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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: Vaduz, Liechtenstein
The first stop on our adventure around Bodensee was a stop in Vaduz, Liechtenstein. “Vaduz is the capital of Liechtenstein and also the seat of the national parliament. The town, which is located along the Rhine River, has about 5,100 residents as of 2009.” – Wikipedia. Liechtenstein is one of the smallest countries in the world.
The color theme for this page is based on the Liechtenstein flag which is red and blue. I chose a blue background paper and then used red for highlights and to border the pictures. In addition to the flag that is on the left hand page I have two photos that I took as well as a postcard of the palace which I was not able to get a great picture of. The right hand page has a car decal (FL, does not mean Florida, it means Fürstentum Liechtenstein, which means Principality of Liechtenstein), a patch, and an envelope of informational brochures that I picked up at the tourism office in town.
This second page showcases one of the things that Liechtenstein is famous for – stamps! I am a philatelist, and so I was excited to what stamps I would be able to pick up. You can see two of the first day covers that I purchased in the tourist shop on the right hand page. The top one is actually a cork envelope which I thought was really cool.
The left hand page has pictures of us with our friends, the Reichmanns, at a couple of places in Vaduz. I used my Cricut machine to cut the white stamp edge borders for the photographs to continue the stamp theme, and of course, I had to use stamp background paper.
Europe Vacation 2015: Swedish Royal Palace
On this day we went to visit the Swedish Royal Family in their palace in Stockholm. They were kind enough to let me take some formal pictures of them while we were there (jk!). The day before we arrived in Sweden was the royal wedding of Prince Carl Philip and Sofia Hellqvist. Prince Carl is the second born of the Royal family, and I was able to watch the wedding as the Johansson family had recorded it so that they could watch it later. It was so cool to walk in the places that I had just seen on the TV.
My favorite part of these two spreads is that the background is actually royal family paper napkins that I purchased in the palace gift shop. I carefully opened the napkins, turned them upside down, placed white card stock on top of them, and then folded the napkin over the edges and taped down tightly. (Note: I have learned that if you are going to use this wrapping technique that you must cut the 12×12 cardstock down about 1/4 inch on two sides so that it will fit into the plastic protector sheets when you are done.)
The left hand page of this spread contains ephemera that I purchased in the Royal Palace gift shop: a Crown metal bookmark (middle), postcards of the royals, and the program from the tour of the palace. The program is affixed to the outside of the plastic protector sheet so that it can be viewed by the reader. To keep it from flapping open while the page is being turned, the pages are clipped together with a contemporary paper clip. The right hand page contains pictures of the banquet room and dancing hall that I saw earlier on television. The bottom right hand picture is a scale model of an earlier version of the castle that was in the castle dungeons as part of the tour.
This second spread is created in the same way as the first spread above. All of the photographs are bordered in gold paper. In this spread the left hand page show cases the entrance to the coronation room and the chapel were the royal wedding was held just 8 days earlier. The right hand page has a picture of the organ from the chapel, the entrance to the chapel, and pictures from inside the coronation room. Notice that the date in gold is the cut out which was left from creating the date plate on the first spread shown above.
Europe Vacation 2015: Drottningholm
This was a busy day for us, after the Vasa Museum and Skansen we drove to Drottningholm, which is the residence of the Swedish monarchy. We arrived too late to visit the inside of the palace, but we did get to enjoy the royal gardens, and watch the changing of the guard. I used gold background paper for this spread, first to highlight the beautiful yellow palace, but also to emphasize the elegance and majesty of the location.
In order to help the borders around the pictures stand out, I used black for a second border, which also helps to tone down the black in the two pictures of the historical signs. I like to use pictures of historical signs like these when I am unable to pick up brochures from a location. My son also had a great time getting selfies with the guard, who apparently had to stand there and take it!
Europe Vacation: Vienna, Austria – Schönbrunn Palace and Hofburg Palace
Europe Vacation: Vienna, Austria – Schonbrunn Palace and Hofburg Palace
This page showcases two different palaces that we visited while in Vienna, the Schönbrunn Palace and the Hofburg Palace. Schönbrunn is famous for its immaculate gardens and I wanted to highlight this by using a green color palette. If you look closely you will also notice that the left hand page background is grass.
There are two techniques that I used on this spread that I had not used before. The first is that we used a corner cutter to cut flowers into the photographs and I am pleased with the way this turned out. It works best if you have a solid background behind the cut. You also have to be very careful in making the cuts because if you make a mistake it cannot be rectified and you may lose the picture.
The second technique was to use a shaped edge ruler to make the design around the end of the right hand page using a silver marker. I also then used a sliver of the solid background from the right hand page on the left edge of the left page and used the silver liner edge technique on that. This simple trick can add depth or symmetry to your work.
Related articles
- 24 Hrs in Vienna? Head to the Hofburg (ani-shah.com)
- Hofburg Palace, Vienna – A Glorious Monument to Royal Opulence (bulletinamaelstrom.wordpress.com)
- Vienna – Three Days, Three Palaces – Vienna, Austria (travelpod.com)
- Try Vienna (marcv100.wordpress.com)
- Home of the schnitzel – Vienna, Austria (travelpod.com)
- 24 hours in Vienna – A 24 hour travel guide to Vienna (essentialtravel.co.uk)
