Japan Layouts (volume II)

Hi everyone,

I'm back with four more layouts for my Japan album! After a long stretch of stressful long days at work, things have finally settled down and I have been putting in a lot of time doing my favourtie thing! So lots of layouts recently to share :)

I've decided to call these posts Japan layouts - vol xx. Here's vol I. and this is vol II. Let's see how many volumes I'll need to complete the album of our awesome trip!

Yes on this afternoon we visited a Rabbit Cafe. Did you know Japan has dog, cat, rabbit and even owl cafes?  We thought we have to visit at least one - and since Jared has wanted to keep rabbits since he was very young, we went for it! He had to don a mask due to his allergies but that did not stop us from having a fabulous time!

On the right side of the layout above, I digi-stamped Ali Edwards' word art using photoshop - an idea I got from her Hybrid class - easy technique for great effect!

It's a cafe, so you have to purchase their cake and coffee/tea set meals, and you get to have an hour with the rabbits! They were so cute and adorable. We bought some 'veggy' snacks for them, and they practically pranced at us to get their snacks!

Next day we visited the Ghibli Museum. Totally whimsical and quirky just like the movies by Mr Miyazaki. Enjoyed it tremondously though if you have young children they will be even more enchanted! We can't take pictures inside the museum, so we made up for it by taking pictures of the outside :)

The afternoon is spent wondering this beautiful town and shops - 'Loved this day'!

Next day we spent a day at another outskirt of Tokyo town - Shiimokitazawa. As this is our 3rd trip to Tokyo over the years we wanted to venture beyond the usual tourist zones and this was reported as the latest hip and happening towns especially for thrifting so off we went!

There were indeed cool and hip cafes and shops all around, but in terms of thrifting it was all winter clothes and boots so really not suitable for us. But we do enjoy the strolling, window-shopping a lot. I'll be back in summer one day!

The next day we had taken the train to Osaka and in the first evening decided to visit the world famous Kaiyukan Aquarium. It totally lived up to its fame. We thought we had seen a lot of world=class aquarium, but this mesmorized us. Maybe because it was freezing and dark outside, we were completely absorbed into this underwater world.

You wind through four floors around this giant four storey tank and it looks different and fascinating from every angle. We still talk about it now and then, what a memory!

On the left side of the layout I again used multiples of Ali Edwards' word art. I've discovered I love the look of using word art as embellishments as it is more grown-up less cutesy look I now like. I also find that for this Japan album I wanted a linear flat look, so I try to have my elements look 'flat' and not 3D. Not sure if you get my drift, or why I'm so particular about this, I can never explain myself in terms of design very well. I'm more of a 'wing it' till I like it - kind of scrapper! 

All of these layouts are up in the store as templates. 

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Things Currently Sparking Joy

I've had a great weekend scrapbooking! Lots to share.

Here is a layout I made from a template by Ali Edwards from her hybrid class. It's such a versatile template that I can see myself using for any number of topics. 

But first, these are the things currently sparking Joy for me.

1. Our scrapbooks, from 2007 to 2016, where our stories are told, where our lives are captured, where hundreds of wonderful hours have been poured, proof that we have lived!

2. Gim got this for our 14th anniversary in NYC and I’ve collected charms from our travels and it tells of our adventures and love and it brings me joy every time I wear it!

3. These were an early birthday gift and I use them everyday! At the gym to watch scrapbook videos and on the bus for podcasts - they don’t fall out of my ears - a definite plus!

4.The Raskog trolley! Now there’s no need to go back and forth to get my supplies out, then keep everything after. So easy now to find everything - it swivels! Love!

And there it is, the layout itself sparking joy too.

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Our Day in the Life - x4!

Today I want to share these Day in the Life pages I just did which means so much to me!

I love documenting. Love recording our lives so as to remember, to savour it, to know we have lived, and how we've lived! So I've always loved the Day in the Life project (by Ali Edwards) but most days in our family are spent apart now that the boys are grown up. Thanks to a magazine page posted by someone in the AE Craft the Story facebook group, I thought how nice if I could do a page for each of our days!

I showed the page to the hubs and the older son, and both said "yes"! Hey, I was honestly surprised, some of me has rubbed off on them! But then younger one said "no" flat out :(  I will find a way!

Each of us set out on different days to capture our day - I asked for at least 12 to 15 photos, and simply made a grid template on 8.5x11 which I will print on photo paper at home. Also added journaling and a section called 'Fun Facts'

Now for the younger Jared, because I knew he had a day spent setting up an art exhibition at school, we simply inserted photos we took at said exhibition to fill up his DITL. I also journaled about how he won't take pictures at this time :) Considered done!

 After pulling the photos into the template, I color-coordinated and printed some digital elements from Ali Edwards'Hybrid class and Up digital kit, cut and adhered them together with a wood veneer each. Totally loved how they turned out, but best of all, I'm so happy our individual days now are recorded, at work, at college and at University.  Isn't that great?

If you'd like to try something similar you can download this very simple 8.5x11 template here.

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Japan Trip Layouts

It's been a while, but I am finally completed some double pages of our last year's trip to Japan!

For some reason, I've been playing with physical scrapbooking recently, isn't that interesting? It's probably direct result of being in the Ali Edwards' Craft your Story facebook group, and the 30Days of Lists group. So much inspiration!

So for this trip album, I decided to approach it differently, in a more linear, grid style, with highlights, title and journaling on the left page, and more photos on the right. And embellishments as desired :)

I'm very happy with how they turned out!

The inspiration for this style was from the Day in the life pages I did in June, inspired by the Ali Edwards community. You can try the free template in the blog post here

For the DITL I used Ali Edwards' Everyday Boxes and WhoWhatWhereWhy Boxes which were perfect!

I also have her FamilySentiment boxes and SummerPassport ones 

Ali has a lot more in her shop! They were what I needed to get on with the new theme I have planned for the Japan album.

Here's a close look at each of the pages and the first days of our trip :)

This was the first evening upon our arrival in Tokyo. It was such a thrill! We went straight for a genuine bowl of ramen in a tiny joint and then to the Evangelion store the boys had been looking forward to. We are in Japan!

The next morning we made our way to Yokohama. We had never been here before. The morning was just spent walking around this lovely city on a bright and lovely day. The pier area was amazing. I do love the start of a holiday with my family!

The title and journaling and one or two key photos is presented on the left side of the double page.

 And on the right is the grid for the rest of the photos, with space for word art such as Ali Edwards' fabulous ones!

My impression of this coastal city is the wide expanse and broad sidewalks, so good to wander around, checked out the chinatown, the museum of technology, and we also went to the Cosmo World!

You can see on the left side I layered more embellishments to go with the selected enlarged photos being highlighted.

The Cup Noodles museum is a must-do as the boys love cup noodles! It was so much fun 'making' our own custom cup of noodles!

All that on the first day in Japan! I am always so happy to scrap and relive our trips. Each day an adventure. Stay tuned for Day 2 soon!

Templates in the store!

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Midori Travelers' Notebook - London Travel Journal

We traveled in June to London and I brought along a new blank Midori Travelers' Notebook insert to journal on the go. We've always journaled on each trip, I have many notebooks from many trips. I will then make Project Life pages and Digital Photobooks to record the trips. I talked about all of these in two posts which you can find here:

Our Travel Journals Part 1

Our Travel Journals Part II

Since last December, I have fallen for the MTN trend and I loved that the same notebook I used to journal on the trip is going to be my memory keeping minibook! The fun is coming home and adding photos and bits and pieces collected on the trip plus embellishments to make it a fantastic journal of the trip!

The Process

I had journaled on the trip intentionally leaving blank spaces here and there where I will be adding photos, brochures, memorabilia, etc. 

Once we are home I selected photos (about 3 to 5 photos for each double page spread), depending on the space I had, using the templates I made for our last trip. (get to the templates in this post). They are for printing on A4 size paper. Because I use a kraft paper notebook, the white border for each photo helps to give defition

For the Cover, I kept it simple and to the same theme as my Japan notebook. Just strips of paper and washi with simple wooden alpha stamp that I have had for ages. 

I am excited imagining  many of these notebooks in the years to come!!

Then I used some of Ali Edwards' digital stamps (Summer passport stamps and Travel Messy circles), recolored them in photoshop, added pattern overlay to get the gold foil effect), printed and cut them out.

And then got going with sticker, glue tape and stapler! Here's the first page

I had kept the first few pages blank, so here's where I wrote highlights of the trip

And added an itinerary

And here's Day 1

Love how the Ali Edwards' digital stamps added color and a pop to the pages. I re-colored the stamps to match the colors on each page.

Also added maps and pieces cut from brochures 

The Henry VIII card is our Historic Palaces Membership card

Project life cards can be added too, they are the perfect size :)

We got to see the fly past on Trooping the Colors!

Here are some of the other pages, I filled up the entire notebook, adding tube map and London map at the back too, totally loved this record of my trip! 

You might also like to check my other post of my Japan Traveler's Notebook, that started me on this trend!

Also see my latest Bali Traveler's Notebook here!

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