hello, sunshine!

we were lucky enough to spend most of last week in clearwater beach florida, which was absolutely as ♥AWESOME♥ as you'd imagine, so g'head and be jealous, i don't blame you one bit, lol! since it was a short trip, and since we planned to spend most of it sitting in lounge chairs doing as little as humanly possible, i had more or less decided not to bother taking along my traditional travel book kit. that is, i had actually decided NOT TO; until, in the course of packing on sunday, when lovely husband jeff inquired, "hey! where's the travel book?!" and i found myself unable to stick to such a course of action in the face of the adorably disappointed look that followed. turns out, he really *LOVES* helping me collect "the stuff" and looks forward to seeing the completed book when it's done. it occurred to me that i've never shown one of my 4x6" mini books in action, and this would be a good time, so i threw together a little something sunny!

usually i print my day pages on the computer, but this time i had a LOT of 4x12" scraps from another project and i really wanted to use them up. mostly they were paper-weight though, and i was worried they' be too flimsy, so i used the xyron to attach them smoothly back-to-back before trimming to size, and thus came up with sturdy pages about the same weight as the cardstock i usually use. a nice fringe-benefit of this is that all the brightly patterned fronts also have brightly patterned backs!

since i couldn't then print my text on the computer* i decided a little hand-stamping was in order. this ancient set of making memories (or k and co?!) acrylic letter stamps is one of my all-time faves. i don't think they make them any more, which is a shame; but i'm sure you have SOMETHING that would work! you could use stickers, even, or rub-ons; or mix it up and use the remainders of lots of sets of letters for a super-fun and funky vibe!

i don't usually adorn the pages too much before a trip, but i had half a packet of those little recollections blingy palm trees, and i just couldn't resist using them! i made the book's covers from sturdy chipboard with panels of two favorite "tropical" patterned papers affixed. (MME clouds on one side and ancient SEI "fruit stand" oranges on the other!) i always use a big sharpie marker to color the edges of plain chipboard; covers just as well as paint, but you don't have to wait for it to dry! :)

the other advantage of a 4x6 minibook is that it fits perfectly right into the lid of the little plastic "school box" i use to tote my supplies!

so what's in my tool kit? my tiny hole punch; scissors, a ruler, small ink pad, and a plastic bag in which to keep the book itself. all the rest is either for ATTACHING stuff or WRITING, since i've found that's what i need most while i'm actually ON vacation! i've got a selection of pens and pencils (black, white, permanent, eraseable, etc); my go-to adhesives (tiny stapler, gluetape runner, gluestick, foam tape, some clips and brads); and that's about it! i used to take stickers and stamps and other "artsy" touches, because they are so much fun to use, but i've discovered that while i make a priority of collecting the fun ephemera and writing down what we did each day, the "embellishing" part of the book almost always gets done after i'm at home again.

it's actually possible to be even MORE minimal than i am... (i know! shock, right?!!) :) ...when i set up a travel book and kit for my (non-crafty) friend liz's trip to israel last fall, luggage space was at a premium, so i found a small plastic case to carry a mini hole punch and stapler, plus a couple of pens... and she had everything she needed!

so do you want to see the finished book with all the photos and fun stuff from the trip? yeah, me too-- but it's not quiiiiiiiiiiiiite done yet! c'mon back in a day or two, though! i can already tell you that heavily featured within said pages will be my favorite day of the trip: wednesday; my favorite activity of the trip: a serious MEGA-thrifting expedition which encompassed half a dozen stores in the clearwater area; and my favorite vacation guest star: the lovely miss gina!!!

yep, after a couple of false starts, we finally got to meet up "in real life" as they say, and the result was, if anything, even more fun than expected--which was already preeeeeeeeeetty danged fun, i can tell ya! :) to sum up eight hours of hilarity, chatting, shopping, eating, and hijinks in one sentence, let me just say this: if you planned on hitting a few thrift shops in southern florida to buy books, magazines, flashcards, stickers, or ANYTHING made of vintage paper... you might want to wait a week or so, as there's actually not much left! (sorry!) :)

in fact, rumor has it that SOME PEOPLE, who were flying home to new jersey after this little shindig, may have had to ask OTHER PEOPLE, who were staying in florida, to take a GIANT BOX of papery goodness to the post office the next day. i can't say for certain it's true, but that's what i heard. (...looks around innocently, whistling nonchalantly...) it's possible that if such a box existed, a photo of its contents might show up on a certain blog, after its arrival... just sayin'... ;)

ciao for now, darlings! ♥

*ok, technically, i could have, by using the 4x6 photo tray on my printer, but i was too lazy, and also i just sort of felt like playing with the stamps right then! :)