"My Island Home" - Nat's Victorian Retreat Travel Journal

 Hi everyone, hope you are well 😊

For my last September project I used the rest of the gorgeous Couture Creations Sweeping Plains papers as pages and to embellish this fun travel journal.  I had picked up the wooden covers from a journal in a second-hand store and decided these were perfect to begin with.  Other pages were made from recycled items such as bags and envelopes.
Earlier this year I was very fortunate (not that I knew how much at the time) to be able to take myself on a road trip from the Adelaide Hills in South Australia over to Victoria for a crafting retreat.  This was just as COVID19 had begun and I returned home a few days before the borders closed - which at the time, no one believed would happen!!!  I wanted to document this trip, as it was such a liberating and fun experience for me and I met the most wonderful fellow crafters.

All of the hessian I have gathered from the second-hand stores certainly came in handy this month and backed this cute picture perfectly for the cover.

I used a map that helped me get form one state to another as the first page and this month's papers and ephemera made perfect pages, pockets, tucks and embellishments. 

A recycled book page was used here for a journaling spot, and I began adding photos from my travels - there were a lot of towers, windmills and farmland along the way........

........and silos!
I made a page from a paper bag that has a little tuck spot in the front for a journaling card made from the Sweeping Plains paper, and two side pockets to hold papers.  There is a process video below on how I created this pocket page.

Here is one of the beautiful Sweeping Plains paper pages with a tuck spot to hold information, embellished with stenciled print of a kookaburra made with Distress Oxide Spray through a die cut negative.

The next small page and tag was created from the packaging of the Sweeping Plains Die-cut Ephemera. The pocket was made from Oxide sprayed paper and a Native Breeze Wooden Flourish of a Kookaburra was added to the tag as a dangle with some string.

My process video below also shows how I made this large envelope page, covered with book pages and Oxide sprayed paper, with tuck spots on either side.

Here is a gorgeous page with a Die cut Ephemera Kookaburra paper clip and another paper bag page folded at the bottom to create two front tuck spots.  I have tucked in an envelope embellished with a Sweeping plains cut-out, a postcard from my travels and a small journal card made from a paper off-cut and topped with some brown material.

The back of this paper bag page has another tuck spot with pictures of just a few of the many wind turbines I passed along the way. The top of the bag is also open to fit information about places I want to visit in the future.

The small page on the left is recycled packaging covered with the beautiful papers making a nice little pocket that I have slipped a stamped Project Life card into.

I visited the Giant Koala on the way home - he is a creepy looking dude and I am glad I was passing him during the daytime! 😅

I used one of the papers folded to create a large page that flips out - this leaves plenty of room for me to add more photos (when I get more ink for my printer!) I recycled a business envelope to make more pages and added to this multiple tuck spots on the front of this using a cut-out of a page from the Sweeping Plains collection.

This is the back of the envelope with a cute stamped kookaburra in the window, a die-cut stencil piece and sign cut from a photo of a place called 'Tintinara' that I stopped at.  The envelope flips open from the back to show more photos from Tintinara.  The inside of the back cover has another cut-out backed with some hessian.

This is the inside of the envelope page.  To make more room for the photos I added two smaller envelopes which flip over...........

...........and are open so I can slip journaling cards into either one.

Here is a video showing the items I used for this project and the process of making a paper bag page and envelope page with plenty of tucks and pockets:

Here is the final flip-through of this fun travel journal:

I have really enjoyed using this month's products from Aunty Vera Scrap and Craft and can't wait to fill up my travel journal some more.  I Hope my projects have given you some crafty ideas.

Happy crafting and stay safe,
Love Nat xxx  

Aunty Vera Scrap and Craft products on sale that I am using for the month of September are:

Couture Creations - Sweeping Plains Collection papers:

  - 01 (CO727968)

  - 02 (CO727969) 

  - 03 (CO727970)

  - 04 (CO727971)

  - 05 (CO727972) 

  - 06 (CO727973)

  - 07 (CO727974)

  - 08 (CO727975)

  - 09 (CO727976)

  - 10 (CO727977)

  - 11 (CO727978)

  - 12 (CO727979)

Couture Creations - Sweeping Plains Collection:

  - Die-cut Ephemera Set

  - Stamp and Die Set - Eucalyptus

  - Stamp and Die Set - Kookaburra

Couture Creations - Sunburnt Country Collection:

  - Acrylic Stamp - Protea

  - Acrylic Stamp - Waratah Postage Stamp

Ranger Distress Oxide Sprays:

  - Gathered Twigs

  - Bundled Sage

Kaisercraft Wooden Flourish Pack 

  - Native Breeze