Junk Travel Journal to California and Back

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Have you made a junk journal?

Boxes Returned for Cheaper Boxes

Getting those uhaul boxes created quite a stir in my daughter.

At first, she swore she would not buy any boxes. She would get hers for free.

Fine.

When she saw how nice my uniform boxes stacked up, all neat and organized, she decided that was what she wanted.

But she didn't want to spend $1.25/box. She went online and found cheaper moving boxes locally.

Yesterday we went to Lowes and got 16x12x12 boxes for .74¢.

Today, I took back the remaining 23 boxes I had bought at UHaul.

Now I've got more packing/sorting/purging to do.

Thanks to my daughter, the move just got a little bit cheaper.

When websites lie

We went to H D to pick up some small size moving boxes. The website said they had them in stock. The store did not. I got 2 medium size boxes ($1.14/each) for the taller books that won't fit in the book boxes.

I have to open the first and/or second boxes I packed to look for my birth certificate. Sometimes enthusiasm can short circuit my brain. At least I thought about it now, and not later when the boxes will be in a moving container.

Late last night, when I couldn't sleep, I went online looking at the area in California we are going to check out. I found a library, shops, 99¢ store(!), restaurants, bike path, and parks. Just all sorts of things we'd love to do.

I also found something that is a pretty bauble. The pictures make it look so appealing. But I'm thinking it must be staged. It looks too perfect. I'm wondering what the seller is not telling in the descriptions?

Going to keep my excitement to an minimum, and think with my head, not my heart.

Of Course We're Going to Check It Out First

We're going to California for a look-see. Check out the area, and see if we're going to like living there.

I made a junk travel journal for the trip.

 Front of Journal

Back of Journal

These are the raw materials. A freebie Office Max grocery sack, the cardboard from my Cricket cutting mat, the plastic sleeve, and mylar cover from the mat.

 I cut the cutting mat, which lost it's stickiness, in half. I used one side for the cover and then punched holes on each line.

 This is the large gift bag from the Dollar Store that inspired the junk journal desire.

 This is the side panel of the gift bag.

I decided the cricut mat was too flimsy and I wanted a harder surface for the back of the journal. I used the flap on the chip box for this. Cutting to the size of the cricut mat front.

Here's the front of the journal. I threaded ribbon through the holes and left them roomy so the book can lie flat and there's room for added travel brochures, etc.

Here's a view of the inside. The side panel of the gift bag became a journal card.

The back of the junk journal.

 

I cut the grocery sack up first. Just kind of followed the folds to make the pages. Then I cut the cricut mat a little larger than the pages. Then the mat cardboard became pockets and the plastic sleeve became picture windows, as well as the mylar cover for the mat. I used Hello Kitty duck tape to hold some of the pages and windows to the bag pages, and such. I have 19 pages in the journal. I used all of the grocery sack, and the front and side panel of the gift bag. I still have the gift bag's back panel for another project.