t afford to give away free product. I spent about a week to write the Journal Camp tutorials. Any out-of-pocket expense is done. That would be extra coffee because I was writing Journal Camp instead of sponsored posts.

Journal Camp is intellectual property. It’s me sharing my gifts for teaching and journaling. I’m grateful for those gifts and they are priceless really, and so without price, it’s my gift to my fellow family history keepers and all of our future generations!

I will put the tip cup back up on the right side bar. If you really feel you want to leave something, I’m flattered and thank you! The prizes at Journal Camp are chosen by a random generator, so tips have no bearing on your eligibility for the weekly prizes. That’s all I’m going to say about the tip cup. It don’t expect it to have contents, but if it’s something that makes you feel good to do, again, thank you!



Here is the schedule for Journal Camp:

Week 1 – Simple Starter: Helper Journaling and Lists

Week 2 – Just a Little More: Simple and Embellished Captioning

Week 3 – What Really Happened: Making Journal Blocks

Week 4 – A Little Bit of YOU: Journaling Feelings and First Person

Week 5 – Journaling Without A Net: Scrapping Without Photos

June 7 – Final prize drawing and Bonuses*

*As a special bonus, I’m bundling my best-sellers at Scarp Bird: My Blue Heaven, Talkin Baseball and the complete Laura Collection. That bonus bundle will be sent to everyone who leaves a link to their layout for the exercise for all five weeks. If you miss a deadline for the random drawing one week, you can still post a link for that week’s layout to qualify for the program bonus, so even if you start late, you can still catch up!