Category Archives: Vacations
Europe Vacation 2015: Ephemera
This is the final back page of this trip. I usually use the back single page of an album to keep ephemera from the trip that didn’t fit, or didn’t make sense in other parts of the albums.
On this page you will see a color photocopy of my passport complete with all of the stamps that I got during this trip (not many since the EU allows travel between countries now), a small bag with some stickers from locations we visited that I didn’t use on the other pages, and a pocket which includes our itinerary, maps, and some other papers from the trip. The pocket was made by carefully slicing the background paper, leaving about an inch on each side. Ont he back I use scotch tape to reinforce the paper right next to the ends of the slice cut so that it doesn’t tear further, and then I tape another piece of cardboard to the back to help hold the bottom part of whatever I am putting in the pocket.
This is a great way to finish an album, and hold onto items that you don’t want to lose.
Europe Vacation 2015: Returning Home
This is the final spread of our 4 album scrapbook of our trip to Europe in summer 2015. It actually captures two days and two different flights. On the morning of July 34rd Mrs Ollmann took us to the Hamburg airport and we flew on SAS to Arlanda in Sweden. We then stayed the night at the amazing Arlanda Clarion Hotel, and left the next morning on SAS to Chicago, IL. On our long flight to Chicago we actually ended up in amazing seats with a ton of leg room (see pictures) and our own personal interactive screens. I watched 4 movies on the way home and was surprised when they announced that we were getting ready to land – it was the perfect ending to our trip!
The left hand side of this spread highlights the Arlanda Clarion Hotel with pictures out of our hotel window looking at the airport as well as our room and pool keys. I also attached a welcome card that was on our bed as well as the used the hotel stationary to journal on for this spread.
The right hand side highlights the two trips that we took, with the boarding passes resting behind some photographs from the flight. We were so impressed with our leg room that I took a picture of it and another of the personal screen that we had. I also used two photographs from that screen of our flight path as I thought it was cool to watch where we were on the trip. Thanks SAS for a great flight!
Europe Vacation 2015: Heide Park
On our second day with the Ollmanns we went to Heide Park, which is an amusement park similar to Six Flags in the United States. It was an extremely hot day so we really enjoyed the water rides. We had so many pictures from rides from this day that I needed two full spreads to share them. This first spread has a brown, green, and yellow theme to match the colors of the park logo. The background paper for both spreads is from a paper pack that I purchased at King’s Island about 6 years ago!
When I do multiple spreads of one location or event I usually put the ephemera on the last page, but in this case I decided that it fit better to put it on the first page. So, this page has the only photo that I have of both families together on the Mountain Rafting ride and the tickets and brochure from the park. The brochure is affixed to the outside of the plastic protector sheet so that the viewer can open it to read it.
This second spread contains some personal photographs as well as the ride photographs that you can purchase from the park. I think that Levi was continuing his tradition of trying to get photographed in weird poses! In addition to the photographs there are some rubber wrist bands from some of the rides that I cut to fit on this page as well.
Europe Vacation 2015: Hamburg – Blockbräu
After our ride on the Ferris wheel we went to the Hamburg Harbor, and enjoyed an amazing meal at the Blockbräu. We sat on the roof an enjoyed some good German live music while we ate. The food was amazing, especially the soft pretzels which were served as an appetizer before the meal.
The color theme of this spread is based off of the Blockbräu coasters that I picked up at the restaurant – Green and brown. I used two sheets of each background paper – one for the background on one page, and the second to serve as the border for the pictures on the other. This is a good way to add visual interest to the spread, without it becoming too busy, or too boring.
The pictures on the left hand side are of us at the restaurant and standing in front of a boat in the harbor. My favorite picture is the top left hand picture, where Levi is looking with jealousy at the beer that Henry was drinking, which he was not allowed to – my rules, not the restaurant.
On the right hand side of the page are pictures of our amazing food, the front of the restaurant, and a ship in the harbor. I used the drink coasters as ephemera in the center of each grouping of pictures.
Europe Vacation 2015: Hamburg Ferris Wheel
After driving us through Hamburg, the Ollmann’s took us to the largest mobile Ferris Wheel in the World – The Steiger Ferris Wheel, which gave us a great view of Hamburg and the Harbor.
It was an incredible day with a wonderful blue sky, and I got some amazing pictures of the Ferris wheel. I did not get many good pictures from the Ferris wheel because I had to point my camera in the direction of the sun to get pictures of the city and they did not turn out very well.
I choose a light blue background paper for this page so that the blue sky of my pictures would really stand out, and then used my Cricut to cut out the white Ferris wheel, which I carefully cut in half so that it would fit on both pages. While this is fairly simple, it does help take the attention of the viewer onto the photographs which I really wanted to highlight.
Europe Vacation 2015: Flying to Hamburg
On the 1st of July we fly from Stuttgart to Hamburg, to meet the family of our new exchange student who would come to spend the year with us in 2015-2016. Since we had just spent a week a piece with our two former exchange students, it was different to meet our next exchange student in his home before he had been to ours. The Ollmann’s greeted us at the airport and immediately took us on a tour of Hamburg.
This page shares the flight, and some ephemera from our time in Hamburg, Germany. We flew Air Berlin and we very impressed – we managed to get seats with lots of leg room which is a necessity for two 6’4″ guys flying together (Notice the picture of Levi on the top left hand page – he is happy!). This page also includes our Boarding passes for the flight, and a heart shaped chocolate wrapper that they handed us when we got off of the plane. There is also a picture of our exchange student, Henry, holding up the welcome sign that he and his family had at the airport.
The right hand page has a map of Hamburg, which is affixed to the outside of the plastic protector sheet so that the viewer can open it to see it better, as well as a screen cloth that the Ollmann Family gave us with art from around Hamburg. I chose a yellow, black , and red theme for this page to highlight the colors of the German flag.
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.
