Smash progress!

I wrote a few days ago about my new mini Smash journal, and how it's meant to be a catch-all for mementos and scraps that don't fit into a bigger scrapbook. It's also meant to be completed quickly and without much effort -- I can testify that this is true. I spent a little time gathering ticket stubs, magazine clippings, fortune cookie slips and other miscellaneous souvenirs earlier this week and spent about an hour gluing it all into the mini-journal with the glue stick/pen that accompanied the book.

Granted, the journal isn't filled yet; there are some themed pages I'm saving for certain items, and I need to do some journaling. But I made considerable progress on a weeknight, while watching a TV show, by just grabbing and gluing. It's not completely organized, but it looks the way the Smash website tells me a Smash journal is supposed to look -- random. "Because you like it, and that's reason enough," is part of the brand's description on its homepage, http://www.eksuccessbrands.com/kandcompany/smash/. An example of tthat in my book would be the panel I cut off an empty tissue box just because I liked the pattern. Nothing is too silly, too insignificant, for your Smash book. And that's why the concept has won me over.

Here are some of my finished pages:

I think I'm officially hooked! My next goal is to buy one of the original, larger books for some of my bigger mementos. I love this small one, though. The portability is a plus. No more losing movie stubs in the bottom of my purse!

Smashing!

I have a new scrapbooking toy to play with. For my birthday, Sara got me a mini Smash journal. http://www.eksuccessbrands.com/kandcompany/SMASH/ I had seen them at Archivers but wasn't quite sure what they were all about, nor was I ready to stop and consider yet another potential project.

Until I unwrapped mine.

Smash books, as it turns out, are really cool, and their purpose is actually really practical. They're a catch-all for, basically, whatever you want to use them for. Ticket stubs, random photos, quotes, fortunes, etc. If you're like me and you have piles and drawerfuls and refrigerator-fuls of random little scraps you can't bear to part with but won't carry a 12x12 scrapbook page, Smash books are for you. My book has lined pages, blank pages, graph-paper pages and pages with clever photos, drawings and phrases. (Note the cupcake-themed page, third in the sequence.)

It's a fun, inspiring little album. There's no need for grouping common mementos or arranging things neatly. Just glue it down with the glue stick/pen combo that comes with the book and you're done. Part of the beauty of it is you don't have to agonize over placement or design or color schemes. Just "smash" it in there. There's also a coordinating line of stickers and other accessories to dress up the books that run about $2 each. Click this link to flip through a detailed Smash book catalog: http://wcv2.com/publication/?i=79855.

The best thing about these types of books, though, is that you don't need any particular brand of accessories to fill your book. Just use the miscellaneous tags/stickers/chipboard letters that are cluttering up your supply area. You know, the pieces from kits that just never quite fit with any of your previous scrapping projects. What a great way to finally use up some of that stuff! You don't even need a Smash brand book. You could make this out of just about any notebook or journal.

I spent about an hour after work last night digging through the house and making a pile of scraps for my Smash book. I can see myself making another after I fill this one, because I'll never stop accumulating random stuff.

For  more on building Smash books, watch this video from EKSuccess: http://www.youtube.com/v/_PFsArr4Z1s&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&autoplay=1