Monday 11 September 2017

Laminated Travellers Journal

Good morning friends

I'm back today with another Travellers Journal made with Eileen Hull's Journal die. A couple of people have been making laminated covers, instead of the heavy chipboard or mat board ones, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. I had been poking around in the basement and came across the box with my laminator so the timing was perfect!

Before we moved, I had quite a large room with tons of storage and all my tools and supplies were in there and easy to get to. Even with all the STUFF, I knew where everything was. But that room was in the basement, and I could no longer do stairs with my RA. My new craft room is on the main level of our home so I can easily duck in and work on a project - but it is smaller and has only about a third of the storage. So I had to be really picky about what went into that room, and a laminator just doesn't get used enough.

I used Southwest themed papers for my journal and inserts - and use this one for jotting down card ideas, sketches, journal ideas and additions etc etc. Because it was for me to use, I didn't mind cutting onto these patterned papers that I would normally hoard. I get to enjoy them every time I use the journal, which is almost daily!


You can see below that there are four signatures in the journal. These inserts are easy to write on in the journal, but slide out if you want to take just one insert on the go with you. I am in love with the whole Travellers Journal idea - it's so flexible and customizable and you can use it for anything you want! Some people use it to record favourite recipes, other's for books and movies they want to read/see or notes about the same for clubs. People have made them for travelling notes, some for sketching and others fill the inserts with mixed media papers and use them to practice techniques.


Below is the inside front cover and the first signature. I made my own signatures (inserts/booklets) with a dot grid paper inside, done on my computer. It took awhile fiddling with the size and shade of grey (some pages are too dark, but I'm using them anyhow) but now the file is saved and it's easy enough to print more dot grid pages for additional inserts .


Here is the back of the 3rd insert and the front of the 4th. I also used a page protector to make a pocket page, which worked well. The pockets are held closed with Washi Tape - it did not photograph well but it turned out better than I hoped and I will use that idea again. Pockets in a journal are very handy!


For some of the inserts, I folded over the cover edge and trimmed the top at an angle. When the bottom edge is adhered it creates a nice tuck spot.


I do like how lightweight this journal is - it's sturdy enough because the inserts add strength - and I haul it back and forth camping and the inserts are taken in and out multiple times with no issues. However, unless I took it to Staples to see if they have a larger than letter sized laminator, I found the top and bottom edges don't stay sealed. It's fine for my use but I wouldn't use it as a gift for anyone.

The idea of a laminated cover started my brain going and I ended up making several more laminated journal covers in a smaller size. I didn't use the Journal Die for these, instead taking the idea of a scored spine and holes for elastic threading and customizing the size. Those covers worked like a charm! I still need to make coordinating inserts/signatures for those, but I have a couple of people in mind that I would like to gift one too.

Thanks for stopping by today

2 comments:

  1. so cool, love the papers you used on this

    ReplyDelete
  2. wonderful how you create this album
    Elma

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for taking the time to comment - I appreciate each one!