Travel Documenting: Tips for Creating an Album You Love // With Shea Lennon

Back in July I had the opportunity to meet a blogger friend of mine IRL. Shea from Shea Lennon lives nearby and it was so fun to finally meet up! She had recently taken a family trip, and wanted to document it. So we got coffee (thanks for paying for mine when I forgot my new card, Shea!) and chatted about life and some methods for documenting it. :)

We decided to collaborate by each documenting our 2017 travels in an album and then sharing them with you guys! This is her very first PL album, and I'm super jazzed to share it with you guys! :) Here I'm sharing my album and tips, as well as what Shea would like to do differently next time. Make sure to hop over to Shea's post to see her album and what she learned during the process, and what I'd like to do differently next time!

My Travel Album Tips:

Simple is better!

For my own albums, I like keeping the embellishments simple. I want the focus to be on the photos. Which works out well, because it makes it less time consuming! I stuck to washi tape, white cardstock, and stamps for the most part with this album! I used a few cards here and there, but my use of stickers, 3D embellishments, alpha is low! I love how simple and cohesive it makes it look!

Hide your journalling, and still record the stories!

I do this in all my albums... but I don't always love the way my writing looks. I'm tempted not to journal at all, but telling those little stories is so fun. If you're like me and you don't want your writing front and center, hiding it on a tag or card behind a photo or in a pocket is a good way to go! I like to put a paper clip, tab, string, etc. on it sometimes to remind me that it's hiding there!

You won't love every page, and that's ok!

Not every page will turn out perfectly, not every page will be your favorite. Leave it alone and come back to it later, or don't. It doesn't need to be stunning. The most important part is documenting your memories! :)

Hang on to paper mementos!

When you travel, pick up business cards, maps, tickets, post cards, stickers, etc. and use them in your albums. You never know when you'll have a fun place to re-use those items. If I have any leftover, just stick them in an envelope/bag and punch holes in it. That way you can keep those extra items together. This is also a good place for extra photos if you've printed too many!

Interested in seeing the process for making these pages? Check out my full process video!



Ideas for Next Time:

I have these posted over in Shea's post, so go check out those ideas and her awesome Minneapolis travel album! I love how hers turned out and that she took the plunge in making her first album! 


Shea's Ideas for Next Time:

Hi Simply Alexandra readers! I'm Shea from Shea Lennon and I love to share posts about style, books, and life as a busy working mom on a budget. I'm new to Project Life but I had a lot of fun creating an album for our recent trip to Minneapolis. I'm happy with how it turned out, but there are a few things that I plan to do differently for my next album.

Be more intentional about choosing an album size. I honestly got so overwhelmed by all the albums out there that I got tired of looking and just grabbed one. I didn’t really consider what that would mean for the size of pages that would fit inside and, therefore, what size photos it would hold. It ended up working okay, but next time I may try a different size.

Take and print more photos. I wish I would have taken more photos of little, everyday moments on our trip. I'm glad I got some good destination photos, like our trip to the zoo and to Target field, but I wish I would have included more photos of meals we loved and random, funny pictures of the kids. I would rather have more to choose from and have extra photos than to feel like I didn't quite have enough.

Be a more thoughtful photographer. I don't like spending a vacation behind a camera (or, more likely, my iPhone), so I tried to quickly snap photos and be done with it. However, as a result I had a lot of photos that were poorly lit, had a lot of background clutter, and just in general were kind of crappy. In the future, I'd like to take just a few more seconds to make sure I'm getting a good photo before I start snapping. And then I'll put the phone away.

Take home free keepsakes to add to album. I wish I would have saved some restaurant menus, maps, and other free items from different destinations to add to my album. I will try to remember to do that on our next trip.

Again, go over and say hi to Shea, she's an awesome blogger, and her album is so much fun!

Overall, I'm really happy with how my New Orleans section of my album came together. It was a lot of fun to go back to a super simple documenting style! I'm enjoying documenting our Dakotas trip the same way, and NYC once we get home! :)

Anyone feel inspired?! Her album has me itching to document something else! :)

Thinking about taking the plunge to make your first album?! Check out:

Essential Supplies Post & Video

9 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Start Project Life (and Why They're Not Good Enough)

How To Print and Size Photos for Project Life. 

Headed to NOLA Yourself?! Check out my recaps for recommendations: April 2017, January 2015, and March 2014.

See my 2016 travel sections: Houston & Galveston, San Francisco, Georgia,Nashville, and Las Vegas. 

Anyone taking a fun trip anytime soon? I'd love to live vicariously through you! :) 

XO,

Alexandra

Mini Mini Travel Scrap Album // California Coast // DIY Gifts

Happy Monday friends! I hope that you all had a great weekend! Here the weather was a little cooler... but still very warm for this time of year, and KC and I were productive! We've also been binge-ing Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries... so that's been good! :)

I wanted to share a video of a gift scrap album I made for my friend Mariana for Christmas. If you've seen my PL album videos, you'll notice that this one is a bit different! This does not have any page protectors, binders, covers, etc. It is truly made from scraps!

This type of album is quick and easy to make (from your scraps! very little supplies needed!) and makes a great, heart-felt gift!



Check out my video to see the flip through and the details of each page!

Supplies:

Jump Rings (I used 1-inch silver)
Hole Punch
Scraps of paper, PL cards, stickers, washi tape, etc. that fall in your color range
Photos (I used 6 4x6 photos, and 4 3x4 photos)

Process:

1) Print your photos and gather your supplies. I went through my stash and chose scraps of paper, cards, stickers, washi tape, etc. that fell into a teal, turquoise, white, and silver color scheme. That way everything matched well enough right off the bat. - it's a small album, you want it to look like it goes together.

2) Start playing around with the order you want to include the pictures, and how they fit onto papers and cards to make the shape of your pages and book. You can see that I used mostly horizontal rectangular shapes for my book. They are not all exactly the same size, but close enough that it flows well.

3) Once you have an order for your pictures and pages, go ahead and adhere those together. (remember to leave a side open if you want to make a pocket for a tag or more photos!) Paste down the photos and any pages back to back that need stuck together. (if you do some of this as you go, that's fine. You can also work page-by-page and re-order as needed!)

4) Add journalling, tape, tags, stickers, etc. to make it a little more personalized. Try to stick with similar elements throughout the book. I used a lot of glitter stickers and white alphas which helped it look more consistent throughout.

5) Once you have completed your pages and order, line them up how you like, and punch the holes. Then add the jump rings and you are done!

I hope that you enjoyed this tutorial and flip through!

Other Scrapbook Posts: Houston & Galveston PL Pages, San Francisco PL Pages, Georgia PL Pages, Nashville PL Pages, and Vegas PL Pages. Check those out!

Happy Documenting!

XO,

Alexandra

Vegas PL Pages // 6X8 Travel Mini Album

ALL we are doing is moving. We have so much stuff. I'm basically a hoarder at this point. I swear I've been getting rid of the excess, and I have more to sort even still... but my goodness. I've thrifted so/too many treasures.... oy. 

The goal is to finish tonight!! So that way we can officially start getting cozier in our new space. We have most of the furniture situated... but we are still working to unpack boxes (or store long-term).. so basically we have furniture set up.. but also just a ton of CRAP everywhere. Hoping hoping hoping to be done soon!!! 

I started this album back in July and I've been having so much fun with it! I shared my first four PL videos recently, they showed my Houston & Galveston Pages, my San Francisco Pages, my Georgia Pages, and finally my Nashville pages. Check those out! To learn about the process, supplies, etc. for my other sections, you can watch my videos. :)

What do you guys think?

I am also currently working on the last (small) section of this album, and then I am going to continue my 2016 Monthly Highlights PL album, which I am about half-way done with! I'll probably do something for 2017 as well.. .but since we are just moving right now... it will be easy to catch up on quickly!

Have you done any scrapbooking or project life albums? 

Have you been to Las Vegas? What was your favorite thing there?

Any fun trips planned for 2017???!?!?!

I would love to hear about it!

XO,

Alexandra

Nashville PL Pages // 6X8 Travel Mini Album

Hi everyone! 

I hope that you had a great weekend! We spent the majority of it packing and moving. We are very close to being done, I think this week/weekend we will finish! Woohoo! :) 

I enjoyed seeing all of the lovely marches and unity around the world this weekend! Seeing people come together is a lot of what we have been missing lately, and I found it truly heart warming. I watched live feeds from two cities near to me, friend who were there, no arrests at any of the marches in the entire country! Amazing! Of course, enjoying something nice like that always comes with the criticism of folks who are only seeing the "bad" side, or who don't seem to want to investigate the purpose of it....... so I had some facebook grumbles over the weekend too... KC has actually been taking away my phone! ha! Because it's seriously a great way to have a nice day ruined. hahaha It's actually working really well that he's been taking it away! As for the grumbles ... there's nothing much I can do to change the way people want* to see things! So... moving right along!

MY CATS ARE A HUGE PAIN IN THIS VIDEO! :P

I learned about PL in the last few years, it's a fun style of scrapbooking that has divided pockets and page protectors. You can buy kits to fit in the pockets (usually 4 X 6 and 3 X 4 cards and matching stickers, etc.) and it kind of gives you some limitations and different formats on how you can scrapbook. I really like it, but I am enjoying this approach a little more than the few times I have played with the kits. It's easy but it still lets me be creative. A win win in my book! :)

I started this back in July and I've been having so much fun with it! I shared my first three PL videos recently, they showed my Houston & Galveston Pages, and my San Francisco Pages, and my Georgia Pages, check those out! To learn about the process, supplies, etc. for my first two sections, you can watch my videos. :)

What do you guys think?

Have you done any scrapbooking or project life albums? 

Have you been to Nashville? What was your favorite thing there?

Do you have any creative goals for 2017?

I would love to hear about it!

XO,

Alexandra

Georgia PL Pages // 6X8 Travel Mini Album

I learned about PL in the last few years, it's a fun style of scrapbooking that has divided pockets and page protectors. You can buy kits to fit in the pockets (usually 4 X 6 and 3 X 4 cards and matching stickers, etc.) and it kind of gives you some limitations and different formats on how you can scrapbook. I really like it, but I am enjoying this approach a little more than the few times I have played with the kits. It's easy but it still lets me be creative. A win win in my book! :)

I started this back in July and I've been having so much fun with it! I shared my first two PL videos last month, they showed my Houston & Galveston pages, and my San Francisco Pages, check those out. To learn about the process, supplies, etc. for my first two sections, you can watch my videos. :)

What do you guys think?

Have you done any scrapbooking or project life albums? 

Have you been to Georgia?

Do you have any creative goals for 2017?

I would love to hear about it!

XO,

Alexandra

San Francisco PL Pages // 6X8 Travel Mini Album

I usually do a travel post on Wednesday... but I've wrapped up Vegas and all the travel we have left for the year is a quick weekend trip to Tulsa. So.... today I'm avoiding that post again... haha sharing my second section of my FIRST project life mini travel album!

I learned about PL in the last few years, it's a fun style of scrapbooking that has divided pockets and page protectors. You can buy kits to fit in the pockets (usually 4 X 6 and 3 X 4 cards and matching stickers, etc.) and it kind of gives you some limitations and different formats on how you can scrapbook. I really like it, but I am enjoying this approach a little more than the few times I have played with the kits. It's easy but it still lets me be creative. A win win in my book! :)

I started this back in July and I've been having so much fun with it! I shared my first PL video a few weeks ago, it showed my Houston & Galveston pages, check that out, here. To learn about the process, supplies, etc. for my first section, you can watch my video. :)

What do you guys think?

Have you done any scrapbooking or project life albums? 

Have you been to San Francisco or any part of California?

I would love to hear about it!

XO,

Alexandra

So... I've Started Doing Project Life.... // 6X8 Travel Mini Album

I usually do a travel post on Wednesday... but I've wrapped up Vegas and all the travel we have left for the year is a quick weekend trip to Tulsa. So.... today I'm sharing my first section of my FIRST project life mini travel album!

I learned about PL in the last few years, it's a fun style of scrapbooking that has divided pockets and page protectors. You can buy kits to fit in the pockets (usually 4 X 6 and 3 X 4 cards and matching stickers, etc.) and it kind of gives you some limitations and different formats on how you can scrapbook. I really like it, but I am enjoying this approach a little more than the few times I have played with the kits. It's easy but it still lets me be creative. A win win in my book! :)

I started this back in July and I've been having so much fun with it! To learn about the process, supplies, etc. for my first section, you can watch my video. :)

What do you guys think?

Have you done any scrapbooking or project life albums?

I would love to hear about it!

XO,

Alexandra