One of the fun parts of traveling is getting to document on the go. And while I’m still discovering new ways to make on-the-go travel documenting work best for me, the first step is just curating a travel kit and getting it ready to go.
Obviously, in addition to bringing a journal to document in, you’ll need some tools or supplies to help you along the way, packed in your own handy travel journal kit.
Curating your own travel kit can be a lot of fun, but as a girl who appreciates variety and having options (and also because I’m used to having all my supplies readily available), it was a little challenging to narrow down my stash of supplies. #firstworldproblems
But after some deliberation, I eventually settled on the following list:
Tools:
- Sharpies / ZIG pen
- Stamps – clear and roller date
- Clear stamp cleaner
- Acrylic block
- Ink pads
- Single hole punch
- Tim Holtz Tiny attacher
- Cuttlebee scissors + regular scissors
- Craft knife
- Paper trimmer (not pictured) I use this one.
Adhesives:
- Foam dots
- Glue dots
- Glue tape
- Liquid glue (I brought Glossy Accents)
Supplies:
- Watercolor paints
- Manila tags
- Printable journaling cards from One Little Bird
Note: The paper trimmer is completely optional. But I cannot cut straight lines to save a life and my inner OCD/perfectionistic self would rather do without crooked lines. So there’s that.
For a travel kit that is even more elaborate, and if space permits, you could include paper supplies such as die cuts, post-its, and patterned paper.
For a super minimalist travel kit, you could stick to just the basics and go with glue tape, scissors, pens, and one type of embellishment (eg. stickers or basically anything flat is good).
There are many options for putting a kit like this together. Just be sure to consider your scrapping style, your mode of travel and what you want to accomplish with your travel documenting.
Since I am flying, I packed the sharp objects (ie. paper trimmer, scissors, craft knife and tiny attacher) into my check-in luggage and hand-carried everything else.
As you can probably tell from the photo, I have quite an obsession with stamps and had a fairly hard time narrowing down which ones to bring! You can see that I ended with quite a variety, but I thought that since stamps are pretty light and easy to pack because they (the clear ones) are so flat, I would use them as my embellishments (so the more the merrier?).
In addition to the full sets from Kelly Purkey and Dear Lizzy that I brought, I used an old CD case to hold some of my favorite stamps from a variety of sets, mainly ones from Kellie Stamps and Amy Tangerine.
For photos, I’m planning to print them at any local print shop which I can find, which should work out fine. I’m also bringing my instax along so I can get instant photos should I need them.
Initially, I planned to use a box to keep all my supplies. But after some thought, I decided to use a pouch (which I purchased from Daiso) instead since I figured that would be more flexible in terms of packing and easier to bring on-the-go.
Some might say that my kit is a little overkill – but ahh, being a minimalist is a lot harder than it looks, guys.
I tried to limit my supplies to whatever I could fit into the pouch. And with some snazzy packing skills, I was able to stuff all these supplies (except the watercolors, paper trimmer and sharp objects) into a B5 pouch. Hooray.
I also tried my hand at creating a handy free printable checklist so you don’t miss out on bringing anything important!
Download it here and tag me @ameliawritesblog on Instagram so I can see it in action – can’t wait to see how you use it!
What supplies or tools would you pack in your travel kit?
P.S. Lauren and Kenzie also have great ideas for travel documenting kits if you need more ideas!