Saturday, July 2, 2011

scrapbook on the road

"finish Germany journal" has been on my "do-list" for weeks, and I've been completely avoiding it. perfection and a perceived lack of time settled in and paralyzed my progress until...

spencer planned a 'guy's Psych marathon" for saturday, which gave mom a few hours of creative time. over the past few weeks, I've been focusing on finishing the projects I have in progress instead of starting new. this project could be avoided no more!

in preparing for our trip to Germany, I knew that I wanted to have a documenting journal with me, but just wasn't sure how to put it all together. so before mark and I left, I purchased Ali Edwards' "Scrapbook on the Road" self paced class to gain inspiration from a scrapbooker whose I style I admire.
ali's approach of making the scrapbook a visual and emotional experience was just what I wanted. my goal was not to create a picture album but more of a visual written journal, so I could step out of my comfort zone and share my observations and experiences with words, not only photos. the photos are comfortable; the words are more of a challenge.

because mark and I were going to create an iphoto book of the trip when we returned, I wasn't concerned that this "scrapbook" be archivaly safe. I simply wanted a journal full of honest, moment by moment experiences with lots of local documentation added in. Ali's class helped me create just what I wanted.


finishing this project turned out to be the least rewarding thing about it. each physical item affixed stirred an emotional memory. it was like being there all over again. I learned so much about myself during our Germany trip. reading back over my unfiltered thoughts reminded me of the little joys, struggles and moments that I might too soon forget. if it were not, that is, for my finished Germany visual journal.

6 comments:

Imene said...

Wonderful idea. I always keep little memorabilia but never knew what to do with it! Thank you for the links!

From All Stitched Up said...

I like the way your journal looks. It keeps all the memories nice and neat. I still have a little reciept from my trip to Florence (7yrs ago) in my wallet. It's fun to come across it once in awhile.

stitching under oaks said...

Love this so much...what a treasure this is. You were so brave on this trip in so many ways...I am sure it is documented on every page. I love the style you put into into as well. You always are amazing me. The time and care that you put into all you do is incredible.

~ The Jolly Bee ~ said...

What a great idea. And you must feel a great sense of accomplishment preserving all that you got out of that trip.

Stephanie said...

Very cool journal!

Gigi said...

Oh goodness K, I admire your 'get it done' attitude so very much! I still have photos, etc. from many beautiful trips lanquishing in boxes around the house -- my bad! Your scrapbook is so beautifully and perfectly done (of course!). So maybe you should start a business scrapbooking other folks' stuff for them - you know those lazy slackers who can't ever seem to get it done ;)?
Blessings,

G