Altered Vacation Album

Hello Hello
Good Morning to Ya!
I thought that for today I would be sharing another layout but I have decided to share my altered vacation book with you instead.

With summer right around the corner and my mind continually going back to the coast, this seemed fitting for today.

Not sure about many of you but I'm itchin' to go vacationin' - is that a word? um...'er...well it is now...

So here is my altered book!
 I used 6 vanilla file folders and folded 'em this way and that until I came up with a flow that I liked. My thought was that for each day we were on vacation I'd have a place to document our day and a way to keep all the little extras that I'd pick up along the way, all together.

So with all my files folded up I used a hinge binding system to bind them all together, at first I was afraid that this wouldn't be strong enough because the files are fairly heavy but I used a separate file to cut my hinge from so that it would have the same weight and be sturdy enough.

The page works as follows, it opens like a regular book but once on a page there is a right hand flap that also opens up revealing more photos. Some of the pages on the main center have hidden pockets to tuck in my travel cards and some pages do not have them.

This photo above shows the travel journal cards I used, they are a product by Ali Edwards and can be found here. I have had these in my digital stash for a while now but since I don't do digital hardly this seemed like the next best thing, print them up-cut them out-and use it 'as is' in my book. As it turns out I do a lot of this with lots of Ali's products, love that she creates it this way. Gives us the best of both worlds!

On those certain pages that don't have those hidden pockets, I did add photo tucks to keep everything at least in it's place. I love the tucks for the simple fact that they keep the photo easily accessible, no trying to pull it out of a pocket or an envelop. And when the book gets as big & fat as this one this is even more important - you wouldn't want to rip up your picture or your ephemera trying to get it in and out.

So when you open to any given day you open the page just like normal, the right side has the extra flap...now on the back of that page I created a pocket to finish off the previous day and then on the opposite side - to start the next day. Does that make since? So for example in the photo above, the left hand side of the book is actually a very large pocket and it is stuffed full of all the ephemera that I picked up along the way for that particular day.

The flap in my right hand opens up to this page which starts the next day of our vacation. On this particular day, the flap is a full page instead of just a half page like the ones we've seen already. This happened because of the way I folded the files and then bound the book; but for me I like books that keep things interesting, the more interaction I have the more I remember what was being documented.

Maine will be a vacation that stays with me for a very long while I think. Besides this really cool interactive book I've created, I was able to visit several of our Nation's Lighthouses while visiting and you know I love them, they are a very large and important part of our country's history.

one of the brochures I included

the tide chart because it fascinates me

a few random ephemera pieces

So there you have it, one very large and bulky altered vacation journal/memory book. I will encourage all of you to try something different with office supplies: file folders,the index card's tab blanks, composition books, envelopes of all sizes and uses...see what you can create and then post a picture for us to see what you came up with, how fun would that be?
Alright well...hop to it...and then check back in over the weekend when I'll be sharing a few new things...not sure exactly what just yet but it'll be good.
Thanks for taking a moment to spend with me, I do appreciate it very much!
just B

ps: there is a video on my youTube channel         that describes this book in visual detail, go check it out!
video here