FAVORITE ART JOURNAL SPREADS: TRAVEL SOUVENIR

This post is part of my Favorite Art Journaling Spreads Series.

As I mentioned in this recent post, I have been art journaling for over ten years, I use them to explore my heart and soul, and work though thoughts and emotions. I use them to document my life with creative memory keeping using ephemera from along my path and photographs. And I use them to dive into my creativity. I wanted to share my favorite spreads, but decided to break it down by journal type. This post will focus on:

travel souvenir art journals…

Below are some of my favorite photos of souvenir journals I have made over the years.

Asheville, North Carolina, 2011
I attended an art event in Asheville, NC back in the fall of 2011. While I was there I came across a vintage views album in an antique shop and I bought it to use as my journal for the trip. The fun thing about this journal was I did not have many supplies to make it, since I had already made a journal beforehand I planned to use. So I remember asking people for paper and thread to stitch pages into it. Photos by Tiffany Kirchner-Dixon

Long Island, NYC, and Connecticut, 2011
I used a small folder from Paper Source and stitched in some pages I tore out of a Moleskine notebook with waxed linen thread. It was simple and fun journal.

Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2011
This journal I made from a small vintage set of souvenir photos I found at a flea market. I scanned the front and back of the case the photos were in and had them printed and mounted on single weight matte board. I used a crop-a-dile to bunch holes to use metal rings to bind it (the first page is the inside of a Yogi Tea box!) I cut various papers to size and pre-filled the journal with pages.

Florida Beach , 2011
I came across an old photo envelope that had some family photos in it from the 1980’s, and I loved the booklet like style of it, so I covered it with old papers and stitched some pages inside to create this travel journal. I used some small sea shells I found that had small holes in them and some bakers twine to make a tie closure. I used some of the photos I had found, that were of me on the beach as a child in the journal as well.

Theatre of Dreams, Port Costa California, 2014
I used a small old 1800’s book. I tore out the pages, and used some to sew together and stitch into the book to create the journal pages.

Los Angelas, California, 2019
I made a smaller Travelers notebook insert to go in with my daily agenda journal (a post about that style journal will be in this series). I used an envelope that  from the hotel we stayed at as the cover and assorted papers (black, lined, checked) for the inside.

United Kingdom (London and Glasgow), 2019
I bought this London Souvenir book years ago just waiting for a time to use it! 

  • A favorite souvenir travel art journal spread

Sydney, Australia, 2019
I used a Travelers Notebook for this journal. It is so fat with two weeks of exploring! I made 2 signatures worth of pages before I headed on the trip (one for each week), but did not bind them in anyway, so I could use the pages as I created the journal while there. I had a lot of fun with this journal, since I had so much freedom by not binding the pages.

some items i collect and use…

Other than photos (which I sometimes leave placeholders for until I get home to print them), some of the things that I collect and use in my Souvenir Travel Journals are:

  • Room keys and sleeves
  • Business cards
  • Postcards
  • To go menus
  • Price Tags
  • Receipts
  • Tickets
  • Programs
  • Hotel notepad paper
  • Hotel envelopes
  • Tourist maps
  • Luggage stickers

I usually bring double sided tape to adhere items I have collected into the journal, and some pretty washi tape to create sub pages. My Journaling-On-The-Go Kit (as my friends like to call it) also contains bits of old papers and vintage labels I may want to use, as well as these scissors I love, a glue pen, and my favorite journaling pens.

If you have any questions about any of the journals above, leave a comment and I will try my best to respond. Stay tuned for my next favorite journal spread post!