travel scrapbooking week | dc mini album

May Flaum and I are teaming up this week to blog about our favorite travel scrapbooking ideas. Be sure to stop by her blog to see what she's got in store today! 

I'm back to share the results of my scrapbooking on the go experiment! If you missed the discussion about how I prepped for this album made while on a trip to Washington, D.C., you might want to check out this post from earlier today.

Before I launch into the actual completed album, I want to share some of my thoughts and results based on my prep and assembly of the album.

• The date stamp/ink pad turned out to be largely unnecessary since many of the tickets and receipts I added to the album already had the date on them somewhere, so I could have just left those two things at home. Next time I probably will.
• Having a pre-made album was both a blessing and a curse. It was great to have a foundation already put together, but my perfectionist self wanted to make everything fit into the number of pages I'd brought with me, so I probably ended up stretching it a bit more than I might have otherwise. Next time I may try binder rings to make it easy to add/remove pages.
• I wasn't sure when I packed the Sassafras letter stickers if I would use them or not, but I totally did, so something like that is definitely coming along next time.
• Thoughts on the mini printer- I could take it or leave it. I did end up printing photos while I was on the trip and scrapping about half of the album one morning as Huong and I sat in the dining room looking through photos on the laptop. I think, though, that if I'd been on any other trip I wouldn't have used it, so it may stay home next time. Instead, I'll probably cut some 2x3 and 2x2 (the most common size of photo I used in the book) placeholder papers to use in my album as I build it on the trip and note what photo should go in which spot so I can print and assemble that part when I get home. That'll also remove a couple of pounds and some bulk from my backpack.
• I found time to sort through and edit photos while in the strangest places- sitting in the passenger seat of a car in traffic, for example- and got it done in the time that I wasn't sightseeing or hanging out with family.

On the whole, I'm completely thrilled that this album is finished already! I usually don't have trips scrapbooked so soon (though I'm sure I'll still do some traditional layouts with the photos I took), and I have the piles of photos and ephemera still laying around my scrap room from vacations past to prove it (more on those later this week).

And, now, here's a look at the finished product!

Be sure to come back tomorrow, when I'll take a look at some ways to deal with the mounds and mounds of photos that are shot but not scrapbooked while on a trip. Hint: It's going to be a three post day!