Prima Marketing - Leather Travelers Notebook Release & Magical Wonderland Meet Up Event

Prima Marketing who is known for creating beautiful papers, stickers, and planners have finally come out with leather travelers notebooks in the Personal size (5" x & 7.25").  These new leather travelers notebooks are really beautiful.  I found that since they are genuine leather, that each one is slightly different which I really like.  According to the "My Prima Planner Website, depending on the color and dye used on each notebook, there may be texture marks, wrinkles, blemishes and scratches that occur in shipping.  I love the weathered leather look so I ordered the Warm Stone PTJ Leather Essential Travelers Notebook for the Prima Marketing new product release party called the Magical Wonderland Planner Meet Up Event on December 1, 2017.

The Prima Marketing Leather Travelers Journal in warm stone has four interior elastics to hold inserts, an exterior zippered pocket and some inner pockets.

Below is a picture that I took of the Prima Marketing Leather Travelers Notebook in Warm Stone next to one of my standard size Travelers Company Notebook and my Hobonichi Techo so you can get a better idea of the size of this particular travelers journal.  I am currently using it to hold my Hobonichi Techo and it fits inside of the leather journal well, along with a few inserts.  If you want to read more details about the travelers notebook just click on the following My Prima Planner Travelers Journal in Warm Stone Review to get more information .

Prima Marketing had a fun "Meet Up Event" for their new product release last year when they released their new line of planners that was amazing.  So I was really happy to find out that they were going to have one for the new line of Prima Marketing Leather Travelers Journals at their Prima Marketing house in Temecula, California.

For those who are unfamiliar with this location, Temecula is wine country and many of the homes and estates there are really beautiful.

The Prima Marketing Estate does not disappoint.  It is beautiful.  The interior of the house has been decorating using products and accents from the Prima Marketing Mixed Media line. I really thought the menu planning wall was such a fabulous idea. I think I may do something similar in my kitchen.

The Prima Marketing new release events are a fun way to meet other people who appreciate their beautiful product lines.  I have been a fan of their scrapbooking and multi-media supplies for years and enjoy taking advantage of the opportunity to see new releases in person.  Plus, they usually have a pop-up shop at these events where you can purchase items at a discount.  The "Magical Wonderland Meet Up Event" was held in the picnic area around the front side of the house which was beautifully decorated with a Christmas holiday theme.

As each person checked in, they were handed a box and a swag bag that contained not only the pre-ordered leather travelers journal but also some adorable papers, stickers, and other ephemera. 

The box also had some holiday themed Prima Marketing Scrapbooking and planner materials.  I got a darling Frank Garcia "Sweet Peppermint" chipboard and more set in my box.  This set is darling and has some beautiful holiday pieces in it.  The chipboard is not too thick so it will work well in both my travelers notebooks and my planners.  

Prima also included a set of inserts to fit my traveler's journal. In addition to that, the box also contained a red flocked sticker alphabet, a green sticker alphabet set, a glue pen, a 46 piece sweet peperment ephemera set (that matches the sweet pepermint chipboard set), and an assortment of holiday-themed scrapbooking paper that is beautiful. 

The swag bag contained a set of Leeza Gibbons paper frames 3" x 4" and 2" by 2" (180 piece set), Leeza Gibbons Pocket pad,  Leeza Gibbons paper frames in 4'x4" (180 piece set), a set of chipboard frames ((6 piece set), Two Leeza Gibbons Wishes & Dreams cling stamp sets, and a  Leeza Gibbons Washi Tape.  

The bag also contained a darling planner clip from "Green & Lyme" and some refill sheets that fit my "Green & Lyme" planner (plus a coupon code for 15% off my next purchase).  I also received a cute gift from Lhey Ralston (@mommylhey on Instagram).  Lhey Ralston has a monthly subscription box called the "Little Bits" box which I subscribed to.  It does not disappoint and her kawaii style items are so adorable.  I have done a review of one of her "Little Bits" boxes which you can check out if you want to see what types of items can be included.  Lhey Ralston also posts preview pics on her Instagram throughout each month.  Below you can see the cute Cactus planner clips, cactus charm (for our new journals), die cuts, washi tape, stickers and other cute items from her box.

Gift from Lhey Ralston @mommylhey

With so many planner addicts in one place, it was so much fun to talk to everyone and work on out travelers notebooks. Most meet ups offer attendees the opportunity to participate in swaps.  It is a lot of fun to trade with other planners and see some of the darling items they people make to swap with. 

Below are some more photos of only a few swap items and their creators.  

We also had time to shoot some fun photos at the Christmas tree 

and do a gift exchange. 

The snack tables were also adorably decorated to reflect the festive holiday theme.

They offered some "Make & Take" projects and even had materials on hand for us to use to work on our journals.

There were some of the traditional meet up icebreaker games, like the one where you find someone to match each square until you fill out your sheet.  It is a fun way to meet new people.  

Later they also had the candy cane washi game.  That one was pretty fun.  It is a spin-off of the traditional bobbing for apples game.  You put the plastic wrapped candy cane in your mouth and use the hook part to pick up rolls of washi from the bowl.  This was so fun to do and everyone just kept laughing and participating in the fun.  Below are some pictures from the event of some of the amazing people I got to meet.

The pop-up shop has some great deals.  I purchased some inserts for my traveler's journal, a beaded planner charm, some Julie Nutting planner stickers, Julie Nutting ephemera sets,  dimensional stickers, positive words planner stickers, washi tape, and some of the My Prima Planner Inspiration Goodie Packs. These items are hard to find and I was so glad that they had them available for purchase.

Disclaimer:  I am not associated with Prima Marketing. I paid for my traveler's journal and event ticket with my own funds.  These opinions are mine and while I had a fabulous time at the event, it is possible that someone else may not have had as good a time as I did.  Therefore their experience would vary from my own.  Thank you for stopping by! 

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. 

DIY Watercolor Paper Inserts for Travelers Notebook

Most people have their favorite watercolor paper but it is hard to find the various brands in all travelers notebook sizes. It is even harder if you have one of the smaller pocket size and or micro size travelers notebooks.  I have been using my Hobonichi for an art journal and while that works well the size is a bit bulky (Cousin Size) to carry in my purse.  So I decided to make my own art journal out of my favorite Canson Motval 140 Watercolor Paper and add to my Onica Hamby Travelers Notebook.  It is great paper to watercolor on.  The watercolor paper is not too thick and it is perfect for folding into a more portable size.  It also dries fairly quick which I find helpful when i finish working on a page.  Additionally, I can easily find the paper online and at my local art store.

Instead of making a cover for my watercolor insert, I decided to purchase some great premade folders from Analog Stationers. They have a great selection of folders that offer different style pockets which I found quite useful for holding watercolor paper scraps, stickers and my favorite ruler.

Onica Hamby (Analog Stationers) Pocket Folders

Supplies Needed:
Canson 140 lb Watercolor Paper (or the paper of your choice) (9"x12")
Analog Stationers Travelers Notebook Pocket Folder (I bought the personal size pocket folder for my Travelers Notebook).
Paper Cutter
Plastic Bone Folder tool
Ruler
Pencil (optional)

Step 1:
Measure your Travelers Notebook to figure out what size to cut the paper down to.


Step 2:
Lay open your pocket folder and measure it.  Take a 1/4" off the top and side measurement to be sure that your folded watercolor paper will fit into the pocket folder. If you are not using a pocket folder, you can also make your insert cover by just cutting a piece of card stock to use as a cover.  I just like the pocket folders because they offer the convenience of pockets to hold various supplies like stickers, ephemera and other things I like to use in my journaling.

Step 3:

Using the paper cutter, cut the paper to size.  The size of the these particular papers allowed me to cut a page for my personal and a page for my passport sized Travelers Notebook.  Tip: Save the scraps, they are great to use to test out your watercolors and for other projects.

Step 4:
Fold each sheet in half. Then use the plastic bone folder to score on the crease line. This helps the paper to stay folded and makes the paper fit inside the pocket folder better.

Step 5:

To finish, just insert the folded pages into the pocket folder and then insert them into the Travelers Notebook.

I don't sew or staple the paper because I want to be able to pull out the pages whenever I want.  It also makes it easy to add or remove pages to the pocket folder.

I was easily able to fit these pages into my personal sized travelers notebook.   Below is a video on how I set up my art journal to make it easy for me to carry with me and use.  I would love for your to share links to your set up videos below.






Note: This post is unsponsored. I purchased all items myself.



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My Review of the Yoobi Stamp Rollers

If you love stamping on cards, paper, journals and planners then you are going to enjoy the Yoobi
Stamp Rollers.  The Yoobi Stamp Rollers are marketed mostly towards back to school crafting supplies. However, I love using the Yoobi Stamp Rollers in my travelers journal.  I recently signed up for a fun 30 Day Bullet Journaling Challenge and was looking for something easy to use to decorate my bullet journal.  I came across the Yoobi Stamp Rollers when I saw them displayed at the Yoobi store in Arcadia, California.  I was intrigued with their company motto:

 "For every Yoobi item you purchase, a Yoobi item will be donated to a
classroom in need, right here in the U.S. It's that simple."

Pennant Flags in Red Ink

The single ink color stamp rollers sell for $4.99 and the three ink color stamp sells for $6.99.  According to the website, the inks are refillable. However, I did not find the refills on the site.  The stamp rollers come with covers that fit fairly securely and that helps keep the ink from drying out.  These rollers are very smooth and I had no trouble using them on my journal pages. I even tried them on my pocket travelers journal pages.

The Yoobi Stamp Roller dimensions are 1.14" x 1.1" x 2.28.  This is a great size for small hands to use to create some great kids crafts.  I lent them to my neighbors kids and they decorated some gift tags with them. 

3 ink color - Winter Stamp Roller

My favorite Yoobi Stamp Roller is the Winter Stamp Roller.  This is a 3 ink colored stamp that leaves the cutest winter Design.  I think it is perfect for creating fun holiday cards.  I am going to use it for an easy kid craft at church.  The rollers area really easy for kids to use. Here is a close up of the stamped image which is so cute!

Winter Stamp Roller

I stamped each roller onto one of my travelers notebook pages.  I love decorating my planner pages with fun designs and these worked perfectly.  The ink is pretty pigmented and does show a little through my Travelers Notebook paper.

The back side of my TN Notebook paper.

Yoobi Stamp Roller on Hobonichi Page.

I tested it on my Hobonichi Planner Page and it rolled very smoothly.  The Hobonichi Paper is very thin so I did get some shadowing on the back side of the stamped paged.

Yoobi Stamp Roller Ghosting on back of stamped Hobonichi page.

I also tested it on the paper of my Happy Planner which is a much thicker paper.  Once again, the stamp roller worked great.

Yoobi Stamp Roller Tested on a Happy Planner Page.

The Yoobi Stamp Roller did not leave any ghosting or show through on the back of the stamped page.

Back side of the stamped Happy Planner Page.

The Yoobi company did a great job with the patterns they are offering in the single ink stamps too.

As you can see, each roller shows the image in the ink color on the actual roller which makes it easy to tell which roller image you are working with.  I have used others that were not as easy to see and that makes me very appreciative that Yoobi took the time to do this for their customers.

Cupcakes in Pink (Magenta) Ink

The four designs and colors are:
Pennant Flags in Red Ink
Trees with Birds in Green Ink
Flowers in Orange Ink
Cupcakes in Pink (Magenta) Ink

I am really happy with my purchase and love that these stamps are kid friendly.  I plan on using them of for some fun kids crafts in this upcoming holiday season.  My family loves all the items we purchased for back to school from the Yoobi store and look forward to their new releases.

Note: I was not paid for this review. I purchased all the items with my own money at the Yoobi store.