A budget holiday scrapbook

Last year our family bought a second hand camper trailer and took the kids out of school for a 5-week holiday to Queensland.  This morning I finished the album!! Although it was largely finished last year, I thought I would write about it because it encompasses a lot of the "spend less" philosophy.  Originally I had planned to only use items from my stash (other than the base white cardstock) but ended up buying some patterned paper when my local scrapbook store (you guessed it) was having a sale.

 I started by printing out contact sheets of all my holiday photos, and dividing them by date.  I decided that every page would have the same basic layout, filling a rectangle across the page, using patterned paper where there were no photos.  I planned the pages as I went, so I knew which photos to print and what size. I was able to plan which pages were double and which were single, depending on the number of photos I wanted to use. 

 I used some of my alphabet stamp sets to make the headings, and the bottom of every page had a punched border.  By lining each page up on the cutting mat, lining up and attaching the elements was quick and easy.

Journalling was handwritten on tags which slipped behind photos, with a pull tab using ribbon or fibres from my stash.
It was a great moment when I realised I didn't need to buy a new date stamp (the one I own only goes to 2008) but have a whole printing kit - date stamps for the next millenia!

Finishing the album raises what I am sure is the first of many dilemmas regarding what should be included in the $5 pw budget.  In this case it's page protectors.  With all my heart I want them not to be included, I need 8 more just for this album, plus the same again for other finished pages waiting to be put away . . . and that's not even thinking about the many more pages I hope to make by the end of the year!