Time to assess the art kit this morning. 

On our return from our last road trip, it looked like this: a clear bag of pens, pencils and suchlike.

And a similar sized tin, which originally held a travel journal kit and the journal itself.  But over the years, I seem to have acquired a few additional bits and pieces and last summer, the tin was stuffed full of things as well.

Definitely needed to reduce the bulk here.

Dealing with the tin was easy.  I’ve been using these travel themed rubber stamps for years and it’s definitely time for a change there.  They’re staying at home.

I don’t need US-themed things in the next few weeks either, so there’s another saving.

A whole sheet of mostly used up stickers, with only one I’m likely to use?  No way am I carrying that!  It stays home and, if I feel the need to add the single sticker in my journal, then I can apply it when we get back home again.

So it continued.  By the time I reached the bottom of the tin, there was hardly anything I was likely to need on the trip and so I made the decision to leave the whole tin at home.

Oh..but, I might just take along this small plastic bag with a few little things inside.  I cut those binding stickers with my Silhouette so I could include things without punching holes in everything.  Those placemarkers are home made too and are really good to use on maps.  I put the bag on one side for consideration later and put the tin away.

Whoops!  Nearly left the little gin bottle behind – no, of course it’s not gin, but ModPodge, which is great for including some bits and pieces into my journal.  I’ll take that (and the roll of washi tape that’s stuck on the bottle cap!)

Now for the bag.  I tipped all the contents out and put things back one by one.  The post it notes taken from an hotel have been useful, so I’ll leave those in, with the 3” cutting mat, the sheet of alphabet stamps and the curve template.  I left out the other notepad, since the first hotel we set foot in with have one by the telephone…

Glue is a must have, along with the tiniest roll of sellotape and a hotel sewing kit.

I found some new rubber stamps in there which I bought last year and had forgotten about.  Makes a change from those old ones – they’re in.

Nest, a couple of hand wipes which are useful for cleaning up, a small tin of paperclips and brads, a couple of waterbrushes and a sponge brush for using with the modpodge.

I’ll put this little stapler in, pre-charged with staples with another strip just in case.

Now for the main stuff.  Derwent Inktense watercolour pencils.  Love them.

Waterproof pens in different widths and a couple of thicker markers.

A couple of small ink pads and matching markers and there we are.

There’s the satisfaction of seeing the things which will stay behind, though I did decide I needed some scissors after all.  I’d also snuck in a small eraser, a pencil sharpener and some glue dots as well.

And I so very nearly forgot my hole punch!  Last time I managed to find a replacement on a morning walk in one of my favourite cities, which was fun, but it’s easier to bring one along.

So there we are.  One art kit, neatly packaged and all gathered in.  Closes easily – no squeeze – too!

As my eyes fell on a few of my travel themed stamps, I was tempted…but resisted!  I didn’t even put this thin little border stamp in the bag.  How good was that?

I had already prepared my little concertina file ready for ephemera collection

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I’d already prepared my journal as well, in a 5 x 7 Seawhite book which fits neatly inside a large Ziploc bag, so there we are, ready to roll!

I love to record our travels in this way and making my journal as we go along is all part of the fun.  This time, I’m going to try to make the best use of found paper along the way rather than to rely on purchased ephemera, though whether I’ll resist the first stationery shop I see remains to be seen.  At least I recorded my good intentions here