Techneek of the Week - Scrapbooking "On the Go"

This week's technique is inspired by an upcoming class...Altered Art runs August 4th (that's a holiday!) in the afternoon and we are making an altered pizza box and journal to store all of your VACATION MEMORIES. Today, I am going to show you how to create and "ON-THE-GO" scrapbook to take with you when you go on vacation, or to the lake, or wherever. With a minimal amount of supplies you can combine your travel journal with a mini album and after adding some photos when you get home, you have a COMPLETED PROJECT dedicated to your trip. And this makes it easier to do full pages after the fact because you have all your info in one place.



Pictured below are a couple of "on-the-go" scrapbooks that I have completed on past trips. Last year the fam and I went to Kelowna for a week (mmm...beach) and this spring we went to sunny Southern California with my in-laws to watch my brother-in-law compete in his first marathon. Even though these were two totally different trips with different amounts of free-time (aka scrapbooking time!) I was still able to create something that I enjoy and will keep forever and ever!

The top one is a 7 Gypsies mini album that I bought here at the store. It has nice neutral ivory cardstock pages and tabs along the top. The chipboard cover allows for more decoration (if you choose) when you get home. I didn't do anything to either of my journals before I left. Better to have something simple that can pack away nicely and then leave the fancy stuff for when you get home. I am planning on leaving this guy plain on the outside, aside from the rad 7 Gypsies knob!


The second journal is actually an artist's sketchbook I bought at and art supply store. It is still a nice sturdy coil-bond notebook and since it is meant for sketching, the paper inside is heavy-weight enough to allow me to glue and staple brochures and tickets to it without losing it's integrity.

Remember, when choosing a notebook/mini-album to take along you should look for something small enough to fit comfotably in your luggage or purse, but substantial enough to allow for you add things and write all that you want to write. You might want to pick one with more pages if you are going for a long trip (week plus), or if you want to add more photos when you get home.

As you can see, I did a lot of journaling...essentially documenting the trip as I went. Each evening (and sometimes during longer car trips!) I would dedicate some time to journaling about the day and adding some "found items" as I went along. I kept any maps, tickets, tourist brochures that I picked up during the day and cut and pasted what would fit in my journal. I always find it so hard to incorporate these things into my scrapbook layouts after the fact, and instead of just sticking them in a page protector at the back of my album, this is a nice way to display them. They also add a little extra decoration to your pages, so you don't have to bring as many supplies!

I purposely left space in my journal to add photos when I got home. I even wrote in the space which photos I wanted there. For example, in my Kelowna book I would journal along part of the page and leave the rest for photos...which works because my book is large enough. For my California journal, which has smaller pages, I left entire pages blank so I would have room to add lots of photos.

And this, my friend's, is all that I took with me! Pens, adhesive (glue stick or stapler work great!) and scissors (don't take on the plane!) are essential. Stamps are a nice addition, as you can pack a couple of shapes, an acrylic block and some ink pads and really get some "bang for your buck." Stars are pictured here, but labels, swirls, numbers, etc. would also do really nicely. I took 7 Gypsies labels with me to Kelowna and Scenic Route lady and gentleman with me to California. And if you bring coloured ink pads instead of just black, you get some added colour as well! I also like to take some simple label stickers (the ones pictured are Prima), in a sheet that I can cut to fit. All of these guys fit in my handy-dandy Spongebob Squarepants pencil case, along with my journal and I can pack that along with me on the road or the plane and it's at-hand whenever I have the inkling to create!

And here are some examples of things we carry that would be great to bring along, if you want some extra things to embellish as you go! But remember, you don't want to bring too much stuff and get overwhelmed. This is meant to be a simple, portable project, something that can be added to once you get home from your trip. So maybe if you really want to get creative with this book, leave more space to add these rad travel embellishments when you get home and add your photos.

Supplies pictured (clockwise from top left): Lil Davis chipboard titles; Scenic Route chipboard; Love Elsie epoxy stickers and chipboard stickers from her Forrest line; Making Memories cardstock stickers from the Passport line

[NOTE: Since Blogger is being uncooperative and not loading the rest of my photos (!!) I wil leave the post at this...for now. I have some other product ideas for you, and will try and post later today.]

I hope you enjoyed this installment of Techneek of the Week! I am currently working on getting all the August class demos done and will hopefully have something to show for it next week! So keep checking back for more ideas and Sneak Peeks for upcoming classes!