Guest Blogger: Heather Nichols

Hi everyone! Welcome to this month's Traveler's Journal feature. I am excited to share the new Traveler's Journal: Currently stamp set and coordinating word dies with you today as well as some ideas for using a dashboard feature your journals. You are also going to love all of the great inspiration that the Traveler's Journal team has to share today too!

Here's a peek at the new Traveler's Journal: Currently stamp set and coordinating Traveler's Journal: Currently Words dies. The large words are perfect for titles on journal and scrapbook pages. The smaller words are great for jumpstarting your journaling and to use to caption photos. Don’t limit this set to scrapbooking projects as they will work well on card projects too! The Traveler's Journal: Currently stamp set retails for $15 and the Traveler's Journal: Currently Word dies retail for $8. The best part is that they are available to purchase in the Papertrey Ink store right now!

I created a dashboard to use in my journal to share with you today. What is a dashboard? If you use a planner, you might familiar with the term. Dashboards are basically dividers in to use in your journal. How you use a divider in your journal is up to you. You can also choose to laminate your dashboard or just leave it as it is. I will show you what I put together and the Traveler's Journal team has a few ideas for you too!

I cut a piece of cardstock 4 1/2" x 9 1/4" and folded it in half. On each half of each side a did something different. The only part I am not going to show you below is that section that I just covered with patterned paper – I think you might be able to figure out how to do that on your own 😉

The front of my dashboard is set up to have a place to make notes. Maybe a to do list, some journaling that you want to use on a layout later, or anything else that you just need to make note of. I stamped up a pretty background border with the Courage & Kindness stamp set along the right edge and then added the "currently" word die cut from white cardstock along the edge.

Designer tip: when you are adding a word to your project that runs vertically along an edge, always make sure the bottom of the word is facing the inside of the page (or design area.) It grounds the word to the design.

I added a note pad to the page by taking the 3"x6" white post-its and trimming them down just a bit to fit the dashboard size. You don't need to add a whole note pad at once – that would be a little too heavy, just peel off a a section of pages and you can refill as needed. I stamped some lines on the note pad and added the "today" from the Traveler's Journal: Currently set at the top.

On the next part of the dashboard, I added a pocket to store some sticky tabs and blank journaling cards. It keeps all of these little extra elements in place so when I go to add pages in my journal, they are ready to go!

This next part is an inspiration page that I created on the dashboard. I used the Quoted: Dream Big stamp set and changed out the top sentiment for the "now" word that I die cut with the new Traveler's Journal: Currently Word die. I also stamped a few of the tiny words from the Traveler's Journal stamp set at the top and bottom of the inspirational sentiment.

There are so many great sentiments that you would use to create an inspiration page like this – you could even just stamp an image that you love.

Using the elastic band binding system in the Traveler's Journal, the finished dashboard slides easily into place. I slid my dashboard into the center of the Traveler's Journal and will slide another journal right over the top of it. If you aren't familiar with how the elastic binding works in the Traveler's Journal, please watch this video on the Papertrey Ink YouTube channel.

I also added a layout to my journal using the new Traveler's Journal: Currently stamp set.

The tiny words in the set are just perfect for adding captions to photos like I did here. The frame and tab that I used on this page are from the Traveler's Journal: Accessories die collection that debuted last month. This die collection has so many great basics that you will find yourself reaching for again and again.

I used the tiny words here to do some journaling. The Traveler's Journal: Currently set is designed to use for list style journaling like this. Stamp the words that you want to include and start writing. So many times, I get stuck when I journal, especially when it comes to coming up with ideas and topics. This is the perfect style of journaling for me.

• STAMPS: Traveler's Journal: Currently, Courage & Kindness, Journal Accessories, Quoted: Dream Big, Type Strips II, Polka Dot Basics III
• INK: True Black, Fresh Snow, Hawaiian Shores, Ocean Tides, Aqua Mist, Olive Twist, Soft Stone
• PAPER: Stamper's Select White, Kraft, Ocean Tides, Aqua Mist, 3"x6" White Post-It Notepads
• DIES: Traveler's Journal: Accessories, Traveler's Journal: Envelope, Traveler's Journal: Currently, Type Bits Strip, Monthly Moments: Spiral Notebook, Star Gazer
• OTHER: eyelets (Recollections), glitter (Martha Stewart), sequins, date stamp

The Traveler's Journal team has a some wonderful inspiration for you this month. Make sure you click over to all of their blogs to see more about the projects that they are sharing with you today.:

"As another school year wraps up, I am once again hit by how quickly the years go by. The Currently stamp set is perfect for recording the little details of the here and now. Stop by to see a traveler's journal project I've created to freeze a year's worth of these little moments in time. It will be fun to look back this time next year and remember what my kids were reading, listening to, loving, hating, planning, and much more!"

• STAMPS: Boho Rounds, Traveler's Journal: Currently
• INK: VersaMark, Aqua Mist, Hawaiian Shores, Tropical Teal, Summer Sunrise, Canyon Clay, Autumn Rose, Scarlet Jewel, Green Parakeet, New Leaf, Winter Wisteria, Blueberry Sky, True Black, Classic Kraft, Fresh Snow
• PAPER: Traveler's Journal: Page Blanks; Stamper's Select White, Aqua Mist, Scarlet Jewel, Autumn Rose, Summer Sunrise, Tropical Teal, Melon Berry, Canyon Clay, Green Parakeet, Winter Wisteria card stock; Ombre Stripes, Super Succulents, Aqua Mist Stripe patterned paper
• DIES: Traveler's Journal: Accessories, Traveler's Journal: Currently Words, Traveler's Journal: Envelope, Traveler's Journal: Outer Cover, Wet Paint Lowercase Alphabet
• OTHER: Traveler's Journal: Black Elastic Cord, Aqua Mist Felt, laminator, white embossing powder, adhesive gems

 Click over to Amy's blog to see more of her journal that she is using to keep a record of what her kids are doing right now that they can look back on in the future.

"My parents LOVE to go camping on road trips! It was so fun to hear their stories from their trip last summer and to see all the pictures to go with it. I’d like to give them a spot to jot down their stories and tidbits of what they experience and who they meet along the way during this year’s trip out west. This idea is what I had in mind for my next Papertrey Ink project: an actual Traveler's Journal to let them use during their camping-road trip! Take a look at my set-up of booklets of prompts for their big trip:"

• STAMPS: Traveler's Journal: Currently, Traveler's Journal: Adventure, Traveler's Journal: Dates, Traveler's Journal: Typed Notes, Petite Places: Happy Camper
• INK: Scarlet Jewel, Melon Berry, Summer Sunrise, Simply Chartreuse, Pinefeather, Enchanted Evening, Royal Velvet
• PAPER: Kraft, Americana, Melon Berry, Summer Sunrise, Simply Chartreuse, Pinefeather, Enchanted Evening, Royal Velvet, Traveler's Journal: Page Blanks
• DIES: Traveler's Journal: Accessories, Traveler's Journal: Envelope, Traveler's Journal: Currently, Traveler's Journal: Outer Cover

Click over to Andi's blog to see more of the Traveler's Journal that she put together for her parents to use on their travels.

"As I wrap up the Travelers Journal gift booklet I've been creating, I used the idea of a dashboard to create a final spot to place all of my notes and goodies in the back of my book – a sort of, reverse dashboard. 🙂 I also used the tab from the Accessories collection to make a divider out of vellum for certain pieces and I can't wait to tell you about it!"

• STAMPS: Traveler's Journal: Currently
• INK: True Black
• PAPER: Vellum, Stampers Select White, Spring Rain, Maggie Holmes Bloom (Crate Paper)
• DIES: Traveler's Journal Currently, Traveler's Journal: Accessories, Spiral Notebook Page
• OTHER: Kraft Tag, Pink Shipping Tag, Washi Tape

Click over to Stephanie's blog to see her "reverse dashboard" in action at the end of her beautiful gift booklet she has been sharing with us.

Thank you so much for joining me today and I look forward to sharing more Traveler's Journal inspiration with you next month!