If you are a fan of my Facebook page you already know that I am going on the trip of a lifetime to Israel. I only have a short time left before my husband and I board the plane to New York and on to Tel Aviv! We are going with a group from our church and I have been marking maps and learning history, locations, and topography. I hope I get college credit for all this work. 🙂
Now the question is, “How do I save those memories, keep track of the memorabilia and actually finish a scrapbook of this trip?” I am a ‘collector’ of stuff so I need a way to keep track of it all. Usually it just gets stuffed in my purse or the suitcase and eventually into a box or bag. I have to admit that I have ton of stuff from a trip to Scotland several years ago that is still in a bag. Receipts, funny food packages, hotel soap boxes and tons of other odd stuff manages to make it home with me. (I confess, I really am a collector.)
To suit the kind of traveler I am and to make sure I actually do record everything before I forget, I have decided to do a Collector’s Album. It goes by a lot of different names: Smash Book, Junk Journal, and Share Book to name a few. I have some things to decide:  What will my pages consist of? Will I make my own or buy one ready to go? How big should it be? Do I have a small one to take in my backpack and a bigger one back at the hotel?
Of course, I will definitely be making at least part of the book with my Inspiration. I already know there are lots of elements in the Craft Room Library that will be perfect for it. There are library pockets and file folders, cute envelopes and tags, and word bubbles too. In the meantime, I would love to hear from those of you who have done this before. Any tips or advice? Any favorite features like pockets, or journal pages that you prefer?
Keep tuned in, I will share my progress on this project. That will also keep me accountable!! LOL!!
~Chris
I look forward to your reports on your great adventure! The best thing I did on one of my favorite vacations was to write in my journal at the end of each day about everything everyone in our group did: where we went, what we did, what we ate, exciting events, etc. I placed all of the things I collected in my scrapbook tote. Of course everyone took lots of photos, which we shared before heading our separate ways. Once I got home, I printed out the journal entries. That was the biggest help in organizing my supplies. It is amazing how much we forget in between the time we took photos, and when we have a stack of pictures in our hands. My journal notes helped a great deal.
As I put together the scrapbook of this vacation, I cut up the journal entries, to add to the scrapbook pages. I put the journal entries, photos, titles, embellishments, memorabelia, titles, etc. in the top loading page protectors of my album. Putting the album together was quick and easy after that.
I am green with envy! I visited Jerusalem and Ashdod two years ago. I would go back in a heartbeat! Every day I placed my treasures and my notes (along with the date) in a zip lock bag. When I ran out of zip lock bags, I used grocery bags or whatever bag your purchases come in. The idea is: one day = one bag. Once I was home and printed the pictures, I divided them among the bags. That way, when I had the time or the inspiration, I scrapbooked one bag at a time. This way you don’t feel so overwhelmed.
Good luck and have fun!
Annette, I love the idea of having a ziplock bag for every day!! What a great way to keep each days events sorted. I definitely am going to do that! I will carry one in my backpack each day and stash the stuff I collect in there as I go along.
Julie, I will definitely try to journal every day. I love the idea of sharing photos among the group. Hopefully I can find another photo addict who will want to swap pics at the end of the journey.
I totally concur with the writing something every day. I did it for the first couple of days of my week-long trip to Disney World. The few days I was ‘too tired’ to do it are the days I have the least memories. I really regret not making myself take notes! It seems silly, but there are so many great little details. Get your travel mates to help. My travelling partner gave me plenty of great notes to add. I had my laptop with me so it was quite fast and easy to just use a document with bullet points and the date. Why I stopped doing it after the first few days, I will never know!
One thing I plan on doing is having some 3 x 5 white cards along with the names of the sites we are going to see. Then I will pull out each one and photograph it before I start taking pictures when at the location. That way I will be able to tell exactly what spot on our itinerary the pictures are from.
I know that I kept a small calendar with me or use your phone calendar to note when you went somewhere. Easy for timelines and really cute with a calendar page in your book. I always hated scrapping trips and forgetting what I did and when.
A fun memorabilia is to buy two of the same post cards from where you are at. Journal what you did that day and really mail it home to yourself. Keep one for the picture. On your scrapbook page you can adhere the journaling side up and the other with the picture side up. So cute.
My family went on a trip to Italy and Germany last May and we would record a conversation when we were on the train, talking about our favorite things we did, saw, ate, experienced. It’s so easy to just talk away and get everyone’s impressions. We recorded on an ipod touch, voice memo. Then listen to it and journal when you are back at home. I did create a huge 85 page photo album with Picaboo and journaled in it. The other thing that we did that was super fun was to create a secret or private Facebook group for our trip log. Every night that we had wifi (most nights), we would post some photos that we had taken with the ipod touch and we’d put a short comment about it. Our friends and family loved checking in each day to see what we were up to. We put a lot of food photos there, photos of the toilet facilities and other funny photos, that might not be scrapbook worthy. Have fun!
I have made several trips to Europe and for each one I made a travel journal. It consisted of paper bags (lunch size) placed one over the other going in opposite directions, folded in half lengthwise. Along the folded edge punch a few holes for either rings or ribbons just to hold it together. I numbered each section as day 1, day 2, etc. and wrote where I would be on that day on the outside of the pocket. All of my ticket stubs, postcards, pamphlets, etc. that I collected that day went into that pocket and before I went to bed I would journal enough of what happened that day to be able to complete my journaling in my actual scrapbook. On a few trips I even made one for my traveling companion and she really found it useful. I wouldn’t go anywhere without one now.
Ladies, these are fabulous ideas!! Thank you so much. 🙂
Judith Mott, do you have a picture or have you uploaded your project to the Albums area? Would love to see an example. infoseekrs@gmail.com