Are you studying abroad next semester? Are the clear waters of the Aegean Sea calling your name? Maybe snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, dancing in the vibrant city of Argentina, or taking a gondola down the canals of Venice is more your style of adventure. Whichever city you have chosen to study in next semester, you undoubtedly want to remember all of the experiences you have; the new foods, historical attractions, a favorite café. The perfect way to keep all of these memories forever is to create something to capture all of your travel adventures. Here are a variety of easy DIY crafts to do when you come home this summer!
What to collect while abroad:
- Corks, bottle caps, or bottle wrappers from every bar or club you check out
- Ticket stubs from concerts, museum galleries, cruises and other events
- Napkins, pastry bags, coffee cozies from new cafés and restaurants
- Passport stamps
- Buttons, pins and stickers from fairs and vendors
- Rocks or sand if you are near a beach
- Maps, programs and itineraries
- Plane ticket stubs
- Key chains
- Postcards and letters your friends and family send you
- Lots of pictures!
Tip: Keep a journal or diary while you are away. This will help you remember the smaller details of your journey abroad. Consider not only writing about the things you do and learn, but also the little moments of the day that made your smile.
Now, pick your project!
Shadow Box
- Buy a shadow box and scrapbooking letters that spell out the country or city you were studying in.
- Open the shadow box and arrange the letters to spell the name of the city or country.
- Fill the rest of the box with mementos from your trip including your passport, plane ticket stubs, buttons, itineraries and favorite photos.
- Once you are satisfied with your box, re-clip the shadow box and hang it on your wall!
Bulletin Board
- Use the corks from wine bottles you collected while hopping around bars.
- Simply arrange your corks in rows to create the desired size of your bulletin board.
- Hot-glue each cork together. Leave it to set and dry for a day before hanging it on a wall.
- You can also glue them to a piece of plywood and leave room to glue on any bottle caps you kept.
- Then use tacks to hang up ticket stubs, photos, and programs from your trip on your new bulletin board.
Memory Collection Box
- Buy a wooden box and paint it with a color (or multiple colors!) that reminds you of your country.
- Using a stencil, paint the name of the country or city you were living in on the top or side of the box.
- Fill the box with mementos from your trip. This is a perfect option for holding on to bigger items. Store all your maps, event programs and bottles of foreign sand in your box.
Tip: You can keep adding memory boxes to your collection every time you travel to a new country!
DIY Journal and Scrapbook
- Buy the following materials: three large binder rings, hole punch, scrapbook paper, small envelopes, fun paper tags and any other decorating supplies you would like to use. Try Joanne Fabric or A.C. Moore for supplies.
- Gather all of your saved tickets, maps, itineraries, letters your friends and family may have sent you, pastry bags, postcards and any other saved paper products.
- Collect any journal entries you wrote while away and make a list of the exciting places, romantic moments and cheerful days you had, as well as a list of the interesting people you met.
- Next, find cute and creative ways to write some of these moments on paper tags and scrapbooking paper, experimenting with different font styles.
- Begin creating your scrapbook journal by punching holes in all of your material.
- Arrange your material in chronological order of your trip or by categories.
- Finally, clasp the binder rings around all of your memories to keep them together.
Hopefully now you have plenty of ideas to create the perfect memory project. Keep in mind the items you want to include in your project so that while you are abroad you can be sure to collect them! For more ideas, check out this pinterest board.
Photo Credits:
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/5…
http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg….
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/1…
http://www.iloveitallwithmonik…