When creating a scrapbook layout, I think that the two most important elements are the pictures and the words. Possibly the most important of the two are the words. This journaling is what tells us why this moment was important enough to record on a layout. It tells us the details of the event or person in the layout. But, sometimes the journaling is a last minute thing that is just put onto the page to cover just the basic details. I suspect that most scrapbookers would enjoy spending a little more time on their journaling and would be pleased with the results.
Sometimes it is fun to actually start with the journaling for the layout and then build your page around the journaling.
I have recently come across a new blog called Journalers Junction where weekly journaling challenges are posted for scrapbookers. If you use the challenges on your site, you will write about, or at least think about, the journaling before you start your layout. If you are looking to add a little boost to your scrapbook layouts, this may be just the place you need to look to for some inspiration.
Each week a new journaling challenge is posted. They are really creative challenges that would make great layouts. They also post example layouts using each weekly challenge.
If you have an idea for a journaling challenge, you can contact them and they may feature your challenge in an upcoming week.
They also have a new word posted each day with a link to an online library. It would be fun to try and incorporate that new word into your layout. There is also a daily quote that is posted on the page.
I hope that you will be able to use the challenges on the site to help spark some new creativity and spice up your scrapbook layouts.