Sand, yum- TN

Another traveller's notebook page to show today. It's a seaside scene, of me feeding sand to my cousin. Don't ask...

It needed some waves, and seaside embellishments.

The tickets are cut out of a 12x12 sheet bought expressly for that reason.

I like the little stamped stars, it feels like the black grounds it a bit.

I added a stamped film strip for my journalling. I quite like to hide my journalling, so that you have to work to see it!

Thanks for looking!

I am grateful- TN

Another traveller's notebook page made to a prompt- What are you grateful for? Well I'm grateful for my husband, he's a gem amongst men. Really he is.

For some reason I'd taken photos before and after darkening the lettering!

I'd slapped a bit of paint on this one to try to pull the colours together with the blue, and the pink to lift it a bit- successful I think!

Thanks for looking!

What scares me most? TN

This was a page in response to a prompt- a Hallowe'en prompt even, so I've had it hanging about for a while...

Fantastic Stampotique stamp there, I love my collection of handsome ugly boys. The TN page hides a journaling tag, you'll be stunned to discover I'm scared of celery.... Evil devil's food!

Thanks for looking!

Curls- TN

I've already confessed my love for these spectacular spectacles stamps, so I won't do it again. Fantastic in black though, aren't they?

Perfect for a page in the TN about my lovely little spectacles wearer having her magnificent mane of hair curled. I'd dripped orange paint down the page, so I went for a black and orange theme.

The photo is a PixPax one, and I'd had it printed with the caption already on it. Jury's out on whether I really like that, but it looks nice on this page.

Thanks for looking!

My name is Min. TN pages.

Some TN pages to show today. Featuring the youngest of our cats, Min. Our cats are all named after witches-  Luna, Kiki and Min. This is the tale of Min's real name. 

I couldn't resist this cute stamp- it reminded me so much of our midnight black kitty.

Thanks for looking.

Smiles

I do love to create in my TN. I have a long history of making ATCs, so the smaller size of a traveller's notebook appeals to me. I often use scraps from other projects on these dinky pages. As is the case in this one- the background is left over from a 12x12 page I'd painted and stamped (take a look- it's called Summer).

For this page I picked all of the pretty offcuts and punchings on my workmat and used them.

I'm quite partial to wonky lettering too. Life's too short to line letters up... Spot my beloved scribbly circle stamp from Lollipop Box Club too.

Thanks for looking!

My word of the year. Part 2.

Yesterday's post introuced my word of the year- kind.

Deciding on one word was tough! I went through a few. I was almost there with commit, but kind won. I feel that I'm already kind to others, but I forget to be kind to myself. So this year I'm deterined to be kind to me. That might mean allowing myself some me-time every now and then, or it might be being kinder to myself when I make a mistake. I need to commit to being healthier, but committing is a symptom of my decision to be kinder to myself.


I'd made the planner inset above so that I'd see it daily, but I also wanted to document how the I'd come to the word. I went for a travelers notebook page. I love, love, love working on those little pages!

I started by stamping the scribbled circles from this month's Lollipop Box Club kit and masking them off with amsking fluid (stinky!).

Colour came from a swoosh or two of distress ink on a non-stick mat, spritzed with water and then dunked onto my pages. Then it's the killer wait for it to dry, horrid when you're on a creative roll. I put mine on the radiator, it's a bit warped, but it'll flatten out with time.

Can't waste the excess ink, so I splooshed it onto some white card. 

I sponged ink through the feather stencil from the Lollipop Box and outlined them to make leaves and dreamcatcher feathers.

ANd finally I was ready for my word....and all the other words I'd considered. I just wrote them all on there!

I like that the white rings are the only clear space on the pages, it's busy, but there's a few little spots of white for the eye to rest on.

 I had a little helper..... Min the kitten.

Thanks for looking!

Christmas scraps

Each Christmas I find myself squirreling away tags as the children pull them off their gifts, folding pretty pieces of paper neatly, and snatching tissue paper before it goes into the recycling. I stalk the Christmas dinner table for ribbon from crackers, and cut interesting tags off new acquisitions because I like the tag or the string that attaches it.... and I know I'm not alone. I know lots of other crafters out there will have finished the festive season with a little pile of shiny things that caught their eye- when asked what I'm saving them for I don't have an answer except that I really, really like them, and they'll come in useful.....

Well this year I used them early on my traveler's notebook. It's awaiting a photo, which I haven't printed yet. I may add a couple and insert an extra mini page/hinge in the middle of the spread. 

The tag is for a little bit of journaling. I used stamps from this month's Lollipop Box Club- teeny little stars and a versatile scribbled circle. I was quite proud of the 2018- wrote it myself donchaknow.

Anyone else save interesting stamps?  The Harry Potter fabric tag was irritating my daughter in her new clothes, off it came and into my little collection of stuff! 

My red stripy washi sets it all off nicely, although the Mickey tissue paper has gotten a bit lost, never mind I've got lots more to use elsewhere!

My usual trick of doodling round the edges of things... It's never perfect but it does seem to set things off.

I've still got a few bits left to use up, so there may be another Christmassy project on the way.

Thanks for looking!

Summer hello- Traveller's notebook

Oh how I love my traveller's notebook. For some reason I hadn't thought of making a double page layout before I spotted a few other people doing them on YouTube and Pinterest.

We'd gone away for the weekend, and as I'm always up early I set myself up in a corner with the few supplies I'd brought from home and made this page. The photo is of my brother and myself when we were on holiday as children.

The paperstack was an impulse purchase (and cheap), and an equally impulse decision to take it away with me. It's got lots of flamingos and pineapples and is very now...

I found my date stamps, so I went a bit mad on this one.

There's no doubt that black outlining helps makes things pop and brings it together. The stickers are from the Simple Stories I am range, and they're mostly quite small but that works well for the TN sized pages.

It's good to work with a limited set of materials, it makes decisions easier and focusses the mind! I love how the bright pink washi works with the flamingos.

Thanks for looking!

Naughty faces- TN

I adore my traveller's notebook. Its a great size to work on, and seems to lend itself to stamping and mixed media stuff a bit more than larger 12x12 pages. This page was one I've always intended to do- I'd taken 2 photos of my children on holiday a couple of years ago. One was a beautifully angelic photo, with both of them looking gorgeous. The other, taken seconds later shows 2 really mischievous, naughty faces. They're a couple of my all time favourite photos. 

Here's the 2 pages together. I'd made the Adventure one a few weeks ago, so the time was right to add the naughty faces to the TN!

There are aa couple of layers of papers, and then a row of Stampotique monsters to match my 2 monster. I watercoloured these, and made a little video on how I did it, hopefully I'll upload it to my YouTube channel soon!

Thanks for looking!

Double denim- TN

A very quick post today, to show a traveller's notebook page.

Such a cute photo, of my little brother rocking the double denim in the 70s. I had stamped and inked some extra background from the layout I posted on here yesterday, so I used it on this page. I cut out a couple of scalloped strips from a patterned paper to top and tail the photo.

I used a few embellies in matching colours and edged in yellow washi. I'm really enjoying these littler pages. And I'm completely in love with those teeny Heidi Swapp glitter letters, they're so neat!

Elements:

Paper: Crate Paper- Maggie Holmes- Carouse- Cotton candy

See yesterday's post for inks etc...

Embellishments: American Crafts- Vicki Boutin- Die cut frames

American Crafts- Shimelle- Box of crayons- Ephemera

American Crafts- Heidi Swapp- Glitter letter stickers

Black Uni-pin pen 0.5 nib

Thanks for looking!

Be like Benny- TN

Another day, another traveller's notebook page. I had a couple of strips of starry paper left in my scraps pile so I layered them onto the page. I knew just which photo I wanted to use..

Benny! Love a bit of Lego Movie, and Benny is one of our favourites. He's on the shelf as I type smiling at me. This page sat on my desk for a day, as I couldn't quite decide what to do with it. In the end another scrap of paper caught my eye.

I drew some swooshes onto this spotty scrap and cut out.

I was impressed with how well they contrasted with the black background once I'd fanned them out. I wanted them to go of the edges.

Stuck on with glue, I then needed to snip the overhanging edges off. I'm sure everyone know the trick of turning the page over to use the reverse as a guideline for cutting.

Voila! Now, what to do about those pencil marks. I could have rubbed them out, but that seemed like a lot of effort...

Yep, I drew round them in ink instead, Feature!

Next some words. I have a few of these little alphabet sets they're so versatile. I tend to scribble down what I want to stamp out, and cross the words out as I stamp them. I don't do it all in order- I needed 2 Benny's for example, so I did them at the same time.

I roughly cut round the words, and glued them on. I kinda like them a bit higgledy piggledy. I outlined the words in white pen, and then decided it needed some black on the word edges as well. The photo below shows how it looks with and without the black outline on the words.

And here it is. Be more Benny.

Black letters for Benny, and some white dots for extra pop.

Outlined with black washi tape.

Love, love, love this little page!

Elements:

Paper: Crate Paper- Maggie Holmes- Carousel- Cotton Candy

Card: White rom stash

TN: Carpe Diem

Embellishments: White Posca pen, Black uni-pen 0.5 nib

Studio G alphabet

Black washi from stash