Composition Book Trip Journal

I took a ton of photos from my trip (see trip details here, here, here, here, or here) with my mom. And knew before I even left, that I wanted to memorialize our trip in a scrapbook/journal of some kind and give to my mom as a Christmas gift. I have a thing for composition books (specifically graph paper ones). I know...kinda weird. But I thought a composition book would be a great canvas (and an inexpensive one) for this little journal.

Once again, I pulled some of my inspiration from some finds on Pinterest.

I loved Little Boo Blue's Art Journal tips. However I started my journal before I saw this...otherwise it would have (attempted) to be a little more artsy.

Photo Credit: Lil Blue Boo

Isn't her journal beautiful? I loved the ribbon closure and how she sews items around her journal. I definitely want to try one like this.

I loved the below idea of outlining our route with embroidery thread on a map. I used my grandmother's old National Geographic Atlas book that had been falling apart for years. It was going to be thrown out - but I loved the old maps inside. I found a map of the Southeast coast of the US (GA and SC in particular)...and worked off this idea (thank you Martha Stewart)...

Photo Credit: Martha Stewart

My map didn't turn out as perfect as Martha's. Mainly because I have no idea how to do embroidery and I had little patience or time...

Our trip...embroidery by yours truly.

I was a little worried about actually finishing it - and it looking half way decent. There are still a few things I wish I had done...but overall I like it (mainly because my mom liked it so much).

It ended up being very thick!

The front was covered in scrapbook paper then Mod Podged over it.

Mom did love it...and she was holding on to it for a while after opening all her gifts. Mission Accomplished!

My step-dad and mom - Fuzzy photo (sorry!)

If you want to see the full thing - all pages - below is a video of me flipping through the pages. It's kind of long...about 6 minutes. (The actual video screen size is small - I did something wrong when uploading it from my bloggie)