Reservations for Paris

Orion will be our guide today as we absorb the richness of Paris, France. Who wouldn't want to go to Paris? All the Art, Romance, History, Architecture and culture mean that there is something for everyone. J wants to see the Eiffel Tower, M wants to see the Mona Lisa, and I want to see it all.
The tag in the pocket pulls out to show Orion's sig and her note on the back.


One of the things that I particularly love about this journal is the stamps. Not just the hand carved stamps or other rubber stamps used, but as you will see, many people used postage stamps in some way as part of their design. I don't know if it was intentional or not, but that element ties the whole book together in a wonderful way.

*A regret~Unfortunately, I cannot portray all of the varied textures on each page. The embossing, different papers, ribbons, and three dimensional elements cannot be transferred in a two dimensional digital media. Some of the pages were a little more difficult to photograph or scan because of some of the "doolollies". You'll just have to imagine the other sensory experiences.

Reservations for Europe by Rail

Now we're going to hop on the train and take a whirlwind tour of Europe, courtesy of Daytonatip
I love how she stamped her sig on all of the different stops. There is so much to see in Europe that I imagine traveling by rail would be a very convenient way of seeing alot in a short amount of time. Great idea!

The passport opens to reveal her note and sig stamp. Love it!

Reservations for Scotland

Our next stop is Scotland. These wonderful pages were created by Wyvern of Potsdam, NY. Scotland would definitely be on my list of places I would love to see. I love the tartan samples she included and the Highland Kyloe.

The photo of the "Shepherd's Cot in Glen Nevis, Inverness-shire" opens up to reveal this poem.

The other side has a recipe for Pitcaithly Bannock, a type of shortbread.

8 oz flour
4 oz butter
2 oz caster sugar (superfine ground sugar)
1 oz chopped almonds
1 oz mixed candied peel

Set oven to 325*F or Mark 3. Grease a baking sheet. Sift flour into bowl. Add the sugar and butter and rub in to form a dough. Add the almonds and the mixed peel, making sure they are evenly distributed. Form into a thick round on a lightly floured surface and prick all over with a fork. Place on the sheet and bake for about 45-60 minutes. Allow to cool and serve sliced thinly and buttered.

Reservations for Norway

The owner of each Artful Logbook was to decorate the first page according to their own theme. If I were truly given the opportunity to travel anywhere in the world, I would have a very difficult time deciding between Norway, Israel and Spain. And Greece. And Washington.
In the end I decided that since I live in a very Norwegian community (Ya, sure, you betcha) I would have much more opportunity to plant Scandi themed stamps. And I decided to do my whole page with stamps. As a pop-up.
If you live around here you may recognize these stamps as the contents of the Norway in a Pine Box letterbox. There are 12 stamps in all.

Reservations

Just when you (and me too!) thought the way back machine had run out of gas...

Back in January of aught seven, I received a delightful invitation to participate in a postal ring hybrid. It was called The Artful Log: A Decorated Journal Round Robin and was started by Heysukeyw. The idea was to pick a theme, create a logbook and carve a stamp and mail it around the circle. With me so far? The twist was that each person who received your logbook would then completely decorate a double page spread according to their interpretation of your theme. No limits. In this case the stamp was really secondary to the logbook. Oh, and did I mention that we were to title our logbooks in such a way as to disguise the true theme until the logbooks were actually in hand? So there was no way to plan what you were going to do until the next journal arrived in the mail. We had about two weeks with each book, so there was plenty of time to brainstorm and execute. If I had to pick one favorite postal out of them all, this would probably be it. (Wait, have I said that before?) I will be posting the pages of my logbook over the next 12 days. (See, isn't that clever? I can finish NaNo and you'll never even miss me.)
You're probably wondering what my theme was, right? Well it was titled Reservations, which seems straightforward enough until you take into account the online chit chat designed to mislead. *Insert Doctor Horrible laugh* So while my theme was fantasy destinations, it could have also been Native American or phobias.
The logbook that I sent out was created to look like a suitcase (Yes, I was taking travelogue in a different direction) and it came home delightfully battered and stuffed to the brim with wonderful art depicting all of the places people would go if there were "no limits".
In case you can't read it, the first page says: "Now taking Reservations for the ultimate vacation of your dreams! If you could visit any place on earth, where would you choose to go? A secluded beach? The bullfights in Madrid? Or back home to Grandma's farm? Tell me! Nitrocat and Kittens have their bags packed and are ready to go! We're leaving Newark, Illinois on January 29th, 2007. Next Stop....