I love to keep mementos when we travel. I am the kind of person that returns from every trip with a giant envelope of business cards, ticket stubs, and all sorts of other fun bits of paper. I always have good intentions to make fabulous scrapbooks out of all this great stuff but have yet to make a single one. Recently when I was cleaning the closet in my craft room I found a stack of travel journals with only a few pages used, and several of these envelopes of memories – except now I can’t even remember why I kept most of the items I did.
I really like to write down what we do/see/eat when we go places, but an entire book of empty pages seems to overwhelm me every time. I also don’t like the idea of keeping a running log that I simply add to each trip – thus the stack of partially used journals. I am not interested in long winded philosophical entries, or drawing in a sketch book. Luckily I found what I think will be a perfect solution on Pinterest.
I have created an expandable travel journal of the “smashbook” variety. Basically the book is a 5.5″ x 8.5″ loose-leaf binder on rings. This will allow me to punch holes in papers, postcards, or other stuff I pick up, or attach small ticket stubs or business cards to the blank pages I have prepared.
First I made the covers which are cereal box cardboard covered and decorated with card stock and “laminated” with packing tape.
Then I cut a big stack of pages to use inside the book and randomly stamped, decorated, and trimmed them for interest. I will pick one or more each day that fits my mood to decorate- the rings will allow me to put them in any order I choose. I also included a manilla envelope, ziploc, and some 5×8 binder paper I found at staples a few years ago.
I also assembled a bunch of fun and inspiring supplies to take with me. Rubber stamp alphabet, crayons, sharpies, embroidery thread, needles, thimble, washi tape, mini stapler, mini hole punch, corner punch, glue etc. Everything fit in a small cosmetics bag that I have used to travel with embroidery supplies before. It is the perfect size – and the clear sides make it so easy to find exactly what I need. I was really surprised how much I could fit inside such a little bag.
The coolest tool in my arsenal has to be the new mini printer I just got – a little birthday present for myself! It is a bluetooth printer made by Poloroid that prints wallet size photos and uses an internal rechargeable battery. The printer works from both my phone and tablet and has a fun app that allows you to edit the photos before printing. I am excited to add photos to my journal each evening. When I get home I will probably add more full size prints to the book as well – the rings make it so easy.
