Travel Journal

By the time you read this I should be somewhere between Hong Kong and Bangkok.  But did you really think I'd leave you hanging with no projects while I'm away...no way!

Whenever I go on vacation it's usually for a fairly lengthy time, usually far too long for me to be able to keep track of everything that happens inside my little head.  So, I always take a travel journal with me, a new one for each trip.

Instead of purchasing something though, I decided to embellish something I already had laying around.  It seems the latest and greatest "gift" to give employees at my workplace are small recycled plain notebooks.  I suppose the idea is that we're supposed to use them for work, seeing as the logo is plastered right on the front, but you know, I like to be a little different~

Here's what you'll need to make your own journal:


I also used my Silhouette SD, add a pair of scissors
or punches if you don't have an electronic cutter

Steps:
1) At first I was going to cut out some flowers to put on the front of my book but I just couldn't find anything that caught my eye in my Silhouette library.  Then I remembered...I'm a butterfly girl!  So, I cut out some cute little butterflies in several bright papers.

2) I used Mod Podge to adhere them to the front of my book.  I decided not to do another layer of Mod Podge on top just to go along with the whole recycled earthy look the cover already has.


I forgot to take a shot with them all glued down
but you'll see that in a bit~

3) OK, big deal right?  So I glued some paper down over the company logo so I can really enjoy my vacation.  Does that really warrant an entire tutorial?  No...but here's where we add a little something to make things special!

I "designed" this little shape above to make some tabs so I could section off my book.  It's really just a series of rounded corner rectangles welded together, so if you don't have an electronic cutter you could probably just do something similar on your own with a ruler~

4) Just cut a bunch of tab shapes in the same pretty papers, score the centre lines and get ready to glue.

5) Press your first side down on the front of the page:

6) Turn the page over and press down the other side. So super easy!

7) Section off your book and add your tabs throughout.  In my travel journals I like to have these sections:
-journal
-blog notes
-photo log
-purchases
-miscellaneous

Tah dah!

So pretty right?

But wait...there's more!  While I had my Mod Podge out I figured I better cover the logo on my pen too.

So, there it is all together and ready to go.  I can't wait to use it!

If you want to keep up with my travels just click here.