"Home Is..." Fall Traveler's Notebook Spread with Mary

Hi scrappy friends!  Mary here with my very first Traveler's Notebook insert project ever!  I had so much fun using the main kit plus the embellishment kit to create this DIY insert and my introductory spread.  

But before we dive in, can I tell you a little story first?  Have you ever felt the prompting in your gut to just do something and not have any rational reasons as to why?  Well....I felt this tug over summer to start documenting places and scenery of where we currently live.  I had no clue at the time as to why I felt that pull but now that reason has definitely been revealed and I'm so glad I acted on that prompting.  

Last weekend we announced to our church (who my husband and I have been ministering to for 7 years) that we are starting the transition to relocate closer to family.  While this is a super sad transition, it is also exciting in many ways since we have not lived closer than 3.5 hours away from immediate family and with my husband's partial knee disability we really need to be closer to family.  

To be honest my husband and I have never felt that this place is OUR home but it absolutely is our children's home...they have never known anything different.  So I want to be able to document their first home in detail, from the beauty that's here, to the places we love to go, to our routine places like grocery stores.  I never want them to forget the place that was their foundation. 

We know we will be here for at least two more seasons so my goal is to document as much as I can of our town during each season.  I have a feeling this project will bless me in the process as well.  

So are you ready to take a peak?

If you watch the process video you'll see I start out in a completely different direction than what I end up with.  After working some kinks out I decided I needed to create this cute pocket because I knew I would have a bunch to say in the introduction.  I just stitched a piece of cardstock that was about the size of a 3x4 journaling card which I cut down from the Citrus Twist exclusive paper included in the main kit.  Here's a closer look for ya:

 

I cut apart this "Inhale the future, exhale the past" ephemera piece from Paige Evans' latest collection "Turn the Page" (which, by the way, was designed based on her own personal relocation process of embracing the change...or it could be that she knew I would need her wisdom in my own transition to come) and layered up some flowers and a frame behind it.   Don't be afraid to alter your ephemera bits!  This allowed me to make a tag for the journaling card and have an extra piece for another project.  Fist bumps for making three embellishments out of one!   

At the top of the spread I added some fussy cut banners from the Maggie Holmes "Carousel" line as a base for my cluster at the top.  The words on the washi tape that comes in the "Turn the Page" washi book are absolutely perfect for our transition time.  

I added this picture I took of the canal that I drive over every day on my way home.  I want to remember the beauty of our valley in the fall when the blue of the sky meets the brown of the desert hills.  The reflection in the canal that will soon be dried up is just breath taking.  

I kept with the washi tape theme on both sides of the spread to really tie it all together.  And, of course, gold Heidi Swapp Color Shine...#goldallthethings #amiright 

You can check out the process for this here!  

Thanks so much for popping in today!  I can't wait to share more of our story with you as this project continues to grow.

Xo,

Mary