Jet Setting Trends

From the LM Archives

Jet Setting Trends By: Sonya Shaw, Design Team Member
With winter fading slowly behind us and spring finally approaching us, 'tis the upcoming season for traveling, fun in the sun, and of course, who can forget -- the photo opportunities! Whether you have big plans for spring break or have a fabulous summer getaway planned, this month’s features are full of tips and helpful articles to help you along the way. If you're like me, while on vacation I tend to pick up every little ticket stub, brochure and other misc. memorabilia. Stacks upon stacks of it can accumulate, and often we are posed with the dilemma of how to keep track of and store all of this fabulous memorabilia that we have collected from vacations. It can be an overwhelming process, but don’t let it overwhelm you! Be prepared in advance and have fun scrapping those memories once you get home and have settled back in. One tip I have for saving memorabilia is to use big manila envelopes or big zip baggies (like the ones LM puts our orders in). If you are visiting more than one place or city, you might find it’s better to use more than one envelope. I have done this for years, and not only are they easy to just throw stuff into to keep it all together, but they fit perfectly inside your suitcase’s lid pocket. In an ideal, organized world, we all might bring with us small note cards or a notepad to jot things down while still on vacation. If you can, stick a few note cards into the manila envelope in advance to jot events and moments each evening, that way you won’t have to spend so much time when you get home remembering all those moments. If you weren't able to steal a few minutes to yourself while on your trip - then once home, take 10 minutes and jot down a timeline, including all the places you visited, dates, etc. while it’s still fresh in your memory, and don’t forget to include any other special memories from that place as well -- things said or done that you don’t want to forget -- and place it into your envelope or baggie along with the memorabilia. This will save you so much time once you get your photos printed. Then breathing easy, you can sit down, envelope in hand, pull the timeline out, arrange the memorabilia to match the coordinating photos, and you are ready to go! Now that you have all of your memorabilia, timeline and photos together, the only thing left to do is to figure out how to incorporate all of this information into your albums. For some this can be very intimidating, what do you do when you have hundreds of photos but you want to make sure they all make it into the album? Here are a few tips to help you create layouts quickly and easily. My first tip is to try to squeeze as many photos as you can onto a page. If you want to journal make sure to leave a space for journaling or incorporating some of the memorabilia. Crop photos, but be sure not to crop too much away – and be sure to keep the stuff you love within the photo. You wouldn’t want to crop out that fabulous landscape if it’s breathtaking! If you find you are still at a loss for space, try hidden journaling or pockets to store some of the memorabilia. Another tip I have for adding photos is layering -- the more you layer the more you can fit onto a page. I for one often have a ton of photos I want to include on a layout, and let’s face it, sometimes it’s so hard to pick my favorite ones! Here is an example from my gallery from this summer which is a fabulous example of how to incorporate several photos onto a layout. These are all 4x6 photos - notice how I layered them within the corners, where there really isn’t anything but white space anyways. Don’t be afraid to journal in the white space of your photos. Another ideas, is to do a mini album, such as I have done for this weeks article. I used a plain alterable board book. And for mine, there just wasn’t enough room to include all the photos from our pumpkin patch trip, so I added more photos within the pages. Below are examples and step by step instructions. If you have any questions regarding these, please feel free to contact me. I would be ever so happy to help you out. I started by cutting a strip of paper that was left over from my scraps. This can be any size you wish and varies depending on the size of your photos versus the size of your mini book. Fold the strip in half, lengthwise, and adhere one side to the back of the photo you wish to show on the outside, as seen below. Next, select the next photo you wish to use, and adhere it to the backside of the the first photo. (for mine I use a very strong glue, so they will have strength – and no chance of coming apart on me at a later time). Select yet another photo you wish to use, and attach it to the strip of patterned paper, opposite the side you were just working on, as seen below. Flip the photo over, and you should see only the back side of the paper strip, such as: Fold it together and you are ready to adhere you last photo to it like so: Now that you have your added photos you are ready to insert them into you mini-book. For some they may have a better way, however for mine I wanted them to be able to fold out and viewed as though they are meant to be there. So I cut a smaller strip as seen below, and attached it to the inside of my book like such: Using 2 sheets of patterned paper, photos and a few embellishments, it only took me about 2 hours to complete. Easy and simple to do! Try it, you’ll have fun with it, and you don’t have to do it with just photos, the possibilities are endless, and remember to always have fun with it! Still feeling overwhelmed and not quite sure where to start? Check out the store for some inspiration! The manufacturing companies are making it so easy for us! Bravo to them! They are coming out with mini books galore, paper and entire lines of embellishments to match. No muss! No fuss! How fabulous is that? To name a few, there is the *NEW* and fabulous Westminster Collection by Tinkering Ink, also just added to the store is Pebbles Travel Collection! And available on pre-order, don’t miss out on this new line arriving in April, called, Love, Elsie! Along with the other lines, I am especially excited and can’t wait for this to come in! Did you happen to see the airplane mini-album! How fabulous is that? To see the rest of my mini-album book and the other photo inserts I made, check out my gallery, and while you're at it check out all the fabulous ideas, tips and tricks the design team put together this week! So many wonderful ideas, so inspiring, and now that I am inspired, I am off to gather photos and scrap! Can’t wait to see all those fabulous vacation pages, and/or mini albums you complete! Happy Scrapping, and even moreso Happy Vacations!
Design Team Examples To view all layout ideas and products used, please be sure to visit the Design Team Gallery: Jet Setting Trends. Or Click each image below to see a larger view! Cecilie Wendy Margaret Sonya Nancy Vickie Franny Madeline

Getting Away From It All

From the LM Archives Getting Away From It All - Vacations! By: Susan Berg, Design Team Member
A vacation is defined in the Merriam Webster Dictionary as “a period of rest from work: HOLIDAY”. But for most of us, a vacation is a trip someplace for enjoyment, a special treat, and an event that occupies many of us with dreams of scrapping those memories. In fact, if you ask many scrapbookers what was their original reason for scrapping, a vacation is probably one of the top reasons, second only to having a child. This idea makes sense. Vacations are generally special events, once in a lifetime extravagances. While making sure a vacation goes well may cause a little stress, these are the times when we get to spend quality time with our loved ones without the interference of our every day responsibilities. Capturing the carefree joy and amazing discoveries of those days in your scrapbooks gives you the opportunity to relive those moments over and over again, without the sunburn! Just like buying tickets and making reservations, preparing ahead of time to scrapbook your vacation can cut down on the stress and problems later! For our trip to Hawaii in December, I made the boys each their own journals . Here they were able to record favorite parts of each day. Once home, these became quick memory books after adding a favorite photo from each day of our trip. Now even if it takes me 18 months to scrap that vacation, the boys already have a quick review of their wonderful adventure! While on your trip, keep an eye out for items that can be included or can influence your scrapbooked memories: business cards, receipts, maps, postcards, really anything that offers insight into where you went and what you did can be useful. Postcards, while inexpensive, offer a great way to get those picture perfect moments into your scrapbook without you spending your entire trip behind a camera. By picking up a few during your trip, you can enjoy your vacation and still know that you will have some beautiful images to include in your books along with the photos of yourself and your family or other travel mates. If you are going on a long trip or are visiting several different locations, why not make yourself a memorabilia holder? Based on Miranda’s idea , start with envelopes that are letter sized, or a little smaller. Decorate one for each location or day of your trip. Now you have a safe place to keep all your little *extras* organized and maybe the start of an adorable mini-album for yourself! Another thing to remember is to not always be the one behind the camera. Trade off photographic duties with another family member or ask someone else to take a group picture of your family so that you can be in the photos as well. As our photo skills improve we are less likely to be willing to settle for others’ less than perfect picture taking. But remember that you are an important part of your trip and that you can always crop the photo to improve on less than stellar composition! This might also be the perfect excuse to buy the cheesy posed shots that many touristy locations offer. While you might grumble a bit at the price, you can’t complain as much knowing that you will have atleast one photo that includes everyone, where everyone is smiling, and looking at the camera. When you finally get to scrapbooking your trip, take a moment to collect and review all the little extras that you brought home. Consider what each one reminds you of and what it can offer to your page. Is there information on them that you want included in your journaling or on your page? Does the item offer color suggestions for your layout? What is the best way to include and display these little pieces of your trip? If you have a lot of brochures and maps, perhaps a pocket page makes sense. If you have several smaller items, using them throughout your pages as embellishments and titles might make the most sense. Be cognizant that many of these momentos may not be acid or lignin free. Take caution to not place them directly over photos. Consider laminating them, using a buffer spray, or enclosing them in memorabilia pockets. Another fun alternative might be to enclose the items in a transparency . Layouts can bring back to mind the wonderful times we had on a vacation. The extra details offered by memorabilia can help bring those memories back to life by providing a richer look. While a picture may be worth a thousand words, memorabilia can take you back to the spot where that picture perfect moment took place!
Design Team Examples To view all layout ideas and products used, please be sure to visit the Design Team Gallery: A Special Collection. Or Click each image below to see a larger view! Beshka       Kate   Tracy   Madeline   Melissa      Susan   Margaret     Cecilie