When I blogged about using the INSTAX Mini 8, I laid out a plan for this instant film camera to be a travel companion. The trip was a success and I documented my journey with the camera and an Amy Tangerine daybook.
In this post I’m sharing a peek into my album as well as a giveaway for your own INSTAX instant film camera. As a refresher, the only things I brought with me were a pen and a small adhesive roller.
I created the cover last, after returning home. On my last day, I took a photo from my friend’s balcony. I knew it would be the perfect image for the cover, along with a Kelly Purkey stamp and a Studio Calico geotag embellishment.
The pen I brought with me was a Pilot Frixion, a favorite scrapbooking pen when erasability is important. It’s not especially dark, but I loved how it facilitated anxiety-free journaling.
I treated this more like a photo journal than a traditional scrapbook, which also helped me focus on the basics of documenting my experiences and reactions. It was an intentionally casual project and I’m really happy with the result.
The main pocket area houses a variety of INSTAX prints that didn’t otherwise make it into the album. I took around 50 photos of the trip and there are 10 in the pocket. Most of these were either under- or over-exposed, or just weird.
I approached the design of each page from a very minimalist and again, casual, perspective. It was more about getting the photos, words, and a little bit of memorabilia in there than anything else.
I loved all the different page types in the daybook and how they provided nice homes from my photos and my journaling. I really tried to let go and journal everywhere I could. Really enjoyed that!
I did write quite a lot throughout this journal, but not just about what we were doing. The trip itself was fairly relaxed with some dinner, adventures, and a lot of packing for my friend’s big move.
I focused my journaling on our friendship over the past decade as well as stories about her life and parallels with mine. The project became as much about us as it was about the trip itself.
Note: I’m not sharing all of my pages as some are very personal and others are unfinished. I was actually surprised by how much you can get into the daybook.
I dedicated the last third of the book entirely to our trip to the zoo. This was our biggest (and most exhausting) adventure as we ventured out on a very hot day. Thank goodness for trams and buses!
I was stoked when we spotted a photo book, but then realized we picked the one with the goofy frames. Seriously, I have done that so many times! We paid again and got a traditional photo strip too.
As the end of the album I included a menu from a winery I visited as well as the zoo map. I re-folded the map so that it could be adhered into the album and unfolded in the right orientation. (I’m so clever!)
Toting around an instant film camera added to the touristy fun of my trip. I think it helped me relax and get into the memory making more than I might have otherwise.
Find the FUJIFILM INSTAX on Facebook.
I found there was also a fun side effect of using the INSTAX Mini 8. Everywhere I went, I received comments and questions about it. Was it really instant film? How does it work? Where could they buy it?
One of my friends even bought one right after my trip – and then shared her INSTAX photos on Instagram. How meta!
Giveaway
I’m excited to be able to give away an INSTAX Mini 8 camera to a Simple Scrapper reader. To enter the giveaway, leave a comment on this post by 11:59pm CDT on Tuesday, May 20, 2014.
The winner is… #54, Olinda who said:
love your journal!! awesome giveaway, thanks for the chance.
The winner will be contacted directly with prize claim instructions.
Disclosure: Fujifilm provided me with an INSTAX Mini 8 camera and film for my review, but all opinions are 100% my own.
Oh I love this idea!
I’ve been eying off an instax camera for a bit now so would love to win one. Would be awesome for when our little one arrives
They are such awesome cameras. Love your journal. The instax prints work so well!!
This is a great journal, and I love the instax prints! Thanks for the chance to win!
Wow! Thanks so much for the chance to win this! How fun!
Wow! I love this idea of your journal and the instant pictures. I love going on trips and journaling about the sights. By the time I get the pictures developed, I have too many photos and try to put them in a large scrapbook which them becomes a daunting task. Thanks for sharing your ideas which will help so much with documenting the important things in my life!
I’d love to play with an instax camera – thanks for the chance to win one!
This is awesome. I’ve always wanted todo a scrapbook on the road when we visit my parents in Oregon and this would be perfect. I love how you made the album more reflective and about your trip.
I would love one of those cameras! I want sure how well it would work though so thank you fort blogging it and for the chance
Ooohhhh, what an amazing giveaway! Visiting family in August and this would be so much fun!
What a great journal! Thanks for sharing! And I would LOVE to win this- I’ve been eyeing this camera, but it will be awhile before I’ll be able to get one….
Your journal is darling! Perfect for documenting a trip or special occasion. Thanks for the chance to win! I’ve been eyeing this camera. 😉
I love the casualness of your album. I would love to create something similar with the Instax!!!
This would be so fun to have for our upcoming 10th anniversary trip to Victoria. Thanks for the giveaway!
Beautiful project and thank you for all the ideas! Also thank you for the opportunity to win.
I love your journal & the fact that it was not so complicated! Thanks for the opportunity to win the camera.
My name is Yvonne not Yvonnw, so excited to enter & missed the typing error!
What a cute travel log! I have been drooling over these cameras for what seems like ages, thank you for the chance to win!
I love the idea of documenting a trip in its own daybook. Love your journal!
Thank you for a chance to win 🙂
These photos are great for journaling. I love your project!
Love your travel journal, I’ve had my eye on that camera!! Thanks for the chance to win!
I would love to win this, and so would my 12 & 11 year old daughters! Looks like a lot of fun!
What a cool album/daybook… this is so out-of-the-box for me that I’d really love to try it! I wouldn’t mind winning the camera, but I’d also like to know more about the daybook. I followed your link but didn’t see anything like what you used. Do you think I’d be able to find something similar in a local craft store?
What fun to be able to share the photos with your friend, instantly!
Love the book! Thanks for the chance.
Whoa, what a nice change from the traditional camera approach. It would be nice to have your pictures each day and then put them in the book that night. Then you’d be finished at the end of the trip when you still have the ambition and fresh thoughts in your head. Thank you for the opportunity to win this camera!
I really thought about picking up one of these to take on my upcoming honeymoon (we leave tomorrow!) but ultimately decided against it. But I would still LOVE to win one!
Thank you for inspiring me to get out my day book and use it! Great ideas!
I wanted my daughter do be able to do something like this on her class trip to DC, but she didn’t have time! I love the simplicity and that you are DONE with your book! ( r almost) I would love to win the instax!
I love this idea. I always feel I have more to journal when a picture is taken instead of going back later.
I would love an opportunity to be able to win this and make a gorgeous book like yours!!! thank you!
Amazing give away!!! Thanks for the opertunity to participate!
Oh I’m in love with this.
My husband and I are going on a trip for our 30th anniversary this summer. I’ve already made a journal to take with us to record our trip in. How cool would it be to be able to add some photos as we go!
Thanks for the inspiration! I have totally been wanting one of these cute little babies & now I want one even more! Time to jump on in & get one. I love doing small albums like this to capture a fun little adventure but usually can only do the journaling. Love that you can even add the photos as you go with this!
I was just looking at these at Michael’s yesterday. Really want to play with one. Thanks for the chance to win one.
You make it look so easy and fabulous! hanks for always sharing the simplest of tips that give big impact–not sure what I like most–the journal or the camera!
What a great way to record a trip! Your book looks like something you’d just want to curl up with and enjoy. The earlier blog about the camera was intriguing, so a chance to win one would is fabulous. Thank you for the opportunity!
Thanks for sharing your album you made!! This is giving me ideas for our upcoming trip to Siesta Key, FL – I really want to do something similar, so would love to try the Instax!!
I was just looking at these!
Great travel book! I did something similar for our road trip to South Dakota last year. I used a lot of 3×4 photos. Thanks for the chance to win!
Your book is so fun and interactive. I love how you used your writing alone with your pics. Nice to see handwriting.
This is really cool. I’ve tried something similar with my pogo printer but it doesn’t pair easily with my camera. This would be so much easier.
Hadn’t heard about this camera before reading your blog, and now I’m intrigued. Would be perfect to try out on our annual summer trip to the lake — kids, grands and lots of lazy. I’d get lots of lazy shots!
That’s one of the first really doable, on-the-road scrapbooks I’ve seen! I’d love to have an INSTAX to play with this summer!
What a fun way to document a trip—and so “in the moment”! I bet your journaling was rich with all those little details that seem to slip out of memory so quickly. Are the Instax photos color stable? So many of my parents’ collection of Polaroid pics from my childhood are faded and color-distorted. Thanks so much for the opportunity to win the camera.
Love your daybook! Such a lovely way to document your trip. I love that you journaled quite a bit while you were away, which I’m sure helped you to get the details right then. I’m sure you will treasure it for a long time. I’d love the Instax camera, especially for my trip to San Francisco in October!
How grandios is this. Thanks for the chance to win.
Would be a perfect solution for our upcoming trip.
What a great idea! I love the simplicity. I think it might actually be the king of project I could finish! The Amy Tangerine Daybook was perfect.
Love the idea of scrapping on the go and would love to win the camera. Have a “once in a lifetime” trip coming up to Wyoming/Montana and it would be a welcome addition. Thanks for the chance.
This is a wonderful idea to capture the details of a trip as you go. I love the way you put it together!
Wow! Wonderful giveaway!
Hope I can win it!
xoxo
Thanks for the giveaway, I’d love to use this on my vacation to Europe!
When I was a child, my mom had a Polaroid One Step camera and took pictures at family events. The pictures always made us laugh! I have been interested in the INSTAX for months. I wasn’t even thinking of using it to record trips… but I am now! Your book is charming. Thanks for sharing!
This is awesome….love it!
love your journal!!
awesome giveaway, thanks for the chance.
What a wonderful giveaway!!! Thanks for the chance to win, also love all the journal ideas and inspiration!!!
How fun. It isn’t as difficult as you might think to make an album in real time. Having the instant camera adds such spontaneity to the venture also. I haven’t seen an instant camera in decades.
I love the album and think I may do something like this on our next family trip.
So cool! I love the “instant” part of it all! So handy, too! Go super Instax!
I’d love to win this camera! Your journal is awesome and I love the day book you used. Thanks for sharing your travel journal.
Nice daybook and great photos
Wow, I love the idea of doing a travel book whilst on the trip (as opposed to trying to remember all the details and find the enthusiasm after the trip is over). And using Amy Tan’s daybook is perfect when you don’t want to carry embellishments on the drop with you.
Your journal looks awesome! I found so much inspiration in this post.
Oh what a wonderful travel journal! I love what you did. I’d never seen a project using pictures from that camera but it is really great and now I want one. Thanks for sharing!
What a wonderful idea…love the giveaway too. Thanks for the opportunity.
Ah id love one of these..my birthday is the 20th
Your travel journal is awesome! Thanks for sharing.
The journal turned out great ! Awesome giveaway!
LOVE the journal!!! And I’m excited about the giveaway too 🙂
I love the immediacy of this project. Thanks for the chance to win a camera!
I’ve been eyeing this camera since it came to my local Michaels. Not sure I could justify the cost but it sure looks fun! Thanks for the chance!
Looks like a fun way to capture an adventure. Thanks for a chance to win.
I love the idea to focus more on making memories than on having perfect photos. What a nice mini album!
The journal idea is so cute… Im so bad at printing photos off because they usually end up being thrown in a shoe box and forgotten about… this would be a really sweet gift idea too 🙂
I love the album. I am getting back into scrapbooking and you have helped me love it again. The camera is a wonderful idea and my kids would think I was cool with one of these. I am going to look into it. Thank you for this blog so I could love scrapbooking like I did before. The journal is amazing
I played with the camera at a recent wedding, and I really loved it! I love the immediacy of the photos, and I loved what you could do with a pen and glue, that is a fantastic album! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Sounds like such a fun toy!!!!
jennifer, your trip album turned out fantastic! i was surprised at how interesting & colorful it was. you even managed to make some very creative elements & interactive pages while still being simple. it’s very impressive & well done!
I love the idea of using an Insax mini8 camera. You can lay out your trip album along the way and have it almost completed when you get home. Your album looks so nice and lots of great ideas. Thanks for sharing the ideas.
I’ve been looking at both the instax and the day books. Thanks for sharing such a great idea. As someone with more unfinished trip albums than I care to number, this looks like a fun and doable plan.
Love that you came home with it almost all done! I have been journaling on Project life cards while vacationing this year and it has helped putting an album together much easier. The camera would be awesome to have in my collection!
Hey Jennifer!
Would LOVE LOVE LOVE this camera idea for our family trip end of July – my teenage brothers, and two daughters would have a BLAST doing this during the trip! I’ve already been planning to get them each travel journals of their own to document the trip from there eyes. We are headed to Gatlinburg, TN!!
Thanks for the inspiration. What a fun way to catch the memories but quick also, Our lives are so busy that we need this to document our travels and still have fun!!!
I love these! Been wanting one for years and now I’ve seen them at Michael’s. So if I don’t win, I’ll just have to bite the bullet and finally get one.
Lovely journal and ideas for an on the go journal without a lot to carry.
Love your mini album. Exactly how I want to document summer trips in our travel trailer. Thanks for the giveaway & inspiration.
I love the way your mini came together. Having the Instax photos in it makes it feel so fun!
I’m obsessed with these! I’ve been ogling them at Michael’s, and it’s driving me crazy! ooh!! :- )
Love the journal. Tried to do this on our road trip across Canada, but got too carried away with my aim for perfection and gave it up a week in because I was so frustrated with myself. I’ve never seen this camera. Must try it as it might help me to relax more with my journalling if I have the instant photos to add to the book immediately.
Very cool album Jennifer! Love how perfect the Instax is for the Daybook!
I “scrapped as I went” on our last vacation and really loved it. The only thing missing … the photos! An Instax mini 8 would certainly take care of that problem!
Wow! What a great idea! I love these cameras but have never been able to justify the cost. I’m thinking it would awesome to even let the kids use one to capture their perspective of some of the places we visit this summer.
This is such a cute idea for a journal and an awesome giveaway!
What a great journal/mini scrapbook! The Instax takes the cutest shaped photos. Thanks for the chance to win!
I would love to win the Instax, I mostly create digital pages but have never made an album. Your photo journal is a great idea and one that I could actually create and finish. Thank you for this opportunity.
I love your album! This is the kind of project I love to do myself and may actually be able to do again in the near future. I had that same Amy Tangerine mini, but I tore out the pages and used it on traditional scrapbook layouts. Really cool how products can be used in different ways. Thanks for the chance to win!
Your book looks great! I love the simplicity of it!
thanks for the opportunity to win!
How fun and simple! I’ve been drooling over that camera awhile.
Love how your project turned out!!!
ooh I’ve often thought how wonderful it would be if my iPhone could spit out photo prints! I’d have a lot of fun with an instax! I love your little journal, it perfectly fits the occasion without over complicating things.
Jennifer, I’m so glad you had this time with your friend! Love how this journal is a reflection of your friendship as well as your trip. Your INSTAX pictures are lovely and really conducive to the intimate feel of your mini. What a neat little portable tool to help us scrap on the road! Thanks for the chance to win.
What a great and simple way to document a trip! I’ve had my eye on the INSTAX mini for awhile now…would love to win. Thank you so much for the chance!!!
Wow, this COULDN’T have been more perfect?! My instax 7s has been sadly & suddenly broken! I love instax because their a conversation starter. Plus I love their portability. Thanks for the giveaway.
Hi! Thanks for the chance. Awesome, I’m so excited…I’d love to win. And your vaca daybook is quite nifty!
Love the cover page of the album – well all of it, but the cover page stands out. Thanks for the chance to win!
I love this idea! Im about to go travelling this summer and this would be a perfect way to document it! I love the idea of putting extra photos in the pocket areas to store them! I think I might just try this out!
I love everything about this journal! I really hate lugging my Rebel with me and sometimes the cell phone pictures just don’t cut it. Thank you for the idea and the chance to win!
I always try to make mini-albums of our trips but struggle playing catch-up after we’re home, unpacked and all the laundry is caught up. The instax seems like a great way to document as we go!
I think you just convinced me that I need one of these cameras. I’ve been on the fence about it for a while.
Oh, I adore these cameras. And what a wonderful way to remember your travel!
I’ve always wanted one of those cameras, but it’s outside my budget. Love to scrap like this. I call it “Quick & Dirty” an expression I picked up during my theater years. It gets it done!
What a beautiful reminder of your trip and your friendship! Thanks for the chance to win the camera!
Thank you so much for this giveaway! I saw a video review of this camera and thought it was the cutest thing!!! Thank you so much for this giveaway. 🙂
-Meghan
Great album!
Thanks for the chance in win one of those cute cameras – I’m so happy that they’re back in fashion!
Would love the Instax!
Have been loving getting into your blog. So glad I met you on IG via BPC. You just seem to understand me
Thanks!!
Just stumbled upon your blog…really enjoying your project life tips… Thanks for the giveaway:)
How did you get such great color with your instax? I received one for Christmas, and all of my pictures come out very whitewashed or very dark. Even photos outside come out very whitewashed, with no vivid colors. Suggestions?
I had to play with the settings a lot to get better pictures. Do you have the Mini 8 as well?