Hi! Hello there! yoohoo!!

Sorry, I've been MIA this last week haven't I?  Well, this here's what I've been up to!  I finally finished the Smash* book I started on our trip to Italy 3 months ago. 

Be prepared for a FEW photos, as there are 70 finished pages in the this book and I've included over 200 photos!!  Wow, right!?  It's been a labor of love right from the beginning when I "prepped" the book before stuffing it into my backpack for 2 weeks in Italy last May.  I went through the book and divided it up according to the number of days we would be traveling, then day and date stamped every 2nd to 4th page.  I added pockets throughout, travel related stamps, quotes and embellishments (as flash as possible) with the intent that I would journal every day, and using the handy 2-in-1 pen/glue stick, add the bit of travel ephemera I collected along the way and simply slap in some photos back at home.  (Turns out I couldn't actually leave it be once I got home, so some pages have a bit more done to them than originally intended.  Whoops.)

Let's take a look:

I didn't do much to dress up the front of the book at this time, just outlined the dimensional embossed design and added some washi tape. I may go back and add more later...?

The cover page...

Inside there are pockets and envelopes everywhere, containing either authentic travel ephemera or tags with quotes and/or journaling on them.

I found some pages in the book to have quite busy papers.  Sometimes they worked...like this one; when they didn't I covered it up with other stuff.  I like using the glassine envelopes for the transparent layers-upon-layers quality they give.

Photos are tucked everywhere, even inside dinner check folders.

Here's the first of the pages that I altered later, covering up some of the book's designs.  In this case I just wanted to play...the background paper didn't take away too much from the photos.  Traveling around this country, there was such a feeling of history and antiquity everywhere you looked, and I wanted to enhance that somehow for these photos.  I adhered some crumpled 7Gypsied tissue paper and then applied Gesso over top to create a more uniform background.

In a couple of cases where I had more photos than a page could hold, and still look interesting, I just tucked some extras into a little Smash* envelope like the one in the upper right corner (first photo), the yellow pocket bag (2nd photo) and the kraft paper bag (3rd photo).

But I didn't always put photos in the envelopes.  On this page I've stashed just a FEW of the many gelato spoons I amassed during our two weeks!

Again, I've covered the original paper on the right hand side.  I wanted to document the horrific events of last November 2011, when a freak thunder storm and hurricane unleashed more than 100 mudslides over one of the towns of the Cinque Terre.  The story didn't suit a "pretty" page so I created a rougher look for that page.

This page was a lot of fun.  I had a transparency frame that begged to be used, and I cut the inside opening out of the paper to allow the page behind to show through.  The papers complimented each other so nicely and the little "This is my Bliss" banner is another transparency adhered on the 2nd page.

I've again covered the paper using more Gesso, paint and tissue paper on the left, and just paint and Gesso on the right.  (This "artist" technique may have to be further explored in future.  Just saying.)

The page on the left is another example of what paint and Gesso can accomplish.  For photos of the ancient Colosseum, a more antique page look was required.  The "adventure" is stamped on with a (very old Becky Higgins) foam stamp and paint.

The back pages of the book house larger pockets that contain any other, bigger items that I wanted to include but didn't have room for throughout the rest of the book.

Lori carries a great selection of Smash* items in her store.  Make sure to check 'em out if you think you'd like to try Smashing something!