Every year I make myself a notebook to record my car expenses. I know you can buy pre-printed books for this purpose but they’re so cramped I gave up on them several years ago. Since then Stampin’ Up! has always obliged me by releasing just the right images and/or sentiments. This year it was the Coming Home Stamp Set that provided the inspiration for my 2021 vehicle notebook.

COMING HOME

Having decided to use images from the Coming Home Stamp Set I started with those.

Using Tuxedo Black ink I stamped the car, small tree, porch, and the house with the round window onto Whisper White Card. Then I cut out each of the images using the coordinating dies from the Home Together Dies. After that I sat down to do a little colouring using Stampin’ Blends alcohol markers.

For the tree I chose Old Olive, with Bronze for the trunk. Then on the car I used Seaside Spray and Smoky Slate. The walls of the house and porch were done in Ivory, with Bronze for the shingles and siding. Finally I used Poppy Parade for the door and finished all the windows with So Saffron. Then I set the pieces aside while I got on with the background.

BRAYERED BACKGROUND

For my background I decided to use a sponge brayer to add ink to some Very Vanilla Card. I began the sky with Seaside Spray ink, followed by Misty Moonlight and then Night of Navy.

I filmed this quick video showing how I use Sponge Brayers to create a background as I thought it might be easier for you to understand.

After doing the sky I used exactly the same technique to add the ground to the bottom of each piece. For this I started with Pear Pizzazz, then Old Olive and finally with Mossy Meadow.

Once I’d completed the two background pieces I was almost ready to put it all together. Just a couple of little things were needed.

First I stamped the “Hey there” sentiment from the Beautiful Autumn Stamp Set onto Whisper White Card using Tuxedo Black ink. Then I punched the end of the 1/4″ strip using the Banners Pick-A-Punch.

Next I took one last strip of Whisper White Card and curved it by pulling it between my thumb and a Bone Folder. Then I wrapped the centre of the strip around a small ballpoint pen and glued the ends together with Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow).

HOME STRETCH

Decorating the notebook cover was a simple process of attaching everything using liquid glue.

On the outside of the back cover I began by attaching the ends of my pen loop. Then I added one of my brayered backgrounds sandwiching the pen loop between it and the original notebook cover. Along the edge nearest the spiral binding I then glued a 1/8″ strip of Whisper White Card.

Turning to the front I repeated the process of attaching a brayed background and a 1/8″ Whisper White Card strip. After that came the house, then the porch, and then the tree. Finally I added the car and the sentiment and my new travel record book is ready to go in my car in the new year.

I’m so happy with how this notebook turned, which is fortunate since I’ll be using it for a whole year.

PRODUCT LIST

My spiral bound notebook was purchased at Dollarama and the pages are 3-1/4″ (from the edge to the perforation near binding) by 5-1/2″.

BUNDLE BONUS – I bought the Coming Home Stamp Set and coordinating Home Together Dies using a single ‘bundle’ item number. This meant I saved 10% off the cost of buying the two items separately. I’ve included links for both options in case you want to explore these further. Also available in bundles are the Beautiful Autumn Stamp Set with the Autumn Punch Pack (not used today), and the Banners Pick-A-Punch with the Banner Year Stamp Set (also not used today).