{Spotlight Project} Shirley Creates a Travel Journal

Hello, peeps!  I've been playing with the latest STAMP Club set, Wanderlust, and it's the ideal set for making a travel journal, either in preparation for your next trip, or to collate the memories and ephemera from your last trip.

You can create your journal from mat board or any strong card, and either use a journal die or follow a cutting pattern (just google traveller's notebook cover template).

I sponged Distress Oxides onto my covers, then added stencilling using some ARTplorations mini stencils.

I wanted to seal the Oxides so that I could stamp over the colours.  I started with Mod Podge but that smudged the ink, so I flipped the covers so that the smudged section was now on the back, and switched to Distress Glaze.

After stamping a few images, I managed to drop the aeroplane stamp onto the journal (bottom right corner), so it was the perfect excuse to grunge everything up and hide my mistake.

It also toned down the brightness of the covers.

For the closure, I used some giant ricrac that I picked up in Spain a few years ago, and stapled one end through a - what do you call those things?  brackets? fasteners? Anyway, they've been in my stash forever.

In order to hold the ricrac in place, I used some white hat elastic (coloured pink with a Sharpie) threaded through the central hole on the spine, then through a small button on the inside.

I'd done some light sponging and stencilling on the insides of the covers, and threaded the holes with black elastic ready for the signatures (or inserts).  I've parted the black elastic so that you can see the button.  Once the signatures are threaded onto the elastics, it will be obscured.

The excess ricrac just gets tucked in around the back, and there's plenty there for when the journal expands.  Here's another view of the front:

Has this inspired you to make your own travel journal?  Here's what I used:

From February through to April, all stamps (except retiring sets), stencils and dies are 10% off, no coupon needed.  And if you use my code STAMPGIRLSHIRLEY you'll get an extra 20% off. Bargain!