Scrapbooking vacation photos

An interesting thing happened to me Friday. I was using my laptop, and the screen went blank. Two days later, I found out the hard drive was shot. I had, of course, just downloaded my iphone and downloaded my vacation pictures from my camera, deleting the shots from both. I am using the desktop now and am in the process of recovering files from our online backup. About halfway in after about 3 days, so it's been a   l   o   n   g  process, without being able to edit and print photos at will. Sigh. I'll let you know how that goes when it's done.

Today I'd like to share with you how I go about organizing my thoughts after vacation to prepare to scrapbook the trip.

The first thing I do is on the way back: I ask the family for their 5 vacation faves. I grabbed the only piece of paper available in the car this year and made out this list:

I use this list to make a mini-album, a project I do every year. I will pick one photo of each family member and pair it with that person's list of faves. I've started going through my mini-album supplies and will have to think about how I want to set this project up.

Next, I download my camera and phone and make a list of topics that I will use to organize my planned album of the trip. Here's my preliminary list:

1. Campsite
2. Cooking
3. Hiking
4. Douglas Lodge and Forest Inn
5. Old Timers Cabin
6. Cruise boat
7. Headwaters
8. Swimming
9. Fishing
10. Pontoon
11. Canoeing

This list is not in any particular order, though I usually do arrange it chronologically. The list may also change as I print photos. We took a shorter vacation this year, camping in only one spot, so my vacation album will likely not be a full 8.5x11 inch album. I'm playing around with the thought of doing a pocket album. I have one by Pink Paislee and one by October Afternoon I might use.

Finally, I organize my supplies and memorabilia from the trip into a craft keeper of some sort:

Here I collected various brochures and stickers. I usually glue a pocket for the memorabilia in the back of my album and put these in there.

I'm a little behind in my vacation albums. I still have to do Disney (2010), Custer State Park (2011), and Glacier N.P. (2013). I tend to use one design, the same one each year, for the whole album and use one particular line. For Disney I'll be using October Afternoon's Boarding Pass, for Custer I'll be using OA's Sasparilla, and for Glacier I'll be using Fancy Pants Designs' Happy-Go-Lucky. I'm not sure about this year, but I may use October Afternoon's Campfire. I have a lot of that product, since I go camping a lot.