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    Home » Travel

    Smash Book Travel Album Ideas

    Updated: May 14, 2020 by Melissa Mortenson · This post may contain affiliate links · This blog generates income via ads · 14 Comments

    I hope you enjoy these Smash Book Ideas, I loved using my Smash Book as a Travel Album and Travelers Journal for our recent trip to South Africa!

    Ideas for using a Smash book to keep a travel journal and scrapbook of your vacation. Lots of fun page ideas!

    Last summer I had the great opportunity to travel to South Africa with my extended family.  It was an amazing trip and I’d go back again in a second!  You can read about my trip here if you’re curious.

    Smash Book Travelers Journal Tutorial:

    Before I left, I knew that I wanted to document my trip as it happened. I find that so many details get lost if you try and remember a trip afterward.

    I’ve done this with most of my big trips, usually,I make a small travel scrapbook to take with me, you can see some of the past ones here and here and here.

    Ideas for using a Smash book to keep a travel journal and scrapbook of your vacation. Lots of fun page ideas!

    About My Book:

    This time, I ran out of time and didn’t get the chance to make anything before I left.  Instead, I purchased a SMASH book for myself and my girls to document our trip while in Africa.  The book pictured is the International Travel edition Smash Book.

    Ideas for using a Smash book to keep a travel journal and scrapbook of your vacation. Lots of fun page ideas!
    Ideas for using a Smash book to keep a travel journal and scrapbook of your vacation. Lots of fun page ideas!

    While I was in South Africa I sat down each evening and recorded my thoughts for the day, things we did, things I felt etc…  I made my girls do the same thing.  Some nights it was a struggle to get them to sit down and write, but I think in the end they will appreciate having a record of our trip.  My son also journaled while on the trip but I could only convince him to write in a composition notebook, he had no interest in any scrapbookey stuff.

    Ideas for using a Smash book to keep a travel journal and scrapbook of your vacation. Lots of fun page ideas!

    I left spaces in the album to go back and add photos when I got  home.    It worked out well since there seemed to be a page with lines on it every few pages.

    Ideas for using a Smash book to keep a travel journal and scrapbook of your vacation. Lots of fun page ideas!

    When I got home I printed some of our photos and added them to the album with some embellishments.

    Ideas for using a Smash book to keep a travel journal and scrapbook of your vacation. Lots of fun page ideas!
    Ideas for using a Smash book to keep a travel journal and scrapbook of your vacation. Lots of fun page ideas!

    On a few of the pages, I hand-lettered some inspirational quotes.

    Ideas for using a Smash book to keep a travel journal and scrapbook of your vacation. Lots of fun page ideas!
    Ideas for using a Smash book to keep a travel journal and scrapbook of your vacation. Lots of fun page ideas!

    Tips for Creating a Travelers Journal:

    1. Take time each evening to jot down your thoughts for the day.

    You think you’ll remember but you won’t. It only takes a few minutes per night and you’ll thank yourself later.

    2. Save space for photos.

    After you’re home from your trip, print out some of your photographs and add them to your album. I remembered what photos I had taken each day and left notes in pencil for myself to remind me what photos I’d like to add after I was home.

    3. Add personal touches.

    Don’t be afraid to doodle and use your own handwriting. It’s a journal about YOU it doesn’t have to be perfect but it should be personal.

    One thing to note.

    Once I got all the photos in the Smash book it got TOO thick. I had to pull out a few of the pages so the pages would turn easily.  Also, the design of a few of the pages didn’t match well with the mood I had in mind for my album.  So I cut scrapbook paper the same size as the album pages and glued it over the top of the page I didn’t like.

    I finished the whole thing a few weeks after I got home, while the trip was fresh in my mind.  I was just going through and reading it the other day and thought that I would share it here.

    What about you guys? Does anyone else like to keep a record of their adventures?

    Ideas for using a Smash book to keep a travel journal and scrapbook of your vacation. Lots of fun page ideas!

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    About Author

    Melissa Mortenson

    Melissa Mortenson is a blogger, designer, and content creator. She is the Polka Dot Chair blog founder and has been sharing fresh and creative ideas with readers since 2008. She is the author of “Project Teen, Handmade Gifts your Teen will Actually Love.” Her work and designs have been featured on HuffPost, TODAY, Pioneer Woman, HGTV, BuzzFeed, Better Homes & Gardens, and many other established publications. Her first fabric line, “Derby Style,” debuted in January 2015 through Riley Blake Designs.  Additional fabric collections have followed it in subsequent years. A mom of 3, she considers herself lucky to be living in Kentucky.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. julie cluff says

      February 27, 2013 at 7:25 pm

      Your book is fabulous! Love it! I wish I had done this with some of my trips. I’ll just have to get Ron to take me on another trip so I can make a travel album! 🙂

      Reply
      • Melissa Mortenson says

        February 28, 2013 at 1:33 pm

        Julie,
        I think that is an excellent idea 🙂

        Reply
    2. Laura says

      February 28, 2013 at 10:30 am

      I have journaled while on trips and it does make a difference with the remembering! Ten years later I can feel and almost hear the sounds and smell the smells of our trip to France, Belgium, Itlay and Switzerland.
      What a wonderful trip to remember. And my husband has asked questions about different places and we have looked them up in that travel journal. Worth taking the time to write. it. down.

      Reply
    3. Nicole B says

      May 07, 2013 at 2:29 pm

      My daughter and I have done a couple smash books. She is keeping things from school and pics of her and her friends in hers. I like to keep notes cards or post its from my family in mine. I add pics and comments when I can. They are like a diary only better!

      Reply
    4. Trena says

      January 08, 2014 at 12:33 am

      Lovely smash book. So glad I saw this. The tabs on the pages, are they for each day? Thank you for sharing.
      Trena

      Reply
    5. Dee says

      September 28, 2014 at 3:32 am

      I love this style of holiday documenting. I have done it several different ways and it seems to vary based on the activities of the trip. One road trip with just my husband and I gave me the time to get photos printed at chemists along the way and journal each night. Most trips though I can only manage to make notes along the way and assemble it at the end.
      I had been wondering if the smash book leant itself to this as it didn’t seem to have a big enough wire ring to allow much extra to be added to it. I have found it tricky to find books with thick enough paper and a big spiral – they seem to be mostly one or the other.

      Reply
      • Melissa Mortenson says

        September 29, 2014 at 8:03 pm

        I did notice that I had to pull out about 1/3 of the pages to give the rings enough space to turn the pages- but it had so many pages in it already that it wasn’t a problem for me.

        Reply
    6. Julia says

      June 21, 2015 at 10:05 am

      What a shame you couldn’t let your children enjoy themselves on this trip. What a miserable parent you must be. 🙁 I feel very sorry for them.

      Reply
      • Tauni says

        June 22, 2015 at 11:45 am

        What a unique take on this post Julia.

        A trip to South Africa? I can’t think of a more enjoyable experience for a family to undertake together. It looks like the simple steps they took to documenting their activities will help to ensure the memories will remain with them through the years and for generations to come.

        My grandmother passed away two years ago and we’ve been working our way through some of her keepsakes. Each piece is a little window into the life she lived and we’re so grateful to have it.

        Bravo for the Mom’s who think ahead, like Melissa, and plan to preserve precious family memories!

        Reply
        • Melissa Mortenson says

          June 22, 2015 at 4:34 pm

          Thank you Tauni,
          We found a few similar keepsakes after my Grandmother passed away. We had no idea that she was such a fantastic writer until we found some stories from her childhood that she had taken the time to jot down before she passed away. I spoke at her funeral and read some of the stories, it was such a joy to hear her thoughts at such a tough time and they all became such a treasure for our family. Thanks for sharing your story with me and the other readers here…

          Reply
    7. Gisela says

      September 15, 2018 at 1:47 pm

      Love your planner. I went back home after 50 years and I wish I had done that. I did noticed you had different pages and wondered how did you match the holes?

      Reply
      • Melissa Mortenson says

        September 18, 2018 at 9:09 am

        I just glued them ontop of the pages that were attached to the album already.

        Reply

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