Many months ago, our friends Reel Big Fish announced that they would once again be playing Slam Dunk Festival in England. Having seen them all across North America many times these past 14 years, I couldn’t help but think it might be fun to see them across the pond, as well. Thankfully my good buddy DJ Wanda thought the same thing- and plans were made for a most epic vacation.
In preparing for our trip, I tried to plan out what scrapping materials I should bring. After all, one of the highlights of traveling is to make your travel album while on the road. For weeks I went through my stash, agonizing over what I could leave behind and what would survive the journey. I didn’t want to be completely weighed down by my stuff, but I wanted to have enough materials and variety to make something amazing.
The next step was to determine what size to make my book. I knew I wanted something big enough to hold more than one photo on a page, but something portable. I soon settled on a size and began trimming papers to scale.
However, as the days went on and I saw the stash just waiting to be made, I couldn’t help but start my album. Now, I would normally advise against this method, since you never quite know what you’ll experience… but this time it just made sense. Making the book helped me keep my excitement in check, and it was an interesting challenge to always keep in mind the fact that I had no idea if this would suit my needs- it left room for many blank pages and opportunities for journaling/additional embellishment.
The book wound up being a very welcome travel companion as it made me more conscious of gathering keepsakes and journaling as we went along. It was so much fun to put together!
So without further adieu, I bring you some of the first pages. Please keep in mind that this is a very, VERY thick book- I just kept adding to it and I couldn’t be happier about its bulk- but it has set peoples’ eyes a-widenin’ a time or two. There are also a lot of hidden journaling areas/pockets. Enjoy!
- Album cover – lots of scraps used on this one.
- I took a paper that I wasn’t really sure about and sprinkled it with white & yellow mist. Once I added the yellow houndstooth & tape details, it wasn’t so bad. I struggled with the journaling, though- I wish I had thought a bit more about the words before I started writing. Gotta love the Instax mini, though! And I love the look of the Hambly overlay behind the American Crafts cloud- definitely a good combo for future projects!
- When we landed at London Heathrow, we were given these landing cards to hand to the border agent. I thought it would make a lovely insert, so I grabbed an extra. Yes, I spray-painted my suitcase. I wanted to make sure that it didn’t look appealing to steal, as well as ensure that if someone did try to take it they would stand out like no other!
- I loved the color/design of the barf bag, so I swiped it. I added the scraps of a doily and another scalloped paper as well as a little washi tape and we were all set. There are some other keepsakes inside the bag – things I wanted to keep but didn’t feel the need to include in the design.
- This is the other side of the barf bag. I don’t like it as much as some of the other pages, but it was a quick way to add photos of our room and the ephemera that we got when we checked in.
- I wanted to make sure I left room for journaling the first day, so I included this lined kraft paper and left a lot of space in the middle for my account of the day. Washi tape provided some really great decorative details without being too overbearing. I had drawn a little box at the top right to remember to leave room for a photo, and added it after we got back to the states.
Come back soon for the next 5-6 pages, or you can sneak a peek in my photo gallery for the images without any explanations. Cheers!
