I was approached regarding a top secret travel journal for a client, Madeline, to give to her friend Hannah before they embarked on an adventure across the ocean. She selected a beautiful vintage book for me to transform into a travel journal and I had so much fun working on it!

This vintage copy of "The Traveler's Library" seemed so fitting to travel across oceans and hold onto memories for ages to come. Some key attributes that Madeline wanted the journal to portray is a very clean and minimalist approach with delicate touches of florals. She also wanted a pocket included (because she know's whats up), photo corners for polaroids, and a bookmark. 

I absolutely adore florals, so I've been stock piling beautiful floral papers for ages, so that was not a difficult request to fulfill. I also suggested adding in some paper flags because they are so useful while traveling or just jotting short notes that you don't want to fill an entire page. They are perfect to tear out like beautiful scrap paper--super convenient for writing down your phone number for any hunky sailors to be found while abroad. 😘

This journal was filled with cream cardstock--perfect for inky pens or sketches. I did my best to adhere to Madeline's request for a fairly minimalist journal. My magpie nature makes that difficult sometimes, but I did my best.

I made sure I included a simple pocket for holding onto traveling brick-a-brack and other sentimental tokens. I also used the siding of the book to make a book mark, complete with leather tassel.

Surprise, surprise--I went with a Coptic Stitch Binding. If you've followed along so far, then you have probably noticed that I am fairly partial to the coptic stitch. This is for several reasons: 

1. I think the result is a beautifully clean detail for the siding.
2. I think it's durable but allows versatility in writing/creating...
3. ...Because it allows the book to lay flat when open.

However, because this book is so thick, I used 6 holes to bind it up, instead of my usual 4/5, and I made sure I spaced them closer to the edges of the journal so it would be stable. Just in case any of my bookbinding nerds were curious. 🤷🏼‍♀️

I always save the naming and signing until the end; it's the final seal of approval before it's sent to it's new home.

That's it for now! I've got some fun stuff to share in the coming weeks, including a new Book Art project I've named "Too Tiny Truths" which I'll be documenting and sharing soon. I also head out to NYC this Friday, so I'm incredibly excited to use the travel journal that I made for myself and share the results when I get back!

XOXO,

Abigail