Totally Smashed

No, not a description of last night's activities, but rather my new found love for the smash book style of journaling.  I've shared before that I altered a smash book to take with me on the cruise.  Here's the cover again, with the addition of a chain I added to show off some of the great charms I received on the cruise.  (BTW, the rest of the charms are in my configurations tray).

I'm not going to bore you with all the pages, just wanted to try to convince some folks I know, who have their doubts about what this smash book thing is all about.  For me, as I mentioned recently, it's been very liberating.  If your goal is to preserve memories, even everyday events, this is a wonderful way to do so.  Just glue in (i.e., smash) some receipts, a photo or two, scribble some words if necessary, and you are done!

Speaking of which, I AM done.  The entire book is filled and I have everything I did, what I saw, who I was with, the projects we made, all of it inside.  Yes, I can (and might) go the traditional route and do some actual scrapbook layouts, carefully choosing colors, trims, embellishments, measuring, etc. etc., just because I also do find that to be a pleasurable activity in itself.  But I don't have to.  And given how busy most people are, it's good to know that you can still document the moments of your life without spending an additional lifetime doing so.

OK, off the smash book soapbox, and here are a few of the pages.

inside front cover and first page:

notice I added tabs for different sections:

my time at Disney.  few photos but a whole lot of ephemera:

first night on the ship and Coco Cay the next day:

St. Thomas:

Most of the pages of a smash book are blank, but some have some writing and/or doodling.  I generally ignored that, just covering the pages with my stuff, but if it so happened that what was already on the page worked with what I was adding, I went with that flow.  As above, where it said, "I like this."

St. Maarten:

the configurations tray (notice I left a blank space for a photo of the

completed tray, whenever that might happen):

Every night, after the cabin attendants ready the rooms for sleep, they leave booklets about the following day's activities.  I saved them all and cut out the daily summary to include in my book.  I put them all in a section of their own.

and here are just two of several pages devoted to the

many wonderful swaps I received (I cut up some coin

envelopes to make the pockets so I could

remove the ATCs and see what's on the backs):

I also have many pages of photos of friends, pictures of every project we did, and of course the time Pat and I spent in Cocoa Beach. 

So, have I converted anyone?  Anybody planning to get smashed anytime soon?  LOL!