Spring Break Mini Album

Hello everyone.  I know Spring Break was over 3 months ago, but I just now finished the mini album (started it yesterday). I even have some unfinished projects that are older (2011 December Daily would be one of them). So, I'm crazy about this album because it has lots of everything. Photos, receipts, brochures, journaling....but not lots of everything for every day. It just seems like the right balance for documenting the trip.

See all the bits and pieces sticking out? Love it!

I used a Smash book that I decorated before the trip. Just added random bits of paper and embellishments (Disneyland themed and colored) and stamps (ocean animals for the beach days). And I pulled a few things from my stash.

I packed a gallon size Ziploc bag in my purse to hold anything and everything I might want to save from the trip. I save everything that is flat and can be added to an album. Then I make decisions later as to what goes into the album and what gets tossed. This trip I saved extra copies of stuff to share with Chelsey, since she wanted to make her own album.

So, now we are back from the trip, photos are printed, and free time is available. I decorated the cover with a panda photo that was included in the photo pack I purchased at the San Diego Zoo. Didn't even know it was there until I was digging through my Ziploc bag! Out came the gel medium and I had an instant cover. I also added the Mickey key chain that I picked up while at Disneyland.

So here are a few of the pages out of the album.

Brochures and parking stubs for hotel.....

Simple pages...

pages with just journaling....

You can see that I used washi tape to layer photos again in the album. I like that I can fit so many photos on one page, but not have it so cluttered.

photo booth strips and entrance tickets to zoo....

Disneyland postcard (sent to my house before the trip) and my photo on the bottom...

lunch receipt and journaling...

Page documenting the trip cost.  I questioned doing this (do I want to share costs with other people that might see this album?), but in the end I wanted to include this because I have wanted to refer back to costs of previous trips before. And it will be fun to see what the costs are 10 years from now.

This is another first in a vacation mini album: the notes to self for future vacations. Sometimes the memories fade and I don't remember things that may be useful in the future. So now I have a place to note things.

I highly recommend these Smash books. They are just so fun and they come with the pen/glue stick attached to the book. The glue does not work great with photos, so I just use washi tape instead. The glue does work great with paper items though.

Have you used a Smash book yet? What project have you used your book for?