The making of a leather "Journey" Travelers's Notebook...

And the mess it creates.

A while back I got a request for an A5 Traveler's Notebook by a lovely lady. Who made the mistake of giving me free reign in making it. Luckily she loves to create art as well. With that in mind and the fact that she planned on using it as an art journal I figured I could play a little.

I first tested the idea on a Traveler's Notebook I felt I ruined with some wrong stamping... I couldn't make it worse, right.

It turned out great, better even then expected.... and it left my whole Kitchen counter looking like a disaster area. I don't have a special art room and since I, obviously, was to enthusiastic and eager to try it, I didn't take any precautions. Which I should have, because I sprayed the leather dye... and I have sprayed inks before, so I should have known.

I did take some pictures while making this, so I'll try and explain what I did, should you want to try this at home.

Please remember the leather dyes I use (and are suitable to do this) are permanent inks. It will create a mess, so please protect the surroundings of your project... thoroughly!

My daily Traveler's Notebook, planner and common place book / journal

Today I finally made a video flip through of my daily Traveler's Notebook. I think a new video was long overdue, specialy now that I'm approaching 1000 subscribers on YouTube....

Which also means there's a giveaway coming. =)

First for the 1000 subscriber mark and secondly to celebrate the fact that I've now been making Traveler's Notebook for over a year and still loving them. Finding new ways to use them and trying out new techniques, like with my new "Journey" TN.

NaNoWriMo, how about that book cover...

With me essentialy being a discovery writer, also described as "seat of my pants" writer (in short, a pantser), or a gardener (as opposed to, respectively, an outliner, a planner, or an architect), I'm not entirely sure how I should prepare for the upcoming month.

As I told you last time, I made an inspirational booklet and downloaded Scrivener. Since then I also adapted the highschool workbook for the young writers into a Traveler's Notebook format, so my daughter could take it with her in her TN. That took some time, but was fun to do. They are nice to read and use even if you're not in high school. I made it available in my dropbox folder (you can find the link to the dropbox on my Midori TN free inserts page).

I played a little with Scrivener and, to be honest, I am impressed, so I'm keeping it. Watched some video's about outlining and prepping for NaNoWriMo (for instance Kaytastic's channel for the writing point of view and Ellen Brock's channel for the editor's point of view) and tried to implement some outlining by making chapters and character sheets in Scrivener (some great ones for Scrivener you can find here on Caroline Norrington's site). After which I came to a full stop.

NaNoWriMo prep for 2014

Joining the NaNoWriMo fun again this year and this time I decided to come prepared to the battlefield, so that, by the time november first comes along, I can hit the road running...

Now I'm not sure if I'm going to accomplish that, but I am at least going to give it a shot.

First of all I felt I needed a notebook, since NaNoWriMo is writing, ergo pen and paper...

So I designed an inspirational booklet to accompany me throughout the month, for notes, for inspiration, for wordcounts and journaling about anything NaNo related (or not...). I made the booklet freely available via my dropbox (the link to which you can find here).

Double threading elastic for your Traveler's Notebook

Since I started making Traveler's Notebooks I have tried out several different ways to thread the elastic through the spine to keep the notebooks inside.

Obviously I started with the normal method, which is one thread, this is realy plenty to keep the notebooks in place.

However I got so many requests to put two elastics in the spine, that I started trying out different ways to thread the elastic. I looked around for ways other people were threading their Traveler's Notebooks and found several, but none of them really appealed to me. 

The first and easiest way I found would be the sideways threading, as opposed to the regular vertical threading. This seems very nice in the beginning, but has a tendency to deform the spine, so that wasn't going to work for me.

How I'm using my Traveler's Notebooks at the moment

A year has passed since I made my first leather Traveler's Notebook and I've been using this sytem now for well over a year.

I've been making my own diaries and inserts right from the start and have adapted the system to suit my needs. I've used several different lay-outs and setups through-out this period, but I think I have now found a setup that works exactly how I like it.

I have 4 RS TN's for different purposes, one for work, one for art journaling, one for my Etsy store and one personal journal and diary/agenda. I also have a Fieldnotes sized TN for lists and keeping track of online orders and a small Passport sized one that I use as a wallet.

At first I used a setup with a MOTP, a WOTP and a daily diary with a chronodex adaptation to fit a 24 hr day. As time progressed and I was slowly overcoming the symptoms of my burn-out, I found I didn't need a full daily page to keep track of what I was doing. I did however want to keep at least a page per week.

 ___Warning, picture heavy post___

How to add extra booklets to a Traveler's Notebook

I received several questions about how to add extra booklets to your traveler's notebook and since this is rather difficult to explain with just words, I thought I'd make a blogpost about it with pictures to make it easier to see.

As an example I used my Fieldnotes/Pocket sized Traveler's Notebook, with just one elastic (1 long and 1 short)

I took it completely apart, to show you how I add the notebooks to my TN and took lots of pictures...

Mir Ardhon helped me make a file folder

I promised a long time ago I would make a video about how to make a file folder for your Traveler's Notebook. Since the video isn't realy coming along I thought a photo tutorial would be just as helpful.

So I set out make a file folder with the Traveling Dori, Mir Arhon watching my every move.

I'll do my best to keep the instructions short and clear.

Traveling Dori, Mîr Ardhon

Since the beginning of this year (march 2014) I've been involved in a project where people from all around the world share snippets of their life in a Traveler's Notebook.

For a brief period of time they will host one of the projects Traveler's Notebooks and capture their every day lives into the notebooks, with whatever medium they feel comfortable with. Be it writing, drawing, painting, photography or a combination of any of the above, anything goes.

A facebook group has been created for the group and many joined for the first trip around the world. Since there are so many people in the group, several subgroups have been cerated and each group has its own Traveler's Notebook.

I made 2 Traveler's Notebooks and inserts as a contribution to the project and coordinate both groups these travel within. These traveler's have departed for the USA on april 14th 2014 for their first stop and continued their journey around the world from there on. Some of the pictures of these travelers have been shared on Flickr and on Facebook. I will try and get more pictures gathered there. There are also pictures on Instagram (#TravelingDori).

Last week one of the traveler's came home after its first trip around the world and I was at awe. Its so wonderful to see all the contributions in the book, all those pieces of life from all around the world. To read about them, see their photo's and feel their art and heart.

So I made a little video, yesterday evening, which doesn't do it justice at all, but will give a little impression of the Traveler.

Got Tangled...

Yesterday I was browsing through Pinterest looking for some inspiration, I stumbled upon a beautiful collection of Tangle patterns. When I clicked trough to the blog I found they were made by a lovely lady named Emily Houtz. She made an entire set of Tangle reference cards and they were free to download.

With this many Tangle examples I figured I could perhaps make a booklet with Tangle examples to take with me in my Traveler's Notebook. After a bit of fiddling (quite a bit actualy) I managed to get them into the format I wanted them and made a trial booklet for my daughter.

She loved it very much an proceeded to make a cover for her booklet filled with doodles. Her cover not finished so I can't show it here yet, but she's having so much fun with it.

Looking at this I thought maybe other people would like a booklet like this as well, so I wrote to Emily to see if she would mind me sharing the booklet I made with her Tangles. I got a lovely email back from her and she graciously allowed me to share the booklet template with you.

I adjusted the template file a little and made an example booklet. I'll be taking this one with me in my RS TN.

A new quotes insert template

Recently I updated my Midori TN free inserts page with the link to the location where you can download them. I also added my new logo and the link to my Etsy shop. In case you would like me to make you a Traveler's Notebook or inserts for Traveler's Notebooks.

Among the inserts are some templates with quotes I collected overt the past year and used with my art journals. An insert with random quotes and an insert with Hitchhikers Guide quotes by Douglas Adams, since this is one of my all time favorite books. I've shared these free templates already on my facebook page and in several Facebook groups, but thought I'd share them here as well.

lost my mojo...hoping to find it somewhere soon

It seems I haven't been blogging much lately, nor have I been doing much art journaling. At first I felt really bad about this and kept feeling pressure to do something, anything.... but somehow this self imposed pressure only made things worse... And I lost my mojo completely.

Still I tried to finish the art journal round robin journal for Susan. Did bits an pieces here and there, Played with ink and paint, but somehow felt it just wasn't good enough. 

So I put it away and forgot about it...well almost...

This week I finally got up the nerve to try and finish what I started. 

Susan's book is beautiful and the work done in it already, was gorgeous. It's theme was trees and leaves and/or anything related. I'm not good with trees, or leaves for that matter...but I gave it a shot.

The Round Robin continues

It'been a while since I made my previous blogpost and to be honest, I feel slightly out of touch with it. I have missed writing here and I haven't done much art either. Between my day-job and making the Traveler's Notebooks, I don't have a lot of time left. I even had to make a waiting list for the Traveler's Notebooks, I just can't make them as fast as they are being requested.

It's a good thing people are so kind and patient and it's great meeting people from all over the world.

Mostly I tend to sneek a peek at facebook and post some pictures there when I made a Traveler's Notebook or insert that I like, but sitting down and writing a blogpost, just wasn't something I could wrap my head around.

With making the waiting list I feel I have finally got everything back under control and I even started doing some art again. 

So today I finally shipped the next art journal from the Round Robin on it's way to Tracy. It's Lee's journal, a beautiful bound book with a canvas cover and gorgeous painted papers inside. A joy to work in.

Jessica's Journal, lovely Rita

The second and last spread in Jessica's Art Journal was started in january, right after I did the first one. However with my hand getting worse I wasn't able to finish it until this week.

I still have to be rather carefull with my hand so I gathered I would do something completely different from what I'm used to doing and go with aquarel paints. Up till now I have only ever done small doodles and sketches with aquarel paints, but I really like how it turned out.

I do have "some" (as in, a lot) pictures with progress and detail shots.

Jessica's journal, first spread

As promised, the first of the journal pages in Jessica's Round Robin Journal. The second one is in a seperate post.

This first spread I did in Jessica's wonderful journal somewhere in the beginning of january. I'm not sure if I can remember everything properly but I will give it a go.

First I would love to show you the envelope the journal came in, sent by Gayle from Canada.

Another Round Robin Journal on it's way

Finally I was able to work on Jessica's Art Journal for the Round Robin, hosted by Tracy and finish the last spread.

January and the start of february have not been very good for doing any kind of creative and/or crafty stuff. Somewhere in november I started getting pains in my left hand. More specifically my thumb. By mid january I wasn't able to use my hand in a normal way anymore without feeling like someone was driving a knife through my thumb. According to my docter this could only be resolved by surgery and luckily this could be scheduled fairly quickly, at the beginning of february.

I'm glad to say that surgery went well and my thumb is healing nicely and I am able to use it again.
The first thing I did, after I felt I was able to use it again (and the stitches were removed), was to finish some backorders of Traveler's Notebooks and inserts for my shop. I am very grateful for everybody being so very patient with me.

The next thing I did was finish the second spread in Jessica's journal and make photo's of the spread I did before. Honestly, it's much easier making photo's with two hands in stead of one =)... also, I found, typing is a lot easier with my usual "two finger" system. The one finger (one hand) system wasn't really working for me.

Since this post would otherwise be far to long and picture heavy, I will do a seperate post for each of the two spreads.

As you can see both spreads are quite different. The first one is made with my goto medium, acrylic paints. For the second one I chose to do something different and I went with aquarel paints.

I've been having a lot of fun working in Jessica's beautiful journal. I love working in all these different journals and, I think, I am almost over my fear of doing something wrong in someone else's book.
It's like they say, there's no right or wrong in art journalling =)

Thank you for watching and I wish you all a wonderful weekend.

Linking this to:

• Paint Party Friday
• Art journal every day
• Creative Every Day

The Documented Life Project

Sometime in december last year I ran accross the documented Life Project. I was immediately intrigued. A combination of planner and art journal, executed any which way you would like. My favorite things combined. So I started looking into it and joined the facebook group, where lot's af people were already busy making the most fabulous planners and journals. Sharing all that they did generously.

So I decided to join in the fun as soon as the two art journals were safely on their way. Last week I finally got those travelling again and I started thinking about how I wanted to participate in this project.

I had a planner and that was working just fine for me. I did a video about that last monday. This is part one.

And part 2.

I really didn't want to change that, so I gathered I would do it a bit differently and just do the weekly prompts in a seperate booklet. I had some wonderful and colourful painted papers, just waiting to be made into a booklet. They had been living underneath my artsy endeavors for almost half a year now and were definitely ready for other use =)

Tracy's Round Robin Art Journal

I got Tracy's journal in the beginning of December, just a week before I got Lee's journal and all came to a halt. It's a wonderful journal, in a format I never saw before.

I loved working in it, though I did clamp the sides down for easier transport while open =). But then, I have to that anyhow, since I like to muck around with paints, Which means I have to use protective sheets to keep the other pages clean.

Gayle's Round Robin Art Journal

Gayle's journal got lost in the mail on it's way to Tracy. So Tracy lovingly made a new journal for her to send out into the world and that's the journal I received. I made two spreads in this journal and managed to make one spread in the journal upside down...

But first things first, this is the package I received in the mail =)

What happened to the Round Robin...

You might ask... , but first, before I answer, I would like to wish you all a happy new year and all the best for 2014.

About the round robin, well, I'm afraid I fell a little behind. Between taking my class in december, getting my shop up and running, the way I like it and the holidays, I didn't do much else. I had nearly finished one journal page in Gayle's book by the end of november, when Tracy's book arrived. I still felt I was on track though, so I just continued on, slowly. But then, out of the blue another book arrived, this time it was Lee's book and with all the other things going on in december, that brought me to a full stop.

Now with the december day's gone and to-do's finished for that month, I picked up where I left off and have been working on the journal for Gayle and Tracy for the last few days. I've been doing two pages at a time, each in a different book and I confess, that was a lot of fun. When waiting for one to dry I could just move on to the other. How come I never thought of that before? =)

Here are a few photo's of them.

Funny thing is that the pages done together do get sortof the same color and tone. I will do a seperate post on each book, with some progress pics of the pages I did in them, as I feel doing them all in one post would lead to a very lengthy (and overly picture heavy) post.

Till then, I have another video to share, with a flip through of my december journal made in my "FaeDori" Traveler's Notebook for the Christmas chronicles class from Rhomany

Thank you for watching and hope to see you soon =)

Linking this to:

• Creative every day
• Paint Party Friday
• Art Journal Every Day