Planning a Travel Journal
While others are twittering away Christmas tutorials and doing December Crafts, I’m planning a trip to the sun. And with that I’m going to create my very first Travel Journal – can’t really decide what I’m most excited about. The going away or the journaling and documenting the going away…
When visiting the library I get a first taste of the country I’m visiting. It’s flavors and sounds are yet to come…
I’ve dug through my big paper stash and taken out the papers I want to use in my Travel Journal, a kind of Art Journal for writing a lot while away – or at least that’s what I’m thinking now. If you have any ideas or suggestions for how to go about this please let me know, I’ve never had (or made!) a Travel Journal before!
I found these images torn from a science magazine in my stash of papers, they will go great in the travel journal!
I am very inspired by Mary Ann Moss of the blog Dispatch from LA (see links below to her own Travel Journal and classes), so I’m going to sew my pages together in some fashion. That’s my plan so far, and to add in lots of pages for writing. I’m not taking my ordinary Art Journal – or my diary! I’m just taking this and hoping to add lots to it during the week I’m away.
Spreading out all the images, scrapbook papers and painted papers to sew together the pages. But that is another post coming soon.
While planning these are some links that have inspired me to create a Travel Journal…
- Tips and Techniques to Bring Your Travel Journal Alive – an article where Kelly writes about the difference of a travel blog and a notebook to tuck things in and jot down quotes in. Interesting and inspiring read with quite a few fun traveling prompts for journaling.
- Pure Experimentation online class with Mary Ann, where she teaches people how to make a book much like her own travel journals with stitching and paper. I haven’t taken a class with her but I sure want to. Just looking at her photos of papers and journals is inspiration to me!
- Lisabon Travel Journal images by Mary Ann Moss. Lots of fun pages!
- Italy Travel Journal images by Mary Ann Moss, another travel journal shared online. Yay!
- Crazy Quilt paper – at Rambling Rose blog, it”s about how to emptying your scrap box and sewing papers together to make lager sheets, also see her Happy n’ scrappy post. Sewing papers is so much fun!
- I was watching Traci Bautista using her decoupage glue and making a very neat little journal on these videos below the other day. Oh my goodness, these videos are So Darn Inspiring to watch! I’m drooling over here, wanting to Create at Once!
- Not journal inspiration, but still worth checking out: My friend Maria has created a cute monster and the most amazing wood carved Christmas candle holders. They are simply beautiful.
And some videos you just have to watch;
In the first video Traci Bautista makes decoupage with her own painted background pages cut to squares and glues them to cardboard. In the second part (below) she cuts it in half and makes a journal with a tape spine and unevenly folded papers. It looks very easy and fun.
So, let me know your thoughts on traveling + journaling below. Thanks!
Hanna, Have a wonderful vacation! I have no suggestions for you cuz I’ve never done one. I can’t wait to see what you post from your travel journal. I like how you’re making yourself use the travel journal by not bringing your regular journal/diary!
Thanks for the links. WOnderful synchronicity. I just made Teesha Moore’s 16 page journal as my travel journal. I will only be gone 9 days, so I just needed a small one.
Wow there are lots of cool links there.Now youve made me envious .I wanna go on holiday now to so I can keep a travel journal to.I love the idea of making your own special notepad to take with you.Cool idea with the mixed paper to.normally when i go on holiday,i just bring my art journal and an old decopaged lunchbox with some basic art supplies such as glue, list of quotes, scissors, paintbrushes, mini watercolour kit, water and beaker, mini tubes of 5 acrylic colours, artist pitt pens, some pens,an evelope to hold applethera I will be collecting and cellotape.But I never thought about making a special journal to take on holiday with me.I want to go on holiday so i can make one to.:)
Have a fun time art journaling on holiday and keep us posted with your pages from being on holiday.
Hey,
that sounds like fun, girl!
Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy.
And if you are more occupied with travelling than journaling, than let it be that way.
I write this, because that always happens to me.
Well, I do write, but it takes so much time away from the actual experiencing the foreign country.
So often I “only” write into my moleskin – and even that is sometimes a task in between my travel activities.
Have a great vacation, Hanna,
Tally
yes! I enjoyed these videos, too! It’s always fun to watch her work, because she’s so comfortable and free and expressive.
Congrats on making your first travel journal!! Mary Ann is truly an inspiration to me. I recently got a sewing machine, and will be sewing pages when my December crafting is done.
I hope your vacation is one of your dreams come true! Thank you for all the links.
xo
Chris
I enjoyed the videos, thanks. Bon Voyage!
Dear Hanna,
do you know the book of Willy Puchner (an author and painter from Austria) : “Illustriertes Fernweh” (Vom Reisen und nach Hause kommen).
Maybee this book can give you some inspirations.
Have a good trip!
Alles Gute, Sigrid
Thanks for your comments girls!
Zom! I am only going to be gone for 7 days (!) but when I started making pages it was so much fun I went over board with it… hehe, now I don’t know how to handle the big bundle of papers! :-) What will you bring on your trip and where are you going?
make a life Thanks for your list of supplies to bring, those are great. Now if only I could fit it all into my bag!
Tally! If anyone knows how to travel it would be you, hehe. You give good advice, and I know you are right. But I also know I enjoy writing, so I*m hoping I will have time to do that – at least at breakfast or at the beach or maybe on a buss. We will see, I will let it happen if it does, I promise! :-)
Hanna – I wish you exciting, safe and inspiring travels. If you get stuck at Frankfurt airport I’ll come get you!
My travel journal is an altered book and I’m sad to say I’ve sort of fallen out of love with this medium. My next one will be loose pages. This way I don’t have to bring the “whole thing” along AND I can decide later how to bind it all together or whether or not to combine it with other trips. I love postcards and brochures in foreign languages… if you bind your book after-wards, you could work all those extra loose things into the journal plus you could print a few pictures of the trip and include those too… the main thing is to have fun!! xoxox tj