Greetings from the road!
Right now, Stephanie and I are in the car heading down to Galveston for
Crafty Neighbor’s 6th Annual Scrapbooking Cruise. We are so excited to finally be on our way,
and we can’t wait to share with you all the fun we’re having!
Since I won’t be able to keep up with my blog while I’m
gone, I’ve set it up with some pre-arranged posts for you to enjoy until I get
back. Each day we will feature one of
the projects from the cruise, including our door decorations, pillow gifts, and
workshop projects. I hope you’ll stick
around while I’m gone to see all the projects we have in store for you, and we’ll have some great pictures of our trip for you when we come
back.
For today’s post, I wanted to talk to you about cropping on
the road or while on vacation. I know a
lot of people who, after years of collecting scrapbooking supplies, no longer
like to go to crops because they don’t want to haul their supplies around –
it’s just easier to crop at home. But
after lugging my scrapbooks all over the Caribbean for the last 7 years, I’ve
pretty much become accustomed to scrapbooking away from home, and have learned
some good tips for traveling with my supplies.
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| Cropping on a hotel desk |
The first rule of scrapbooking on a trip is to keep it simple. When I take my scrapbooks with me on a trip,
I usually try to focus on just one project that has limited supplies. This usually means my smash book or art
journal, but it could also be a themed or mini album, a series of cards, or
even a small craft project. The idea is
that you keep the supplies down to one small tote that you can easily haul
around with you. You also want to keep
in mind the space where you’ll be working, such as the desk or coffee table in
a hotel room.
Don’t bring prohibited
items on a plane, train, or cruise ship.
Most public transportation has rules prohibiting Exacto knives, scissors
with blades longer than 4”, and any kind of flammable liquid (like Un-Do). In addition, cruise ships prohibit irons,
candles, and a host of other items. So
be sure to check the airline or cruise line before you pack. For our Crafty Neighbor cruises, we are able
to secure special permission from the cruise line to bring some of our supplies
onboard because we are a scrapbooking group, but individuals will not be able
to do this.
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| Christen cropping in a hotel room |
Don’t forget to pack
your finished projects carefully.
This is especially important for any fragile craft projects or items
that are bulkier when completed. If
necessary, bring an extra box or bag to put the projects in and plan to wrap
any fragile items in clothing, paper or some other protective material. If you’ll be flying, don’t forget that you
may have to pay a fee for additional bags, so plan your projects accordingly.
Remember to have fun! Don’t bring a high-pressure project or
something that needs to be finished by a certain deadline. Delays are bound to happen on even the
best-planned trip, and being under pressure to complete a project when you’re
tired or would rather be doing something else takes all the fun out of
crafting and your vacation. Likewise, don’t kick yourself too hard if you bring something to work
on and don’t get to work on it at all.
If you follow these simple rules, you should have a great
time crafting while you travel. But don’t
forget to take pictures so you’ll have more projects to work on when you get
home!
That’s it for today.
Check in tomorrow to see the first of our cruise-related projects!
