Disney's California Adventure Album

Today marks the beginning of spring break for my kids - after school today they will be home for the next 10 days! Hopefully it will be spring-like and we can get outdoors and do a few things. Since we are not going anywhere for spring break, I pulled out a vacation album from a couple of years ago and reminisced about hot summer days, fun rides, and great memories. 

Two years ago we took a family vacation to California and spent a few days at Disneyland and California Adventure. It was a great trip and although I made some of the layouts right after the trip, the rest lingered for a while and I just finished them last fall. Today I photographed the California Adventure album and added it to the gallery. This album was the first time that ever used one collection of supplies for an entire album. I've since done it in other albums, but it was a first for me then, and I had worried that the album would seen repetitive since I only had a limited number of papers and embellishments to use. While I wanted the album to have continuity, I did't want every page to look just like the last page.

To try to break up the repetitiveness, I decided to focus on the color scheme and the colors that I accented different layouts with. For some areas of the park, I focused on bright primary colors and used those for background and accent papers:

For other lands in the park, I focused on the earth tones and lighter shades in the collection, the browns and greys, to give it a different feel:

I also used black accent papers heavier in some layouts than others, in night time layouts or rides that were more serious and scary, like Tower or Terror:

It's a subtle difference I think, but I like it and like the idea of intentionally accenting different colors on different pages. Different shades can change the mood of our layout and when using a collection that limits your different patterned paper choices, using different solids can help keep the layouts from looking too repetitive. Although all of the layouts use the same patterned papers over and over, each layout is unique.

The full album is posted here if you want to check it out!

Creating Itineraries and Timelines in Your Layouts

I've been thinking a lot lately about itineraries and timelines and how they are used in scrapbooks. I've made a few different itinerary-type pages for travel books, but really haven't used them in any other types of books, and I'm thinking it might be time to elaborate on this idea.

A timeline doesn't have to take place over a long period of time, it could be the course of a week, a weekend, a school year, or a sports season. It could be just one day.  

An itinerary or timeline page can make a great cover page to an album, or be a fun corresponding page to another single page layout you may have. The itinerary pages below are a simple grid with the days and locations noted - I also like to add a logo or graphic of the location if I can.

You can also do an itinerary in a more geographical way by showing where you went on a map and when. Here I highlighted the route we drove each day and stops we made along the way.

This layout is the itinerary of just one day - these were the places we stopped along the scenic drive in Glacier National Park, which we drove in one full day.

You may not want to dedicate a whole page to your timeline or itinerary, so you can easily use a journaling card or another type of tag to add a small timeline to your page. These mini-timelines can be a great way to detail your family traditions and annual events.

As I look through my own books I've realized that I haven't really done much with timelines and it's something I want to try to focus on more in my future pages. I have several old family albums that don't have cover pages, that I could go back and add a "year in review" kind of timeline - highlighting certain events from that year. I could also do this for my kids sports albums and highlight the different sports and activities they've participated in over the years.  

I did some image searches and found some really great ideas for timeline pages that I'm excited to add to my own books. What ideas have you used for timelines and itineraries?  What is your favorite?

Christmas Morning Layouts

Since I'm trying to finish up all of my photos from 2015, it was time to tackle the Christmas photos. I had previously worked on the Christmas Eve photos, so I just had photos from Christmas Day left to work on.

I had recently been looking at some online galleries of other peoples scrapbook pages, and had come across a layout that I really liked, so I decided to try to re-create it with a few of these photos. It required scaling back a bit on the number of photos I use on each page, but I was ready to try something new and a little different from my usual layouts. So I gave it a shot.

Here is the page that I re-created from another:

And this page I made on my own to compliment it:

I had a large collection of Christmas papers that I had received as a gift and they all coordinated together, so choosing papers was a pretty easy process. All I needed to do was figure out the photo placement for the second page, since I was using that other layout as a guide for the first page. I added a few stickers that I already had and it was finished!

They turned out pretty nice and in the end I'm happy that I tried something new and different!

Hockey Game Layout

This weekend I jumped into some of my new 2016 pictures and started on a few layouts. The first thing I worked on was a layout for a hockey game we went to in January. I was a little worried since I didn't have any actual hockey themed scrapbook supplies, so I just decided so use a few general sports themed things that I had, and to use some simple papers to create the color scheme I wanted.

Since I didn't take a lot of photos at the game, I only made one layout. I used white cardstock and layered on a black paper with dots, and a grey and black striped paper. I used some red cardstock to mat the photos, and added in our tickets and a journaling card. I also used the back of a journaling card to put letters on for the Wisconsin Badgers title, and I think it turned out great! 

Happy Birthday Yellowstone National Park!

One hundred and forty-four years ago today, Ulysses S. Grant established our first national park - Yellowstone National Park. 

We were lucky enough to enjoy 3 days in the park last summer, and I've uploaded the first of 2 Yellowstone Albums to the gallery today to show off some of it's beauty.

Happy Birthday Yellowstone!

3/2/16: Today I also uploaded the second Yellowstone Album to gallery!

Road Trip Series #5: Mount Rushmore National Park

After stopping at Devils Tower, we headed straight for Mount Rushmore - it would be the last stop on our road trip before heading home the next day. It was early evening when we arrived, and since it was a chilly and windy night, we didn't hike any of the trails. We did see the monument from the overlook, and spent quite a bit of time in the Visitor Center.

(click on the layout for a larger view)

The Visitor Center had some excellent exhibits and we spent a lot of time looking at them. My son worked on his Junior Ranger booklet, and we picked up his badge before we left. It was another quick stop for us but something we wanted to see since we were so close. This was the last stop on our road trip and the last of the road trip layouts.

For these layouts, I combined a few patriotic themes papers with red, white, and blue stripes. The map and brochure were picked up at the visitor center, and I added photos of the passport stamps and my son's badge as well. The map on the second layout is the inside of the brochure that is on the 3rd page (I picked up 2 brochures while there.) 

This is the end of the 2015 road trip! Where have you gone on a road trip? What was your favorite road trip stop?

Road Trip Series #4: Devils Tower National Monument

After leaving Yellowstone, we stopped at Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming. It was a long drive through the curvy mountain roads of Shoshone National Forest and Big Horn National Forest, and it was only our first stop for that day. But it was worth it! Devils Tower was was one of those monuments that you expect to be pretty cool, but turns out to be way more impressive than you thought it would be.

(click on the layout to view a larger image)

  

We only spent about 2 hours there, which was enough time to walk the trail around the base of the tower, and to complete my son's Junior Ranger booklet and earn his badge. 

I didn't take a lot of photos when we were there, so I only created 2 layouts for this park. While we were there, I picked up a map and brochure for the scrapbook, and my son collected the passport stamps and his badge and patch. After we got home I took photos of these so I could add them to this page. I wanted to keep the papers simple and had one piece of striped paper that had these rough lines running down it that matched perfectly, and added the brown paper with small dots and that was all it needed.

The next (and last) stop is...Mount Rushmore!

Road Trip Series #3: Virginia City Ghost Town

After leaving Glacier, we drove about 9 hours to Yellowstone National Park. On the way we stopped at Virginia City, Montana, an old 1860's mining town. Technically a ghost town since there are no permanent residents, Virginia City is now a tourist attraction and there are businesses there, but it is considered one of the most intact towns from that time period, and definitely worth stopping at. There are 2 towns just a couple of miles apart - Nevada City and Virginia City, we stopped at both.

(click on layouts for a larger view)

I actually had a really hard time choosing paper for these layouts. How do you scrapbook a ghost town? It's not like there are papers and supplies with a ghost town theme, and I didn't want it to have a halloween type feel. I choose some rustic papers that had a little bit of a modern design and added a few pieces of paper with some old fashioned patterns - almost like old wallpaper, and decided to blend the two. The color combinations went together, so I decided to go with it. I added some photo corners to a few of the photos for a little bit more of the old fashioned feel.

We stayed in Virginia City for an about hour, then got back on the road to get to Yellowstone. It was a good stop, the kids really liked it and we would have stayed longer if we could have. 

Next stop - Devils Tower National Monument
We went to Yellowstone from here, but again that's not in this album so I'll skip it. On with the road trip!

Road Trip Series #2: Theodore Roosevelt National Park

The second stop on our road trip was Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota. We left Jamestown and had a few hour drive to get there. We had been on the road for about 13 hours when we arrived and were ready for another break from the highway, so we spent about 2 hours in the park. We hit the visitor center first and then did a scenic drive through the park to view wildlife.

(click on the layouts for a larger view)

We saw tons of bison and prairie dogs here, and it was our first experience with bison on the road. It is a beautiful park with really unique landscapes. 

For the layouts, I kept them fairly simple with earth-toned paper and and a few travel-themed embellishments. I just wanted it to have an earthy and natural feel.

I forgot to pick up a park map when we were there (gasp!) so I didn't include it in the layout. I know...I missed one of my own self-proclaimed critical elements for scrapbooking! Chalk it up to very little sleep, being awake since 3am, 13 hours in a very enclosed vehicle, and this being our first national park - we had to buy passport books, get stamps, get a junior ranger book, get patches, and figure out what to see and how to get there. So I missed the map, it happens. I think I must have had one in the park, but it never made it home. Even without it, I'm still happy with the layouts.

Next road trip stop - ghost towns! 
Well, it was actually Glacier, but we're skipping that since that is not in this album...you can see those layouts in the Gallery.

Road Trip Series #1: Jamestown, North Dakota

With some of my larger projects now complete, I'm finally catching up on some of the smaller ones. With just a few layouts left from our road trip last summer, I thought it was time to finish up the layouts for the rest of the national parks and roadside attractions we stopped at along the way.

So we're going on a virtual road trip! There will be 5 stops along the way. Our first is Jamestown, North Dakota.

We planned to stop here for an extended lunch, and after 9 hours in the car that morning we needed to stretch our legs for a bit. While in town we visited the World's Largest Buffalo Statue and Jamestown Frontier Village.

(click on the layouts for a larger view)

For these layouts, I used a travel theme kit from Paper Studios. The pictures were pretty fun and colorful and lent themselves to a nice, colorful layout.

The buffalo statue and the village were pretty fun roadside attractions and worth stopping for. The kids really liked the village and probably would have stayed longer if we would have let them. But we needed to get back on the road - there was more to see that afternoon!

Next Stop - Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

Adding Some Finishing Touches

Last 2 Yellowstone layouts

Yesterday I finished up the Yellowstone layouts and got all of the photos on their pages. I had finished up 10 2-page layouts over the weekend, and had 7 more to go. I started working on them in the morning, and got down to the last 2 layouts before noon. It was exciting to finish but also a little sad. I started working on these books right after Christmas, so it's been about 2 months of near constant work, planning, or thinking about these books. I finished up the last 2 layouts, took a few moments to feel quite accomplished, and cleaned up for the day.

Leftover supplies that I can add to the books

Today is the day to go back and start adding the finishing touches. It usually takes me more than one day to do this, so today is like the first pass. I spread all of the remaining supplies for the project on the table and start going through each of the layouts.

Many of the layouts I had already added embellishments and journaling cards to along the way, but some I didn't. Now is the time I go back and start adding details to pages that need it - pages that look a little empty or need a little something, and pages that I want to add journaling to. I was surprised at how many journaling cards I had added to pages that I needed to go back and write something on now - I think I did about 12 cards this morning! Journaling is really starting to grow on me. I also added some brads, borders, and some nice Yellowstone clip art pieces that I found online and printed. Most of the pages didn't need a lot, just some little touches. It can also be hard to not add to much - just because I have the extra supplies doesn't mean I have to use every single piece. So I just add a little at a time until I think it looks balanced.

Added the journaling and the location-marker brad at the top of the photo, and the little arrow

Added the bison graphic that I found online and printed

Added the arrowhead graphic, a little journaling, and the location marker brad

There are a few more pieces of clip art that I want to print out, but I ran out of color ink this morning so it'll be a day or two before I get those done. For now, I'll set the books aside for a few days and take a break, then go back through them one more time before officially calling them complete! 

Coincidentally, I ended up with the exact same number of pages in these 2 books as I did the Glacier National Park books - 73 2-page layouts, 146 total pages. I had printed out about the same number of photos but had no idea that I'd end up with the same number of layouts! I hope to be done in a few days, and then I'll photo the albums and upload them into the online gallery.

Up next...The Road Trip Album. 

Mountain Biking Layouts

Today I finished up some mountain biking layouts for my son's album. Last summer he participated in a youth mountain biking club, and I took a few photos of him at the traihead. (Sadly, no group photo as that would have way too embarrassing for him! I'm always "that" mom with the camera in her hand!)

I had to search a little bit for some biking related scrapbook supplies since there is not a lot out there, but I found some by Scrapbook Customs that worked pretty well.

He also did some biking through our school distict's summer school program - he did 4 of the 5 trail trips they offer. Before he left I handed him my point-and-shoot camera and he took a few photos along the trail. It is always fun and interesting to me to see what my kids take photos of when they have the opportunity. With his photos, I made 2 layouts of those bike trips.

We are planning to do more mountain biking this year so I will have to start looking for more biking papers and supplies - we have a goal to bike a few state trails end-to-end once spring and summer get here. Mountain biking is my son's favorite activity and it'll be good for all of us to get out on our bikes more. More biking adventures to come in 2016!

Scrapbooking National Park Trips

I've been spending a lot of time these last few months scrapbooking several different National Parks. National Park trips are a must-do vacation for many people and families at some point. Whether it is a day trip to a park near your home or a week long vacation out west, National Parks are not only great to visit, they are great to scrapbook! There are so many iconic photos you can take of the beautiful landscapes and surroundings – mountains, canyons, waterfalls, nature trails, old lodges, unique buildings, and interesting wildlife.

If you are planning a National Park trip, there are many different things you may want to add to your scrapook. Here are a few things to keep an eye out for or think about adding to your book:

1. National Park Sign - a picture of the National Park is a must! Whether it is the sign alone, you with the sign, your family and friends with the sign, or all of the above, just get a picture of it...or several! National Park signs are iconic and instantly recognized and you'll want one on your scrapbook.

2. Park Maps and Brochures - be sure to pick up any park maps and brochures that you find along the way. You'll most like use these as you travel, and they are great to add to your scrapbook. I always pick up 2 so that I can keep one intact and cut the other apart if needed.

3. Visitor Centers - many National Parks have great Visitor Centers and Ranger Stations. Stop in at these and take a few photos of the old structures or great exhibits. While you are there, look for brochures and maps, and get a Passport stamp!

4. Passport Stamps - our National Parks system has a Passport Stamp program that is available at almost all parks and monuments, and it is free. In most visitor centers and ranger stations there will be a small booth that has the passport stamp (sometimes they are at the info desk or by the checkout of the gift shop.) The stamps are free and can be stamped onto whatever you have - can you use a book or piece of paper. These can be fun to collect and many parks have multiple stops for stamps at the various visitor centers throughout the park.

5. Pull-outs and Turn-outs - most scenic drives will have various pull-outs and turn-outs for you to stop and take in the scenery. Some parks have a lot of these and it's easy to lose track of what you saw where. Most will also have a sign of what that particular pull-out is named or what you are looking at. Snap a picture of the sign before you start taking scenery pictures...when you get home, you will know exactly which pictures were from which overlook. You can also use those sign photos as labels in your book!

6. Trailheads - if you do any hiking, the trail should be marked with a trailhead sign. There will most likely be additional signs showing distances and directions on the trail. Snap a photo of the sign before you head out on your hike.

7. Lodges - many National Parks have historic lodges on site, and all of these are open to the public - you don't have to be staying there to walk through the lobby, eat at the restaurants, or shop in the gift shops within them. Visiting the old lodges can be a fun part of your trip, just like seeing the rest of the sites in the park. We try to stop at any of the lodges we are not staying at to check them out or grab a meal, but also to sit on the porches overlooking a lake, walk along the beach or lakeshore behind them, and just take in the scenery. Some of these lodges have great architecture and huge old logs that you may want to get photos of for you book.

8. Postcards - the National Park Service has some great postcards - many depicting historic artwork of scenes in the parks. Pick up a couple of your favorites - there are tons to choose from and the art makes a great addition to your scrapook!

9. Junior Ranger Badges - if your children want to participate in the Junior Ranger program, pick up the booklet at the visitor center and work through the booklet during your visit. Before you leave, stop back to the visitor center where a Ranger will check over the booklet and award your child their Junior Ranger badge. Some places also have a Junior Ranger Patch that you can purchase after you earn the badge. We've participated at several parks - they can range from fairly easy to quite difficult to earn! But they are fun to do, make for great photo ops, and once home you can take a photo of the badge or patch and add it to your book.

10. Scenery shots and detail shots - most people travel to national parks and monuments to take in the sights and see the monuments. When taking photos of these places, be sure to get a lot of scenery shots, but also detail shots. I've talked about detail shots before in this post, but take a few minutes to walk around and really notice the little details - bark on a tree, texture of old bricks, smooth rocks on the lakeshore. These can be great and unique additions to your scrapbook.

With so much to see at our National Parks, it can be hard to get it all in. If you miss a photo of a place or a sign, you can often find them online by doing an image search. I often copy or download images from the web and use them in my books if I've missed a photo that I later realized I wanted for an album. 

Most importantly, enjoy your trip to the national parks!  They are amazing places and so much fun - take tons of pictures and experience all that you can - then when you get home you can make an amazing scrapbook!