Wednesday, October 5, 2022

The West

 Hi everyone. Happy middle of the week already. I hope everyone is having a great week.

Today I want to share some pages from my latest travel journal project. I like to collect bits and pieces when I am away on a journey, and then when I come home  I like to make a travel journal with those items  as well as some things from my stash. 

This latest trip journal  will be bound between 2 old photo album covers. I found the old album when I was cleaning out supplies for the art room redo back in the winter.  The front cover has great detail; I'll show you that later. The size of the cover means the pages are perfect for 8.5x11 inch paper.  One thing I particularly like is that the finished journal will be tied together through those 2 holes you can see on the right side of my page. Since this isn't an already pre-bound book, I can work on individual pages in no particular order, and then, because they have punched holes, I can stack them and bind them once I am finished. 

I made a page on the inside of the front cover, and that page works for Elle's Fairytales, Folktales and Fables: Tell Me a Story challenge at Art Journal Journey. The cowboy of the American west has become a legend  and part of American folklore.


I believe the steer the cowboy is riding is a Texas Longhorn. I read but didn't know that longhorns had become half feral cattle after being brought to the Americas with the Spanish in the late 1400's as part of Columbus' second voyage to the new world. I also didn't know they almost went extinct but were saved by the US Forest Service when they created a small breeding area in Oklahoma in 1927.

Now even though I didn't visit Texas  nor did I see any longhorns, I did see a lot of cattle.


Including this guy who was standing right on the side of the road. I don't think he appreciated us stopping next to him.



These free ranging cattle were in the Colorado part of Dinosaur National Monument. 

I made my inner cover page starting with a piece of kraft paper. I stamped a wood grain image on it several times in brown ink. I also sponged on some copper ink and brown ink before I added the copper tape.  The title are letters I drew in and then fussy cut, and the images come from a couple of collage sheets I had in my stash. I finished off my inner cover page with a few other items from my stash.

Here's another page from my journal that I've completed. This  is my inner title page and will form a spread with the title page I've shown you.  I'm not usually happy with my penmanship, but I do like how these words came out. I cut them out after writing them on some off-white cardstock. The numbers are from a very very old sticker set. For my background I used a piece of vintage style  tissue paper as well as some black, copper and brown inks. I also added in the traffic signs and a bit of copper tape too.

You might also notice that these 2 pages work together to form my opening spread. 


And lastly today I want to share a fun postcard I received in the mail the other day from Elle. I didn't know it was International Postcard Day last week.


Horace Slughorn is a character from the Harry Potter and the Fantastic Beasts world. He was once head of of House Slytherin, which I guess I belong to, as twice in the last year I've worn a sorting hat and been told I'm a Slytherin. Hmm, When I took the test online I came out a Hufflepuff. Good thing it is all in fun.

That's all for me today. Hope your first week of October is going well.



14 comments:

CJ Kennedy said...

Your album is going to look great with that cover. I also loved that you used your own handwriting for the text. It makes the pages look so much more alive. I'm not a Harry Potter fan, but that's a fun postcard. Stay warm and dry today.

The Padre said...

Incredible Opening Spread - Well Done - And Is Dinosaur National Monument A Trip Or What - Full Scale Dinosaurs Are Erected Here In Fruita Colorado From Those River Banks - Mind Bending For Sure - Excellent Post

Cheers

Empire of the Cat said...

I'm loving your cowboy page and your travel album, what a great way to remember your trip. Those longhorns are something else aren't they! Glad you liked the postcard, I wonder if I secretly knew you were a Slytherin haha when I chose the card :) Thanks for joining me for the October theme at Art Journal Journey this month Elle/Empire of the Cat xx

Neet said...

I so enjoyed working in my last album because I could take out and add pages as I wished. It is a lovely way of working isn't it? I can see you are going to enjoy making this particular journal.
Love that page you have done for inside the cover, it shows humour as well with the speed sign and the cowboy riding the steer. Your other page, full of information, works so well with it and the signs tie in great.
Thanks for the photos, I so enjoy seeing different parts of your country.
Hugs, neet 5 xx

Divers and Sundry said...

This is a wonderful way to reflect on and remember a trip.

Maybe you can be a good influence within Slytherin... I don't remember the results from my online house sorting.

R's Rue said...

So lovely.

NatureFootstep said...

I always loved the West. But earlier it was the Wild West. :) Since I was a teen I thought it was a good life to live :) Even if it was a hard one.

Visiting the US twice I visited the Yellowstone-Rocky mountains areas. Never cities.

pearshapedcrafting said...

Love your page. I've brought a few things home with me that will become part of my journal pages. Thanks for showing the photos, hugs,Chrisx

Jeanie said...

I love how you do your travel journals. They're so personal and so creative. This will be another good one.

Iris Flavia said...

Great pages! And idea, for that matter!
Oh, I love cows, they are so cute (plus... mmmmilk and they taste great, oh how mean, but true!).
To a great rest of the week, hugs!

Rika said...

stunning page!

David M. Gascoigne, said...

When I was in my very early twenties, I met a fellow who was already in his mid seventies and he had been a cowboy and said he never could figure how it got so glamourized. He said it was gruelling, unpleasant work and poorly paid too. But Hollywood saw it as an opportunity to create a myth and did so as only Hollywood can. Hugs - David

Aimeslee Winans said...

I'm clapping and happy dancing over this Texas folklore, Erika! If you were a fan of Lonesome Dove, the characters of Woodrow and Gus were very much based on Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving who drone the first Longhorn cattle to Wyoming from Texas 1868 on became known as the Goodnight Trail. Goodnight invented the first chuck wagon for the initial trip. I LOVE my Texas history and am in the middle of planning a couple of Texas spreads for AJJ this month. Can't get into fairies and such. I thought of gypsies, too. XOX

Michelle said...

Loving these pages, Erika! How awesome to include folklore from the States. Given the relative youth of our country, I seldom think about folklore in that regard.