If you are like me, you'd much rather type than write. I have never really liked my handwriting and I'm not fond of my printing either.

However our handwriting is a part of us. And if we are creating a scrapbook either for ourselves or for someone else, it's nice to include something written by us, sharing that part of ourselves with the recipient of our scrapbook.

I have discovered a few ways to write and/or journal without pages of writing we don't care for.

The first technique is called 'hidden journaling'. This involves writing but then 'hiding' what you write. Most craft stores sell small inserts for scrapbooks. These inserts resemble a page protector, but are usually half the size. You can write to your hearts content and then tuck it away inside the insert. This way, the journaling/writing is included, but it's not what our eyes focus on when looking at a page.

The next technique for including your writing is to write in the front of the book either the theme for the book, or who the book is to, or even the date/year the book was created. This again, shows your writing style for that time in your life without having your writing all over the scrapbook pages.

The final technique for including your bad handwriting' is to be very selective and only add a letter or number here or there. For example, if you are making an album in chronological order, consider writing the year on some of the pages. Or if your album is of various people, consider writing just one letter, the first letter of the persons name on that page.

Try these techniques to incorporate your handwriting into your scrapbook albums.