Italy was incredible!  What a breathtaking country!  There are so many picturesque towns, ancient buildings and monuments to visit, and let’s not forget the food.  I think I put on at least 5 kilograms while we were there.  Nobody can make pasta like the Italians can!

I must have taken over 2000 photos over the course of our holiday which means I have so much to choose from when I make a travel scrapbook of our travels.

We started our Italian holiday off in Rome.  We then travelled to Venice, Naples and the Tuscany region before ending off by travelling back to the Italian capital.  There was so much to see and do everywhere we went!  I really loved the tours around each city we visited.  Italy has some of the most beautiful architecture I have ever seen.  If you haven’t yet, make sure you visit Italy at some point on your travels, you will not be disappointed.

Of course I have some great ideas for a scrapbook documenting our holiday.  I thought I would share then with you so the next time you go on holiday, you can try them out as well.

1. Collect, collect, collect

While we travelled, I made sure that I collected everything I thought I could use in the scrapbook.  Coins, bank notes (if you have any left of course), brochures, postcards and hotel business cards all can be used throughout the scrapbook to serve as specific reminders of each place you visited.

Now some things you collect might be small, but I keep these in a special compartment of my travel wallet so they won’t get lost.  Other than keeping all our travel documents, money and travellers cheques, my travel wallet has many uses! I picked it up from a speciality store call Drift Travel Wallets.

2. You can never have enough photos

I took photos of everything!  Panoramic views, sunsets, buildings, my family and the food we ate.  I even took photos of Brian exercising with his resistance bands which he picked up from a specialty store called Nomad Resistance Bands!  No one will believe me that Brian actually would have exercised on our holiday, but now I can document it in our scrapbook.  I know his friends will have a laugh!  Who exercises on their holiday?  Maybe I should have followed his example though.  Brian didn’t put on 5 kilograms now did he?

3. Include quirky pages

If you are like me and you keep a daily journal then you can incorporate it into your scrapbook.

A unique contents page is also a great idea.  Try placing the order of your scrapbook like this:

• Cities we visited.
• What we saw.
• Things we did.
• Food we ate.

For the final page of your scrapbook, use various numbers to document your travels, for example:

• We flew 10 000 kilometres.
• We drove 1500 kilometres.
• We visited 4 cities.
• We took 2000 + photos.
• All that remains is 2 tired children, 1 fit husband and 1 uncomfortable wife.

Something along these lines will be a great way to end off your scrapbook.  I still need to play around some more but those are my initial ideas.   The numbers themselves can be cut out of magazines, made of foam or even get your kids to make them for you.

There are so many more great ideas out there!  Remember, it is your scrapbook, use your imagination and go wild.  Happy travels and happy scrapbooking.

In a month’s time Brian will be turning the big 4-0!

Time really flies.  It seems like just the other day that I saw this tall, gangly, long haired guy at university.  I can’t say I was immediately attracted to him, but if I am honest, there was something about him.  Once he cut his hair however, wow, let’s just say I did pursue him after that and 3 years later we were married!

A special gift for Brian

I want to do something special for Brian for his birthday and my scrapbooking group came up with a perfect idea that I know he will love.  I am going to make him a “This is your life!” scrapbook!  Cool idea right?

I am in the process of collecting any photos of Brian that I can lay my hands on.  I have asked family and friends to give me any that they might have.  I have also asked them to write down their favourite story about Brian.  I will then combine the photos, stories and little mementoes into the scrapbook.  It really is going to work so well.

Some photos and stories have started to come in already.  Ted, Brian’s best friend had this incredible black and white photo of Brian from our university days.  He is standing over a record player, just about to put a new record on the turntable he bought from here.  Brian has always loved music.  While we were in university, he would spend all his spare money on records.  It probably explains why I had to pay for hotdogs when we went out on a date.

One happy husband

Just the other day we decided that we would like to redo our entertainment area.  Brian really wanted a place where we can entertain our friends.

We bought a nice modern bar and these beautiful bar stools from this online store that are covered in red leather.  They are very trendy and modern looking and look stunning next to the bar.  We both love them, which is amazing because our tastes don’t often match.

I also surprised Brian with a record player and a couple of records.  He was really excited when I gave them to him and spent the afternoon sitting on a bar stool listening to records.  I told him the record player was part of his birthday gifts.  He wanted to know what the other part was, but I kept the scrapbook a secret.   I think that when the scrapbook is done it will take pride of place on Brian’s bar.

I just love scrapbooking!  I find it so relaxing and I spend any spare minute I can find pursuing my hobby although this can be difficult sometimes with a husband and two little boys running around the house.  Brian, my husband understands my love for my hobby and he makes sure that he keeps the boys out of my hair for a little each day so I can pursue my passion.

Scrapbooking allows my creative side to come out and I love that!   I can focus my energy and time into my hobby and produces some amazing pieces.  Of course most of my scrapbooks focus on my family and what we get up to.

Scrapbooking is something you learn and improve at, but one thing I always keep coming back to is a list of important scrapbooking tips that I was given by my good friend Wendy.  She gave me this list when I first started out scrapbooking.  These ideas really helped me and I want to share a few with you.

1. Workspace
Your workspace is extremely important.  If you are not comfortable, do not have enough area to work in or you are constantly interrupted it will show in your scrapbooking projects.  Bear in mind that scrapbooking can take intense concentration at times.

Lighting also plays a massive role while you scrapbook.  Remember, you are often working with small objects, pieces of paper and stickers.  The correct lighting will go a long way to helping with accuracy when placing small objects.  For this reason, I have pendant lights in my scrapbooking room which I can switch on and off as I move between my work areas.

My workspace has everything I need.   Other than the pendant lights providing specific task lighting, I have three work areas, storage filled with scrapbooking supplies and a bookcase with scrapbooking magazines and books.  These give me so many great ideas for new projects.

The most important thing in my room is my beautiful wall clock.  It was a

10^th anniversary give from Brian.  Not only does it look amazing but it fills the important function of helping me to keep track of time while I am scrapbooking and as you know, time flies when you are having fun!  My wall clock has actually saved one or two meals in my oven as I love to sneak away to scrapbook while I am waiting on something cooking in the oven.

2. Organise!

I can’t stress this enough!  Remain organised at all times; it really makes scrapbooking so much easier.

I like to work on multiple projects at once but I make sure that I keep all materials and any notes separate.  I also pack each project into its own storage container when I am finished working.  That way nothing can get mixed together, and believe me, with young boys around, it can happen so easily.

Before you start each project make sure you have everything you may need including materials and tools.

3. Plan your project

Planning your project beforehand really is the best way to scrapbook.  If you know exactly what you want to achieve, you can be sure your end product will be a masterpiece!

I often write planning notes before I start, with lists of materials I might need as well as specific tools I will use.

I have made copies of this list for my students for my first scrapbooking class next week!  I think they will find it as useful as I have.

I can’t wait to teach others about scrapbooking, I am sure they will love it as much as I do.  It is going to be so much fun!

The big day finally arrived and I was really nervous but excited at the same time! I could not believe that I was going to teach a group of people about my favorite hobby.

My hobby was turning into an income generator!  I have no doubt that any income that I do receive will be ploughed straight back into scrapbooking!  I think the thing that made me most happy was that I was going to be sharing my knowledge about scrapbooking with other likeminded people.

Time for scrapbooking!

I was a nervous wreck by the time the doorbell rang, signalling the arrival of the first scrapbookers for the evening!  Of course, my three closest friends would arrive first!  That really helped to ease my nerves.  Barbara, Kate and Mary had wanted to give scrapping a try for a while and they were the first to sign up when I told them that I would be starting a class.  My sister, Annie, arrived next followed by two ladies who had seen an advert I placed at the local library.  June and May were young and full of fun.  They kept us laughing all night and I am so glad that they came.   They said they would bring a few more friends the next time as well!

I decided that we would all sit around my big dining room table, so that everyone would have more than enough space to work.  It would allow us to keep a glass of wine close at hand as well, very important to break the ice!

I recently bought some beautiful blue cushions online and placed one on each seat.  It was interesting to see how each person used the cushions differently.  Some sat down on them, others used the cushions and leant on the seat with one knee while standing and working, while Annie put the cushion on the floor to rest her feet on!  That’s what you get for wearing high heels all day I guess!

To make sure we had enough light, I placed our nice new modern floor lamp in the centre of the table.  Not only did it help us while scrapping, it made finding our wine glasses easier as well.

What an enjoyable evening

Our first scrapbooking project involved our favourite picture of ourselves.  This would then form the cover for our scrapbook.  After I presented a few ideas and answered a couple of questions everyone got down to business and I am pleased to say that they produced some amazing covers.  They are all so creative!  I was extremely proud of Annie’s though, she really did a brilliant job, and her project looked amazing.  I guess scrapbooking talent runs in the family then.

The class went on for over two hours and we spent the last half an hour chatting, joking and laughing while we drank some coffee.  I think everyone really enjoyed their evening.  We will have two more classes in the next two weeks and then our family is on a week’s break to Italy!  I can’t wait.  I have never been there before!  It is going to be so much fun!