Tricia

Getting ready to take a 2 week trip out West and want to preserve my pictures. Have a 35 mm camera, not digital. Just an average photographer here, no professional experience.
However, when I return home, I want to preserve my pictures forever. (No heaping them in a shoe box this time.) =)
I've made framed collages of other vacations, but want to do something original.
Wondering about any creative ideas other people may use. Thanks for sharing!

cd

Hi Tricia
I have always made scrapbooks upon returning. I date each page with the day we were there, title it and paste the pictures and any memorbilia I collected while there and write a little bit of history. After the book is complete, I title the outside and place it on my bookshelf (after framing one of my favorite pictures for the library table) We love revisiting places we've been just by pulling down a book.

fertile boy

My wife and I make a baby during each vacation. Then, whenever we look at the child, we remember our fun time together. This method gets a little expensive over time, however.

Joe

Scrapbooks are definitely the way to go. I save lots of memorabilia that I include with my pictures and I also journal so that there's a story behind the pictures. It's a lot of fun and I get to relive the vacation all over again!

Tricia

hi CD & Joe,
Thanks for the scrapbooking idea! With making a scrapbook, I could also include postcards, or whatever else would fit that I come home with That would really help to tell the "whole story" of the vacation. My extended family members are excited to see pictures of our trip upon our return, so this would be better than a picture album. Also, it would give me something to do when we get home, since I'll be sad that the vacation's over!
Fertile boy: I've got the kids I want, thanks!! (We didn't have to go on vacation to make them either.)

Is there anything specific I should know before I start scrapbooking?

Thanks! Tricia

Huh?

What's the difference between a scapbook and an album?

alex

Tricia

I too enjoy scrapbooking and I also keep a trip journal so I can remember the meals we ate (we are big foodies), etc... Visit a big crafts store like Michael's or your local crafts store or search online and they have more scrapbooking ideas and materials than you can imagine including acid free papers for preservation.

Diana

We combine the scrapbooking (album) and journal idea. I write a daily journal on a trip and then type it on the computer. I print out one verison that I keep whole, and the other printout my husband cuts up and puts in the album at the appropriate place as virtual captaions for the pictures. It's quite amazing what you forget, and how evocative simple things like what you ate for a meal can bring back a whole day. (It also helps if you go back to the same place--surprising how often you forget where that great restuarant or postcard shop was.)

T.M.

I also use the method of making a photo/journal album. I've done it for the past several years and its a great way to not only preserve the memories but share your trip with others.

One tip I wanted to share was taking photos of unexpected moments/places. I have found that while the standard monument/charming vista/posed group photo is fine, I really get a kick out of the ones that are kind of quirky. I took a photo of my roommate asleep with her headphones on that we still laugh about. Or photos of a tour guide doing something funny. Those preserve the goofier memories of traveling.

bennie

We've made memory boxes for the trips we've taken. We get craft boxes and decoupage the outside with cutouts from brochures, restaurant menus and other stuff. Inside we put the photos plus the other junk we've collected like swizzle sticks, matches, rocks, coins. Opening one up from a past trip is a little like a treasure hunt. And it keeps the junk relatively organized.

CF

I always put our pix in an album with index cards inserted where necessary detailing certain things as needed. I then get a large brown envelope, put all the junk I collected in it, label it as to destination and date then file it in a big box (by date) I keep in the bottom of the closet in the spare bedroom. It makes it nice if you just want to find a brochure or something.

I made a different type from cruises. I put the daily activity paper in then the pix from that island/day and so on.
There is even room in the back for your little charge cards and invitations to cocktail parties and stuff.

The most important thing is to keep up on your pix and not let them lie around for years and then forget all the details of the trip when you finally put them in something.

kc

I buy a large blank journal(with pretty covers) and keep it as a daily journal and put the photos in it from each trip.
That way it is a diary with pictures.
A book for each trip sometimes works better.My last Paris journal is in a book with a photo of the Eiffel Tower on it.

S

When scrapbooking, just make sure you get acid free paper, etc. The acid in regular paper is what deteriorates pictures. If you have newspaper clippings you want to preserve, photocopy them on a color copier (yes, even if they are just black and white).

Sue

I've made 2 trips to Europe and 1 to Hawaii in the past 3 years, and I have made scrapbooks (Creative Memories or some similar method)of each trip. I consider the scrapbooks my souvenirs, so am willing to invest the time and money. I've enjoyed my pictures over and over again and don't have to worry about them turning yellow or falling out of the album!

Permanent Vacation

I usually pick out my best photo from each vacation and ahve it tattooed on my body so I will have it forever. For poetic irony, I put my best sunset photo right near where some say "the sun doesn't shine".

cd

Hi Tricia
Regarding scrapbooking: I start as soon as my pictures are developed. If I don't, I forget where some of the pictures were taken. I start by making a stack of pictures and memorbilia for each day and each location visited and then work on one location at a time. Also I've learned that no one loves those pictures like me and my husband. Your parents and children will enjoy them almost as much....But others do not...So, I hand them the scrapbook, if they ask to see our vacation pictures, and then walk away. If I stay by their side, I talk too much with "too much information" making it boring for them. They'll ask questions if they want.

Tarzan

She it - take it to I Village, ladies.

y

We take lots of pix, and place them in albums, usually on rainy Sunday mornings. To complement that, we haul back tons of wine from every location, and many evenings we drink the wine and reminisce. When the wine runs out, and it always does, then it's time to TRAVEL again.

Tricia

Thanks everyone for the excellent ideas!
I would not have known to purchase acid free paper.
I also had already planned on keeping a journal. Combining the journal entries w/scrapbooking sounds great.
Once again, I appreciate all of the responses. Tricia

CD

I don't have a digital camera, or a photo scanner either. However, when I get the pix developed, I get them developed on a floppy disc. This way my photos can be e-mailed or made into cards and take-up very little storage space (good news for us apartment dwellers).