Hello, Campers! Hopefully you've been enjoying the first two weeks of Summer Camp here on the JBS Inspiration blog. This week's focus is on vacation journaling. A vacation can mean many things to many people, but above all, a vacation is an escape, a reprieve from our usual routines and preoccupations. One can vacation with a view of the Eiffel Tower, at the edge of a lake, in a cramped RV, or on a comfy couch. Yes, even a staycation counts as a vacation.
One of the pleasures of vacationing at home is that you can still travel -- via the pages of a book, that is, transcending time and place without the need of a passport or a wormhole. Any chance my family had of traveling this year went out the window when puppy love interfered: we spent our would-be travel funds on our dog's knee surgery. I have no regrets, though. I'd like to think that we went on vacation anyway -- a book-cation, if you will.
The journaling above offers a kind of synopsis of our book-cation, but the rest of the journaling on the layout took a wee bit of planning. I compiled a few basic questions, and my husband, daughter, and I had a fun conversation about the highlights of our summer reading lists. I jotted down some notes as we talked about favorite books (or series), characters that endeared themselves to us, memorable scenes, favorite places to read, and whether we preferred e-books or paper. This way I could incorporate each person's voice on the layout, sneakily getting my husband and daughter to contribute to the journaling for this page. Although my husband, ever the joker, gave me a hard time with playful "decoy" answers at first, I think I was able to tease out a few sincere answers from him.
At times I find that figuring out what to journal can be as challenging as figuring out where and how to journal. I knew I wanted to use the Die-Cut Circle Label Mini Papers and the Mini Classic Die-Cut Label Papers, but I decided to add a summery colorpop feel to them with the help of my trusty JBS for Ranger Re-Inkers.
I filled four mini-misters 1/4 of the way with Lemon Drops, Soap Powder, Seed Packet, and a combination of Chewing Gum and Chili Powder, and then filled them nearly to the brim with water. I misted over the papers, mixing blue with green and red with yellow, and printed my journaling over each one.
In keeping with the whole bibliophile vibe, I tried to make the layout itself a tribute to the printed page, mixing in text papers from the JBS Haven line, adding elements from a Hodge Podge book, and creating a torn page border on the left side of the layout.
After lightly sanding the Core'dinations Country Store cardstock to reveal the numbers (which I love alongside the tower o' books that we compiled from our summer reading lists), I stamped the edge of the cardstock with a Torn Paper Border acrylic stamp, using Chili Powder dye ink. I then cut around the non-inked edges to create the "torn" effect.
Ultimately, Campers, the point is this: regardless of where and how you are spending your vacation this summer, you most definitely have a story to share. So share it!
Your Camp Counselor
