Finished : England Scrapbook

This weekend I got another left over project finished!  Hooray!  Another item off my to-craft list.  This one is a scrapbook of the trip I took in 2009.  My original goal was to have it done within a year of going on the trip but that date came and went last summer.  When I actually settled down to working on it after Christmas I was pleasantly surprised with how much was already done - it didn't take as long to finish as I thought it would.

It's in a standard 12x12 scrapbook that I got for pretty cheap at Michael's.  Here are some of the pages (click to enlarge).

Title page - I forgot to think about vertical alignment when I started putting the letters on so the L and D go off the top of the page a bit, but it actually looks quite good like that I think!

These pages are on Amy Butler paper (from Michael's).

I love the moment this picture captures so I'm showing it on it's own as well as on the 2 page layout.

I like patterned papers, stickers and trims but sometimes simple and plain seems best to show off the pictures.  These are a few layouts of our hikes along the coastal path.

More walking, more beautiful scenery!

This is the cottage where we (me, my mom & sister) stayed for a week.

One of the many gorgeous beaches we visited and the only one we all swam at (it was cold!)

Cute seaside town with lots of boats in the harbour.

I love the beauty of Bath, this was my second trip there and just as gorgeous as I remembered.

These pages show Regent's Park in London and the view(s) from the London Eye.

I love including memorabilia in my scrapbooks but sometimes it's hard to include it with pictures so I made a separate page for it.

I found this vintage-y map of London paper and wanted to include it - a little tricky because I wanted the map to show.  Using only a couple pictures and spreading them out seems to work.

Last page.  My mom was so happy to finally (on her 3rd trip to London) ride in a black cab we had to commemorate with a picture.

As you can see I don't put a lot on my scrapbook pages.  I like the pictures to be the stars and I find too much "stuff" just detracts from the memory I am trying to preserve.  It also makes it a little faster (relatively) to put together.  I overheard a customer in my local scrapbook store saying she spends 3-4 hours on each layout (including printing and sorting through pictures, shopping for supplies).  I don't have that much time to devote to scrapbooking!  I'm not sure how long I take but I'd bet it's a lot less then 3 hours a page!  You may have noticed I don't include a lot of journaling either, sometimes I include more but with a thorough trip journal I can refer back to I don't feel the need to record every detail in my scrapbooks.