One in three millennials is likely to spend a small chunk of their savings on a summer vacation this year, according to a survey by Travel Agent Central, and many will be taking home a ‘piece’ of their chosen destination back home with them. The most common of all souvenirs is arguably the photos you take on your camera or SLR camera, but if you travel frequently, then you probably have more than one trinket, odd alcoholic drink from the region you have visited, and fabric or textiles you may have picked up at a local market. Rather than keeping these treasured memories in a drawer, why not take a cue from creative modern travelers who have found interesting ways to make their souvenirs an integral part of their home decoration?
Scrapbooking Your Way Across the World
Travel has many quiet moments that you can use to create a scrapbook to share with friends back home. When creating your scrapbook, try to capture the essence of how your destination made you feel, while highlighting the beautiful cultural, architectural, and natural wonders you have encountered. Don’t be shy to include your individual style preferences. As noted by the editor of Australian magazine Scrapbooking Creations, “Scrapbookers have become much more knowledgeable about the various styles of scrapbooking and most have found their own unique style rather than jump from fad to fad.” Thus, you might want to include colours, words, and images that best embody your impressions of each place you visit.
Travel by Photo Collage
The massive boom of smartphones over the past decade means that more people today know important tricks of professional photography (including the importance of lighting, composition, and filters) than in years gone by. Travelers aren’t simply taking ‘figurative’ shots of sites and people, but also delving into their artistic side, taking extreme close-ups, stunning images shot from the ground or overhead, and spiritually tinged impressionistic images of light, nature, and people. Pinterest reveals that photo collages are big in interiors, with many homes graced with a plethora of oddly shaped frames bearing snippets of a traveler’s profound experiences. If you are keen on designing your own collage, keep this in mind before snapping your first pic. There should be cohesion between photographs, either in terms of color or subject. When arranging your photographs, use techniques like contrast and complementary positioning for a well designed wall piece.
DIY Sewing Projects
Sewing is big in Australia, so much so that there are various charities whose work focuses strongly on using needlework skills to help those in need. If you know how to sew dolls, cushions, quilts and the like, why not do so with a fabric you have purchased abroad? If you are just about to set off to a country with vibrant, beautiful fabrics that are hard to find back home, calculate how much fabric you will need to create a necessary accessory or furniture item for your home. If you haven’t purchased a specific fabric, you can simply embark on a project that utilises traditional embroidery or other sewing techniques from the countries you have visited.
Walls that Speak
While it is easy to simply pop mementos, small sculptures and other items on shelves or furniture pieces, if you have a sizeable home, what about creating an embedded wall closed by glass, featuring all the mementos you have gathered along the way? Keep them behind glass will stop them from gathering dust. It will also make a conversation piece when guests visit your home.
Globetrotters like to take a piece of their travels with them home. Each tiny piece, oddly flavoured liqueur, or photograph is able to instantly zap them back to a unique time of leisure that can never be fully replicated. Share your love of travel with friends and family by incorporating your souvenirs into your home design. From large wall-size photographs of natural sites to artistic collages, there as many ways to share your love of travel as there are individuals who take to the skies, roads, or dirt tracks in search of adventure.
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