Simple Vivacity

Create your own inexpensive and fun travel notebook. The supplies can cost as little as $5, especially if you get them during back to school sales. There are only four needed items, so they have a small footprint in your suitcase.

The only four items you need to pack for your travel scrapbook are:

1. a notebook
2. a glue stick
3. a small pair of sharp scissors
4. a nice pen
   

Notebook
I like the Moleskine notebooks because they are sturdy, archive quality books. If you are going to go to the effort to make a travel scrapbook, you're going to want to keep it around for a long time, right? In any case, you can use any notebook, lined or unlined, big or small, that strikes your fancy. If you are really strapped for cash, you can just as easily use a composition book as a moleskine.

Glue Stick
If you want to keep your scrapbook around for a long time, look for acid free glue sticks. I use Emery brand, bought in a back to school sale at 4-6 for a $1.00.

Scissors
I like Fiskars embroidery scissors. They are small and cut well without resharpening. Kid's scissors are fine as well, but you will want the pointed tip for sharp cuts. For younger kids, get the blunt tip so they don't stab themselves.

Pen
I use a black .5 or .7 Pilot G2 pen. They are inexpensive and write great. I like black because it has good contrast and is easy to read on the paper. Any color is fine, really, but you want a nice quality pen if you're going to be filling the pages with words because your hand will cramp up and get tired if you don't.

Get it on the Cheap
If you don't have much money to invest, or you want to try it out on inexpensive supplies first, a travel scrapbook can be put together fairly cheaply. I made this whole kit for my daughter when she went to camp for just $2.21 by shopping back to school sales. I gave her: a pink .7 Pilot G2 pen (pack of four on sale for $2.50, gave her one, 63¢); a striped composition book (98¢); a glue stick (2/20¢, gave her one, 10¢), and a pair of kid scissors (50¢).

Assembling the Book
Here's where the hard part comes in. Not hard as in difficult, hard as in remembering to stop and take a breather long enough to paste a few things in the notebook.

Take your movie stubs, post cards, photos, brochures, and anything else you find on your trip and cut/paste them into your journal. Write an entry about the object, wrapping the words around the item you pasted in. Add illustrations (even if you can't draw!) and thoughts in the corners of the book. Keep notes about your favorite restaurant and paste in the receipt for proof. Cut the picture of the lake you visited out of the brochure and tell the journal how much it didn't look like the photo. Whatever you like. The basics are cut, paste, and write.

What about photos?
If you take photos and want to include them in your travel notebook, you have some options. No matter how you do it, it's going to take a little more effort, and a few more supplies.

1. Use an instant camera and past the pictures in the journal as you take them. This is easy for journaling, but the cameras can be cumbersome and the film gets expensive.
2. Take your digital photos or film to a 1 hour developer and have them printed right away. This is not usually an ideal solution for longer trips, but it works well for short ones.
3. Take along a digital camera and a photo printer. This is a bulky idea, but if you don't have space constraints, it might work for you. To use this, simply print off the pictures you want in your book and paste them in. This would work well for someone who travels in an RV or has a large vehicle with unused space.
4. Take along an index card. Decide what size photos you plan to use and get that size index card. We print 4X6 photos, but you may want to print smaller pictures for smaller books. Place the card on the page where you want the photo and trace around it. Remove the card and write around the frame as if the photo were there. Label the space with the photo you want to include and paste it in later when the photos are developed. This is the one we use most often.