1. Martha Stewart's Scrapbooks

As she's the DIY Queen, it's definitely a good idea to take a leaf out of Martha Stewart's scrapbook. Here are some of her most popular creations to inspire you:



No-glue travel scrapbook
The receipts, ticket stubs, maps, and postcards you collect on a trip paint a picture of [year abroad] fun, but assembling an album can be a chore. To simplify the process, fill a three-ring binder with plastic sleeves meant for business and baseball cards. Slide souvenirs into compartments, or if they don't fit, use a paper clip to attach them to a pocket. Trim maps, and slide them into the binder's outside sleeves (even on the spine).

"Scrap" Scrapbooks
Here's another approach to a travelogue: Let your scrapbook contain a few pages of literal scraps. Cut and crop photos, then fashion an intriguing mosaic of images that have the fragmentary quality of memory.

Folding Travel Scrapbook
Enlarge photos from your year abroad and make foldouts: an accordion type, formed by taping photocopies together, or an origami style, using a bone folder to make sharp creases. These inserts, pasted into an ordinary journal, add an element of surprise to the story of the trip and convey some of the city's grandeur.

Memorable Meals Scrapbook: Paper muffin cups, tags and bags of much-loved teas, bakery twine, shopping bags, a patisserie wrapper, fruit and wine labels, a map of Paris... anything that recalls the aroma of a favorite shop or restaurant has a place in this scrapbook.

Here are some of Martha's best scrapbook tips and techniques.

2. Pimp your bag

Start off with a plain, light-coloured bag and decorate it as you go! Get new friends to write and draw on it, add charms from the local market and wrap ribbon from a present around the handle. This video to show you how it's done (though maybe with a cheaper handbag!) is a great find by year abroader @WinterX27:

3. Create a stop-motion video

Here is a guide written by a year abroader on how to create a stop-motion video of one of your favourite journeys. Grab a friend and record your walk to university, a trip to the beach, or a tour of your flat to immortalise your year abroad day-to-day life on film.

4. Keepsake keyring

Buy a hole punch, plastic hole reinforcers and a loose-leaf ring to string together maps, postcards, souvenirs and other bits and pieces you collect on your adventures. Here's how it's done...

5. Make your own book!

The cool thing about Blurb is that not only do they create beautiful books, but they give you a platform on which to sell them! You choose your size (from Penguin classic-size to 30x30cm square monsters, with or without dust jackets), add your photos and text (copy and paste your round robin emails and/or blog posts) into their bookmaking software, and choose how many copies you want!

















Then, if your friends want a copy (maybe you've done an 'Erasmus in Madrid 2012' memory book or written up and photographed your favourite local recipes), just give them a link to your profile and they can order their own copy. You could even spread the word on Twitter and Facebook, and bump up the price of your book a bit to make some profit (shhh...)

6. Memory Photo Quilt

If you're feeling really crafty, this is a hugely creative way to immortalise your year abroad photos - especially if you have the Instagram app which automatically creates perfectly square images! Print your snaps onto photo paper with your normal printer, cut them out and stitch them together. Easy as pie! Well maybe not pie, so a handy guide might come in handy: here's how to plan your design, edit your photos, choose your photo quilt fabric and create a year abroad patchwork of your own.







































For amateur seamstresses who find the prospect of a massive great quilt a bit much: consider downsizing to a cushion. It will still be very impressive, but will take an afternoon rather than a weekend. This makes a great present too!

7. Map Your Journey

This looks fun. Sew your adventures in a colourful map - why not sew on some other bits and pieces too? Make a HUGE map-based collage of your year abroad :)

8. Send yourself postcards

This is a great way of remembering where you've been, and encourages you to go to more places! Write yourself a postcard (don't forget the date so you can keep track of the order!) and then when you get back to the UK you will have a stack of postcards to put in a scrapbook/multi-image photo hanging, which will remind you of your favourite trips. You could even get whoever you're with to write you a message or draw you a picture. Be creative!

Good luck!