Vietnam Scrapbook Album - Part 1

Hello There

I hope you are having a good weekend so far.  I am either to be found painting windows or scraping wallpaper - depending on whether the wet stuff is coming out of the sky!  Fingers crossed it is windows as it means I can finish the task.

A blogging friend of mine is going through a bit of an Asian theme with her projects lately and it reminded me of my album I created of my trip to Vietnam, which album started me off into the world of Scrapbooking per se.  So I thought it would be nice to share this album with you (I am quite proud of my trip if truth be told!) as it was made PBD - see Hettiespeak on the sidebar for explanations of acronyms.  So here is part 1......

(Cover - the tassel came from the Temple)

I was coming to a big 0 age (yes 20!) and I had a list of "XX Things to do before I Hit XX" - quite a lot of which I had completed.  Three of the things on my list were;

• Complete a long journey by cycle (I was actually thinking of Lands End to John O'Groats)
• Cycle in another country
• Do something for a worthwhile Charity.  

(Page 1 showing me on a sponsored take Mostyn across the Severn Bridge in the pouring rain, Belly Dancing, Mostyn, Belly Dancing again and on the first morning at 5 am in Hoi An)

Whilst I was pondering as to what exactly I would do for each of these "Things", I received a newsletter from RNIB (I had already undertaken some fundraising for them) with some exciting challenges in which I could take part.  RNIB was very close to my heart as I used to work as an Optical Technician in a previous life.  I talked the options over with the man of my life and I duly sent off the application form for which I was accepted.  OMG what had I let myself in for?

(Little hand made book where I journalled the start of my journey)

After spending six months raising money through various means including Raffles, Belly Dancing, Sponsored take Mostyn across Severn Bridge, Balloon Race, BBQ, Auction I had raised more than the requisite amount and I was off to Vietnam.  What an adventure I was to have.

(I printed maps off the internet and literally cut 'n' paste them.  The brads show overnight stops)

We set off from Heathrow at 10.50 am on 11th November and headed on our way, first stopping off at Quala Lumpa (I always thought this was where Oompa Loompas came from) then a transfer to Saigon, and then a short hop to Hoi An.  27 hours in total and we were all dead beat when we arrived.  A quick shower and change and we were off out for a wander around Hoi An to get our land legs back and our first meal in Vietnam.

(Gorgeous place this.  I am leaving the pages inside the sleeves as they are a pain to get out due to all the embellishments)

The album and matching papers were from QVC and I have no idea what make they were.  The lanterns were K&Co, brads were picked up in What!  A lot of the embellishments were cut on the newly acquired Silhouette and some of the smaller embellishments were made on the Quickutz.  I seemed to have had less stash then but I just love this album.  The "Asian" themed stamps were also bought from QVC and I recently saw them on another channel for an awful lot more than what I paid individually!!  All the business cards are from this area and include the hotel, the coffee shop and where I got my suit tailor made and also my Ao Dai.  I wore this Ao Dai for New Year last year!!

That is all for today folks.  I shall share some more with you next week if you would like to see more.

Hugs

Hettie