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