Travel Journaling with the help of my Phone

I wanted to keep a journal on our vacation. After the open studio show and sale and still recovering from surgery, I was tired, and quite honestly, needed a break from any art making pressure. Earlier I made a blank journal that was one page larger than a weekend journal, giving four more panels and a flap to fill with vacation journaling. I also wanted to include Keith, who said he would like to be a part of making the journal. We both wrote in the journal, just like we would a regular journal. Brochures from two of the places we stayed at were cut and included in some of the pages. As we talked on the road trip certain words, themes or phrases would come up. I included those in larger script to remind us of those conversations.

We took photos with my phone at various places, and when I wanted to remember something I "wrote" it down in the notes app of the phone, to later be included in the journal. It was great since it didn't require us to carry anything more than we needed to. After we got home and settled, I looked at the journal. It seemed a bit boring and with all the writing, it seemed to ask for photos to be included. A couple months earlier I added a free app called Pic Stitch. It allows you to make square photo montages from the photos stored in the camera roll on the iphone. I had put a centerfold page in the journal that gave four blank squares, the perfect place for four montages of our trip. I selected the photos and layouts on my phone and then downloaded them onto my computer. I sized them and printed them out. Then I cut them out and pasted them with matte medium onto my centerfold pages. They were finished off with a simple line drawn with a permanent pen. Then the doodles and more lines were added.

I would definitely make a journal this way again, especially for traveling. It was easy and fun, and it gives both a visual and written record of our trip.