Monday 13 July 2015

My holiday journal, Sicily June 2015

Hello today I am Guest Designer over at Country View. I was delighted to be invited by Chris a couple of months ago and when I was told the challenge theme was to be "On your travels" I thought that I would make a holiday journal for my recent holiday in Sicily. If you are a first time visitor here you may like to see this post I posted when I was away...I really was crafting in the shadow of Mount Etna. Please pop over to the Country View challenge blog and joint the fun. The theme of "On your travels" runs until the 31st July and one lucky entrant wins a 20 pound voucher to spend online at Country View Crafts online shop.

 I decided to make my own journal rather than use a bought one. I have already shared a couple of post as to how my pages were created. I crafted in the the shadow of Etna here made a seaside tag here and did some sketching here if you have missed these posts.

Here it the cover. It is mountboard underneath and wrapped in gorgeous Italian paper which I bought in town.
I used lots of dies, made some embossed tickets and a tag and added the lettering myself using a white pen.


Before I started my journal I first decided what shape and size I wanted it to be. I wanted my pages unbound so that I could fit extras in without worrying about whether it would still close. I decided that cutting an A4 sheet of card in half was a really simple option so that was the size of my pages.I bought myself a cropodile to make holes and used 3 book rings to hold my journal together. I actually bought larger ring binders in the end.  The final ones I used are 2" diameter.  I made myself several inky pages for my journal before I went away.

Here are a few of the blank pages.


 I did not take a lot of kit away with me but I did take a pencil case with pens/Inktense pencils and ordinary pencils with which I could doodle and index cards to jot things down on and use for little sketches.

 I also decided to buy a postcard every day so that I could keep a record of what we did each day.Obviously I could not finish my journal whilst away as I needed to print off my photos when I got home (they were all taken on my phone as sadly I lost my camera on day 4. A long story but I was able to replace it this Thursday through the insurance so all good). I may even invest in one of those little instant Fuji Instax mini cameras which take credit card sized photos one day?
I always love collecting ephemera when I am on holiday so I found lots of items to use.......maps, serviettes, tickets, stamps, bottle tops and all sorts.
I did make several pages whilst away and when I got home it was time to make a front and back cover and start to put everything together.





I bought this gorgeous wrapping paper in a stationary shop...it just shouted Italian to me and was thick and sturdy. I knew I wanted to use it for my covers. I used mount board for the covers and glued the paper in place.

So I am sure you want to see my finished piece.
I obviously cannot share every page, plus I will spare my bare chested Hb's photos here. These are a few samples from inside.



Yes my doodling featured too, the woman on the plane next to me did rather look sideways wondering what on earth I was doing but it's a great way to pass the time on a flight. You may recognise the insignia above as Tui....we flew with this air line from Gatwick.

The tonic water top is from our Gin and tonic and there are some tops from the local Italian beers too which my Hb flattened for me. 

I created lots of little envelopes for tickets and small bits.
I bought a watercolour from a street artist which I cut to size and added a little handmade envelope with the info inside. Small brown envelopes are easy to stamp and decorate.I made tab from hessiam and added some 


You will have seen some of my little sketches in my other posts but this is one more




I loved making this. Ever since I was a tiny girl I have made holiday scrapbooks where I stuck in all sorts of ephemera. This is just a big girl's arty version. It was a real labour of love but worth every minute.

If anyone would like any other info please email me, I am quite happy to answer any questions. One of the best decisions I made was to write a postcard or letter every day. It's really hard to remember what you did when you get home. Also the little sketches made there were really fun and when I look at them I get transported back to that moment. I must admit my darling Hb was a star and was quite happy to wait whilst I got out my pencils and made my little sketches. He even had a go at a couple himself. We really did have a wonderful holiday. Roll on the next one.

I would like to enter my holiday journal into the following challenges;

Art Journal post and postage
Addicted to stamps anything goes
A vintage journey destinations
Die cut Divas summer and patriotism
Noor! UK something old something new my old are my seahorse dies, my new is my Italian paper I used for my cover.
Vintage stamping travel
That Craft Place mixed media
Stamping sensations feature a creature I feature lots of creatures in my journal but crabs and seahorses crop up frequently.
The Artistic stamper tags there are lots of different tags throughout my journal including on the cover.


Thanks for visiting. I have a second guest design post for Noor! UK here today, just click the link here if you would like to see what I have created for Tracy.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

22 comments:

  1. Your journal is beautiful. Thanks for joining us at Art Journal Journey, Valerie

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  2. Just WONDERFUL this gorgeous Journal ! Thank you very much for joining us at Art Journal Journey!
    xxx
    Susi

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  3. Oh Jane, what a wonderful journal full of keepsakes and memories. I have not made one of these in a while but feel inspired now to record my Hb 50th birthday memories when we are away in August.
    TFS, Julie x

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  4. It really is a lovely and enjoyable way to keep your holiday memories, good work Jane!
    Sorry to hear about your camera, that would have been a bit of a shock for you but at least you got it replaced!
    Have a great new week my friend, I'm off to read your other post, gosh you've been busy!
    V x

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  5. Hi Jane! I've followed over from visiting Country View. had to see all the pages of your mini album! I LOVE IT! How smart to plan ahead. I love keeping all the bits and pieces together. if you do these things while everything is still fresh on your mind-you are definitely more apt to do it! Great job! Thanks for sharing.

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  6. Dear Jane

    In my opinion, there is only one thing better than traveling and it is the treasure and satisfaction of having made a travel journal! Yours is precious and so artistic! Love your titles, drawings and overall diversity! Bravo and thank you!

    Cheers~

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  7. Oh my goodness, what a wonderful journal of your travels. Such an inspiration!

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  8. a wonderful make and a real labour of love as you say - I love the postcards idea and may adopt that! Big hugs rachel x

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  9. Wow, what a fabulous journal Jane and a wonderful remembrance of your holiday, thanks so much for sharing it!

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  10. Hi Jane

    Thanks so much for your lovely comment on my blog the other day. It was very much appreciated. I've been drooling over your fabulous work (and, let's be honest, the gorgeous scrummy looking piece of cake on your last post - slurp! :oD

    Well done on two tremendous GDP projects. Wow!

    Lx

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  11. Great journal. I really enjoyed looking at it. I think you had a fantastic trip! Lucky you!

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  12. This is wonderful, Jane, such a lovely keepsake! So much work gone into it. Thank you for sharing it with us at Stamping Sensations.

    Lynne

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  13. Wonderful journal, Jane! So filled with interesting treasures and textures, and a great keepsake.
    Happy week.
    Helen xox

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  14. Thank you so much for playing along over at Noor! Design UK!

    I looooovvvvve your creation, we hope to see you back here next time!

    DT - Keeley Ainsworth
    Noor! Design UK

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  15. Oh WOW! Great to dive inside the rest of your Italian journal Jane. Love how you've captured the whole feel of your holiday with the special papers, hand drawing and writing, and various travel ephemera. Thank you for joining us at A Vintage Journey. Jenny x

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  16. Hi there Jane- This is a wonderful journal, beginning with the very unique and colorful covers. Isn't that clever, your mini landscape inspired but the "fish scale" framed masonry? Sicily has been good to you, artistically speaking- Cheers! :o)

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  17. WOW. Beautiful. What a fantastic journal.

    Happy to see you at Die Cut Divas!

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  18. Gorgeous project Jane, thanks for joining in the fun over at The Artistic Stamper

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  19. Amazing keepsake Jane. Loving your colours and layouts. Thanks for joining us at Stamping Sensations this month.
    Pinky

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  20. Wonderful! Another stunning creation for our Feature a Creature theme this month. Thanks so much for joining in at stamping sensations and good luck!

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  21. Hi Jane, Wonderful travel journal....I've been to Italy but not Sicily. Here's to more travels and more creative days.
    Anne D.T. xx

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  22. Beautiful journal cover and very interesting as well Jane. Love this. It is surely great this to keep your wonderful photos and memories.
    Thanks so much for joining us at Artistic Stamper this month.

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Jane x