Travel journaling with my Friend who doesn't art journal...

Going on a big trip with friends can be loads of fun. Sharing new experiences, people, and places can build closer relationships and make sweet memories. It also is risky. You and I know, traveling with people is best when it is a good match. If possible, it's a good idea to go on shorter, more close to home adventures beforehand. Over the past few years, my husband and I have traveled in our home state with our good friends and neighbors, Rick and Wendy, but nothing as big as two weeks in Europe. This was one of those trips of a lifetime.You know I love travel journaling. Wendy... not so much. She is awesome at taking photos and posting on Facebook. I take photos too and love to go offline, taking time to write in my journal and meander. Wendy does everything fast. She gets things done! She doesn't see herself as an artist, and to be honest, isn't that excited about art or travel journaling. But I asked if she would join me in chronicling our adventure, and since she is a good sport... she agreed. I made us each a little travel journaling kit that included blank journals, printed sheets of countries and cities we were going to, and printed flags of each country. I committed to K-keep I-it S-simple S-sweetheart. I wasn't going to be drawing or painting on the trip - just writing, gluing collage items, and freely using more Washi tape than usual. We planned to leave some room for photos to add when we got back.During our trip, we spent a bit of our free time cutting, gluing, writing in, and adding tape to our journals. We cut up travel brochures, added tickets, and business cards of our favorite restaurants.

After we got home, Wendy came over one afternoon and finished her journal. I finished four pages. Not surprisingly, it took me quite a bit longer. Only dry media was used, except for my cover.This month, it was Wendy's turn to challenge me. She learned about a discount at Walgreens for making photo books and asked if we could work on them to make photo books of our trip. I had never done it, and there was a tight deadline, but since I am also a good sport, I agreed.Okay, I admit, there were moments when I wondered if we were going to get them done in time, but we made it and they turned out great.

The best part about the trip and the journal/photo book making is ...we are better friends than when we left, and share beautiful memorieswith tangible reminders of our time in Europe together.