Summer vacation 2010: 15 days: 1241 photos

We've been home from that trip for more than five weeks now, and I haven't even looked at 50% of the photos I took while we were away. Quite frankly, I am overwhelmed by the sheer volume of photos I take when we travel as a family.

Thank goodness for my friends who offered to help me tackle my virtual piles of vacation photos that sit on my external hard drive, waiting to be scrapped! This is week 2 of my sketch-and-scraplift challenge in which I turn my friend's original double-page vacation layout into a sketch and then use it create my own two-pager.

This week, I want to introduce you to my good friend, Nathalie, the gal whose family we visited at the end of that 1241-photo vacation I mentioned above. She created this beautiful two-pager to help me jumpstart my creativity.



In case your French is as rusty as mine, here's Nathalie's explanation of the title and journalling:

"Every year, there are a few activities and outings that we absolutely need to do at least once during our summer vacation. Summer would just not be the same and wouldn't be complete without them."

She was able to choose photos taken of their favourite summertime activities from different years and combined them all one one page. What a brilliant way to showcase some favourite photos and memories without the pressure of creating a layout for each and every trip to the amusement park or beach!

I love the vibrant colours Nathalie used on her layout - they definitely help emphasize the summery theme. The title across the width of the two pages helps tie the two sides of the layout together, and visual triangle of orange elements (the big sun, the sunflower squares, and the photo of the campfire) help lead the viewer's eye across from one page to the next.

Before I started my own page, I turned Nath's page into a sketch.



I wanted to use some photos of our trip to San Diego two summers ago. Following Nathalie's lead, I decided to combine two SeaWorld outings onto one layout. Since my photos were a lot more detailed than hers, I chose to declutter my canvas by moving my title up into the corner and skipping the patterned paper accents. As I started to stick things down, I couldn't believe how full the page looked with just a touch of yellow paint, the ribbon and the chipboard letters. I added a few simple red embellishments, just to give the layout a punch of colour.



Thanks to Nathalie for sharing her creative efforts with Ella! I hope this peek into her creative process will inspire you to get scrapping your vacation pictures too.

Check out last week's post on 2 page spreads.