Author: saundralparker

Lifescraftart Dies Storage and Best Die Snips

Thanks to the kind people at Lifescraftart,com for sending me these tools. I absolutely LOVE the wire snips and will get a lot of use out of the die album.

http://www.lifescraftart.com

Discount code: SANDY25

Die storage album: https://lifescraftart.com/products/lifescraft-a5-stamp-and-die-storage-album

Pliers/wire snips: https://lifescraftart.com/products/lifescraft-hand-diy-diagonal-pliers-tool

I have used a LOT of different wire snips and this is the first pair I could actually snip with. I know I looked awkward doing it on the video, that isn’t the fault of the snips, it’s because my wrists are fused so can’t bend like others.

I went to a local paint/wallpaper store and asked if they had any outdated wallpaper sample books and they kindly gave me one. Apparently their books have expiration dates on them, so they are happy to part with them for free. I cut out a couple of pages from the book and measured the outside covers and used double sided tear tape ( link https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RZFHS87/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1) to attach the wallpaper to the album. The first strip of tear tape, I laid under the inside edge of the album as close to the center brads as possible, then removed the cover off the tape. I added several lines of tear tape to the underside of the wall paper but only took the cover off the first two strips closest to the first strip laid on the album. I found if you hold the album cover open flat, it’s easier to slide that wallpaper under the center piece then once I was sure the top and bottom were even with the edges of the album, I pressed down on the paper to ensure it would stay in place. I then removed the backing off of the rest of the tear tape and pressed it in place. NOTE: The back and front of the album may be a little different in width, so make sure you measure both wallpapers to ensure your pieces are long enough.

I used Frost King vent covers from Home Depot (sorry the price went up since I bought mine a couple of years ago as they’re now almost $9.) https://www.homedepot.com/p/Frost-King-15-x-8-3-Pk-Magnetic-Vent-Covers-MC815/100345609 I cut each to 6 x 9″ and slid them into the sleeves and they fit perfectly, even using two with the white sides back to back. When you haven’t put any dies inside the sleeves will magnetize to each other but once you put dies on both sides, they won’t.

I recommend using tabs to divide your die sections by category but couldn’t find the link to them on Dollar Tree where I bought mine, but you still could find them in your local store. If not, you can always make your own tabs. The easiest way is to take a circle punch 1 1/2″ to 2″ and cut out white or light colored circles then fold them in half and glue them to the edge of the page with the flat edge sticking out from the page about 1/2″. I cut the magnetic vent covers to 6 x 9″ and adhered the white sides to each other then slid them into each of the 8 die sleeves that came with the album. You can buy different sleeves from lifescraft on the page where you order the cover. There’s a drop down box that allows you to change your sleeves from full pages to 1/2 page inserts so two dies fit per page or 4 to a page…the pages are the same size as mine, but you can slip smaller dies into them.
I didn’t like the way the die storage album turned out, so added a bunch of vintage food stickers and now I’m happy with it.

Globleland Dies: Fun Confetti and Backgrounds

I used the large background dies to create three different cards, simply by using the dies and cutting them with three or four different patterns then using one of the pattern for the surround and placing other patterned papers in the different slots.

I used the off cuts from the die that had what looked like vases and laid them on a white card base and adding ribbon and enamel dots to make the card more finished looking.

Shaker Card: I wanted to make the sun card, so I took an A2 sized yellow card base (8 1/2″ x 5 1/2″ scored on the 8 1/2″ length at 4 1/4″) and cut the sun die out of another piece of the same yellow card stock and removed all of the loose pieces to leave behind the background only. I added a piece of acetate to the back with wet glue and then took thin strips of foam tape from Amazon link: https://tinyurl.com/5bf4z3n5 and made sure to hide the foam tape on the back of the outline die cut and making sure I butted the foam tape against each piece so the confetti can’t come out. I used wet glue to attach some of the die cuts I made from the confetti dies I mentioned at the beginning of the video. I glued them all over the front of my card base because they aren’t double sided and if you make them a loose shaker component, you’ll see the backs of some of them and I didn’t want that. I added a bunch of the sprinkle shaped shaker components (link is below) onto the acetate making sure none stick to the foam tape. To attach the shaker piece to the card base, I used my Misti and put the shaker piece with the foam tape facing up about 1/4″ from the inside long margin of the MISTI but butted against the short bottom margin. Put the card base front face down on top of the shaker part, this time making sure the card base is in the corner of the MISTI so the shaker is more centered on the card base. Make sure the foam tape is well adhered all the way around on the card so nothing comes out. I added a sentiment on yellow card stock backed with a piece of turquoise mirror cardstock scrap and glued it to the acetate on the front of the card and called it done.

http://www.globleland.com

10% discount with sandy10

Large background rectangular die set of 4 used in video: $9.94 before 10% off https://globleland.com/collections/frame-label-dies/products/cutting-dies-diy-wh0309-1813?s=sandy10

Frame and confetti dies: https://globleland.com/products/suites-diy-gl0003-78?s=sandy10

Temu Sprinkles for shaker card components: https://tinyurl.com/k3fr6eyu I used this in the shaker card

Temu colorful shaker card components: https://tinyurl.com/yr2fdkbv (didn’t use them in shaker card as they were too thick)

#craftingforalmosteveryone, #globlelanddies, #globlelandcards, #shakercard, #diecutcards, #hellocard, #thankyoucard

HSN Diamond Press Ultimate Card Making Collection, Clearance, Great Deal!

I have been buying things on HSN and this went on clearance and is a great deal now, even though I bought it full price, darn… I didn’t play with it until it was on clearance, and I hope you’ll enjoy the kit. I am not affiliated with HSN, but loved this kit and thought some of you might too.

Link to the Diamond Press Kit: https://tinyurl.com/2724jwpy

Clearance Price $24.95 Diamond Press Ultimate Card Making Collection

Included in this kit:

8 Foam Wedges

4 Sponge Stencil Brushes (Various Sizes)

3 Spatulas (Various Sizes)

Stencil Tape; 2.5cm x 10cm

3 Paint Brushes (Small, Medium, Large)

2 Foil Rolls; approx. 4.5″ x 1 yd

Fine Liner Pen, 1mm

4″ x 6″ Scraper

10 Screen Print Stencils (Various Sizes)

Paper image of Screen Print Stencils (16)

2″ x 4″ Word Stencils

27 Stamps on 1 clear sheet

(6) 5.75″ x 9.25″ Stencils

Storage Folder with label

8 Chalk Colors Chalk Tool 24 Cotton balls

Texture Paste, 100ml, White

Tacky Paste, 100ml, White

3-Dimensional Paint Tubes

2 Glitter Paste, 50ml, 2 Colors

3 Screen Print Inks (3 colors, 50 ml each)

8 Acrylic Paint Colors

Handle Dauber

3 Dauber Foam Pads

3 Ink Pads

Instruction Book

Cards made:

Leaf Card— I used the leaf stencil with Stampin’ Up Always Artichoke ink and the rounded top dauber that I sprayed a little water on it then inked the whole front of a 5 x 7″ card base. When finished, I let it dry then added butterflies from the Dollar Tree link: https://tinyurl.com/58j7zjea and a banner I made using the white texture paste I colored green. It wasn’t super green so after I finished, I used a Stampin’ Up marker in Always Artichoke and colored over the sentiment to make it match the background. I didn’t get this on video, sorry.

Circle Card: I used the stencil with circles and the pink ink and inked the entire stencil then offset the stencil and used the dark pink chalk and the pom poms to color the circles again to give the circles more definition. I sprayed the surface after blowing the excess chalk off into my garbage can with Glitter Dust in silver, link: https://tinyurl.com/2p8rjw57. I took a Stampendous stamp called Cling Vase Bouquet (couldn’t find any on ebay right now, but keep checking there as that’s where I found it) and stamped it with Gina K black ink and then used clear embossing powder and heat set it on an off white cardstock. I used a variety of orange, red, purple and green alcohol markers to color the image then fussy cut it and using foam tape, adhered it to the card front. I tried the pink dimensional paint and a stencil and tried to get a good image, but didn’t like it well enough to use on the card, so I used another friend quote from the quote sticker stack (friends) from my stash. I didn’t find another of these on ebay but keep checking as you can usually find them there.

Diamond Card: I used the sticky paste to the stencil and added gold foil over the top and let it dry overnight. I pulled the gold foil off and it didn’t completely attach so I used a glue stick and added more sticky to the card base and pressed the foil into it until I fixed all of the spots I didn’t like. Then took a theater popcorn diamond painting magnet and adhered it to the front with double sided tape. I added a sentiment sticker from Quote Sticker Stack Friends (I couldn’t find this stack online.) I used foam tape to adhere it to the card beneath the popcorn.

I hope you found this to be a good representation of the products in this kit. You get a lot of good merchandise as well as a detailed booklet on uses and ideas for the things included. I really enjoyed working with them and am glad I bought the kit, even though I paid full price for it.

#craftingforalmosteveryone #stencils #cardmaking #HSNUltimatecardmaking #diamondpress

HSN Clearance Stamps & Die Set: Are They Worth Buying?

I’ve been buying craft things from the clearance section of HSN.com and wonder if there’s a reason they’re on clearance. In this case, I think this die set is great, but you have to be able to figure out how to use it to create the purse as there are no real instructions. I don’t think a beginner die cutter would know how to make these dies work, but after watching this video, the definitely can.

Below are the complete instructions as well as products used in making this card.

HSN.COM Crafter’s Companion Classy Shaped Card Stamps/Dies Item #791-731 $11.95 as of 7/13/24

The other tricky part of this purse die set is that they don’t tell you what all of the dies are for and I still am not sure what a couple of them do. You’ll need to take the biggest die and cut it twice out of the same cardstock as this with be the sides of your purse. You’ll also need a A2 sized card base 8 1/2″ x 5 1/2″ tall scored on 8 1/2″ length at 4 1/4″ in a neutral color for the insider of your purse. You will stamp your sentiment on the inside of the card base, but the sentiment needs to be printed upside down from what you’d normally stamp it, as the opening of the card is now the top of your card. You’ll want to stamp your sentiment before you attach the dies to the card base. To attach the front and back of the purse, you’ll center your purse face from side to side with the bottom of the purse even with the fold of the card base. Once this is glued into place, take your scissors or paper trimmer and cut around the edges so the purse shape is all you see. Then glue the other purse piece to the back of the card. The rainbow shaped piece is your handle and you’ll want to cut out two of these in a coordinating paper, or if you want more sturdy handles, cut out 4 and glue them so the white sides of the paper are facing each other and the patterns are on the outside. The longer thin die piece at the bottom of your page of dies you’ll die cut out of the same paper as your handles. You’ll attach it to the top of the back of your purse before you glue your handles on. Once you glue this in place, glue the large die at the top of your page of dies that looks like a parenthesis on the bottom and cut it out of a third coordinating cardstock and glue it to the top of the front of the purse then glue the handles with only a small amount of the handle attached (centered) on the top of your purse, then attach the other handle so it lines up with the first handle. The two dies that look like a triangle with a rounded edge on one side, you’ll need to cut two of each of these in the same paper as the parenthesis die cut. Glue one of them to each bottom corner, front & back on the purse. The die that sits inside the rainbow shaped die you’ll cut in the same paper as the dies you just cut out and that will make most of the envelope, then the smaller triangle shaped die on the right side of the sheet of dies will create the top of your envelope, use the same paper as used on the handles for this and glue it to the top of the envelope once you’ve glued the envelope to the front of the purse centered in the blank area. You’ll cut four of the small buckle die that’s on the bottom right side of the sheet of dies and you’ll cut four of the die that looks like an arrow that you’ll find to the left of the envelope on the sheet. You cut the buckle out of the paper you used for the bottom corners and you’ll use the handle paper for the four arrows. You’ll glue the arrows to the bottoms of the handles then glue the buckles so the inside top opening of the buckle lines up with the top of the arrow die. The pointy part of the arrow should face down so you’re gluing to the straight part of the arrow. Cut the lock out of the handle paper and the die that looks like a tag, cut out of the same paper as the bottom of your envelope. Use a piece of matching twine and put both of these die cuts on the twine then tie the twine around one of your handles. There’s a smaller die that looks like a short bow with long ends, this is your purse’s clasp, cut it out of the same paper as your handles and cut two and glue them together with the white sides facing each other. Glue it to the top of the purse only gluing the long thin bottom to the top center of your purse. The long die with a rounded bottom cut out of handle paper and snip about 1/4″ off and glue to the back on the base of the center of the die cut you glued to the top and add a pearl or button to the bottom section of this that’s rounded. There are dies to make more decorations on your purse, like buttons and hearts, I chose real buttons on one and flatback pearls on the other. There’s a large triangle die that might be an alternative to using the die with parenthesis on the bottom and there’s a semi circle die that might be another clasp.

#hsn.com,#craftingforalmosteveryone,#crafterscompanion,#pursedieandstampset, #hsnclearance

Easy Graduation Cards Using Napkins: You Can Use this Technique for Any Occasion

I am making cards for twins who are graduating from high school. I chose to make the girl’s card in her college colors and her brother’s in their high school colors. Unfortunately the video clips for the red and black card were corrupted, so I can’t show how to make it, but I will tell you what I did. I took a beige and red napkin and removed the top layer and glued it to an 8 1/2″ x 5 1/2″ card base scored on the 8 1/2″ length at 4 1/4″ to make an A2 sized card. I used a glue stick to adhere the top piece of napkin to it. Here’s a video showing you how to separate a napkin from its backing and how to glue it to paper. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4L_Ph32J2dQ To separate a napkin from its backing, put a piece of washi tape on the back edge of the napkin leaving some tape hanging off the edge for you to grab. Grab the tape and gently pull it away and it should pull the backing of the napkin off with it. There are sometimes two extra layers and if they don’t both pull off with the washi tape, put another piece of washi on the back corner and gently remove it from the napkin, taking the extra paper with it. I used a Simon Says Stamp CZ Design Stamps and Dies called Grad Party for the sentiment and the graduation caps I die cut out of black cardstock. I used black grosgrain 1/2″ wide ribbon and put double sided tear tape on the back of it and adhered three lines of it in between the red lines of color. (His high school colors are red and black). I put some foam squares behind the graduation caps and glued them in the polka dot portion of the napkin and stamped a sentiment from the same stamp and die set on off-white cardstock then die cut it with an oval die from my stash. The blue and white card is a 5 x 7″ card base with a blue floral napkin glued to it with a glue stick. Here’s a video showing you how to attach a napkin to paper. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4L_Ph32J2dQ I attached the napkin to the front of the card base and cut the excess off the edges then die cut a circle near the top of the card in the center. I had a plastic piece of packaging that I thought would be fun for a shaker card and it had some white paper on the edges I couldn’t remove…so I used some artist tape from Blick.com link: https://www.dickblick.com/products/blick-artist-tape/?Color=Black& and surrounded the outer edge of the circle with it so when you see the edges of the plastic shaker, it looks more professionally done. I added tear tape to the top of the shaker component and then filled it with thin long blue beads and little white circular beads I had in my stash. I added another piece of card stock to the right inside of the card because my die cutting machine added a circular impression from the die, so I wanted to cover that mark. I also cut another 4 7/8″ by 7″ card stock and covered it with the same napkin. I covered the entire inside of the card with tear tape then glued the right side blank piece into the card. I inserted the shaker component and then added hot glue over the outer edges to ensure it would be well adhered to the paper I’m adding. I took the 4 7/8″ x 7″ napkin covered cardstock and gently laid it in place making sure the hot glue was well adhered to the center, then turned the card over to press the paper firmly in place. I used Hero Arts Congrats stamp and die set link: https://tinyurl.com/vnrxy7nu and die cut three “Congrats” from blue cardstock then glued them together. I took a Globleland die set (if you buy this set and use the code Sandy10, you’ll get 10% off…I’m not affiliated with them, but this set is a good one and fairly inexpensive) link: https://globleland.com/products/cutting-dies-diy-wh0309-778?s=sandy10 I used one of the smaller dies and cut it in off white and blue and snipped the blue on the diagonal so I could layer it behind the off white one and have the blue still show. I glued them together and adhered them to the bottom section of the front of the card and added some blue pearl flat back embellishments from my stash. I stamped with a dark blue ink a sentiment from the same Hero Arts Congrats set on the inside of the card.

I’m a Crafty Hoarder: Another Temu Haul

I bought a lot of crafty things from Temu (again) and thought you might like to see them.

I’m not affiliated with Temu and am only providing the links to the things I bought so you don’t struggle trying to find them on the site.

Dededepraise Pearl Candy Watercolors: https://tinyurl.com/396z6d38

Blue Lady Dress Stickers: https://tinyurl.com/ycx7pzyh

Men with Overcoat Stickers: https://tinyurl.com/y9pknwh8

30 Bags with Circle Pull: https://tinyurl.com/4pcpabv2

Men stickers: https://tinyurl.com/27m4axrt

Red Women Dress stickers: https://tinyurl.com/3y539r92

Fashion Magazine stickers: https://tinyurl.com/kpzy3dbr

Fruit and flower stamp stickers: Sorry they’re no longer available

240 piece set of musical instruments, fruits, animals and women stamps stickers: Sorry they’re no longer available

Mixed beads: https://tinyurl.com/yc6n4bc8

Bird dies: https://tinyurl.com/44r4855y

Dress dies in thumbnail photo: https://tinyurl.com/26byt4ah

Lighthouse dies in thumbnail photo: https://tinyurl.com/e49mvwe6

Sailboat dies in thumbnail photo: https://tinyurl.com/mry8y5dv

Seashell dies in thumbnail photo: https://tinyurl.com/4pzm6pz6

10 Purple washi tapes: https://tinyurl.com/r9vy7rpj

2 glue bottles: https://tinyurl.com/2s4tc4un

Glue Box: https://tinyurl.com/2z39dh7s

Book corners: silver https://tinyurl.com/ysf8h4u5

Book corners: Gold: https://tinyurl.com/3zuz9e5u

Brad with dangling circle silver: https://tinyurl.com/2h5zzdyp

Brad with dangling circle Bronze: https://tinyurl.com/2c66x5h2

Pliers: https://tinyurl.com/2w8sc6kb

Bee Diamond painting: https://tinyurl.com/5bnf6tk9

9 1/2 x 6 1/2″ Bags with colored tops: These aren’t the ones I bought as mine were no longer available, but these are the same size, and you get 50 for cheaper than I paid for mine: https://tinyurl.com/3xs94faa

Lifescraftart.com Floral Envelope Dies: Differing Viewpoints with Carrie Kirby Creates

Below you’ll find complete instructions as well as products used in making this video.

Carrie Kirby Create and I decided to use the same die set and show viewers two ways to use them. Here’s the link to her video. https://youtu.be/ZXhrNsOf84U

The nice people at Lifescraftsart.com sent me this die set but I am not affiliated with them.

Here is a link to their website. https://lifescraftart.com

Discount code for 25% off: SANDY25

Floral Envelope die: https://lifescraftart.com/products/li…

I took a 5 x 7″ off white card base and used an olive green alcohol marker to color the edges about 1/4″ from the edge then using paper from Joann Park Lane Old World 6 x 8″ paper pad link: https://tinyurl.com/ypdajnm4, I cut a floral paper to 4 3/4″ x 6 3/4″ and glued it to the card base with Tombow Mono Aqua glue then cut another paper from the same paper pad that looks like a written letter, and die cut the envelope from it and glued it to the front of the card. I die cut several of the leaves from green paper from the same paper pad and die cut the flowers out of several colors of mirror cardstock as well as the written letter piece from the Old World paper pad. I started gluing the leaves into the open part of the envelope and covered as much of that section of the die cut as possible, then glued leaves toward the bottom of the envelope as well. After I felt the leaves were sufficient to cover the inside of the envelope, I started by gluing the flowers that are shaped like a shell all over the design, then once I used all of them, I took the flowers with the circle opening and thin foam tape strips link: https://tinyurl.com/48xp4tvw glued across the back to not only glue the flower to the card, but also to hold the center circle in place. I started by using one strip on some flowers, then added two strips to some, then three strips to some and places them strategically around the top portion of the envelope. I thought the flowers still needed something, so added flatback pearls and colored rhinestones to the centers of the flowers. I hope you’ll go to Carrie’s video to check out her take on this die. Neither of our channels are monetized and neither of us are affiliated with Lifescraftart.com

0:13 / 16:01

Our NCL Getaway Transatlantic Cruise

We decided while I was recovering from my fall last summer, that we needed something to look forward to, and this trip was our dream vacation. We’ve always wanted to see London and Paris, and cruising out of New York City across the Atlantic, sounded amazing. The trip was tough, six days at sea in 40 degree weather, in choppy waters, losing one hour per day, every one of those days, to ensure our time matched Ireland’s when we got there. I didn’t realize that losing one hour every day would be so much harder than losing or gaining six hours all at once, but it definitely was. We stayed in the Muse Hotel in NYC for one night before boarding the Getaway, and stayed a night at the end of the cruise in London at the Tower Hotel. The photo clip for this video is the view from our room in the Tower. I can’t say enough about both hotels and the ship from Norwegian Cruise Lines. We booked a Haven Suite that gave us pre-boarding and pre-disembarkation at every port. Haven residents have a dining area reserved for only Haven residents, and there’s also a special area for lounging and their own spa. The reason we booked the Haven suite is because my immune system isn’t very good, so when I am around a lot of people, or use a buffet line, I always seem to get sick. So by limiting the number of people I’m around, I was able to avoid getting sick on this trip. I hope you enjoy the little snippets of the places we visited and a walk through of the Haven.

Trans-Atlantic Cruise Travel Journal Completed

Below I try to gives links to all the products I used to make this journal.

I walked you through making the cover in the first videos, and here’s a link to them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0btGM8lUDB4 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwZ6QJIWFUk.

I try to give you as many tips as I can in the information below. I finished my travel journal while on the trip as I write in it each day so I don’t forget anything, and when I got home, I re-attached every photo (as they didn’t want to stay in place using regular wet glue)…so hot glue did the trick. I can’t stress enough the importance of writing in your journal each day of your trip (as it is so easy to forget things,) and you don’t want to do that. You’ll want to make sure you take a couple of good black ink pens as I found blue ink doesn’t stand out enough, and I ran out of ink with two of the pens I took with me. You’ll also want to be sure to have a black Sharpie, as regular ink didn’t work on the instant photos and if I wet my finger, I could erase any ink on the photos, except Sharpie ink.

After the journal is made, the content is up to you, and I recommend you write in it every day of your trip so you don’t forget any component of your trip.

Products Used:

Graphic 45 travel journal and inserts: https://tinyurl.com/4az3kavn

Elastic cord for cover if you want to change it: https://tinyurl.com/ynd6tett

4 book corner protectors: https://tinyurl.com/4zyhzrcw

Pin for binding of journal: https://tinyurl.com/y8w3xxkm

Ship charms: https://tinyurl.com/bykkj85t

Key chain nautical charms: https://tinyurl.com/5e4umhk9

17 Loose travel charms: https://tinyurl.com/yw82jp6p

Large Paper Clips that Match Charms: https://tinyurl.com/5678mvh9

European Travel Stickers: https://tinyurl.com/jwdhyupa

Postage Stamp Stickers: https://tinyurl.com/yc3wbu5w

Fuji Mini Instant Camera version 11 or 12 with 40 photos…the photos are roughly $1 a piece, so I picked this one because it has the selfie image finder as well as 40 photos bringing the camera price to around $80. Link: https://tinyurl.com/znupbh94 My mistake was buying an earlier version 7+ that didn’t have the viewer to know what was in the photo frame I was taking…if you buy one, just make sure your version has the selfie viewer…this one is version 11, but there’s also a version 12 that would also have the selfie viewer. I don’t know what version they added it, so am only showing you the ones I definitely know have that feature.

I used Tombow Mono Aqua glue and it didn’t hold the photos long term.

Here’s what I recommend you take on your trip with you. You’ll want to pack all of this in your checked luggage…

A couple of good black ink pens

Small pair of scissors

Black Sharpie Marker

Permanent Glue Sticks– Use them on the trip and when you get home, use hot glue to reinforce the glue. My photos easily lifted off the paper so reattaching them wasn’t a problem

White cardstock cut into strips 1″ wide by 2″ long and folded on the 1″ length at 1/2″ so they can be used to glue multiple photos on top of each other, like my Eiffel Tower fails…or anywhere you need to have two photos on top of each other. To do this, you’ll fold your strip of paper and then put glue on the bottom and adhere this to your journal, then put glue on top of the bottom strip you just adhered to the journal and glue your first photo here, then glue the second photo to the top of the top folded piece lining it up on top of the photo beneath. You should be able to fit two sets of photos side by side on this size journal.

I replaced my elastic with a longer length than what came with my journal and you’ll probably need to do the same.

All of the items listed above I stored in a Ziploc bag and put in my checked luggage as I didn’t want to have my scissors or glue confiscated.

Inside a True Travel Journal–Pockets & Covering Notebooks, Pt. 2

I wanted to make a travel journal that is a true travel journal. I didn’t put in anything but lined notebooks (signatures) so I can write what we did every day and I bought a Fuji Instax Mini Camera that is like the old Polaroid cameras and produces photos that are maybe 2 1/2″ tall by 1 1/2″ wide and its photos will fit perfectly in the journal. I also bought some stickers that are travel inspired and put them in the outer pocket of the journal. I bought charms representing the countries we’re going to as well as ship charms and put them on large paper clips and will use them as book marks so you know if the charm hanging from the top is the Eifel Tower, I wrote all about Paris on that page.

In the first video I show you how to cover a premade album and here’s a link to that video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0btGM8lUDB4

In this video, we’re going to cover the inside of the journal and I’ll show you how to cover the signatures which are the individual notebooks I put inside. I used basic Tacky Glue to cover the inside covers of the journal and then cut paper to cover it. Your two papers need to be 8 5/8″ tall by 4 5/8″ wide to decorate the inside covers. My journal measures 4.75″ wide x 8.75 tall. Make sure if your paper has a design, that it faces toward the top of the journal. Make two pockets, 3″ tall by 4 5/8″ wide. I added 1/8″ wide tear tape to three sides then added a thin line of Tacky Glue on the same three sides, leaving the top edge without any glue or tear tape. I used a blending brush and Distress Oxide Brushed Corduroy ink to cover all of the edges of the pockets, notebook covers and the journal. When I glued the pocket in, I pinched the sides a little so there’s a small gap at the top of the pocket so when you put things in the pocket, the gap allows the items to be put inside. To cover the individual notebooks (signatures) that go in the journal, you’ll need 12 x 12″ scrapbook paper. If your paper has a pattern with a direction to it, make sure it’s facing the top of the scoreboard and score at 6″ then score one line to the left of 6″ and score one to the right of 6″..Score also at 1 1/2″ and 10 1/2″ then turn the paper one turn and score at 1 3/4 and 10 1/4″ then fold and burnish all of these scores. Then put the book into the center of the paper so the spine of the book is butted against the 6″ score and tuck the ends of the notebook into the end pockets and the notebook should close easily. The notebooks (signatures) I used were 4.25 x 8.25″ and the scoring I give is specific to this size notebook. Once my signatures (notebooks) were covered, I put the brass corner covers on the corners. If you have pliers that are made to not damage metal, use those, but I just put a piece of foam and used a jewelry tool to squeeze the corners shut. You’ll want to put some glue inside the corner cover before you slide it over a corner so it’s glued and pinched into place. You’ll want to go to the center page of your signatures (notebooks) and cut a small notch out of the center at the top and bottom so when you put the signatures into your journal, they stay in place.

Here are the products I used:

Graphic 45 journal and 3 notebooks: https://tinyurl.com/4sny7hxm

DCWV World Map 12 x 12″ paper link: https://tinyurl.com/mr3pjf4w

Temu:

Large silver paper clips: https://tinyurl.com/mtxmbp83

Silver ship charms: https://tinyurl.com/mwfn8p3x

Travel charms (Eifel tower, Big Ben etc) https://tinyurl.com/bdv65r9t

Pin for side of album: https://tinyurl.com/3curudbb

Key chain for dangle: https://tinyurl.com/4nyps3a6

Stickers of London and Paris landmarks: https://tinyurl.com/yckake7t

Stickers of old stamps: https://tinyurl.com/yckae9h8

Metal brass looking corners for journal: https://tinyurl.com/26zfkvh4

I took the elastic strap out of the front of the journal, you definitely need to do this, and if I didn’t mention it in this video, you’ll want to poke a hole through the paper in that hole once you’ve covered the front, but BEFORE you cover the inside of the journal with paper, otherwise you’ll lose track of where that hole is. NOTE: I replaced the elastic with one that’s 24″ long knotted on the open end and after the trip’s over, I’ll know how long it needs to be and will shorten it.

If you want to make your own journals, no require sewing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqU50Z6zSyY&t=0s

DIY: Refillable leather journal cover. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yju82AwTb_M&t=0s

Travel journal signature inserts premade: https://tinyurl.com/ykv727y7

Making your own travel journal notebook inserts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJiCT9E6Ofc&t=0s.