Monthly Archives: June 2016
Europe Vacation 2015: Zurich
On June 30th we went with Luca’s aunt Sabina to Zurich, Switzerland. Sabina lives in Switzerland and was kind enough to show us around this amazing city.
On this first spread I chose the red Switzerland background paper as the theme and then played the color red throughout the spread. On the left hand side I have a picture of the city (top) and a picture of the opera house (bottom). I also used a bag from a gift shop to hold a guide to Zurich, and affixed it to the outside of the plastic protector sheet so that it would be easy for the viewer to access and open it. I used my Cricut machine to cut out the date, and then bordered it with white to help it stand out on the page.
The right hand side has coins and paper currency from Switzerland in plastic protector sheets, both of which are hinged so that they can be lifted to look at the other side. These are inside the page protector sheet to help protect them a little bit from young hands. I usually collect a little bit more paper money when I am in a country but since the Swiss Franc at the time was so expensive compared to the dollar I decided not to do that. Look HERE to see what the 10 Franc note is currently worth.
For the second spread I chose a blue color scheme for this second spread since I had the Switzerland title piece that had come pre-made in blue. The pictures on this spread are of the city, a bakery that has been open for 400 years, and of a beautiful church which has the largest clock face in Europe. Apparently in older times the wealth of your city could be demonstrated by the amazing clock that you had on your church tower!
The letters on the right hand side of the page are chipboard letters left over from a previous project and they are mounted on a blue piece of ribbon that I salvaged from a blanket that I purchased that it was tied around! I used crafting glue to mount the letters on the ribbon, and then the ribbon is wrapped around and affixed to the back of the cardstock with scotch tape. I had to do this since the chipboard letters are fairly heavy and are likely to come off with regular sticky tabs.
Europe Vacation 2015: Constance
On June 29th we had a restful day. I took time to do our laundry as we were running out of clothes, and our exchange student, Luca, went to school. When Luca returned from school he took us to Constance, Germany. Constance has an interesting history in that in the early 1400’s a very important Council of the Catholic church was held here. A really cool rotating statue was placed in Constance in the harbor in 1993 called the Imperia.
The background paper for this spread is antique map design and I used a plain brown border for the photographs, since the background paper is so busy. On the left hand page is the building where the Council took place, the Imperia, an entrance statue to the harbor, and a picture of us holding gelatto standing on the shore.
The right hand page has pictures of the the town square, and fountains and statues in the square. I also journalled a little bit about this day, as I knew that it would be hard for me to keep the details straight after all of the cities and towns that we had visited on this stage of our adventure.
Europe Vacation 2015: Bodensee
On June 28, 2015 we had a much slower pace, which was very much needed after our whirlwind trip in 4 countries in one day traveling around Bodensee (The Lake of Constance).
On this day we took a boar trip on the Rhein (Rhine) towards Bodensee where the boys jumped in the water, and I waited until we were near a shore and I waded (it was a little cold still even at the end of June). That evening we enjoyed a dinner at home with friends and family of the Reichmann’s.
I used antique blue background papers to hint at all the water that we saw on this day, and I journalled on a piece of card stock that I cut from scrap paper that I had used on another project. If you look closely you can see that I used the same paper for the border on the photographs on the left hand page and for a page border on the right hand page. Using this technique helps to bring unity to the spread.
Europe Vacation 2015: Meersburg, Germany – Page 2
This is the second spread of our time in Meersburg, Germany. This was our last stop for the day before heading back to the Reichmann home, and so we stopped at a waterfront restaurant for supper. It started pouring rain while we were there and we saw an old lady who was painting have her umbrella getting pulled away by the wind. Luca ran out to help her, but she didn’t want to move and just waited the rain out.
I used an antiqued background papers to highlight the age of this 1000 year old city. The pictures on the left hand page are of the old castle, a mill, and a local townsman. The pictures on the right hand page are of the newer castle, some swans, Luca helping the old lady in the rain, and one of my favorites – an elderly man looking out the top window. If you look at the picture carefully you can also see two paintings on the side of the building, of people looking out windows. I thought that this was funny and wanted to get a picture of it.
Europe Vacation 2015: Meersburg, Germany – page 1
The next stop on our tour around the Lake of Constance (Bodensee), was Meersburg, Germany, which is a town that is over 1000 years old! This is the first of two spreads on this amazing city.
The left hand side showcases a first day stamp cover with a stamp celebrating the 1000 year anniversary of the town. Since I am also a stamp collector, this was a very cool piece for me to find in a local store. The background paper was purchased on Ebay and when I got it it had another name of a town on it that we did not end up visiting. I did not want to waste the paper so I cut out another card map (with the blue border) and used it to cover up the name of the other city.
On the right hand side is a little journalling that I did for this page and the next, as well as pictures of the center of town including the town trumpeter who came out to announce the time and make announcements (see if you can see him above the town flag in the orange clock tower.)
Europe Vacation 2015: Lindau, Germany
The next stop on our adventure around Bodensee was the town of Lindau, Germany. This ancient city is most well know for its amazing lighthouse and statue of a lion guarding the harbor, and for an amazingly decorated Radskeller (Town Hall).
I decided to use some Germany background paper that I had found on Ebay and did a little journalling on the green bordered note card. I carried this green in to the borders for the pictures to help to break up the harshness of the bold colors and lines on the background paper.
In the top right hand picture if you look closely you can see a long rope of Rapunzel’s hair hanging out of one of the windows.
