I started with the art of collage a few years ago just to find a creative outlet to my day-today schedule.  I find it super relaxing to be able to go through a creative process of conceptualizing, mixing and matching various materials to come up with a final art piece. Regardless of how the art piece actually looked, I was still proud of my creation!  And the best thing is, you really can’t go wrong! 

I then started to explore various types of paper arts and mixed media.  And I started doing a version of scrapbooking by just putting a few photos along with other memorabilia together after a trip to Paris. Scrapbooking is generally defined as preserving memories by arranging photos, journaling and embellishments in a creative layout.  I usually collect all kinds of stuff while traveling such as ticket stubs, maps of the city, maps of the museums visited, and maybe small cocktail napkins or coasters from restaurants/bars.  But after each trip, I generally get so busy with the usual life that I forget to do anything with the collection of mementos I brought back.  I also love taking photos during my travels or really anywhere!  Though with digital photography, I also collect hundreds photos from each trip on my hard drive.  So doing a scrapbooking travelogue really helps me select the favorite photos, print them out, and put them into a customized album to remember the event.  It’s a great way to commemorate and to share with others. It’s also great to do it with a few friends or with your significant other! It’s another way to just relive the moments of your trip together!

Some quick steps to scrapbooking a travelogue album:

1. Pick the trip that you want to journal about
2. Select about 15 photos for the scrapbook album
3. Prepare any additional mementos such as ticket stubs, maps, buttons, fabrics that helps bring the travel experience to life
4. Prepare adhesives, scissors, and selection of decorative paper & other embellishments
5. Design/think through the layout of each page and the ‘story’ you’ll like to tell
6. Include title, photo framing using paper, photo corners, and journaling (i.e. short description of the story of that page)
7. Start putting the various parts together.  Remember to keep it simple on each page! Don’t overload too many elements on each page

Happy Scrapbooking!!!