Monday, July 21, 2008

My Filled Vacation Journal

First, I have to say that I learned a lot while doing this, my first, travel journal. There was definitely a learning curve to this. I did pages out of order, I didn't leave enough room for some things and I even skipped a page by accident. All in all, I loved the process and I will definitely do this again. I have to thank someone for part of the inspiration, but I don't remember her name and I can't find where I saved here little video. She is on SIStv and she posted 2 little videos about doing a travel journal and what to pack to take along with you. One thing she suggested was watercolor pencils and a water brush...great idea. I even used water color paper, for the most part, as well as some other patterned card stock.

(Just found out that it is doulanana that did the videos that I got the ideas from - Great source of ideas and she does great art journals too. She is at SIStv.com)


I packed lots of different kinds of journaling cards as well as a baggie with different kinds of simple embellishments in it.

I stamped some cards before I left.


I stamped something on each page before I left as well. Usually on the edges or in the corners, even though I knew they would be either covered up completely or overlapped.



Of course, I had to wait till I got home to print the photos. I did use some contact sized prints but mostly used 2 x 3's.

Otherwise I used brochures and other things that I collected as we went along on the trip.

Yes, Adam Luther went along too. He stayed in the hotel room for the first part of the trip but came out for the ferry ride and he enjoyed the beach too.



Louisville has its horses and other cities has their mascots; Norfolk has Mermaids! We didn't get to see them all but we did see q few.

I was really looking forward to this 2 hour cruise. I loved it. Frank was miserable as his eyes were stinging and watering because he had gotten sun screen in his eyes earlier and the breeze just made them feel worse.




Jefferson and Monticello were fascinating...loved it.




Home again, home again...jiggety jig!!




Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Vacation Journal

Here's a picture of my travel journal in it's basic state. I've since added things to the cover and stamped on many of the pages but I'll save showing you that until I complete it after my vacation.

I have been asked how to make a journal book like this and now I'm going to try to show you. So, please, bear with me.
:0)


First, you need to choose a book. Here I've shown several different kinds although all are old. There are patterned covers, plain covers, one has a great illustration on the inside and some have titles on the front. You really want the cover in pretty good condition yet the inside old enough to rip easily - or you can cut the book part out.






Open your book and gently start to rip the cover away from the text. If you want you can use a knife to make a cleaner cut. Or, if you want, you can clean up the tear after the text is out of the cover. Do this to both front and back cover.











Next comes the eyelets. I used small eyelets because I didn't have any larger ones but you can certainly use larger ones. Larger eyelets would make it easier to get the ribbon through later on. Measure (you don't have to be exact) and mark where you want the 4 (or however many you want) holes to be at the top and the bottom of the spine and be sure that they are aligned. Use your crop-a-dile or whatever other hole puncher you have and punch over those marks.



Then add your eyelets and set the cover aside.














Adding the Paper Groups

For this book I chose craft paper card stock. My Vacation Journal has a mixture of papers in with the majority being water color paper. I mixed in some patterned paper (heavier) card stock kind. I don't know if regular thin paper would work but you can always try.

You need 4 or 5 pieces of paper per group. So, if you've got 4 eyelets across then you'll need 4 groups of paper or a total of 16 or 20 pieces of paper depending on how many you put in each paper group. I put 5 pieces in each group (20 pieces).




Next you should measure. Get the innards of your book that you ripped out and measure the height and the width. You'll want to double the width because you'll be folding your paper in half. My book measured 8" high and 5.25" wide. So, I cut paper 8" x 10.5". Then fold them all in half and group them in 5 sheet groups.






Then to sew your paper groups together. I used my sewing machine but I imagine you could hand stitch or even staple the groups together if you have a long reach stapler. For some this may be an easier option. If you stitch be sure you back stitch at the beginning and the end so that it doesn't unravel.





Now you have to mark your page groups where you need to punch the holes to correspond with the holes on the spine of the book. I laid the first page group under the spine of the book and lined up the stitching (or crease) with the eyelet holes and used a fine point marker to mark a dot where I want to punch the hole. I hope this makes sense. Then I punched the holes. Then I used this first page group to mark the rest of the page groups.

Next is to thread your yarn, ribbon, or whatever through the page groups and the book eyelets and knot or knot and then tie a bow on the outside of the spine. It really doesn't matter what is written on the spine because you won't see it after this is finished. How much ribbon? About 2.5 feet or more...it's just a guess. I used scraps. It really depends on if you're going to make a bow - then you'll need more. Do this to all 4 of your page groups and your journal is ready to personalize!



I hope my directions make sense. If you have any questions you can reach me at SIStv - pegasus or leave me a comment here. I'd love to see what you do with this. :0)




Tuesday, July 1, 2008

CAMPERS GONE HOME...Next stop VIRGINIA / New Journal Book!



So, Camp is over and everyone's gone home! Adam Luther is left with no one to play with now! HAH!!! He really has a whole room full of 'Kids to play with but he doesn't want to go down to the Nursery ( but he may have to!)

Camp was great this year! We had lots of campers who brought things to share with the others and even one 'Kid who sent stickers from New Zealand even though she didn't attend. So sweet of her. They had a great time building and painting the pirate ship!! We didn't get to use our little inflatable swimming pool but they were just so into the pirate ship I didn't have the heart to tear them away from it. Our field trip, this year, was to the mall and the playground. Time restraints prevented us from doing more at the playground but I think they had a good time nonetheless.

Adam Luther is already thinking ahead to next year...he's thinking Safari Camp with a field trip to our great zoo. Give me some time here, Adam... we just finished!

Now I get to think about my next adventure. We're going to Virginia! YAY! And, of course, Adam Luther is coming along. We'll be off to Colonial Williamsburg and then to Virginia Beach. I'm creating a new and interesting journal book just for the occasion. Can't wait to fill it up and share it with you. I go the idea from JSaulsberry at SIStv.com. She and her son made this fantastic book for her husband so I copied the technique for the book.

I have a book cover left over from Gigi's class from SISiversary and I thought this was the perfect way to use it!! Thanks Gigi!! Oh, I'll have to get some "before" pics of the book - before I fill it up with neat stuff.

Thanks for looking!
Peggy