travel journal: from kit to finished book

I am so lucky to have a creative friend like Mish! I have always loved how she can combine color, texture, and pattern together in her projects and I adore the kits that she puts together and sells in her etsy shop.

She sent me on of her road trip journal kits earlier in the summer and I put it together to make a mini book about a camping trip that we took in July to Copper Falls State Park in Wisconsin. The road trip kit isn't available right now, but she always is adding different themed kits to her shop all the time!

Let me show you my process and the finished mini book...

Here is the kit all spread out and a few pictures that I took with my Fuji instax camera and some Hipstamatic pictures I had on my ipad from the trip. I also went through and ordered pictures that I took with my regular camera to add to the book and also for our regular family album.

During the trip, I kept track of what happened and what we did in a notebook that I had with me. I would LOVE to scrapbook on the road, but with all of the things we did I barely had time. I also think it might be easier to attempt this if we weren't camping in a tent like we did on this trip. Doing it this way works for me...

Once I had all of my pictures, I went through and laid out the main page bases and pictures in the book. I sort of went chronological, but kept pictures of like things together too, like pictures from our campsite were all together.

I work this way when I do my regular albums too, I have to get all of the pictures laid out in the order that I want them and the basic page layouts and then I go back and add in journaling and details.

Here's a look at how I store my scrapbook supplies... I have clear plastic bins and store paper, accessories, etc. of a theme/paper collection in each box. For this project, I pulled my camping and travel boxes to add additional pieces to this mini book. I love scrapbooking this way - I grab basic supplies and the bin(s) I need and go. I spend more time actually scrapbooking and less time looking for things. It simplifies my supply shopping as well. I shop for what I need for different theme bins, depending on the projects I am working on.

And here we are at the finished mini book. I work best when I can have a project laid out so I can work on it as I have time and not have to spend a lot of time taking things out and putting them away. I had a little catastrophie as well with a cat that dumped a vase of flowers over on my table. The kit had some casualties and my mini book got wet as well, but I worked with it and kept going. Stuff like that just happens!

Here are all of the pages from the book! You can click on any of the images to see them larger and if you have any specific questions, let me know in the comments! Many pictures ahead:

Mini books are so much fun and kits are just the best jumping off point to get started with a project like this! I am really looking forward to my next book and another fun kit like this (hint, hint Mish!)