Craft Project: Creating Your Own Travel Journal

I always have such big dreams for scrapbooking my travels…I really do…. but truth be told, I’m just inconsistent. My birthday trip to Dublin, Ireland from 2008 is still sitting in a suitcase, and my amazing trip to London is in a box….somewhere!

So I realized a while ago that I do better if I combine scrapbooking and travel journaling into one activity. In this fashion I can take notes on what happens day-t0-day, collect little bits of ephemera, and leave  places for special photos. (I always take WAY too many photos that lose meaning over time!)

The best journal is one that has built-in pockets so that you can keep your goodies or tuck photos/ephemera into. Those are really hard to find, so today I’ll show you how to make one of your own! (AND we’ll do some recycling, too!)

You’ll need:

• 2 sheets of watercolor paper
• 1 cereal card box
• long metal ruler
• bone folder
• X-acto blade, sharp scissors, or good paper cutting system
• Craft Bond Spray adhesive OR glue
• Cinch binding tool (optional)

I like to start out with a nice mid-weight watercolor paper. That way if I want to glue stuff down or do a watercolor wash, I know the paper will hold up. And since I shun white paper, I like to add a quick wash or some shimmery sprays before I even start.

Once everything is dry, you are going to fold the sheet into 8 sections. First fold in half, then half again, then half again.

Then, as you can see from the photo above, you are going to make a “T” cut. From the long side, cut up the center-most fold  to the middle crease. Then cut to the LEFT  and the RIGHT til you meet a fold line. Then we’ll fold the book up.

Here is a wonderful illustration I found from Paula Beardell Krieg’s Book Arts Blog- please go check out her other wonderful book ideas:

Image from http://bookzoompa.wordpress.com

So when you fold it up, you’ll have some open sides and bottoms between pages. I like to run a bead of glue or line of dry adhesive along the open bottoms. But I always leave the tops open so I can slip things in, because now it’s a pocket. You can also leave the sides open to make pull-outs or store photos later.

Now, following the directions above, the book is self- bound. But if you fold it a different way, you can make it so you have extra pages and then you can combine them to make more pages. But this is VERY hard to explain, while easy to show. So take a look at this quick video on how to fold the book and some examples I’ve made:

So finally, you’ll  want to make a cover using cereal-box cardboard covered in decorative paper. I like to use hand-dyed paper, but use whatever you like.

1. Cut 2 pieces of cardboard 1/4 ” larger than the leaves of your book. Cut 2 pieces of decorative paper the same size as well.
2. Cut 2 pieces of paper 1″ larger than your cardboard.
3. Use spray adhesive (my fave) or glue to your cardboard, then center the cardboard on your decorative paper. Snip the corners as shown above, then fold the pretty paper over and glue down. (Tape runners are great for this.)
4. Glue the piece of decorative paper on top to hide the messy folds.

Now you’ve got binding options! You can glue the covers right  onto the leaves, or use a binding tool like a Cinch to make a wire-bound book. That part is up to you. Either way, you’ll have a 6-8 page book to take on your journey! Pair this book with my Traveling Craft Kit & you are ready to craft on the road….