Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Vacation album: traditional scrapbook

Last summer I took a course at Simple Scrapper dedicated to finishing projects. I got a lot done, but I'm still working on it. This past summer I finished a 2010 Disney vacation album, and this spring I finished my 2011 South Dakota album. Here it is:


I used an 8.5x11 post bound album, my traditional choice. Also my traditional choice: I used one line (October Afternoon's Sasparilla) and I used the same design throughout the album: one page with a couple photos, title, and journaling, the other with a photo collage I made in Photoshop Elements (to see how I do this, watch this video I made showing how to do this). Here are the interior pages:


I start with a title/table of contents page. I tend to type my journaling and content, print in the same color as the background paper, then trim out and distress the edges. I also tend to use a family photo on this page.



If I have a lot of photos, I don't narrow it down: I make a 4-page layout like I did here.

(On a side note, it was a grown-up DREAM of mine to visit all these Laura Ingalls Wilder sites on this trip. Every winter I reread The Long Winter. Mad props to my husband for scheduling the trip so that we could do this.)


(Sorry for the bad photography--the pages are double sided and were so chunky that they wouldn't lie flat, so when I cropped then, occasionally I had to include the background.)

You'll notice that I print the photo collage smaller than 8.5x11--I think it's about 7x9.5? That leaves a white border of 1/4" that I trim, and then I mount it on a piece of cardstock 1/4" wider all around. This leaves 1/4" all around of the background paper. The piece of cardstock varies throughout the album--here green and blue. 


I tend not to use stickers for the titles throughout because there are not enough E's in the universe. I tend to stamp or die cut. Here I used my Cameo to cut titles using the Wacamoler font. It's free! (Autocorrect, I was not searching for Guacamole font, thankyouverymuch.) Here's the rest of the pages:


You'll notice at this point that I alternate the title and journaling location on the left side, which is on top and which is on bottom. I also come up with about three combos of papers on the left side that I alternate to vary the album a bit. I always like one big strip next to a couple skinny strips.




(That mule photo on the left with my husband in the rear view miter might be my favorite vacation picture ever.)

At the end, I sometimes run out of the background yardstick like I did here. Since scrap stores are so few, and I don't want to buy one sheet online, I tend to use the scraps from the paper trimming I did earlier in the album to piece it together around, not under, the collage. I did this on the above page.


On the last page I usually use a couple photos that didn't make it onto the other pages. At least one will include family members from behind. For me that's a little symbolic, sort of looking back on vacation. I don't always journal this page, but sometimes I pick a quotation that fits our trip. I didn't do that here.


Facing the last page is something I always do: I trim the flap off a big envelope, attach it with Super Sticky Tape, then put maps, postcards, and other memorabilia from the trip. (On a side note, these albums from Archiver's were my favorite vacation albums. I wish I'd bought 10. Sigh.)

Thank you for checking out my album! I hope it gave you ideas. I also did another vacation album this summer, this time a little differently. I'll post it later this week. If it's as hot tomorrow as it was today, I will not be stepping outside much.

1 comment:

Lisa said...

Yes, another super holiday album. I like the standardisation that isn't obvious as I look through it but can see it when you point it out. Great holiday snaps!