Documenting my family’s transatlantic move has occurred over a series of scrapbook layouts, not all at once or in any particular order. I made them over a span of time, many months apart. As insistent as I am on keeping my pages in order, I have huge gaps in my albums. I scrapbook ( and create arts and crafts) based on what I refer to as the “shiny object” principle. Essentially, I create what I want to when I want to.

Looking at completed pages always offers me a bit of insight. I can see that I have only scratched the surface of what it feels like when you shift your life to a new place. I have just barely touched on the stress of packing( keep this, pack that, donate these) and getting documents in order, all of which can take months. Whenever I make a move,I am always excited about having a new place to explore and a new place to nest in. I look forward to meeting new friends who are waiting for you even though you haven’t met yet. Then there is the sadness of leaving friends behind which is tough even though you can still stay in touch through social media or a phone call. It’s a bittersweet mixture of emotions. It is exhausting. It is thrilling. It is the way that expat life just is.

The pages I am going to share today document three particular parts of our move: getting the paperwork for our cats, putting our cats on the plane, and finally, shipping our goods just in time to get on a flight to our new host country.

No Cat Left Behind by Christy Strickler Supplies| Xyron Adhesive;Embroidery Floss; Permanent Marker;Patterned Paper by LilyBee Designs;Flowers by Recollections;Stickers by Evalicious;Letters by Basic Grey and American Crafts.This page was originally published in an article on the Layout a Week blog.

Getting Our Cats Ready for an International Move

One of the first things we always ask, whether we are just shifting our apartment or to a new country, is whether or not are cats are welcome. Our pets are an important part of our lives. We consider them family.There was no question whether or not we would be moving with them. Our only questions centered around the documentation required. This page documents the many months of vet visits, blood tests and paperwork filed. There were days I spent 12 plus hours filling out paperwork, then running around town to file it. I was following up with documentation on both side of the globe. I did all of the paperwork to export them but had a team of people to do the import paperwork. If I have the choice between doing it myself in the future or using a pet relocation expert, I will choose the pet relocation expert every time. It’s not that you can’t do it yourself. It’s just that they have the extra time to spend dealing with filing papers and they know what to do if a document gets refused. They really help expedite the process.

The vets checks were pretty repetitive and our cats were not always cooperative. Rather than taking the same photos again and again, I chose to take a few key pictures.To make it easier to catch 3 cats and get them into carriers, I would isolate them one by one in a room together before I brought out the travel carriers( because any time they saw them, they ran and hid). I snapped a photo of them through the french door. Since my hands were always full at the vets office, I chose to snap of photo of their carriers in the car.

Getting Our Cats on the Plane by Christy Strickler |Supplies Craft Knife by Westcott; Xyron Adhesive; Patterned Paper,Letters and Stickers by Simple Stories; Wood Veneer by Pinkfresh Studio. This page was originally published for an article on the Layout a Week blog.

The Day Our Cats Left Without Us

At the point these photos were taken, we had sold our car and rented a mini van. We had completed all of the documents for our cats to travel and we had to ship them before those documents expired. We were still sorting things for ourselves and our shipment had not yet been picked up. Though it was a hard decision, the pet relocation company agreed they could board the cats and handle the import process without our being there. This was another reason the pet relocation company became essential. It was one less stressful thing for me to handle.

Seeing our cats go on ahead of us was the first real step in knowing our move was imminent and actually going to happen. I felt a mixture of emotions when I snapped these pictures ranging between worry, excitement and relief.After putting them on a plane, I was able to track their progress using a flight tracking app. I snapped a screenshot so that I could use it on my scrapbook page.It took them almost 22 hours of travel time. The pet relocation team brought a vet technician with them and walked with our cats through the customs process. They all arrived safely but it gave me additional peace of mind to know vet care would be available in case there were any issues.

Transatlantic by Christy Strickler |Supplies Pocket Page: Project Life; Embellishments and Pocket Page Cards: Cocoa Daisy; This layout was originally published in Spark Magazine which is available for members of the Simple Scrapper Premium Membership. Proud member of the Simple Scrapper Creative Team.

Time to Finally Move Onward

For the latest edition of the 2 Creative Expats Video Collaboration, we chose to document an event. I felt it was time for me to tell the story of this layout and our big move. Our last days were spent getting our shipment taken care of and finalizing a few things in order to vacate our rental apartment. The pictures really don’t do a great job of conveying the excitement we were feeling as we boarded the plane for our new host country. We were so happy to be starting a new chapter in our lives but yet, in many ways, this looked like any other adventure for travelers in an airport lobby.

The one thing the pages don’t document well is the time frame it took for us to complete that transition. I am thinking that some sort of timeline is in order and adding that idea to a future project list. There are also a few parts of our moving story which don’t have any photographs. Sometimes you get so caught up in the moment just trying to get a step done that you don’t have time to snap photos. Other times, you find yourself in a government office where photos just aren’t permitted. Those are the parts of the story which require a bit more creativity to share.

There are often advantages in creating scrapbook pages in spurts.I am still not done documenting our big move. Looking back at the pages I have completed has helped me pinpoint which parts of the story I have yet to tell and how I want to tell it. Time has let the story mature a bit, allowing me to explore the portions of the story that were a blur to me during the stress and excitement of the move. As to when those pages will be complete, only time will tell. I am currently feeling a strong pull towards my art journal.I am however happy to know that I always have a list of projects that I want to work on. One can never run out of things to do when they are a creative.