BootsnAll Travel Community

I always thought that "shrinky dinks" was what happened when guys went swimming on cold days.

hardy har ha Static

Ok, well, the plastic survived the journey. Unfortunately, as Jillian discovered, the ink did not. So, the moral of the story is shrinky dinks make great luggage tags, but don't use your ink jet printer to make the design unless you buy the plastic made for ink jet printers

Scarf I made a friend for her winter trip to Russia:






Quilting details are easier to see on the backside



Materials: Polartec Classic 200 FleeceThe top layer is patchworked on the sides. The middle layer is a layer of polyester quilt batting. The bottom layer is the same material as the top.

The scarf is quilted throughout. Long enough to wrap around your neck once then over your head and then some. It was 'approved' by her Russian boyfriend who spent the -40 F winter there last year

I have to say I am very inspired by all the ideas in this thread and can't wait to have a go at some of them, particularly the customised bags, although I'm not sure how good my sewing skills are, but I'll give it a bash and learn as i go...

I have just made my own travel journal for my upcoming trip to South America. I wanted a hard back journal that I could use for keeping a diary, scrapbooking and painting when the mood takes me and also keeping mementos in, all in a hand size to fit in my shoulder bag - not an easy find.

So, I cut up an acid free sketch pad that I had so that I had heavy paper at the size I wanted (5”x7”) and I also added in several of the off cuts of paper that weren’t quite the same size to add some interest to the pages. I then included a few sheets of coloured scrapbook (acid free) paper and other interesting types of card at the same size, to include loads of textures and colours.

My favourite bit was then adding lots of different enveloped and pockets to the book to hold interesting stuff I collect on my travels. I used regular postage envelopes, velum envelopes made some from other papers and foil etc…. all different sizes. I also used some old fabric jewellery bags as well so I have some soft fabric pocket in the covers.

I made hard backed covers from strong card with reinforced corners so that the book can be bashed around in my bag. I then covered them in heavy paper with travel designs and my own embellishments and strong sticky back plastic to protect it.

To make sure it didn’t gape when I started to fill it with stuff I put extra, narrow card inserts at the bound edge. I then bound the book with a regular plastic binding thingy – the kind you get in offices?

To keep everything together I sewed a thick piece of elastic to the back cover that hold the book tight together and held it in place with brass studs. I also added a piece of ribbon as a place marker.

Hope you don’t mind me sharing that with you, but I was really pleased with the book and can’t wait to use it. And as I already had all of the stuff as left over from other projects it didn’t cost me anything and is exactly what I need, not just what I can get off the shelf. Seems really sturdy too.

Since I now love the idea of making your own stuff, I have loved all the new ideas from this thread. I imagine it is a great talking point when you meet people on your travels as well.

Hey Kath, that sounds like an awesome journal!!! If you have any pictures of it, put them up...would love to see it. It's so nice when you can customize something for yourself. And this journal will hold your trip memories forever, and it's something you'll *want* to write in - sometimes I feel I get lazy, but with a journal like that, I'd definitely use it! Awesome job!

Sewing just takes practice. You learn a lot as you try more things. I'll admit, a lot of times, things don't come out 'perfect', but I learn to fudge where I can or adjust things where I can, and it works out just fine. So I say give it a go, it's worth a shot! And if in doubt, there are a lot of sewing patterns for bags out there.

An update on the balaclava I had made.

Here's a pic of putting the home made balaclava to the test on top of Kilimanjaro. Besides my down jacket, it was the best peice of clothing gear that I had for the summit push. It looks greyed because those are ice crystals formed on the mouth nose cover from condensation from my breath. It was extremely warm inside it and it surpassed my expectations of it. I would say it was an essential piece of gear for me summitting the mountain.

That's my boyfriend next to me with a store bought balaclava. See the gigantic ice crystal forming at the bottom of his?