Come Away With Me

Remember these papers and pages from a previous post?

They now reside inside a new handmade journal that I created to use on our upcoming cruise. I got this great idea from the FREE BPC self-paced class by Kimberly Lund. The class is called Come Away With Me and has directions and printables and templates for creating a vacation journal that will allow you to journal as you plan and prepare for your vacation as well as during the vacation and your thoughts after returning home. I often journal and make note of funny stories and significant events on our travels, so I knew I wanted to give this a try.

 I chose some digital papers from Jessica Sprague and the templates provided in the BPC class to create section dividers for my journal.

I created a section page for Where & When, To Do Lists, Packing, and one for each day of the trip itself.

I pulled out a variety of papers & pages from old books and dictionaries (shown in photo above), coloring pages, cardstock, envelopes, patterned papers and even a map. I laid all these items out on the floor beside my craft table and set to work putting the journal in order.

My favorite recycled item for this project was an old picture storybook of Herman Melville's Moby Dick - I found this at a flea market a few weeks ago and knew it would be perfect! I took the book apart and used the front & back cover for my journal. I also included some of the pages inside the journal. Here's a look at the complete journal.

This is my first handmade journal! A few months ago, I watched this episode on My Craft Channel, which provided the inspiration to use different sizes and types of pages. Here's a look at some of the pages inside the journal.

There's a total of 58 pages in the book, with lots of "white" space for journaling and gluing in memorabilia. One of my favorite pages holds two library cards/pockets where I'll record the books that Robbie and I read while we are cruising (we always take time to read - it's a vacation after all!).

I'm off now to journal about the planning of the trip and start my packing list! Are you planning a trip anytime soon? If so, check out the FREE Come Away With Me class for ideas to create your own journal.