Travel Journals/Scrapbooks

If you read my blog regularly (or at least when I post something) you know that we travel a bit since we have been fortunate enough to live in Germany for the past few years.  When we first started taking amazing trips I would take tons of pictures, save a few bits of ephemera, and print a bunch of photos a few times a year.  97% of those photos are still sitting in their orange packaging and I have bags of ephemera sitting around waiting to be used or recycled!  That is such a terrible thing for me since I want to be able to easily look back at a trip and re-live it for a few minutes.  I am swimming in a sea of travel photo guilt!

Last April Ali Edwards added an online, self paced class called “Scrapbook on the Road” and it has forever changed the way I document our vacations!  Honestly, it is the best online class I have taken because I have applied the concept several times since I have taken the class and it was only $14.  The concept is simple and requires a little bit of pre-planning before you leave as you get the guts of the travel journal put together before you leave. 

I put my first travel journal together in record time before we left for a week long trip to Belgium, The Netherlands and a quick stop in Frankfurt and remembered Ali’s advice and guidance as we went along.  I took the time to document our adventures every day and enjoyed doing so as we all settled into our hotel room for the night.  I took tons of photos.  I saved our story.  When I came home I simply needed to upload my photos and print them to add to the journal.  This process, for the very first time, made me excited to tackle all the photos we had taken and finally complete our story!  Of course not every photo I print makes it into the travel journal but I have a plan for the leftovers.

This is a pile of stuff I had collected and was sorting through in our hotel room and below is part of the finished spread as it continues on to the other pages.

I have made all of the albums 6x8 inches and it is a great size for me.  It leaves room to add 5x7 collages or 2 4x6 prints on a single page. I am currently putting together the journal for our trip to Barcelona.

I don’t make a journal for every trip since we often just sneak away for a weekend but I still need a place to save some of our memories so I picked up the International Smash Folio.  I love this, too!  It is so much fun gluing things down and just making some quick and simple notes about our day, random things we saw or things that I love!  I will probably add a few wallet sized photos in here but don’t see this becoming a project for lots of photos but mostly just a place for random observations and ephemera.

Since I have solutions for current trips I still have to tackle the older photos sitting in a box.  I have been thinking of purchasing some of Becky Higgins’ Project Life products for a few months so I could quickly get the photos organized and out of boxes.  I finally took the plunge and ordered the Clementine Core Kit.  Of course, I was a little late to the game and I am currently waiting for the divided page protectors to come back in stock so I can begin this project.  I am looking forward finally getting our story told!

This post just ended up being much longer than I planned!  I have so much to say about this topic though since I have struggled with scrapbooking our travel photos because I have always felt overwhelmed.  I do believe photos need to be printed and shared.  I am glad that I have been printing as we go along rather than waiting for a reason to print them.  I just want to get it all under control before we move back to the United States.

What type of photos do you struggle with?  How do you document  your travels?  I would love to hear from you.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Scrapbook on the Road Class Review

We just returned from one week vacation through Belgium, Holland and Germany.  In preparation for our trip I decided to sign up for Ali Edwards' Scrapbook on the Road online workshop and I am so very happy that I did. 

I always struggle with scrapping our trips because we take so many (not trying to brag, so please don't take it that way).  Since we have been stationed in Germany and are only here for a few years we try to travel as much as possible on long weekends and when JG can take leave.  We know that we will not be able to travel so extensively in Europe once we head back to the USA.  Anyways, I read the class description and decided that this may very well be the best way for me to get our vacation photos into a scrapbook.  The idea is similar to Ali's December Daily album as you create the foundation pages before you begin your trip.

First I listened to the keynote video and I was so inspired to finally document our trips as we are traveling and not trying to remember the details and feelings months (or more likely years) later.  I loved Ali's ideas for saving the pieces of memorabilia that is collected along the way and immediately incorporating them into your book.  I have ziplock bags full of bits and pieces of our trips and it is just sitting on the shelf waiting for me to use it and I know I probably never will. 

Second, I began putting together my foundation pages using supplies I had on hand.  I love projects in which I don't have to purchase a single thing!  I was able to put my pages together quickly and loved the creative process.  Ali shares a few techniques and I was excited to give them a go.  I decided I wanted my album to be 6x8 inches and created my cover using pieces of chipboard I had on hand.  Then I cut my pages to fit.

The cover of my scrapbook

The third part comes while you are actually on vacation....you document your trip and add your bits of memorabilia to your album.  I was hopeful that I would remember actually take the time to document at the end of the day and I found out that I was actually excited to write down my experiences. 
The final step is to add your photos but I haven't had a chance to upload and order our prints yet.  I can't wait to select my favorite pictures and add them into my album. 

The class was $14 and I consider it to be money well spent!  I was on such a roll making foundation pages that I made too many and now have them to add to my next book.  I am looking forward to using this process for all of our future trips and am so relieved to finally get our vacation photos off the computer and into an album.