Travel journal

I have been very busy in the past ten days. A lot of time is being spent on a gift for someone (that's not finished yet by the way), so I can't show that here or I'll ruin the surprise. Also I am continuing to make backgrounds in the sketchbook like the ones I showed in my previous post. I want to show you some more of those, but I thought if I did that right now that would be too much of the same.

The past weekend however I have worked on a little project however that is something different and can be shown here without wasting surprise effects or being too much of a repetition.

Very soon I will be going on a five day trip to one of the neighbouring islands. I had to cancel a trip to London that I had planned the first two weeks of november and I just wanted to get out at least for a few days to get that vacation feeling that I like so much. So I figured I'd stay close to home, but not AT home ;-) I booked a last minute in a rather luxurious vacation home originally meant for six people! So I won't feel crowded all be myself out there ;-)

When I go on vacation I usually designate a special book to be the journal for that trip. Other times I have made journals out of loose index cards that I bound together afterwards and that worked really well too. This time I wanted to try something different and make my own journal before the trip started.

 

Instead of using (just) index cards this time I used pretty double sided scapbookpaper that I tore into four pieces. So the pieces/pages measure 6x6 inches (approx. 15x15cm). I used 8 sheets of paper so the book has a total of 64 pages. Most of these pages will probably be filled with writing and photographs that I plan to take. I like the different patterns next to one another.

In between the patterned paper I put some index cards made out of paper that is suitable for watercolor, so I hope to fill those with drawings and watercolor sketches. I like that I bound the journal with book rings so I can just rearrange things if need be or take stuff out to work on it.

I also put in a couple of envelopes here and there to put in loose stuff for safe keeping, like tickets and leaflets and things like that. Or maybe I will find some pretty shells or leaves. You never know.

The covers of the journal are made from pieces of an old cardboard box that I cut to size and then covered with more pretty papers. On the binder rings I have attached some labels with the destination and the date of the vacation. When the trip is over I may add more decorations to these rings like ribbons or string and maybe shells or something, but on the go it's more practical to leave those things out for now.

So, all in all, I'm quite happy with my little project and I hope that after my short vacation I will have a wonderful memory book compiled. Can't wait to go and fill my new travel journal!