Traveler’s notebooks are all the rage right now. And for good reason- they are versatile, portable, and can be so much less intimidating than staring at a blank piece of 12″x12″ paper. I’ve bought several traveler’s notebooks in the last couple of months, but when I saw this blog post on the Felicity Jane blog, I knew I had to try my hand at making my own!

My daughter got married in October and the month leading up to the wedding was a flurry of planning, decisions, and fun. When I saw the Felicity Jane’s August kit with it’s bright colors and gorgeous floral, I knew it would be perfect to document Kyrstie’s bridal shower.

I chose a few of my favorite papers from the kit and cut them down to 12″x9″. (I know. I know. A traditional traveler’s notebook is a little less wide, but I really wanted the extra space and since I was making it, I could pick whatever dimensions that best fit.) I scored each sheet at 6″ and made sure to give them a nice firm crease. Once I decided the order of the pages, I used a paper piercer from Stampin Up to make five holes in the crease and bound my traveler’s notebook with the saddle stitch technique. This tutorial is the one I used and it was so simple!

Once the book was bound, I trimmed down the edges so they were even and started decorating. Beware- this post is pretty photo heavy, but I want to give you a walk through of how the whole project came together.

I kept the title page fairly simple. Just some papers layered behind a 4″x4″ photo and a couple of cute embellishments. Transparent elements can be difficult to adhere, so I used Glossy Accents to make a pocket out of the polka dotted acetate. You can hardly see it at all. I hand wrote a few wishes for my daughter and slipped them into the pocket for her to read.

One of my favorite things about making your own traveler’s notebook, is the ability to have different size inserts. I love all the layers and the opposite page peeking through. And that large polka dot print behind one of the photos? It’s actually the tissue paper the kit came wrapped in, but it was too cute to throw away!

On the other side of the insert, I wrote some journaling about the day and how thrilled I was at how everything had turned out. I dressed the “hello” card up with three different colored splatters of Heidi Swapp Color Shine and added a few of the acetate embellishments from the kit.

Under the photo, I layered some papers and made a shaker pocket filled with the star confetti. Punched circles from the pattern paper and some clear phrase stickers finish the page.

How adorable is that photo of my mom giving Kyrstie a kiss? It was one of my favorites of the day! Each sheet of paper in the kit comes with the cutest branding strips, so I used those highlight the photo. For the “loved” acetate, I used staples to attach it to a piece of paper I’d cut into a banner and splattered with Color Shine. The yellow insert was the perfect spot for journaling how much my mom means to the both of us.

Stamps are one of my all-time favorite crafty supplies and the ones in this kit were fantastic! I stamped the star sentiment, made a mess of some gold thread and stuck it on top of the star paper. All the stars on the paper were outlines, so I added a few black stars from the confetti to break it up.

Here’s the center of my traveler’s notebook, and you can see the gold and white twine I used to bind it. I don’t mind that it shows and actually like the handmade look of it. I kept the embellishing simple on this layout and just added a few punched flowers and stars.

Like most families these day, ours is an eclectic group and I wanted to celebrate that in this layout. The fact that we are all connected in unusual ways and still love each other is something I’m very proud of. I wouldn’t trade any of these amazing ladies for anything in the world.

We had a great time coming up with date ideas to pass along to the newlyweds, as well as a couple of the traditional bridal shower games. I kept it easy by doing all my journaling by hand- something I don’t often do. I usually prefer the clean look of a typed story, but didn’t want to stop to run to my computer and printer.

And what’s a bridal shower without presents? On the back cover, I made a pocket and tucked away the photos of all the gifts Kyrstie received. I hand stitched with gold thread before adhering it with Scor-Tape, so it’s just for decoration, but I think it adds just the right amount of detail.

Here are a few close-ups:

This might be my first homemade traveler’s notebook, but I can promise it won’t be my last. I’m in love with the smaller format and being able to sit down with one kit and come away with a complete project.

How about you? Is the traveler’s notebook trend calling your name?