School is starting, and for many kids, that means they will need to answer this question, "What did you do for your summer vacation?" I remember being asked this very question when I was a child. Although I had done many things over the break, I found myself struggling for something to tell people.  

My own son will be starting kindergarten this year. I thought it would be fun for him to have a little book as a memento of his vacation, one that he could bring to school and show his friends. I thought it would be a fun first show-and-tell.

This entire project took me just three hours from start to finish. It's easy and fun to do.

Tips:

• Keep it simple. Choose one or two favorite photos to signify each event.
• Get your kids involved. Ask your kids what they remember about each place. Use their words to write the journaling.

Supplies:

• an acrylic album (I used Rusty Pickle's tabbed album)
• 10- 12 pictures from your summer vacation
• double-sided patterned paper
• various embellishments to decorate your book

How to Create the Book:

I started by printing out one photo for each main event of the summer. Some of them were big things, like going to the fair or the beach. I also made sure to include some of the everyday things we did as well. I printed all my photos in the same size (3" x 5") and then I matted them all.

Once I had all my photos ready to go, the rest of the book came together easily and quickly. By using double-sided patterned paper, I actually was able to design two page backgrounds at once, because the paper shows on both sides of the acrylic page. I used the Snorkel collection by Cosmo Cricket. Using paper from the same line helped keep the book looking uniform. I put the photos back to back on the pages whenever possible.

I chose a journaling stamp to document all the places and dates. Again, to keep the book looking uniform, I chose to use the same stamp over and over. This also saved me time, as I was able to stamp all the journaling blocks at once. I added a few lines of journaling to explain what was happening in each picture. Finally, I embellished using stickers and rub-ons.