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Anastasiia Tysevych – Czech Republic
Tamara Morton – United Kingdom
Looking for unique memory-keeping ideas to document your travels? Graphic 45 Brand Ambassador, Maria Smeshkova, is here to inspire with her Seas the Day project: Memory Capsules! In this playful and creative video tutorial, Maria shares five DIY ways to preserve your travel keepsakes—from seashells and sand to snapshots and souvenirs. Whether you’re a scrapbooker, mini album maker, or just love collecting tiny treasures, these travel crafts will help you capture every adventure in a fun, elegant, and unforgettable way.
“Hello everyone!
My name is Maria Smeshkova, and I’m a passionate paper crafter originally from Ukraine. In June 2022, my husband and I, along with our daughter, moved to Phuket, Thailand — a vibrant island full of colors, textures, nature, and energy. Living here has opened my heart in a new way and continues to fill me with inspiration every single day, from lush tropical greenery to the slow rhythm of island life.
I’ve been creating with paper since 2007. Scrapbooking is more than a hobby for me — it’s a way of preserving emotions, telling stories, and holding onto the moments that matter. I especially love making family albums that combine structure and tenderness, detail and depth. Travel is another big passion of mine, and many of my projects are born from the places I’ve seen and the feelings they left behind.
My daughter is often at the heart of what I do — her curiosity and joy remind me why I love this craft so much. I try to put soul into my work through every detail.
I’ve always had a special love for Graphic 45. Their designs are pure magic — rich in story, full of elegance, and endlessly inspiring. I’m excited to keep exploring, creating, and sharing with this beautiful community of artists and memory keepers around the world.
Hello everyone!
Today, I’d love to share a very special project I created for travelers – the kind of people who always try to hold on to those warmest memories, collecting memorabilia and tiny pieces of their adventures. So, I made six little matchboxes and three of them have lovely windows, perfect for storing treasures like coral, seashells, pebbles, or sea glass.
I also included some tiny bottles with mini tags, perfect for collecting sand from your favorite beach and labeling it with the date and location where it was gathered. You can also use them to store other dimensional keepsakes from your travels.
Next, I created a mini photo booklet using Graphic 45 folder die. It’s perfect for your favorite snapshots from the trip. Then I put together a coin envelope again using the Graphic 45 die, but this time from the Policy & Decorative Die set. And finally, I made a very special tag that holds coin holders from the country I visited. It’s a unique way to preserve those little pieces of our journey.
This travel-inspired project is full of tiny treasures and thoughtful details designed to help you preserve your most cherished memories.
I’ve filmed a detailed tutorial where I showed you every step of the process, from assembling the matchboxes to decorating each tiny piece.
5 Must-Try Memory Capsule Ideas
Supply List:
I hope I inspired you to document your adventures in a creative and heartfelt way!” ~Maria
Ready to seas the day? Dive into Maria’s full video tutorial to see how she transforms paper, matchboxes, and mini bottles into meaningful keepsakes you’ll treasure forever. Don’t forget to grab your Seas the Day paper collection and start crafting your own memory capsules. Share your creations with us on Instagram or in the Graphic 45 Official Community Page on Facebook—we can’t wait to see how you preserve your adventures!
👉 Shop the Seas the Day Collection here.
👉 Watch Maria’s full tutorial here.
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