There are several things that I’m learning about traveler’s notebooks as I’m using the first ones I created. 
- They really are fun to use. I like having a place where scrapbooking meets journaling in a pretty relaxed way. I may be the only person that looks at my traveler’s notebooks, but I enjoy going back ever few days to see what I’ve added. My summer one is packed full of my summer days and the events of those days.
- Don’t put paper in it before you use it. You may have seen my blog post and video about creating these little books, you know that I was actually adding paper and 3 x 4 cards in interactive ways to fill in throughout the summer and fall. The cards are now stuck in place and it affects the layout of the page. The colors also don’t necessarily coordinate with the photo so it’s eliminating some important design decisions that I should be making as I’m creating my layout.
- You can use it for all sorts of things. It’s been great for documenting this crazy year. I like that there is just enough space to document a day with a photo or two and some brief journaling to document my day and tell the story of this year. I’ve also discovered the fun of list making…like my top 10 favorite Halloween movies. That kind of thing has started some great conversations in my family. I also love that I can use it to document a special event without spending an hour or two doing it.
- I still want to create larger layouts to document the same events. I find myself adding the same event to my 2020 6 x 8″ Word of the Year Album, creating a 12 x 12″ layout and recording thoughts and quick photos in the TN. I’m not documenting that story in the same way 3 times, I’m telling different aspects of it and I quite like that I’m telling my story in a more comprehensive way.
- You can still create a layout and use all the ephemera, even in a small traveler’s notebook (TN).
The prompt for today was to create a layout for something that was rare in our lives. I happen to have a lot of pictures of my gardens from the previous house we lived in. My gardens were beautiful and I spent time in them every single day. Then the deer moved into the neighborhood and ate everything. Even the plants that were allegedly deer resistant. It devastated all the gardens. I had beautiful Hosta plants in all varieties that were 15 or more years old that were just devoured. Over a three year period, that decimated the gardens. So that is what I created a TN layout for. I included a title, some extra paper and a scallop border. I included sentiment strips, stickers and journaling tucked under that Grateful flap. I made it work as well as I could on my premade pages. - You don’t have to go in order. I’ve been skipping around the notebook, mostly to find pages that work best for the story I want to tell each day. This has made me realize that the story doesn’t have to go in order. I’ve been pulling pictures from my stash that span a 40 year time period and each page makes me happy as I flip through the notebook.
- The possibilities are endless. My next one will be for the holiday season and I will create each 2 page layout day-by-day to work with the story I have to tell. I will continue to use holiday photos from years past and add new photos from this year. I have a holiday scrapbook kit that I premade with all kinds of materials I can use on my pages and I’m very excited about using it. It has some new papers and ephemera in it along with a generous amount of products that I pulled from my stash!
As it turns out, that stash you are hoarding really will get used when you retire and have more time. You will enjoy that stuff all over again when you actually find the time to use it. So hang on to it!
Have a fantastic day. I’m off to start packing for winter in a warmer locale!
