be AUDacious: guest blogger: Laura Kurz

February 24, 2010

guest blogger: Laura Kurz

I don't really remember when I first came across Laura's work; it must've been shortly after I discovered 2Ps (that's where most of my scrapbooking crushes started). Laura is another scrapper with an impeccable sense of design; she's queen of the minimalist layout, but with a unique flair that makes me instantly recognize her work. I particularly love the way she scrapbooks travel and heritage photos, and the interesting ways she incorporates titles and journaling into her overall design. When I found out that Laura is working on her Master's degree in Nonfiction Writing, I asked her to share some tips she's gleaned not just from her own journaling experience but also from the memoirs she's studied for her coursework.

1. If you are having trouble writing, use a writing prompt. Try to remember your first memory. Remember a time you were scared. One I had my last semester was to write about an altercation/argument I had witnessed. You don't think about writing about this kind of stuff until prompted! I just googled and found this website: http://www.creativewritingprompts.com/# - they have a lot of great prompts (some are for writing fiction - check out the ones for non-fiction).

2. Ask questions of your family and friends. I am constantly e-mailing my mom and dad asking them to remind me about something about our family or my childhood. I have a really, really bad memory and rely a lot on my mom's excellent memory. (Audrey's note: These emails have resulted in some of my favorite posts on Laura's blog -- I love looking at pictures of her from high school or college and reading the stories that go along with them.)

3. Use photos as a prompt. For my 365-day blog, a lot of the things I wrote about people came to me by looking at pictures of a time when these people were part of my life.

Here are some of my favorite layouts by Laura.

Laura lives in an old house in an old neighborhood of Baltimore with her husband, Ken, son, Charlie, and golden retriever, Charmer the dog. She will finish her master’s in writing from Johns Hopkins University in 2010.She is a member of the Creating Keepsakes Hall of Fame, a Garden Girl at Two Peas in a Bucket, and was recently named a new addition to Studio Calico's design team.

Feb 24, 2010 6:00:00 AM | guest bloggers, inspiration, journaling, scrapbooking