My Dream Home Smash Book

Have you ever heard of a Smash Book? If you are a scrapbooker or art journal person, you may have. If you are not one of those types, you may not have.

I am a scrapbooker . . . but had no idea what a Smash Book was. That is, until my dear friend Peggy brought hers to our Scrapbook Cellar gathering last month. She introduced us all to her cool little composition journal, and the conversation went something like this:

PK:  Here is my Smash book.
Me: Your what?
PK: My Smash Book.
Me: Like, smash, what?
PK: Smash . . . things. You know. Like, stuff.
Me: What?
PK: See . . . I will put stuff in here. Junk. Things I don't want to lose, but don't know what to do with.
Me: Huh?
PK: Smash.
Me: I don't get it.
PK: Google it.
CE (our friend, Cindi, who just entered the conversation and saw was PK was holding): Oh, a Smash Book! Cool!
Me: Huh?
CE: Google it.
LT (my sister, Laura, who is right there with me): I don't get it.

So, I googled it.

And I found this YouTube video about it . . . and let me tell you . . . it is the coolest thing EVER!

I mean . . .that is COOL!!

So, I decided that I would start one (or two, or three, or four). The first one that I was inspired to start, was a smash book of our Dream House.  PG and I have been dreaming big lately, and talking about the possibility of some day building and moving into a new home - and little by little, I have been collecting catalogs and magazines about things that I would LOVE to have in our dream home. A Dream Home Smash Book was the PERFECT way to categorize and store these little ideas.

So, I started with a really cute little Vera Bradley journal that I bought on sale (50%) at a Barnes & Noble book store. I pulled a pack of stickers and papers that I had in my scrapbook stash, and will use that for this complete project. I placed some stickers on the cover the journal, and then added my own make-shift tabs for each room in the house, to easily locate ideas I have for that 'dream' room:

Here is a closer picture of the tabs labeled for each room . . . and also the first page of the Smash book, which I cleverly titled "Our Dream House" (duh):

The next page is a quick explanation of what the book is to me "A 'Smash' Book of thoughts, dreams and ideas of Our Dream House", with the listing of the rooms that we'd love to have in it:

And this is an example of what I will do in each section. Saved under the 'kitchen' tab, I just love the mismatched tables and chairs look of this picture I found in a home decorating magazine:

Anytime I see something that makes me feel good, a space that I find interesting or that I like, I plan on putting it in this little Smash Book. I love this chair and these books - and the framed work on the wall just next to it. What a lovely little space, don't you think?

It may be a long time before PG and I are able to build our dream home . . . but when we do, I know that I'll have this awesome little journal with such a collection of inspiring things that our home will be all that I can possibly dream of. And that is so cool to me.

I plan on doing a smash book of little things the girls give me here and there (like little love notes or pictures they draw for me), and I thought it would be fun to do one with grocery receipts and movie ticket stubs, maybe restaurant receipts and business cards of great restaurants I've been to. I'd also love to keep one holding the little cards I may receive in the mail from friends and family, anything that makes me happy.

PG better look out . . . I plan on smashing EVERYTHING!!!!

What about you? Do you think you'd ever start a 'smash book'? What do you think you'd put in yours? Leave me a comment . . . I'd love to know.