Hi again, everyone! I'm obviously taking this whole "sporadic posting" thing seriously! It's been a crazy few weeks while we worked on a huge project at the house and tried valiantly to finish it before Darren started his second year of medical school (otherwise known as M2). We're putting a pretty big workshop/shed (if you can call two stories with french doors on the entry a "shed") in the back yard and still have the roof, staircase, and siding to finish before final inspection. I absolutely cannot wait for it to be finished! Our house is small, but having it paid off made us really reluctant to go out and buy something bigger, so this is our interim solution. I'm so looking forward to having more storage and working space!
I also took a deep breath a few weeks ago and did this...
Yes, I am doing a tiny bit of designing again. I have missed Lawn Fawn ever since I resigned from their team at the end of 2013, and I've had a standing invitation from Kelly to come back when I was ready. I'll never be ready for the big number of design teams I was on previously again, but I'm really enjoying just being on one and really taking care and doing my best with just those items. Plus, I work so much more efficiently when there's a deadline involved, and my design teams used to really push me to get things finished. I can already tell that this has been a good decision for me all around since it forces me to take time out for crafting!
My work table is scattered with layouts, cards, and a couple of other projects right now, and I've been filming some video along the way, too! Inspiration Week on the Lawn Fawn blog starts tomorrow, and I hope you'll join us.
Speaking of design teams, I ran across an old Crate Paper project when I was cleaning out my blog drafts. It was never posted here because it never made it onto Crate's blog. There was a schedule change and it got lost in the shuffle, which I will admit bummed me out because it was a big, time-consuming project! All products from the Open Road collection used in this project were provided by Crate Paper in exchange for design work.
My friend May Flaum and I both acquired campers around the same time, and she had the brilliant idea of keeping a 6x8 album in hers to document each trip taken in it. With her blessing, I put together something similar for our own camper (though we've since sold the pop-up and purchased a very used Class C instead) and used it as a design team project at the same time. We've only taken two trips in our camper (and only one is shown here), but I'm looking forward to filling this up as the years go by.
I used a 6x8 Simple Stories Sn@p album (in turquoise, of course!) as my base. The title page is a 3x4 card from the Open Road journal card collection that I sewed into place in the middle of a full 6x8 page protector. I then added some sequins to the protector and sewed the top shut.
I also have a full 6x8 photo (from Yellowstone National Park during our first road trip) included as a secondary part of the title page. I printed the photo on vellum using our color laser printer (it's really old and we bought it from an office surplus), and I *love* how it turned out!
I couldn't believe it when I looked at the back of this journaling card and realized that it outlined part of our first trip- so cool, and of course I had to use it!
Since our first trip in our camper was an epic 2-week road trip out west, I decided to use the accordion album from the Open Road collection to document it. I wanted to record all of the places our camper had stayed, but I also only wanted to use up one page for the trip- especially since I already have a full 6x8 album dedicated to it! This album is more of a "places our camper has stayed" record than a vacation album.
I adhered the entire piece to a 6x8 page, and it can be folded out right in the album.
On the back of that page I used a piece of patterned paper to make a pocket and tucked some of the brochures and camping permits that we collected along the way.
The rest of the album is full of empty areas waiting to be filled with photos, journaling, and ephemera from future trips, and I really need to get our camping trip to Disney World (my first time at Disney!) last spring added in.
I used lots of Project Life grid cards as bases and added die cuts, stickers, and stitched border pieces from Open Road as embellishments. I also made a few full 6x8 layouts with spots ready to add photos in. The idea is that I will be able to quickly document a trip with just photos + words since the scrapbooking part is already finished.
There are a few more pocket pages scattered in, too, and the pages can be taken out and rearranged as needed to suit the trip.
And can you tell I had some fun making sequin pockets, too?
Writing up this post has me longing for another road trip! It's possible that we'll be able to take one next summer, but since Darren won't have much of a break before M3 starts (and no break between M3 and M4), I'm not sure what those plans will be yet. Whatever they are, this little album will be ready and waiting!
Thanks so much for stopping by today! Hugs to you all!
If you are interested in the products that I used in this post, you'll find them linked up below. I do participate in affiliate programs and use those links where possible. If you make a purchase after clicking on one of these links I do earn a small commission, but it doesn't cost you anything extra. Some product that I use is provided to me in exchange for design work, and some of it I purchase. I will point out product that was provided to me when I use it.
