Vacation album: pocket pages

A few days ago I wrote about a vacation from 2011 that I FINALLY scrapbooked and put in an album. That was the typical way of doing it for me. The next album I had to make was a weeklong-trip to Itasca State Park in Minnesota, not as lengthy as our typical vacations. as a result, I decided to try something new and do a pocket album. This is REALLY new for me--I've never done a whole pocket album--and here is the result:

I started by selecting my products, mostly The Great Outdoors Project Life set of cards, plus digging into my Camping bucket of supplies. The I selected the album, a 6x8 Daily Flash Album by October Afternoon. I went through the different pocket protectors to see the options, then planned the pages according to how many photos I had of each event. If I took a lot of photos, I used a page protector with more space. Here's a sketch of my planning:

And here's the album:

Like most vacation albums I make, my first page is a title page and table of content. Unlike most albums I make, my title was a photo of the State Park sign, and I handwrote the journaling, including the contents.

This album I did a little different from my usual album: I didn't use the same products for the title each time. Since Project Life cards are rounded, I tended to round the corners of what backed them and some of the photos, but not always. If there were odd shaped pockets, I tended to fit them with patterned paper from the same line From Pebbles called Lakeside, my favorite camping line ever.

Hiking was the big story, so I did a 4-page layout.

One thing I learned about these small photos: you need to pick something with a noticeable subject for them. I think I did this for the most part, but the prints turned out a little dark, so some shots are a bit harder to see than I would prefer.

One thing I learned: Measure the pockets! Not all are the exact size they seem. For example, the big photo sleeves are a bit bigger than 6x8. I sized all photos  (excepting 4x6's) on standard-sized templates using Photoshop Elements. I just had to do bigger than 6x8 for the big ones. I put those on an 8x10 print.

I like using dimensional accents on my pages, but I couldn't do that too much in this album. My embellishments served purposes on some of the photos: this tree crest, for example, covers garbage cans, and the label cluster on the previous photo covers a lady's bottom. Here's the rest of the pages:

Some of the smaller pockets I filled with patterned paper. Others I trimmed up Project Life cards and rounded the corners.

Again, my typical final page on the back cover, using an envelope to store maps and other memorabilia. I added a sticker on dimensional just because.

Thank you for coming back to see my more recent vacation album! I still have two vacations left to scrap, but I feel much better about finishing what I have left. I hope I gave you ideas from this project!