One of my favourite holiday photo albums
Whilst putting together lists and research for upcoming blog posts yesterday, I got drawn towards the photo album shelf and ended up completely losing myself in the various memory books I have created. Aside from travel, putting together photo albums is one of my favourite pastimes. It allows me to combine my art and design skills with my travelling memories and make pieces that Mo and I can look back over time and time again.
No two albums are the same and I love to approach each trip or life event as a project and find a suitable way to present them. Even hunting for the album itself fills me with joy!
My favourite album find so far has been this one from my very first trip to Sweden.
With my sister in law living in Stockholm, we tend to visit at least once a year. The first time I ever visited was summer 2011. Mo let me drag him around the city taking in all the different tourist sites (of which there are many).
My favourite area in Stockholm is the Old Town, Gamlastan, and it was here that I just happened to wander into a quirky looking charity shop and I came across this book.
My brother in law explained the title ‘Brefkorts Album’ meant it was actually designed to hold postcards. It cost me next to nothing (a rare treat for the oh-so-expensive country that is Sweden) and I loved the musty looking paper and little notes that had been written in pencil on some of the pages. If only some of the original postcards had been left in!
The album itself had so much character I didn’t want to do anything fussy with the inside. I knew all I would need to do is print out the photos and simply arrange them inside, maybe try and fit in a few of the ticket stubs and maps I had kept from the trip too.
As I was keeping it quite ‘minimalist,’ it took me next to no time to get it all put together when we got back. Each page was just the right size to fit two full size pics on and the paper was a good a thickness to hold the thicker photo stock. Couple of stick on letters for the front and it was done.
This has definitely inspired me to venture into charity shops a lot more in the future, especially on holiday. You just never know what gems you will find.
Have you ever visited charity shops instead of tourist shops? Whats the quirkiest thing you’ve found on your travels?