We live in a digital age and we all have access to a digital camera or at least a phone these day! – Did you know that it’s estimated we take around 1.6 billion digital photos a day? – Having photo albums on shelves, photo books on the table were always so fun to look through! But now, instead of paper we turn to Facebook to store our photo albums allowing anyone to look at them. This is great for sharing with everyone instantly, but how often do you go back to look at them?

All of us who travel collect something along the way to remind us of that place. Some of us choose to collect photographs. Others save plane tickets, stamps, visas and entry tickets. Some of us will bring rocks, precious jewels and stones home. I know I certainly did! In my top drawer I have maybe one hundred flight tickets and who knows how many paper entries into various sights from all over the world! And yes, there are even rocks, precious stones and of course. But what do I do with these to turn them into something more than junk in drawer?

I’ve met some incredibly talented people throughout my travels who have inspired me. So without further a do, here are Five Creative Ways to Keep your Travel Memories Alive.

1. The Token Hunter

I met the wonderful girl out in New Zealand while we were both travelling. She has been all over the world and is one of the most creative people I know. Going from spending hours chatting about ideas and scrapbooking she has now launched her own business selling incredible travel mementos!

Creating tiny charms and souvenirs to remember all your big adventures. Maps and snaps taken from favourite destinations, near and far can be captured forever and kept close to heart. Each bespoke piece tells a unique story of a time and place, a wildlife encounter, skylines of cities or even just precious moments with friends.
It is possibly the best way to keep the best travel memories alive and on show in your own unique style!

I have three bangles with maps pinpointing some of the most incredible places i’ve ever got to visit. Where i met some of the best people, had some pretty crazy adventures and places I long to return to. It’s nice to look down on my arm and see all those memories flood back! So check out The Token Hunter if you want to keep your travel memories close.

2. Scrapbooks

This is an old-school craft but is so much fun! And the best thing, there is no right or wrong way to do this. Head to an art store, pick up a good book with thick paper or card and if you need an other bits and pieces go wild! You have total creative control. So if you wanted to do it day by day, place by place, beach by beach, the choice is yours!

But never fear those of us who are sight perfectionists and need a little inspiration before getting started. Pinterest is possibly the greatest website on the planet to help you here! With endless ideas and ‘how to guides’ you really can’t go wrong.

Using all those old Plane Tickets, mini flags and funky cards you’ve collected from all around the work will make an epic scrapbook everyone will love to look at. Or at least a great way to keep your travel memories alive sitting in one easy, organised place on you bookshelf!

3. Photo Books for the Coffee Table

I came back from travelling and even though i had edited and organised my photos along the way i still have over ten thousand. Yep, ten thousand photos! These are all currently sitting on my nice and shiny new hard drive waiting for me to choose the best of the bunch and begin to turn them into books.

My mum was the one who actually gave me this idea – after she made yearly photo books at christmas time, cringe! – and it’s actually cheaper than you’d think! There are hundreds of companies online that will do this for you, but did you know you can do it through IPhoto too?

Upload a few photos, maybe add some quotes or funny stories and turn your incredible photos into a real book of memories to keep forever.

4. Shadow Boxes for your collectables

My new favourite way to keep my travel keep safes on display. It’s almost like a scrapbook on display. Arrange how you want your collectables to look – or don’t, organised mess looks cool too – and there you go! Hang it on the wall, prop it up somewhere or why not gift it to your parents to put above the fireplace as a nice reminder or their travelling kid?

This is super cheap as well, you can build one yourself or just pick one up from amazon for like $4.00. You don’t have to be super creative, have a lot of time on your hands or spend a lot of money to keep your travel memories alive!

5. DIY Wire Trapped Pendants

Every thought of what to do with those stones and jewels you picked up on your travels? If, like me, you had ideas of how you would turn them into jewellery on the road and have some epic gifts for people on your return. But once quickly realising drilling holes in rock and jewels is hard, returning home with handfuls of loose rock instead.

Well through a little googling I landed on the solution, wire trapping. No drilling needed, minimum tools required but the finished work looks beautiful! This has transformed my precious stones from New Zealand into some awesome jewellery I keep for myself and have gifted to my friends.

So if you’re a budding creative but unsure where to start this is an awesome selection to begin with. Travelling is an awesome experience and what we collect from our adventures holds too much value to be shut in a drawer. So put some time aside, get your hands dirty and dive back into the amazing memories you held onto again.

**Please note that most of these images are not my own. This is NOT an affliate post and I make absolutely NO money off any links you’ll find in this post. Just a sincere creative ideas post for you all 🙂