“Faux Travellers Notebook”

Hi Friends,

I hope you are all going well in this weird time. I’m home from work and now enjoying my weekend!! It is very wet and cold here now so a great day to be indoors and crafting!

Lately, I have had a few projects on the go all at the same time. Nothing like keeping busy!! I got the urge to make another “Faux Travellers Notebook”, to use as an Art Journal.

 A Traveler’s Notebook ... In short, it is a refillable notebook, which are used by travellers to plan and document their travels. Also, to keep your important documents, contacts etc in, ………….But really, at its core, it is simply a leather book-like cover that holds multiple notebooks or inserts with elastic bands.  This really handy as you can keep the cover and just replace the inserts (notebooks) with new ones. 

They have so many more uses now as they have grown in popularity as a journal…………

Below are a few ideas of what you can use them for…………………

As A Travel Journal

Keeping track of Projects

Wedding or Party Guestbooks

Doodling and Art Journaling

Memory Keeping

Collecting Quotes

Habit and Weightloss Tracking

A Daily Journal

Commonplace Journal

For Planning

Of course, you can buy them, already made and in lots of different sizes, but why not make your own for the fraction of the cost to your needs……………………………….

My Version of this is a “Faux” one that I make mainly out of foam, covered with pattern papers or placemats. Yes, the humble placemat is great for making the soft covers. If you can’t find any, you can make to measure pattern papers, then laminating them.  I made a few last year and gave them away as presents. You can find them in cheap shops and probably home decor shops too. They usually aren’t too expensive and you could also use plastic mats, or the clear chopping mats would work also.

I really liked this tulip one, I found even though I am not a big red fan.  I cut it roughly down to 7.5×10″, but you can make it to suit your needs. I wanted the width so I could make it chunky with the inserts that I made.

 I cut the placemat to the size, I wanted with the image placed nicely on the front. I found the middle and made some small holes using a punch to thread the elastic through. This will allow you to move them around and remove to add new inserts as required.  The thinner elastic is nice to use as it gives a bit to move the pages.

I made these inserts from mixed media paper, as I want to Art Journal in this one. I cut my papers down to approx 6×9″ and I can comfortably put 6 signatures in this with the slightly bigger cover. I haven’t as yet added any pockets etc to the inside of the overs.

As you can see for the pages, I used 5-6 sheets ad used my stapler to put them together, but you could sew them if you wanted to.

I measured the middle, then left a gap between the other two holes. There is enough room from the bottom of the journal for the paper to fit nicely in. I just used my hole punch and I will go back and add some small eyelets for strength.

 I mainly eyeball when making things like this, as I am not a perfectionist and I like things looking rustic and handmade!

The journal looks lovely and as it is a placemat, I can wipe it down with no worries about damaging the cover. I will probably add my name or an art quote to the front to finish it off.

I hope I may have given you some inspiration to try one for yourself!!

Have a lovely crafty weekend

Kerri x

“2019/2020 Junque Planner”

Hi Friends,

Hope you are having a nice start to the week. I am not up to much just working and resting!  I have just made myself a new planner as my other one has been used quite a lot and I decided I wanted a new one! I am not into planning in a big way, I just need to to be able to record my work, appointments, etc and why not have a pretty journal to do this in!

This time I have used a recycled book cover. I just used some pattern paper from my stash for the inside of the covers. I extended the spine when I removed the pages to give me a bit more room and just used some cardboard to reinforce it. I liked the look of it so I didn’t add any cloth tape over it like I usually do. It’s a bit more rustic like me 🙂

I usually put 6 months at a time in my journal, but I have the whole 12 months ready to use. I work with different clients and have two rosters, so keping track of my days is essential. I have used my coffee dyed paper in this with unused Project Life cards left over. I used one for each day to give me a good amount of space to journal on.

I didn’t want to much on the cover, I used some collaged pattern paper and some washi tape. For the binding, I added some nice mushroom coloured trim and then some lovely brown organza ribbon to hold the signatures in. I just added a key embellishment to it. It is now ready for me to add my never-ending work roster and be in control of at least my daily work routine!!!

Maybe I have inspired you to create a lovely journal to keep track of your life also. I would love to hear from you if you do!

Happy Junking

Kerri x