Photos and journaling should go hand-in-hand, but for most of us it is the cropping, matting, and decorating which we enjoy. Adding in the writing can sometimes prove difficult. It may be hard to think of what to say, or we may want our words to add to the photos but aren't quite sure how to do this.

One interesting solution is to use a few lines of verse or poetry for captions. For example, our "Family Zoo" page is hopefully humorous and cute, but if we only had the artwork, it might leave the person looking at the page wondering why the family members are depicted as animals. It's the verse which gives the explanation: our different personalities are what makes our family unique.

(Click pictures to enlarge.)

Pulling your page together. A cute explaining verse can tie your photos to each other. Our "Camera Shy" layout has three photos all taken at different times, each of children with crying or pouting expressions. Individually these pictures might be hard to place, but as a group they take on a theme. The journaling adds the final touch-it's the humorous explanation about why everyone looks unhappy.

Giving added meaning. Each page we put together holds its own mood, and a succinct verse can be used to enhance the feeling you want your page to have. For example, a love poem adds immensely to a wedding page, a verse about a baby combines with a picture to give a tender perspective, and a humorous piece of poetry may explain why your children just did what they did. This form of journaling can definitely bring more meaning to your page.

In this next example, our individual family photos of children, parents, and grandparents are given more meaning because they are centered around a poem about family heritage.

Used as filler. Sometimes we only have one or two pictures that simply go with no others. Poetic verse may combine with your photo and artwork to make a complete page. For example, here is a layout with a single photo of father and baby at the hospital. It has too small a picture to be alone on a page, despite the pretty paper; however, with a poem cut in the shape of a cloud and decorated with star punch-outs, it was easy to fill up the page.

From William Shakespeare to Elizabeth Barrett Browning, many poets have elegant sonnet verses that would go well on a wedding page. Or try adding in a scriptural verse, such as a psalm. Want something on the lighter side? Think about the many books of children's poetry available at your local library. Do you have some snapshots of a crabby child refusing to eat? Take a few lines from Dr. Seuss' Green Eggs and Ham.

There are several sites on the Internet that have poetry collections, though many of the poems are quite long. An option when using a longer poem is to choose one or two of the stanzas that would go well on your page and omit the rest.

One product line which might prove helpful is Scrapbook Poetry by Scrapoetry.com which has free packets, poetry, and contests. They offer poetry packets with verses arranged on topic pages for easy use. For instance, if you have a photo of your children playing in the sprinklers, you could look on the "Water Fun" page in their A Little Bit of Everything (Part I) packet. These products are reasonably priced, are downloaded to your computer, and can be found on their web site at: www.Scrapoetry.com

This Halloween page uses one of Scrapoetry's poems about costumes to tie the photos together and give the page an overall feeling of trick-or-treat at its best. It helps set the playful, colorful mood of the page and also encourage us to look more closely at the snapshots.

Once you start using poetry as a journaling tool, you will find that it adds to your pages by combining creative verse with creative picture layouts. Poetry can give either a subtle or an overt written explanation of what we are seeing, and can complete the tone of what you want your pages to say.

-Kate Myers