Hey friends! I know my love of traveller’s notebooks (TNs) is no big secret and you’ll find a few posts about the different sizes and set-ups I’ve tried/used/loved. It should come as no surprise, then, that I wanted to take a simple store bought TN and dress it up a little.

I started with this TN from Michaels. It’s easy to find, affordable and in a standard size.

I could have gone in any direction with this notebook. Ink splatters, coffee ring stamps, grungy background texture or even florals would all work with this neutral colour. I decided this Prima Bloom Stamp would be perfect for a girly yet grungy and textured set-up. I first stamped the girl image on to the cover with Timber Brown StazOn ink. (I wasn’t worried about a perfectly crisp stamped image; I knew I could lose a little detail since the cover is slightly pebbly. I decided I’d rather the stamp look faded in certain areas than risk the lines being off if I stamped it again.) I added a gold floral piece (fussy cut from an old Heidi Swapp planner divider) for a little sparkle and shine.

With the cover done, I started on the insides. Something about the look of the stamp covered in StazOn cleaner looked interesting, so I stamped it on to tracing paper several times. The reddish-pink watercolour-y image seemed like something I could work with.

I added those tracing paper sheets into the TN, along with a canvas dashboard using the same stamp, some gold vellum, polka dot vellum, and folders and accessories from the same line at Michaels. I even used two pieces of tracing paper that were covered in the Staz-On cleaner.

The ephemera and decorative pieces are things that have been in my scrapbook stash for many months, waiting for a good home. I used up a few more clear dividers from an the same Heidi Swapp planner, some Pink Paislee stickers and a few older diecut pieces. The same goes for my “top game” clips and bows; I made most of them from diecuts and ribbon I had on hand. (The pink ribbon clip on the left is from Inspired Peach.) I even used a few gold hairpins. Why not? 🙂

While Michaels may not be accessible for everyone, it’s arguably the most accessible craft store and there isn’t a single item used here that cannot be found there. For the most part, these are items you probably already have. Creating and setting up a TN doesn’t require a mountain of new supplies (even though there are plenty of pretty things out there) and doesn’t even require a ton of time! Just round up some stamps, papers, stickers and ink and let yourself play.

I’d love to hear from you if you tried stamping or painting a TN cover!

Thanks for stopping by.

~ Cheryl

Scrapbooker + Story teller + Historian = Scrapstorian. Are you a Scrapstorian?