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1. National Adopt a Cat Month - You don't have to own one to love 'em. My son's favorite is Garfield. I find myself taking photos of local cats wherever I go because a relaxed cat always seems so homey. Whether it's your cat or a friends or a cat that's taken your fancy, drop a coin in the Cat Rescue fund container at your local pet store this month.

• Journaling Idea: What cats have you known and loved? My mother had a cat as a child that she called Kiki. As a consequence, that's probably my favorite cat moniker. My husband's boyhood cat was called Tom. My good friend in college had a pure white cat called Socrates. Write about the cats who've wandered across your path.
• Page Idea: Put all your cat photos on one page and create a cat omnibus page. Or create a paper piecing of your ideal cat. Mine was Seymore Kitty (Get it? See More Kitty?). He was a grey-striped tiger with white boots, a white stripe along his nose and a big white "bib." He had the sweetest pink nose. Oh, how I loved him!
• Photo Idea: Photograph the "cool cats" in your life. Might even be your kids in sunglasses!

2. Block parties/ Street parties - June 2 is the official start of the Queen's Golden Jubilee. To celebrate, all of England gets June 3 off work, and there are all sorts of festivities. But you don't have to live on this green, green island to have a block party. When I was growing up in
Vincennes, Indiana, we neighborhood kids created our own block party. We cut holes in shoeboxes, lined the boxes with tinfoil, and put a lit votive in the boxes. Then we dragged the lit shoeboxes by a string along the sidewalk after dark. I loved the spooky glow of the wavering candlelight.

• Page Idea: Plan a block/street party with your neighbors. Make a map of the neighborhood. Mark each home, list each family and their pets. (Sometimes I know peoples' dogs by name 'cause they call them, but I don't know the owners.)
• Journaling Idea: What is it like to live on your block? What are the good points and the bad?
• Photo Idea: Once in a while, you can find an aerial photo of your neighborhood. You might ask your local developer or city hall. An aerial photo is a great way to show the relationship of houses to each other.

3. Father's Day is June 16 - Here's a thought. Remember the charming children's book Are You My Mother? Why not create a page for the dads in your life modeled after the book? In the book, a baby bird falls out of the nest and goes looking for his mother. He asks everyone, including a steam shovel, if they are his mother. Obviously, this book was published before the days of DNA paternity testing.

• Photo Idea: Photograph the dads in your world and their offspring.
• Page Idea: Put the photos of the children in your world and their dads on opposite sides of the page. For your page title write "Who Is My Daddy?" Put flaps over the photos of the dads. And on the outside of the flaps, write a description of that dad. For example: He's 6' tall with red hair, and he loves to root for the Bears. On the inside of the flap, you can connect the father and his children with words (It's Uncle Mike. He's Renee's daddy!) or a photo of both kids and father.

4. On this day, June 22-Doughnuts/donuts were invented in 1847 - When I get back to the States, I'm heading straight for Krispy Kreme. Oh, boy, I can hardly wait!

• Photo Idea: Photograph your family and/or friends and/or co-workers eating donuts. Photograph the inside of a BIG box of donuts. Photograph the outside of your favorite donut vendor.
• Page Idea: In a circle in the center of the page, list people and their fav donut flavors.
• Journaling Idea: When, where and why do you buy donuts? We used to buy them for the staff of our son's school. Yum, yum. There was also a Krispy Kreme on the way to one of my favorite scrapbooking stores. You can bet, I never missed that turn.

5. Block parties/ Street parties - June 2 is the official start of the Queen's Golden Jubilee. To celebrate, all of England gets June 3 off work, and there are all sorts of festivities. But you don't have to live on this green, green island to have a block party. When I was growing up in Vincennes, Indiana, we neighborhood kids created our own block party. We cut holes in shoeboxes, lined the boxes with tinfoil, and put a lit votive in the boxes. Then we dragged the lit shoeboxes by a string along the sidewalk after dark. I loved the spooky glow of the wavering candlelight.

• Page Idea: Plan a block/street party with your neighbors. Make a map of the neighborhood. Mark each home, list each family and their pets. (Sometimes I know peoples' dogs by name 'cause they call them, but I don't know the owners.)
• Journaling Idea: What is it like to live on your block? What are the good points and the bad?
• Photo Idea: Once in a while, you can find an aerial photo of your neighborhood. You might ask your local developer or city hall. An aerial photo is a great way to show the relationship of houses to each other.

Hip Tip:

Lettering too small? If your computer-printed or template traced lettering is still too small for your page title, make an enlarged copy of the printed/traced lettering on your copier. Use acid-free, archival paper. If you want the lettering in color, or in a certain position, you can also trace your enlarged lettering on a light box.

--Joanna

Joanna's new book Adventures in Journaling is available in stores now! Look for it at your local scrapbook retailer or at my-memories.net.