travel journal | Accidental Pen

I’ve been away from the blog for a while, but have been busy with a variety of other projects – many of them “on paper” things. Journaling, photography, studying, sketching, painting, and even taking an online art class. The fruits of my labor have just not made it into the blog … yet. For today, I’ve decided to go back to a project that began in September – which I posted about, very briefly, in my vintage/modern travel journal post. (If nothing else, if your weather is wintery-cold and snowy like our is at the moment, it’s nice to remember sun, warmth, and sandy beaches).

Inspired by a wonderful travel journal and scrapbook put together by Melissa at Bursts of Creativity, I loved the idea of using this format for a trip we took in October and November (2013) to the beautiful island of Kauai. The book was not only unique in construction, but was portable, expandable, and able to accommodate a variety of elements that I was interested in incorporating – from journal entries to photos to sketches and the typical collection of paper “stuff” (tickets, menus, brochures, etc.) that one always collects while wandering about new places. Attached to the rings are souvenir key fobs, a landmark medallion, and a little cloth bag filled with shells. As you can see, I think I filled my poor little book to the point of being a bit over-stuffed – but I rather like it this way.

a couple of on-the-go watercolor sketches and some vintage book pages

underwater photo and vintage maps, journaling on a tag insert

Kauai Coffee: my photo and a brochure from the plantation

Before we left, I de-constructed a vintage book of Hawaiian stories that I had found on-the-cheap in a local antique mall. I partially filled the book with pages to journal and record on – a collection of saved illustrations from the original book, watercolor papers, writing paper, a couple of envelopes, as well as some vintage Hawaiian postcards and ephemera I had purchased through Melissa’s Etsy shop. But I saved plenty of room to “page-in” the many things I would collect and create while on my trip (the photos, brochures, menus, stickers, postcards, other sketches, etc.).

another on-the-go quick watercolor

travel map, stickers and some notes

another quick watercolor, along the beach

I took along a pretty simple tool-kit: pencil, a drawing pen, a small watercolor palette and waterbrush, 2 rolls of washi tape, a hole punch, a glue stick and a tape runner. I also took along a small-format block of watercolor paper; I found it easier to sketch/paint on the block and insert the pages later. While I didn’t have any of my photos printed during the trip, it was easy to print them at home and insert them throughout the journal accompanied by travel notes I had kept on blank pages.

vintage postcards – with some space for journaling on the back

photo spread inserted upon return, with margin notes made while traveling

another photo-spread with notes

inside back cover lined with page from original book

inside back cover lined with a Glossary page from the original book

I also mailed a couple of postcards to myself during the trip – which was a nice way to write about what I was doing at a particular moment, where I was, what I saw. Back at home, these postmarked and dated postcards were hole-punched and inserted into my little book – kind of an un-journal journal entry.

I loved being able to create this book quickly and easily while we travelled, filling it to brim. It allowed me to enjoy all of the experiences of our trip with a minimal amount of time spent creating the journal. It’s a great and flexible format for a variety of media – photos to written work to sketches – and I didn’t have to deal with a huge pile of collected brochures, tickets and papers when I got home. I love the mix of vintage and present day in my little book. But most of all, every time I pull it off the shelf I remember where I was when I was putting each page together … the sun, the ocean, the flowers and the beautiful island of Kauai.