Review Paper House Productions Journey Book Set

The Paper House Unicorn Journey Book Set is a standard size Travelers Journal style cover that includes inserts and stickers.

The interior of the standard size Paper House Unicorn Journal Book Cover (5"x8.75") has 4 elastics which will hold four books. However, if you use some elastics, you can add additional inserts to the cover.  Below is a look at the interior which has two side pockets.

The inserts included in this kit are 4.24"x8.25" (standard size inserts) and have 32 sheets (double sided which equals out to 64 pages) of paper.

The inserts have dot grid paper which are very versatile and can be used for writing, drawing and journaling.

The sheet of gold foiled adhesive tabs includes:

• Months of the year
• Goals
• Notes
• To Do 

and assorted decorative circle stickers.  The stickers are great to use in the included inserts. The cover also features an elastic closure that helps hold it closed.

I really like this kit and I am so happy that I was able to purchase it on sale at Hobby Lobby.


Note:  I do not work for Paper House Productions.  I paid for this kit with my own money.  These are my opinions and experience with this kit.  Your opinions and experience may vary from mine.  Also, the links to Amazon sometimes pay me a few pennies (literally I have so far not made more than $5 a month from my links). I place them for both your convenience and to make a very small amount of money to pay for some of the items I purchase to review.  

My Review of the Dylusions Travelers Notebook and Accessories

The Ranger Dylusions Dyalog Canvas Covers and inserts feature original artwork by Dyan Reavely. If you love her designs, then you will enjoy the collection of covers, inserts, pocket inserts, and washi tape.  The line features several canvas covers that measure 5.875" x 8.75" folded. Each Cover has two interior elastics.

The Dream Cover.

The covers are a sturdy canvas material which I hope will hold well over time.

The Frame Cover.

Here is a view of the inside of the covers for Frame (blue) and Dream (orange/red),

Inside view of the Frame Cover.

Inside View of the Dream Cover.

and the outside of the covers (which I have layed the canvas cover flat so you can see some of the fun details).

Front View of the Frame Cover

The view of the Dream Cover.

These canvas covers are little bit larger than the standard travelers notebook covers which allows for extra inserts to be placed into the journals using elastic bands.  I added a total of four with some of the pocket inserts and the cover folded over them well.

Each of the Ranger Dylusions Dyalog Insert Books are 4.375" x 8.25" and contain 24 pages.  According to the Ranger website, the Dialog Insert Books are available as:
agenda
backgrounds
black
blank
dots
grid
ruled
and a handwriting lines insert book (which I was unable to purchase).

The Joann Stores were pretty low on insert when I visited.  However, I was able to purchase a Dylusions Black insert package.  The Dylusions black inserts are 24 pages of black paper.

I am going to use my white gel pens and my bright colored gel ink pens in this insert.

I also purchased the "Backgrounds" Ranger Dylusions Dyalog Insert Book which has 24 pre-printed

Dylusions Background Insert Pages

pages with a fun variety of backgrounds.  Below is a look at some more of the Delusion Backgrounds Insert pages from the insert I purchased.  The pages are really pretty and I love the selection of colors and patterns on the pages.

I also picked up a package of Dylusions Dylalog pocket inserts.  The Ranger Dylusions Dyalog Pocket inserts come in packages of 3 inserts.

These are made of card stock material that has a fun variety of prints.

Here is a view of the inside of one of the Dylusions pocket inserts. The pockets are designed to hold documents, receipts, notes, etc.

Inside view of the Dylusions pocket insert.

 The smaller slots cut inside of each pocket can hold a paper clip or business cards (the slot is supposed to be cut to a standard business card size).  I tried mine and they fit fine but mine are cut a little smaller than most standard cards.

I was lucky enough to take a class from Dyan Reavely at a trade show (a few years ago) and she is amazing.  If you ever get a chance to take a class from her, she is a fun teacher with some great techniques that she generously shares with her students.  As a fan of travelers notebooks and journals, I love this new line which adds color and patterns into the mix.  The Dylusions Travelers Notebook and Accessories line can also be found on Amazon.  If you pick up any of her stamp sets, she has some great examples of pages she created using them on the Dyan Reavely blogspot.

Note: I do not work for Ranger, Dyan Reavely, or JoAnns. I just really like this line and wanted to share a bit of information with you.  Also, I have added some links to Amazon that may provide a few cents back to support this blog.  You don't have to use them. You can just run a search on google to find out more information on the product line or to purchase them.

Embossed and Painted Leather Travelers Notebook Advanced Techniques Class Review

I had such a great time at the Planner Friends Event Advanced Embossed Leather and Alcohol Ink Techniques Travelers Notebook class on September 3, 2017.  It was held at the new Michaels Store in Irvine, California.  Tammy Santana and her crew taught us how to emboss leather, then paint the leather using alcohol inks.  She shared with us various tips on applying and layering the inks to create various effects on the leather.  She also showed us how easy it is to bead our travelers notebooks with seed beads to add some decorative details to our travelers journals (notebooks) in order to create one of a kind pieces.

During the last half of the class, we learned how to make some beautiful decorative leather spines that attach to the reinforced spine of the Travelers Notebooks. This actually adds two more elastics to our leather travelers notebooks, while at the same time changing the look of it.  It is easily removable but ultra handy to know how to make.

The first thing Tammy did was to show us how to Emboss Leather using our Sizzix Big Shot machine and an embossing folder.  The results you achieve depends on the thickness of the leather, how wet you get the leather and which embossing pattern you choose.  Then we used our kit from the last leather class that Tammy taught to mark our patterns for the hole.  In case you are interested in getting your own leather kit, Tammy bought ours on Amazon for around $40.

The kit has everything you need to get started working on leather.  First we marked our leather with the Edger Beveler.

Then we used the lacing chisels to mark our holes.

The spacing and size of the holes is completely dependent upon which chisel you decided to use. I decided on the black one (this one is not included in kit but can be purchased at Hobby Lobby) because I knew I was going to use larger beads and that size matched them better.

After the entire leather travelers notebook was marked, we painted our leather using the alcohol inks that Tammy provided.  The photo above shows how beautifully Tammy painted the leather with her alcohol inks and used them to emphasize the paisley style pattern she used for this travelers notebook.
Once we were finished painting the leather with the alcohol inks and had allowed them to dry, we started to sew the spine pieces together.  Before we got started, we had to decided where and what beads we wanted to use for beading the leather travelers notebook.  Tammy is a very easy going teacher and while she is happy to teach techniques, she loves to encourage everyone to do their own thing.  That being said, I decided to do my own thing and only bead the spine of the travelers notebook.

I beaded the entire travelers journal first using the wax linen thread that Tammy provided.  Then I beaded my spine using some very small turtle beads, crystals and fire wire.  I wanted to be sure that the beads were not going to fall off with use.

The smaller beads close to the quarter are the ones I decided to use.  I bought these on sale at Michaels and they are really cool to bead with.

The crystals that I choose matched the removable spine that I made in class.

Since we were not required to bead our travelers notebook, each book was unique.  Some of the students beaded their entire book with the silver seed beads provided and even finished them in class (they were super focused on the project).

Jessica Lam (who is known for her stunning Green & Lyme A5 Planners) choose not to bead her travelers notebook at all. She went with a simple elegant look.  She purposely applied the inks so that they blended beautifully to create the effect below.  It looked even better in person.

Jessica, also simplified the decorative removable leather spine so that it complimented the travelers notebook that she made.  You can see more of Jessica's planners (and upcoming events) on her website or follow her on the  Green & Lyme Facebook page.

Keely (known for her handmade dolls on and handmade travelers notebooks on Etsy) decided to blanket stitch her leather travelers notebook instead of using the traditional stitch.  Her book has a green sheen to it but for some reason my camera did not really pick it up.  There is a better picture of it on her instagram at @oddgirljournals.

Another class member made one out of suede that looks stunning. If I can find out who made this one, I will list her instagram later.

Some people embossed their leather travelers notebooks. Some just painted the leather with alcohol inks.  Some beaded their travelers notebook and some did not.  However,  all of them came out beautiful and each reflected the vision of the person who made it.  You can see more examples of the various travelers notebooks that we all created on Instagram at the @plannerfriendsevents pages.


Personally, I found that this beading process took a long time for me to finish beading my field note sized travelers notebook. In the end,  it was well worth the effort.  I know have extreme respect for those vendors who make these type of travelers journals.  I also will not feel guilty to pay a little more for them to personalize my books for me.  If you want to learn to make your own travelers notebook or learn some leather techniques, I recommend taking a class.  Tammy Santana's beaded travelers notebook class was so easy and fun to do.  It was also a fun social occasion where I got to meet some really talented ladies.   I know that I can not wait to see what Tammy will be teaching at her next class.  You can find her on Facebook and/or her blog.  For those of us who do not have enough free time to make up our own removable spine, we are trying to convince Tammy to sell a few on Instagram.  I will let you know if she decides to make a few to sell.

Disclaimer: This post is not sponsored. I paid for my class with my own funds. 

Sizzix University - Leather Travelers Notebook Advanced Techniques Class Review

I recently attended the Sizzix University TN Advanced Techniques class, hosted by Tammy Santana, where I learned how to make my own embossed micro leather travelers notebook using a Sizzix Big Shot, some Sizzix dies, and Sizzix Embossing Folders.  This was such a fun class and I learned some new leather techniques that I can apply to my jewelry making projects using these cool tools.

Sizzix Floral Dies that can cut thin leather.

We also got to use some of the new Sizzix Foral Dies on different types of leather to create flowers to decorate our travelers notebooks.  Below is a closer look at the spine of the leather travelers notebook that Tammy Santana made using the Sizzix Floral Dies (by Jill Mackay) with black and white leather to make her flowers.  It is so pretty.  By the way, Tammy made the traveler's notebook using the Sizzic Scoreboards XL Die - Journal by Eileen Hull (661906).  The Sizzix leather cutting dies can be used on various types of thin leather to cut it into flowers and other shapes.

So the afternoon started with us going in small groups to learn how to use the adjustable leather edge groover to carve a channel in the leather.

leather edge groover tool

This makes it easy to line up the diamond chisel to make the initial holes in the leather.  Then we punched the leather with the diamond chisel. I punched the holes twice to make them slightly larger.

They then taught us to use the awl to make the holes bigger and easier to stitch with.

At this point, I should have then embossed the leather.  However, I was busy conversing with some of my fellow attendees and missed that tidbit of information.  So instead I started stitching.  They had us use some wax thread which we measured the length and width of the piece of leather (x2)  and then added around 24 extra inches to the length. We then threaded a needle to each end of the wax thread and began to stitch the leather.

One tip we got is that is the holes were too small, we should use the awl to make them bigger. Stitching the leather is really time-consuming and not without a bit of risk.  I managed to injure myself with the awl while trying to make a hole better.  I have renewed respect for leather artist's who hand stitch their traveler's notebooks because it took me a quite a while to stitch the entire micro tn. Some of the ladies in the class did it rather quickly but I did not.

The next step I took in the process was to emboss my leather (I should have embossed it first) using the Sizzix Textured Impressions Plus #661340 Embossing Folder and the Big Shot.

Sizzix gives great instructions on their packaging for this folder

One of the instructor's at the class had me moisten the leather with water and then place it in the embossing folder and feed it through the big shot.  might sound easy but it is not.  However, it This can be done. Since this leather is fairly thick, I had to really force it through the machine but once it got started the rest was rather easy to push through.

The results was the above beautifully patterned piece of leather that can be linked or dyed.  I might even just leave it natural.

I also wanted to decorate my travelers notebook (fauxdori) with some leather flowers using the Sizzix Movers & Shapers Leather Dies in a couple of floral patterns.  For this project, we used a much thinner Italian leather.

Then we put the pieces into a smaller embossing folder to give the leather a little more texture.  This made the flower petals look so pretty.

Then they used a leather rotary punch to punch a hole in each layer of leather flowers and the traveler's notebook.

The flowers were attached using decorative gromments and a drive punch to set them.

I really love how my micro leather travelers notebook came out.  The flowers added an extra bit of sparkle that just makes me smile.

Below is a sample of a leather piece using a different embossing plate and some leather stain in a dark Burgundy color.  It really shows off all the intricate designs in this piece.

I learned so much at this class.  It was $35 well invested.  They also let us keep our leather kit which is worth far more than the cost of the class.

They also provided some templates for cutting leather in alternate sizes.

Tammy Santana did a great job in organizing this class. The folks at Sizzix were amazing and a lot of fun to learn from.  Tammy will be organizing future classes which you can follow on through the meetup board, her Facebook Page, Instagram and/or her website.



Disclaimer:  I am not associated with Sizzix.  I paid for my ticket with my own funds.  These are my own opinions which can vary from others.  The best way to see if you like Sizzix University class is to take one and see for yourself.














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