Travel Journal

A post for my sister.  Everyone knows I will do ANYTHING for my sisters.  When they ask, I hook them up.  This is for you, Laurie.... Travel journal post.  Since you are making one for your trip to Israel.  Excuse me, 2 other readers, as I address my sister here...

Ok, I started with a SU blank journal... I chose this because it comes with a "blank" chipboard cover, and cardstock pages.  So, sturdy.  You can use ANY pre-made journal and alter it, or you could get REALLY Creative and cut your OWN carstock and chipboard cover and MAKE the whole thing using a Bind-It-All.  That's pretty ambitious:)  ANYWAYS, I started by covering it with some "travel-y" looking scrapbook paper from Michael's (it's double sided, and red on the flipside) so I secured it using super sticky double-sided tape.  I put that "Alaska" plastic cut out on the front, mostly because I had it in my stash of "Alaska" items I bought at YOUR scrapbook store (remember that?  It was a YEAR before our trip!!) it was too long, so I had to cut off 1/2 of the moose!  I tied the "coins" on the top of the rings just because I thought they were fun. 

Ok, so the inside...  I cut a DIFFERENT travel paper to fit the inside cover... I did NOT fold paper over the edges (you know with mitered corners, etc) I just cut it to fit to the edges.  A ruler is a HUGE must for this, unless you are REALLY into Trial-and-Error.  Which DOES come in handy, sometimes!  Anyways, Trial an Error is how I made the pocket:)  I STARTED by cutting the paper bigger than the size I wanted the pocket to be... punched holes with the Bind-it-All (right side of paper) and RE-cut the paper after lining it all up (remember the Ruler?  This is why you REALLY need it!) then I covered all but the punched holes with clear packing tape, and taped that bad boy down.  Hind sight?  Don't bother with the pocket.  I never used them:)  HA!  I won't put them on again.  You know, for me.  ANYWAYS, speaking of the packing tape... before I put the pocket all the way on I covered the whole cover (front and back) with strips of the packing tape.  I WOULD recommend this as it makes it kind-of-water proof.  I know you can see the tape, but I was glad I did... of course, we were on a cruise, so since you are going to the DESSERT, you might not need this option. 

So, We had the luxury of knowing for the most part, what we were going to do each day.  I made a list of "Day one, Day two..." and put the dates with them, etc.  I think the dates look cool typed out like "03.25.10" but that's me.  You can do it anyway you want, or no dates at all.  I would definately have pages for TRAVELLING because you know something fun is going to happen while you are travelling with Amanda!  HA!  That's the whole point of the travel journal... you take the time to write these things down when they happen, or at the very least, each night, while they are fresh in your mind.  You will be SO happy to have those memories in a few months when you completely forget the minor details and only remember the "Big things".  Trust me.  ANYWAYS, I figured out how many days we were going to be gone, broke it down into dates, and figured out how many pages I could have for each day.  I knew there were some days we were going to be doing a TON of stuff, and some we were going to be just driving, so I shifted pages accordingly (ie, 7 pages for the day we went to Skagway, and only 3 for travelling).  Once I got that figured out, I printed out "labels" on the computer.  Then I punched them out using my SU oval punch, and backed them with the scallop oval punch.  Yes, I justified this purchase EXCLUSIVELY for this book.  Of course, I've used it a million times since, but this is what I really wanted it for.  I attached the labels...  then I made MORE labels for each of the places I thought we would see...  while we were on the cruise, we had an itinerary that we would  DEFINATELY be sticking to, so I put those on the pages on the dates they fell under... but AFTER the cruise, when we were "just" doing our own thing out west, I made labels, but didn't attach them to the book.  You could put double sided tape on them and stick them on a piece of clear acetate and tuck them in those pockets and attach like stickers when you need them!  What a GREAT idea for those useless pockets!  HA... I just stuck them on when I got home.  Well, really, last week.

I also "assigned" pages to Ben and Carly that they were supposed to write on.  Their point of view is always so funny!  Renae had given me stamps with their names on them, so I stamped their pages with those. They didn't do much writing, in the end, however.  What ended up happening with us was that "Journal time" came at 11pm at night when they were in bed, so they just shouted out to me what they thought were the best parts of the day, and I included it... sometimes they wrote, though:)  I had to get over their scribbly handwriting, which was NOT SO EASY FOR ME, but I did it:)

See, there's Ketchikan day...

Oh, YOU MUST DO THIS... each night, I wrote down the digital numbers that my camera attaches to each picture and wrote what the pictures were of... EXPECIALLY when we were on the Oregon Coast (actually, I wrote those down IMMEDIATELY because we were going to so many cool places that kind of looked the same).  I burned a CD to stick in the back of this journal after we got home, so I can always see the pictures that go with each day. 

Ok, so you get the idea that I stamped travel stamps through out the journal.... decorate it anyway you want. 

Then I attached the hair elastic to the back with my crop-a-dile.  Punch the hole first, then put the elastic through (I used the LARGE ones that go on like a headband... Target, and cut it in 1/2), then stick the eyelet through the hole (BESIDE The elastic) and smoosh.  You  might need to look at that picture for a little bit and play around with it so that your elastic will lay flat, like below. 

Lastly, here's how I put the ribbon bookmark on... just laced it through the rings.  Real fancy, huh?!  I did find the book mark helpful to "keep my place"... which is what a book mark does, right?  Real Rocket Science here.

Hope that helps you and that you have fun making your Israel Journal.  Send me some pictures!