Travel Scrapbooking: East Orient

by Gwynn Asbury (Mar 7, 2013)

As a young teenager I began my travels outside the states by visiting Korea. Since my first trip I have traveled to Korea over six times. When I first began going, there was a lack of supplies for scrapbooking Oriental travels. However, as time as passed, I have noticed that the Oriental influence has begun to crop up in many of the leading companies. So, if like me you have traveled to the Orient and are having a hard time finding papers and embellishments to match the beauty of the Orient, I hope you find this useful.

Paper and Embellishments

As a general rule of thumb, I often do not purchase multiples of paper packs or even replace a depleted collection with the same collection. However, I break this rule when it comes to items with an Asian theme. Today I thought I would share with you some of my favorite Asian-themed scrapbook items.

1. Graphic 45 Bird Song Collection: This collection comes with a host of Oriental-inspired papers. Although some of them have a very Japanese flair to them, many of the papers could work for any travels to the Orient. Additionally, there are sticker and chipboard add-ons that match the paper collection, increasing your decorative options. Below you can see a layout that highlights papers and letter stickers from this collection.

2. Die Cuts With a View The Far East: This is an older collection that features more generic themes of the Orient in colors that are commonly found in Japan, China, Korea, and South East Asia. Like the Graphic 45 collection, this collection also comes with matching embellishments, though not as many. Below you can see a layout highlighting the papers and diecuts from this collection.

3. Anna Griffin Honoka: This line, like the ones above, has a generic Oriental theme. The thing that I like most about this collection is that there are few papers, but each design is delicate, intricate, and has touches of oriental elegance - perfect for a themed scrapbook album.

Also, while traveling through Korea or other places, I try to look for items that I can include in my scrapbooks that are specific to the country. For example, on my most recent trip, I was able to obtain stamps made in Korea that had images reflecting Korea's national historical sites and images reflective of their culture, such as the Kimchee Pot. These can be used to create custom embellishments and journaling cards using rubber stamping techniques.

Letters and Titles

I have to admit the reason I purchased my first electronic die-cutting machine: to cut out Asian-themed fonts. When I am scrapbooking my memories of Asia, I like everything on the page to reflect the charm of the Orient, down to their hieroglyphic-like alphabet and language. If you have an electronic die cutter such as the Silhouette or eClips, you can find several sources of free TrueType Asian-themed fonts on the web. Even if you do not have an electronic cutter, you can also make use of these resources by simply printing your titles in mirror on cardstock and then cutting out by hand using an exacto knife and scissors. In the layout below, my title was cut using my Cricut.

Common Themes in Asian Culture

As I have mentioned previously, sometimes it is hard to find packs and collections reflective of Oriental themes and traditions. Because this is the case, I thought it would also be helpful to provide some themes and common colors.

1. Geometric shapes: Much of the Orient (including Korea) is about balance and grace - mostly because of the influence of Eastern philosophy and religions such as Buddhism, Zen, and other practices. A good example of these geometric shapes can be seen in the Spellbinders Asian Accents Shapeabilities collection, EK Success Lily Pad Punch, and the EK Success Modern Cube Border Punch.

2. Nature: Dragons, lotus flowers (or water lilies), poppies, cherry blossoms, dragonflies, cranes, koi fish and butterflies are all important parts of many oriental practices and cultures. You will often see these items replicated in artwork, food, and décor items. All of these themes can be seen in the suggested paper lines that I have mentioned previously.

3. Colors: Red, jade, black, purple, and gold are colors repeated and used symbolically throughout Asia. It is a beautiful color palate that can be used over and over again with different amounts of each color creating complementary but very different looks. When you are looking for papers, keep this color combination along with the above shapes and nature suggestions in mind.

Supplies Used:

Korea By Train