Tuesday 15 May 2018

Travel albums - what's the best way?

Hello there! Thanks for dropping in.

I've been working hard at getting travel photos into albums lately and I've come across a few problems that I'm hoping you might be able to help me solve.

My hubby and I travel quite a bit and I keep a travel blog to update friends and family. I find this to be a great tool - it saves me having to tell everyone the same story over and over and it serves as a diary of the trip. I write up what we did, add in the best photos and post these updates regularly.

I have thought long and hard about how best to document a long trip. I take a LOT of photos when we travel. In the end, I decided that the albums would contain three different typres of pages:
        1. I print off my blog posts for an instant record of where we went and what we saw.
        2. I pick extra photos that I want a memory of and add them in using Project Life pages.
        3. I scrap my favourite photos and add those in as well.

So my albums contain a mix of A4 and 12 x 12 pages like the following.

I make a title page like this:



My Project Life pages are very basic. I have too many photos to spend a lot of time on these. I just add the basic details and don't add embellishments. I add memorabilia into the pockets where I can.



I print my blog posts onto A4 paper and add them to the album in standard plastic sleeves.




I add scrapbook pages in where appropriate.




I hope you're with me so far!

My problems are:

1. The blog posts: I print these on thick copy paper so the heavy inking on the photos doesn't show through the page, however the photos don't look good printed on copy paper. I tried using A4 photo paper and this looks a lot better, however it's much thicker which makes the album bulkier, something I'm trying to avoid. It's also a lot more expensive.

2. The Project Life pages: All those pockets and heavy-duty plastic pages add to the bulk.

3. Printing:  I print the photos at home which is very expensive when I'm printing off hundreds of them. I tried my local photo shop but got so frustrated with how slow the process was to print 3 x 4" photos that I gave up. It's much quicker on my own computer!

4. The A4 plastic sleeves - I haven't found any that fit my 3-ringed albums so I have to cut slots to fit. This is time consuming and the slots catch on the album rings.

Does anyone have any suggestions for any of my problems above, or have any other ideas on how to efficiently create albums with lots of stories and photos? Do you do things differently to me? I'd love to hear your thoughts and tips.

Thank you so much :)


Happy scrappin'!

Heather

12 comments:

  1. I am loving how this album looks! I love how you combined the different ways of scrapping!! I have heard great things about online photo printing places, but I don't know if they are available where you are? I like the idea of printing out the blog posts, as that seems a lot easier to document!

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    1. Thanks Julie. Yes, we certainly have online printing services and it's something I should investigate - thanks!

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  2. Humm I have not done any travelling to make up albums as you are doing.. so sorry I dont really have any ideas for you.. I kinda like the different page sizes, but then I would maybe have different albums sizes for the different pages.. Clever idea printing out your blog posts to save rewriting everything.. I have an epson printer and when it prints photos on ordinary copy paper they are dullish too.. so I am not sure if a better printer would be an answer either??? Hopefully someone will have some ideas for you!! Love your scrapped travel pages though!!

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    1. I've got a good printer so it's the paper that's the issue. Thanks for your thoughts Lizzy!

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  3. Wow, your travel album looks so amazing!! I love the beautiful title pages and all of the gorgeous pictures!! I take tons of pictures on travels and I always mean to do something with them but never do. Last trip, I even bought all of the travel album accessories and they are all in a box, unused. I love the idea of printing out all of your blog posts. I wish I could help, but I haven't attempted to do this yet!! Have a great day!! Big hugs :)

    Lisa
    A Mermaid's Crafts

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    1. That's the tough part - finding time to put albums togather! Thanks for your lovely words Lisa.

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  4. Wow!! I love your travel album Heather. What a great idea to mix it up with Project Life, Scrap pages and printouts of your travel blog all in the same album. Unfortunately, I have no ideas of how to fix your problems either but would be very interested to see what others may come up with. All my travel photos are still sitting in my computer. I haven't even printed them out let alone created an album for them. Too much hard work I'm afraid. LOL!! Have a fabulous day! hugs xx

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    1. Haha - not putting travel photos into albums seems to be a common theme here!

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  5. I really admire you getting the travel photos into the albums - I've run up the white flag on my squillions so I can't focus on the Grandchildren and their stories, but I love what you are doing with a mixture of focal pages, project life and printing the blog pages, the latter is an absolute master stroke. Would it be worth trying to print the blog onto A4 white cardstock which is especially for stamping and sponging. It might work better for the photos. Or what would it look like if you printed just the text and added a photo which is printed on photo paper? I can recommend Black and White photographic in Adelaide for great quality prints. I drop my USB into them and they are ready the next day. The also have on online service. http://www.blackandwhitephoto.com.au/print-online/. The only idea I have for the mismatched holes is to maybe use a 12x12 sleeve and use a fuse tool to create an A4 size. Not sure how practical that is. Good luck.

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  6. These are all great ideas Helen! You've really thought outside the square! I'm gonna think these through and see what works. Thanks so much :)

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  7. Just love your travel album Heather. Awesome photos and love all the different page styles! Sorry I can't be of help to fix any of your above problems....... Good luck xx

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