Project Life 2013: Birthday Trip Part 2

Here is Part 1 of the special surprise birthday trip we took back in July for my daughter's 7th birthday.  It's such a fun memory because we woke up the kids on her birthday, popped them into the car, and took off without them knowing where we were going.  She has been wanting to go an American Girl store for a long time so she just squealed with excitement when we turned the corner and there it was.

We turned it into an overnight trip and also went to COSI the next day so it was a really special birthday for her.  It covers several double page spreads in our family's Project Life album as I didn't want to try and cram it into one with inserts.  I shared the trip a bit backwards, with Part 2 being posted earlier this week, because I hadn't developed one of the pictures needed for this page. 

I used big white die cuts to spell out my daughter's name, which for privacy reasons we do not share on the blog, and added the birthday sticker the ladies at the American Girl store gave her to the same pocket.  Next to that is a Blush core kit journaling card, which has been filled in but since I had to blur out many of the details I swapped it for a blank one when I photographed this.

In the middle 3X4 slots I put a picture of her by the cool fountain outside of the store, a screen capture of our driving route, one of LB hanging out while my husband took E through the long check out line, and then a picture of Saige's dog clipped from an old AG catalog.  She picked up both Saige's dog and horse while we were there.

Along the bottom is the photo I needed and didn't have last week of E holding her Saige doll by the soon to be retired Molly line.  Next to that I made a little collage of things from a catalog with Saige's picture, the hot air balloon clip art used for advertising the doll, and an envelope with the little purchase tickets for the big items E picked out at the store.

I also put clippings of product descriptions for each of the things E picked out for her birthday in there as well.   I really liked having this spot to save these little bits so they won't get lost and it will be interesting to see how much the AG stuff cost in the future, it's already pretty expensive in my opinion so I hope we aren't looking back and thinking how cheap it all used to be!

The other half of the spread has pictures both inside and out of the store.  I'm so glad we were able to take her because Saige is the doll of 2013 and she's a creative girl who lives in New Mexico, which I thought was a perfect match with E because she is a Santa Fean baby who also loves art.  I've got a little area for her to write a couple of sentences on this page. I have to remember to snag her after school to get that done!

Turn the page and the second spread from our day starts with a trip to the Cheesecake Factory and enjoying the outdoor shopping area in Easton where both the AG store and CF are located.  I added a copy of the current full catalog in an insert.  It's a little bulky but it just seemed so right to keep it.

This side uses Simple Stories' Vintage Bliss with pictures from our Cheesecake Factory lunch, super yummy!  As you can see, journaling still to be filled in.

On the backside of the AG catalog I included the birth certificate for the Build A Bear puppy our son made for his birthday treat.  He's also a late July birthday. The second insert contains a map and directory for the outdoor shopping center we were at, cut down and sealed with washi tape.

This half has the rest of our visit to Easton, sharing L's birthday treat at Build A Bear and watching the train with Honey core kit journaling cards.

This half page is the last part of Day One and is all about the hotel and nice splash area we were pleasantly surprised to find there.  I have yet to figure out what I want to put on the journaling card because I added the hotel's business card inside the fold up journaling card at the bottom.  The bottom right pocket is about dinner.

Instead of a longer family trip last summer, we decided to have one special outing each month.  We went to Great Wolf Lodge and Mackinaw City in June and this was our July outing.  While super fun and great times, they are a bit exhausting to record in Project Life because they take up several spreads and take me much longer to complete than a normal week.

How do you incorporate longer trips or events into your Project Life albums?  I'd love to know what works for others.  Sharing this post with The Mom Creative and Memory Keeping Monday co-hosted by Bee Tree Studios and Capturing Magical Memories.