New website and blog location...

You may wonder why there aren't any new updates on this blog. Now I know I haven't been very regular with updates, but there have been several since the last post...only I moved it all to my new website MorganLeFaesTrinkets.com

You will find all the posts from this site over there, as well as new updates, the new location of free the printable files/templates, including the coloring booklets.

I hope to see you there in the future =)

Have a great day,
Monique

For more examples of my work, please visit my website, facebook page or Flickr album:
http://morganlefaestrinkets.com/
https://www.facebook.com/MorganLeFaesTrinkets
https://www.flickr.com/photos/94455363@N02/sets/72157638275223663/

Live Long and Prosper...a birthday present

Last year I made several Traveler's Notebooks using a masking technique. I knew the technique very well from my art journaling and since I hadn't seen anyone use this on leather I thought I would give it a go.

My goal was to get a lighter lettering (or other) onto the notebook.
Up to then I had only been able to get darker images into the leather using stamps. The masking would allow me to keep parts lighter (like this).

The masking technique worked fabulous and I bought a silhouette portrait to explore the possibilities of this further.

Somehow live got in the way, with my job, combined with the Etsy Shop and family life... the machine just sat there gathering dust.... (so sad)

However now that I've quit my job to make TN's full time and my sister in law's birthday (a huge star trek fan) was coming up, I forced myself to MAKE IT SO ...

Painted leather Traveler's Notebook covers, on the outside....

Or...why I don't paint the inside of my covers with the same acrylics based leather dyes I use on the smooth outside.

I've gotten a few questions from people asking me if I could paint the inside of the leather Traveler's Notebook covers. The answer to that would have to be yes, of course I can paint the inside of the covers, however I choose not to do it. For a reason, a very good reason in my mind. =)

I do dye the insides of the covers with alcohol or oil based leather dyes. So there's plenty of color to be had ...

for instance, the above Nebula Traveler's Notebook, has a purple inside =)

To explain why I choose not to paint the inside, I would first have to explain something about the vegetable tanned leather I use.

Painted Traveler's Notebooks...

Á while back I discovered you can paint Leather Travelers Notebooks with acrylic paint, my all time favorite medium. Regular Acrylic paint will work, however special acrylics for leather are better and give a much nicer result.

Since then I have made quite a few Traveler's notebooks that were painted, among which are my painted lady and some nebula's. I tend to show some of the TN's I make in my facebook group, Lady Falcon Traveler's Notebooks and on my instagram, @LadyFalconTN, but somehow seem to forget to post them here...

So without further ado, here's my latest Weir Tree TN. It's an A6 Traveler's Notebook and it has one, larger/older , brother, or sister, in the world =)

These are hand painted and since the leather doesn't take kindly to pencil, I can't sketch it out before hand.

Very short Blogpost...

I'm going to try something new today....I'm going to write a short blogpost... That's right, very short...
However, It is a rather long video =)

It's a flip through of my Traveler's Notebook (s), both my personal planner and the TN I took with me on holiday to Italy with the Travelogue and the doodling booklets.
 I hope you enjoy

Have a lovely weekend,
xx Monique

IG: LadyFalconTN
Flickr: Traveler's Notebooks
Etsy: MorganLeFaesTrinkets

A little trip and a travelogue to log it

Last week I went on a little trip to Italy with my family. We had lots of fun and mad loads of pictures. Over the years I noticed somehow those pictures are taken only to be never looked at again, or if you do look at them, you can't remember what was going on, or even where it was.

So the past few years I've taken to making a travelogue from all my trips. Sometimes quite elaborate, but usually just a brief journaling page per day with what we did and a few pics to go with it. Sometimes I draw, sometimes I don't. I just go with the flow.

This year I made a new template for my travelogue and made it available in my Facebook group, Lady Falcon Traveler's Notebooks

It started out looking like this

and ended up looking like this =)

Not as chunky as some I did before, but lovely and messy, just the way I like it.

A6, Fieldnotes/Pocket or Passport booklet making tutorial

Just a quick post today, with a video tutorial I made about printing and making A6, Fieldnotes (Pocket), Passport sized booklets when you onlu have A4 sized paper.

I don't think this will work with letter sized paper, because the dimensions and proportions are not completely comparable to A4 paper. However, the templates for FN and PP booklets might work.

If you do get it to work, please let me know =)

I also have a few pictures of the little passport I made.

Announcing the winner.. and a painted passport TN

This will be a very short blogpost, with just the video announcing the winner of the giveaway from the previous blogpost Traveler's Notebook.

So a short blogpost and a short video, that would be a first right? =)
Maybe even a bit too short...

How about a little eye candy then, my newest addition to my Traveler's Notebook family. Meet my super cute wallet passport Traveler's Notebook.

When I started I didn't know if it was going to work...

CLOSED My very first Pyrography Traveler's Notebook and a giveaway

At the beginning of last year I saw some beautiful Traveler's Notebook that were made with a technique called leather burning, pyrography. Inspired by this I set out to gather all the materials needed to give this a shot. Made a trial piece in leather and then somehow never got any further.

I guess I was just scared to ruin it and didn't trust myself enough to just go and do it. Well last week I gathered all the courage I could muster and went for it. Fail or no fail, I was going to make a Traveler's Notebook with pyrography.

And I did =)

Now I'm definitely not an expert at this technique, but I had fun doing it and I think it turned out rather nice. =)

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!