Travel Scrapping

ROME 2006

I know quite a few of you are scrapbookers. I only keep a travel scrapbook for Wille and I'm waaaaay behind. I'm hoping this post will inspire myself to add some pages from more recent trips than these.

I made my first travel scrapbook when I went to England for language classes when I was thirteen. 31 years ago. I know, I'm old. I kept all the receipts, tickets, candy wrappers etc and pasted them into a notebook. I don't have that scrapbook anymore but I still do the layouts with the same types of items and adding one or two photos to keep track of Wille's age.

CORFU 2004

I love using the local map as the general theme throughout. One) Because I love maps Two) Because they are such a big part of the trips. I either get duplicate maps while there or photo copy the one I have so I still have one map intact.

I also like adding the little things Wille likes to keep  from travels like the ice-cream spoons and fancy drinks decorations. Receipts are fun because they remind you of stuff you bought that you no longer have (like the PokemonWille bought on this trip but has now passed on to his little cousins). Also in the future it will be fun to look back at what things used to cost.

 

EGYPT 2003

Sometimes I add found shells and rocks to the layouts. They are a bit tricky to stick but I really like the way they look in there.

 

 

 

Local bottle caps and candy wrappers also give local flavor to the pages like the Mentos with Arabic print.

So I'm curious, do you or your family members bring this stuff home with you after trips and what do you do with it afterward?  I get rid of the stuff that doesn't fit in the scrapbook unless Wille really wants to hold on to it, then it goes into his memory box.

Comments

[Petra from the Netherlands]

I only keep the entrance tickets for musea and such, postcards I buy there if you're not allowed to take pictures, plus some local money.
I always intend to put those in a photo album, together with the pictures I took. But... I never get round to actually taking out my album, the glue and pictures and get started.
So... I'm now looking into digital scrapbooking. I prefer working on the computer to my own handywork. Haven't started anything yet, but I like to browse websites for nice lay-outs and ideas.
I really like your idea to use the map as a background. Just last night I was thinking of how to set up my book on Egypt (went there 10 years ago..!) and I was thinking of scanning those little maps you find in Lonely Planet books and add those as well. Still thinking about a general background though. I would like to have a border of some sort at the bottom of each page, to make the book look "cohesive".

Any tips on that?

[samarahuel]

I have a bunch of stuff like this from Italy, some treasures and letters from my husband's and my year of long-distance courtship, and more stuff from these 2 years of living in Germany, all just waiting to be made into scrapbooks. Could you give more information about what materials you use to make the scrapbooks, particularly what kind of book you use (I'm wondering how those thicker objects like shells and rocks will fit in a book) and what you use to adhere all the memories to the page? Thanks!

[samarahuel]

I thought of a tip for scrapbooking, not necessarily for travel scrapbooks, but if you have a child who participates in a lot of performances or anything where you get a program that you want(or feel obligated) to keep. I was sorting through a bunch of my husband's old band papers and he had one of these programs, but his brother had written comments on it about each part of the concert, which I thought made it really nice and interesting to keep. Sometimes it's hard to remember anything about the performance, but he had written notes like, "This song was excellent," "Liked this song. Ended the program with a bang!" "There's Sam! He looked nervous, but he did a great job," "There's Sam's friend Joe!" and it was really a nice thing to keep. He even wrote, "This is the part where I got bored, so I went to the library to study. This place had a nice library. Lots of guys with argyle sweaters, but nice." It makes it so much more entertaining to look at years later, for sure!

[susanne]

Åh vilka härliga reseminnen du gjort! Hinner aldrig med sånt längre. Har massor sparat som bara väller ut ur fotoskåpet när vi öppnar. Ska skaffa några fler timmar varje dygn sen ska jag också försöka mig på det där...
Ursnyggt!
Kram Susanne

[Icka]

Lovely! But tell me, how do you keep your scrapping pages? Are they loose? Mounted on canvas? Or do you keep them in an album, a book or a box?

[Jennifer]

You have created what was in my mind since I began my own little travels as a teenager! Thanks. I have always kept little souvenirs, like candy wrappers, tickets, shells, with the same intention of putting it all together in a scrapbook, but I didn't know how! I am really looking forward to your answers to the questions asked in the above comments such as: What scapbook binders you are using? How do you glue in the bulky items? Thank you as always for sharing your know how with us less "handy" folks!

[Benita ~ Chez Larsson]

That's how I use the maps. Maybe you could put a strip of the local map at the bottom?!

To: benita@chezlarsson.com

[Sandra Yeong]

I am same with almost most of the people comment up there, i kept things when go travel (oh.. this is great for scrapbooking.... this must be some funny cover page for my scrapbooking if i take this pic down...)BUT.... when I come back, it is so difficult to start, too many idea. And till now.. those memory still sitting quietly waiting their turn in shoe box, and it is quite a lot of them. And I always having problem, should i start the latest or should I start the first trip i ever go? maybe one day when I tidy up those shoe boxes, it will all go to "bin". He he

[Benita ~ Chez Larsson]

I use card stock for the pages themselves and put them in clear scrapbooking sleeves. I used to keeep them in a post bound scrapbook but I found it was awkward if I wanted to add a page or switch anything around. While I was in NYC in December I looked for a ring bound one instead but couldn't find a good one but when I got back I got a tip from a Swedish scrapper Lindzi who pointed me in the direction of a ring bound photo album which was originally for APS film but works well for scrap book pages. I have to re-punch the holes though.

For the shells I use adhesive double stick cushy pads. Stones I place in little bags which are double taped to the page. You should make sure everything is acid free if you want this to be a future heirloom.

To: benita@chezlarsson.com

[Benita ~ Chez Larsson]

I keep them in clear sleeves in a ring binder.

To: benita@chezlarsson.com

[Benita ~ Chez Larsson]

I love that!

To: benita@chezlarsson.com

[Marga]

I love reading your blog and enjoyed looking at your project very much! Would you be willing to add a picture of the album you mentioned? It seems that many posters had the same question for you! :-)

With so much volume in the pages they would be hard to handle. I will look up information on the photo binder you mention!

Thank you so much!

Marga

[Benita ~ Chez Larsson]

I've added this and this photo to my Flickr showing the album.

To: benita@chezlarsson.com

[Benita ~ Chez Larsson]

Oops, no links were posted. Here are the links for the Flickr photos of the albums:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chezlarsson/3398639243/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/chezlarsson/3399448812/

[Fiona]

I've found that by binding all the photos and ephemera together with Bind It All machine, junk style, I get a fun journal. I tape photos back to back and add comments with a sharpie or with Letraset letters. It makes for a fast and do-able project. I even plan the journal way before I travel, as I keep a daily notebook too. all fun stuff!

[Tant Grön]

Jamen det är ju precis så där jag vill göra efter varje resa men aldrig tar mig tiden till det. Jag har mängder med restaurangkvitton och diverse "skräp" som jag vill sätta ihop med foton i bok så där fint som du har gjort. Kanske någon dag, när barnen flyttat hemmifrån, hi, hi!

[wendysmedley]

Benita- great job, and many many scrapbookers collect memorbilia and use them in their projects. It is such a time capsule and signature of your travels. very stylish and simple pages!

[Helen X.]

Other than photos, I collect rocks, tickets and maps on my trips. For now, the rocks (from China, Canada and Europe) sit in boxes, with the exception of "floating rocks" I collected on the beach in Santorini on display in my bathroom. The maps and tickets (I have the same one from Colosseum =) I keep in a magazine box. The plan is to eventually arrange them into a book of some sort.... at this point, I'm thinking of taking digital copies and make a book (blurb.com) and making shadow boxes for the rocks.

[Jean]

These are lovely - they are exactly what I grew up thinking that a scrapbook should be. I don't scrapbook any of the extras from our travels - tickets, menus, trinkets - and on our most recent trip to Europe, we brought back very little {because I finally realized that the trinkets were simply sitting around the house as clutter}. However, I'm thinking of doing a page of London with a tube map and photos I took of various underground stations and family members waiting in the station or sitting on the train.

[christine]

I love to scrapbook. I don't do elobrate pages as some scrapbookers do. I put money, coins, tickets, postcards, photos etc in it. I put photo squares or glue dots for holding things in. In the US, we have amazing scrapbook stores!

[Erin Kleider]

It is my new thing to make travel scrapbooks. I've now made two of them. Both of theme took the form of altered books.

Two and half years ago we moved from Coastal California to Upstate New York and since then I have vowed to collect a wee tin of sand from every beach I visit. I miss the ocean very, very much. I got several specimens the last time I visited California. It makes me feel like I brought a little tiny bit of the beach home with me.

Erin :)

[kate]

I love this. I keep pretty much everything from trips but as yet I haven't done much with any of it, it's all just sitting in boxes waiting for me to decide. For our trip to Paris years ago I made a shadow box with museum tickets, receipts, metro passes, etc, which looks amazing but I couldn't fit all that much in it unfortunately. I've also started collecting sand from any beaches I visit and putting it in little vials which I plan to mount in a display box. I think your media book idea is where I should head next.

[Emily]

My mom was really organized with photo albums until my sister was born--and then the combination of going back to work, broken camera, baby...well, the albums stopped. When my sister got to be a little older, she started looking through the books and eventually asked my mom, "Was I a cute baby?" My mom was mortified and started getting back into putting photos in albums--starting with my sister's baby pictures, but then doing the most recent as they come and saving backlogged photos (now arranged in boxes by year) until the summer or when she has more time. Doing it little by little is motivating, I think, and makes the older photos/trips seem a bit less daunting.

Then again, now it's my turn to do something with all of the photos and mementos from my recent trips! Good thing I kept a journal to help jog my memory.

[Ali Edwards]

Love seeing these Benita :)

[from the right bank]

This is one of my favorite things to do. I used to keep everything from my travels and didn't want to cut them up or paste them but I've finally started to be okay with that.

[Rita]

Thank you for being a breath of fresh air! I stumbled on your blog and I'm so happy I did! When I first started scrapping I loved the LO's that used things related to the pictures and memories. Now it all seems so product focused and layered with numerous things. The pictures and memories are getting lost in the rubbish, but not with your LO's, they are beautiful, easy on the ey, and a pleasure to look at. I'm so seriously thrilled to see a true scrapbooker! Thank you for sharing your work online, you truly made me happy today. :)

[Misty]

I love what you've done with all of the travel memorabilia! I also collect a treasure trove of maps, postcards, drink coasters, restaurant menus, bottle caps, and ticket stubs while we are vacation. I strive to include it all in my travel scrapbooks b/c it really gives you a local flavor that regular travel-themed scrapping embellishments cannot mimic. Great job and thanks for sharing!

[tae]

Question about the receipts that you save and scrapbook: Have you found that your receipts fade very quickly? I made a scrapbook after going to Northern Ireland three summers ago, and some of the receipts that I pasted in are now almost completey faded out. It looks as if I put white pieces of paper into the book. Do you think the plastic sleeves could prevent this?

[Benita ~ Chez Larsson]

I think it depends more on the type of paper the receipt was printed on actually. We've had fading receipt paper problems at the company where I work. I would suggest photo copying receipts that are cash register receipts of that thin, slightly glossy variety if you want to use it for scrapping.

It's actually also a good idea to photo copy those kinds of receipts if they are at the same time proof of warranty.

[Grape]

You are awesome! I love the way you did ur travel scrapbook pages and ephemeras :)