My Iceland Journal

Howdy. Or I should say "langt síðan síðast". I got this off the internet because my knowledge of the Icelandic language is about zero. I hope its the right way to say "long time no see."

Anyhow, I am still here on this island here in the North Atlantic. This is another pre-post that I wrote before I left, so I am assuming I am having a wonderful time and seeing fabulous things like glaciers and  volcanoes and maybe even a puffin or two.

Or an Icelandic horse.

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/03/22/sport/gallery/icelandic-horses/
Aren't these guys cute? Wish this was my photo but its not.

So I wanted to share the journal I made with you. I did not take my journal with me on this trip. First of all I am traveling with friends, and they may not be as tolerant of my journaling time as my family. Plus I think we 're going to be on the go. So rather than lugging it and not using it, I decided I would collect on my trip and do my journal when I got back home. 

But I got my journal ready for my return.
I started with this book cover I had sitting around. Its a tri-fold with 2 big pockets. I started by painting it.

I went with blue for 2 reasons. One, its one of the colors in the Icelandic flag. Also, its a cold color. I thought that might be a good choice for Iceland. :) I used clear modeling paste and a stencil to make this mountain design.

I found this 1950's children's book about Iceland on eBay awhile back. I decided to buy it and use it in my book because I love this map cover. It also came with some stickers- none of which had been used. I think some of them will show up in my journal when I make it.
Iceland looks so little on this map compared to Greenland, but I guess its mostly to scale here.

I took the cover off the old book. I used it and a few of the pages in my main journal signatures. Some of the rest of the book you can see on the left. Look at those great photos. I think some of those might have places when I make up my pages too. Or maybe I will this these unused pages and make a second little set of signatures too.  I'll see when I return.

Here's my binding holes for my signatures.

And my pattern.

And this time I tried my hand at beading the outer binding. I've never done this before and am pretty happy with the results. I even had these little Viking looking beads in my stash. I added one on each end. Perfect for a journal to a country that was settled by Vikings.

More views inside.

And here are some of the stickers.  I like that they are old and have that funky coloring. They'll give a little vintage interest to me pages.

I'll have a lot more to show you of this project once this trip wraps up and I return home. Its my planned project for next week.
Hope everyone is doing well and having a great week. See you soon.