"bon voyage" mini travel book

recently the lovely kirsty vittetoe was kind enough to admire my california travel book, and she particularly liked the way i was assembling it whilst actually ON THE TRIP, just by punching and adding in the ephemera i was collecting along the way. but miss k travels *light* and wondered where she would stow a book as big as mine (4.5 x 9.25") in her tiny carry-on bag. so i decided to try making a mini version, in her honor:

 (vintage: atlas pages; transparency: hambly; patterned paper: k and co; white index stock and book ring: staples; fancy label: papaya; alphas: heidi swapp, american crafts; decorative tape: 7 gypsies; adhesives: xyron, tombow monorunner, sewing machine)

this time the covers are 4.5 x 6.5" so that whilst on a trip one can collect and add standard sized postcards; or, to save even more weight, why not write and MAIL the pc's home?! on the trip, you can add any other small ephemera you collect, such as business cards, tags labels, small brochures, etc; and anything you're willing to trim or punch to fit! 

the pages are very similar to my regular travel journals: one for each day of the trip, plus some category pages ("the hotel", "the weather", "the journey" etc) and a bunch of blanks for writing, sketching or pasting in photos.

since miss kirsty is crafty, it occurred to me that she *might* prefer to decorate the cover herself; but on the other hand, i didn't just want to send her a NAKED book, so i compromised by adhering the sturdy front and back chipboard covers with some vintage travel-themed text, and then i made "over covers" from transparency scraps! these add another decorative element, but since they're merely punched and placed on the book ring OVER the cover (and not permanently attached to the book itself) they could be easily discarded or replaced in favor of something more personal from the trip!

i love this new fun size and cannot wait to see it in use, so i sent this one to kirsty in hopes she will take it on one of her trips with my very best wishes for a super-fun time!!! ♥

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there's a bon voyage travel journal of this size--but in a completely different style--in my etsy shop; there's also an oversized bon voyage journal; and a couple of medium-sized ones with the title "let's go"!