My pre-made mini travel album...

29 June 2010

We have a little buzz of excitement in the air at our place ..... because in about 10 days time Ian, Briony and I are heading off on a little road trip to Darwin.

There has been lots of planning and preparation in progress....and my little list of things to take and pack has grown by the day.

One of the things that's very important to me though is documenting this trip...as I have with all our trips.
My usual attack is to just go away....take a mountain of photos.....scrawl some notes in the back of our map book as we go.....and then try and sort it all out and create a travel album once I get home. While theres nothing wrong with that..... it sure is a daunting task sorting through a hundred photos and trying to recall every little detail for the journaling.

This year I had a much better idea...... so I thought Id share it in this post.

It all sort of started with the idea of pre-making pages for the album before we leave.
I wanted to be able to journal as I went..... and know what photos and details I needed recorded before I left.

As luck would have it....I had this perfect little double sided plastic carry case sitting all forlornly on my bookcase.....and it made the perfect portable scrap booking case.

I have all my tools, inks and tapes ect in one side.....and all my pre-prepared pages in the other side.

Here is a photo of all my pages inside ... as you can see it fitted a lot ..... these aren't all prepared here.....but it gives you an idea of the basis of my pages.

I decided to use up older cardstock that I had in my stash.....I chose earthy type colours to go with my outback type holiday......and cut them all to varying sizes....and corner rounded the corners.

So to go along with my pages......I made some journal prompts and page headings.
These include..
cost of fuel....
Kilometres travelled today....
Tonight we camped here at....
The best thing about today was.....
and so on.....

I then created a mini cover page for each day that we are away...... it is a simple little page...with a pic.....and a journal strip which I will stamp with a date stamp as we go.
I made journal pages large enough to staple a notebook page to
I can journal and attach to the cardstock as I go.
I want my album to be full of the scrawly writing that comes from writing on the road....and I want it to capture the journaling that only comes from writing it as it happens..... while the memory is fresh.
So here you can see my stack of journal pages.... a stack of day divider sheets ....and various other pages which will have photos attached .... Ive pre-prepared the labels to attach to various photos......like " Tonight we camped here at....." and "Today we ate...."
Obviously I wont record exactly the same things each day......but Ill keep in mind my journal prompts and try to take some appropriate photos along the way.


I then created a cover with a nice fat spine that will house it all .... keeping it all together using rings.
I wanted plenty of space so that I could add in any memorabilia we collect along the way..... like tickets.... brochures ....postcards ect.



So there you have it..... my pre-prepared travel album...... I hope it works as well as I imagine it will.....I'm sort of looking forward to sharing the final product....although that would mean my holiday was over.....and that will be truly sad indeed.
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Edited to add:
Thanks for the lovely comments about my super simple album.
I guess at this stage it doesnt look all that special..... its sort of just the bones sitting there.... but I have vision....and can see it brimming with photos and words and collected memorabilia.... so I'm pretty sure it will shape up well.
Kirsten.....thank you for the link to the album on Ali's blog..... isn't it the sweetest! I love all the texture and feel of it....its gorgeous.
Julie...... the album cover was extremely easy to construct. I have no idea if it will work as well as I'm imagining yet.....but Ill be sure to make mention of the cover again in my final post.
It was constructed by creating a front and back cover .... and a fabric paper 'spine'..... I punched holes through the back and front covers and the rings will go through all layers.
When I get a chance I will post another photo of it with pages inserted.... that should make the method much clearer.

13 comments

  1. Oh wow, what a fabulous idea. It's just gorgeous...where do you find the time to do that?! I look forward to seeing the finished product!

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  2. Absolutely awesome Mardi....and a fantastic idea. Love what you have done so far and the earthy colors ...have a wonderful holiday
    Jenny

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  3. Do you reckon you could drive to Darwin via Bundaberg ????.....Seriously I am hugely impressed with you travel album...what an awesome job...congrats....Don't forget we have plenty of room if you get lost....love xxxx

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  4. i am SO impressed Mardi! Have a wonderful trip away Leax

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  5. Mardi that is so cool and such an awesome idea! Everything looks fantastic and super organised...you're good to go! I can't wait to see it all finished

    Sheree xx
    ps. Have a fantastic trip away!

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  6. That is fantastic .... your little album cover is exactly the type of thing i have been trying to buy to do our recent trip of New Zealand .... how do you actually bind the rings and internal pages to the cover??
    Have a great trip ..... i'm very jealous!

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  8. Anonymous8:30 am

    What a great idea Mardi. I have done the exact thing you are talking about, hundreds of pics from our trip to Townsville with the intent to make an album of the trip and sadly 12months later still no album...Oh I have the papers, photos and info ready to go but just no album lol. Enjoy your road trip.
    Lorraine V

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  9. Love the album Mardi - hope you have a great holiday!!

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  10. PS: not sure if you have seen this yet but on Ali Edwards' blog she has ideas for a mini album "on the road" too:
    http://www.aliedwards.com/2010/06/stories-of-summer-album-on-the-road-by-jill-kane.html

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  11. WOW this is FANTASTIC!!

    I had a similar idea when we were away on our month long holiday, but with 3 small kiddo's i never got the time for it! Wish I had of thought of the notebook page bit, that would have worked perfectly!

    Hope you have a great trip :)

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  12. That is the most perfect idea ever!!!! Cant wait to see it finished!

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  13. Mardi!!! What a cute album, it will be bursting at the seams with wonderful memories by the time you return! Have a fabulous trip!

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