Over five years ago, I wrote a blog post about how I’d used my Grenada journal on vacation, and how I intended to finish it. At that time, I printed the photos and started adding them and the embellishments into my album. I got about halfway through the process, and then I just stopped!
And I don’t have a good reason for why I stopped! I had everything packed together in a project box, ready to finish, for years now. I must have come across another project that felt more “important” and this one fell off the priority list. The only other thing I can think of is that I got frustrated that didn’t leave quite enough space on my journaling pages for my photos, and maybe I got tired of trying to fit them on pages and make tip-ins for them…? 🤷♀️
However, with my recent streak of finishing projects, I found myself ready and eager to get back to this one. I pulled out the project box, took stock (with help from the Simple Scrapper Finishing Project class), and got back into it.
In the end, it only took me about a week to finish this journal! It went much faster than I expected, and it was a fun trip down memory lane to revisit the photos and words about our tropical vacation– especially during the cold and gloom of winter.
The supplies I used (all of which are now out of print!) are described my first blog post about this project. I made it a point to use up all the stickers and die cuts that I put into my little journal kit. To finish the project, I did add a couple more rolls of washi tape, journal cards from the Cocoa Daisy kit, 6×6 paper pads by Simple Stories (Sn@p Color Vibe) and Jillibean Soup (Blossom Soup), and a couple packages of Pinkfresh Studio stickers (puffy stickers and words). Those “extras” were not used up, but I plan to use them in upcoming projects.
I also added more stamping. I used stamps from the the tiny set that was in my kit directly on the page in a few cases– especially the tiny hearts, which I sprinkled and layered (inspired by a current member challenge at Simple Scrapper). I also used those stamps on scrap white cardstock, which I then trimmed out by hand to effectively make my own die cuts. I was missing a floral element to add to my layers, so I pulled out my Paper Smooches “Blossoming Buds” set and stamped the floral cluster images in grey ink, again trimming them out. I wanted to add the softness of florals without adding large bright or bold elements that might detract from the photos I was showcasing.
The end result is a fun and textured travel journal that has a very casual feel! The layers of washi and all the scattered tip-ins are not my typical style, so it was fun to play with something different. I’m not sure if I’ll do other travel journals like this in the future– I think that the “success” of this one (if you can call it a success, since the trip was in 2016 and I am just finishing it in 2022, haha!) was due to the fact that I had lots of down time (the whole point of the trip was downtime!) in which to write.
Without further ado, please enjoy the video flip-through of my FINISHED! (at last!) Grenada vacation journal! This is only my second time doing a voice-over, so thank you in advance for your grace!