The idea for the Crafty Travel Journal came from our passion to create and share memories from our travels with friends and family. Shawn likes to write and Corinne enjoys embellishing the travel and adventure memories with materials found along the way. We have been assembling journals and scrapbooks of our adventures for over 20 years. Some of our journals are collections of day trips, hikes, and weekend travels that are assembled over many months or years. Other journals are specific to a single summer of fun, including a vacation trip and the other weekend adventures. These journals have been done in a variety of styles. Some journals are a written record, while others are created using a visual scrapbook style with jotted notes, photographs and memorabilia. We include both the highlights and the not-so-good days. In time, the “not-so-good” days evolve into amusing stories. We cherish all of our journals. They remind us of the fabulous times traveling together and provide great ideas for future trips and outings.
When we shared our journals with friends and family, we were frequently told “This is great. I wish I could do that myself.” We felt challenged to find a way to help others unlock their creativity. This is how the concept of the Crafty Travel Journal was born! It is a structured journal that includes questions to get you thinking about your activities and to provide suggestions for photographs and things you can collect as materials to enhance the journal.
There can be great satisfaction in putting your memories and experiences down on paper. However, starting with a blank journal can be very intimidating. Finding the discipline to write on a regular schedule is hard. Sometimes, a few journal prompts can be a guide and will get you over that first hurdle. There is no required length for the descriptions of your adventures. Write pages of prose or simply annotate your journal with daily highlights. But rather than just writing the facts, consider adding colorful descriptions and how you felt. Add funny stories. Also, do not feel limited to only written entries. A book full of bright color with photographs, maps and drawings will be a cherished possession for many years to come. Feel free to add some doodles or cartoons with colored pencils or markers. Do anything that pleases you. Rest assured; there is no right or wrong way to create a journal. A bright and interesting journal is also a great way to share the highlights of your travels with friends and family and inspire others to travel and create their own keepsake journals.
For those who find journal prompts helpful and would love to have their journal enhanced with lovely photographs but feel they are “photography-challenged”, the Crafty Travel Journal may be just the ticket. The Crafty Travel Journal helps you get started with suggestions for writing topics. It provides hints of things to look for during your travels and provides structure so that getting started does not feel so overwhelming. It doesn’t matter if you start from the beginning, the middle or at the end. Rather than working from a daily entry approach, you can let the topic prompts guide you and the photographs inspire you.
Feel free to share your journal with fellow travelers and have them contribute as well! We frequently work on a journal together. We even encourage friends that we meet along the way to contribute. If you are traveling with your children or grandchildren, use the journal as a way to create a keepsake of the shared trip memories. If you are looking for a way to keep a child engaged and entertained during a trip, this is a great way to provide them with something that they can create along the way.
We hope we have inspired you to start a journal. If you find you want some guidance and inspiration, we hope that you will purchase our Crafty Travel Journal. Our first edition is focused on the Salish Sea including the San Juan Islands of Washington State and Gulf Islands of British Columbia. This area can be explored by car and ferry, by “pocket” cruise ship or by private boat (including those offered by charter companies).
We post some blog entries regularly with more helpful tips and hints for creating your own keepsake journal. If you follow us on the blog, you will be notified when we add ideas of new places to go and things to do and see, including places of historical significance, lighthouses, and outdoor markets. We also plan to provide you with some “how to videos” on topics like how to capture great travel photographs, where to find inexpensive “memorabilia”, crafting techniques you can use in your journal, and how to assemble a convenient traveling craft box. If you love to travel and want to create a journal that you will cherish for many years, we hope you will check this site frequently.
Here's to happy travels and fun with journaling
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