Travel Art Kit

So there's this thing that goes around on Facebook. It says something trite like, "There's really some shitty things going on in the world, and in times like these, we need a small good thing." I'm paraphrasing, of course. The next part of the Facebook message says that, within the next year, you'll send something to the first 5 people to respond to the blog post. It might be homemade. It might be something baked. It might be something purchased. You get the idea.

And in return, these schlubs agree to host a similar Pay-It-Forward-type giveaway on their Facebook page. 

I'm a sucker for that sort of thing because it feels nice to get something for free.

So five of my friends gleefully commented on my Facebook post. 

And they waited. And waited. And waited.

Long story short: I'm a procrastinating ass.

I have great intentions, and then I put things off because I've got quality standards. I don't want to just toss something out. I want to give awesome people something awesome.

So here it is December 20, and I'm just now sending out ONE of the five promised things.

This is for Nancy. I don't know Nancy from Adam. That's not quite true, but almost. I think I met her via one of the Facebook art journal groups. She may be a stranger, but damn if she isn't awesome. From what I can tell, she's bad-ass, gun-toting, former New Orleans cop, with a heart for coffee, antiques, art, and animals, particularly giant dogs. So she's a-okay in my book. Ya know?

Nancy seems to travel quite a bit, so I thought it would be neat to make her a travel journal. This travel journal began its life as a thrift store planner. You know. It's for those super anal-retentive folks who are always on time and who even plan ahead. 

Kind of ironic? Yes!

So I ripped of the faux leather and adhered music sheets to the naked cardboard. I added triangular chipboard pieces leftover from all my aqua-red wedding stuff. I didn't realize the remaining spine would be so ugly. There was residual foam. It looked pretty terrible. I entertained sewing some ribbons together like one of my favorite artists does. She makes that seem incredibly easy...and it's not.  Trust me, I tried...and cussed. 

So I had to go to plan B, which was to adhere some leftover strips of paper to hardcore double adhesive. I'm not in love with it, but it's sturdy and colorful. And it had to be done because I didn't want the poor lady to wait another year.

I thought I was done, but it seemed too simple.  That's when I decided that one of those triangles looked like the roof. To complete the house look, I adhered a postcard I made. The postcard is one of my favorites and features tons of Gelli print scraps.

 I kept the planner insides as-is. In the inside pocket, I tucked some letter stamps I got at Tuesday Morning. I love 7Gypsies. I included a water brush, a bold black Signo and a white Signo.

 Next I decided to give her a Washi wardrobe. This essentially means wrapping playing cards with the insane number of Washi tapes that I own. There's about a foot and a half of each pattern.

 I tucked these washi tapes into an envelope that I adhered to the front page of the art journal. Just so it didn't get raggedy, I coated the envelope with clear packing tape.

 I replaced the planner calendar pages with 140 lb. watercolor paper.

 On the last pages of the watercolor paper, I adhered swatches of watercolor. I placed a clear envelope in between. The clear envelope can also serve as a palette.

 Finally, I inserted a clear envelope full of bits and pieces I've made throughout the last year.

These bits didn't fit in the clear envelope, but I wanted to include them because I think they're awesome. I used a glove form and the 6-pack ring from soda to spray inks through.