Off to Camp!

I'm so excited to start camp! Illustrated Faith is hosting "Revival Camp," an online Bible study. When you sign up, you get lots of fun printables. To get ready, I printed many of the badges, sentiment strips, and ephemera with my colored printer onto 8 1/2 x 11 sticker sheets (I found mine at Staples). Then I used my circle punches and scissors to cut the fun bits so they'd be ready to use. Then I went through my scrapbooking supplies and pulled coordinating washi tape and some additional papers and fun things that I may want to use to journal the lessons.

Although the class provides printable journal covers and "field notes" inserts, I decided to make my own journal (much like I did for Lent HERE) and went hunting at a local thrift store for a suitable hardcover book. I knew I wanted something fairly small and was hoping for something "outdoor" or "camp" themed as a bonus. 

I was thrilled to find this small volume "Fly Fishing for Smallmouth Bass" on the shelf for $2. It's a great size - 7" by 9 1/2" and less than an inch thick. The best part is the perfect green cover and plain black spine hiding underneath the removable book jacket.  I removed the inside pages with my X-acto knife first. There are some fun sketches of fly-fishing gear and fish that I may want to incorporate, so I'm setting it off to the side for now. The book title on the spine was in gold, so I simply scratched off some of it with my knife and then used regular acrylic black paint to cover it up. That worked great!

For inside my book, I created simple folded and stapled journals that can slip into elastic bands - much like a dori-style journal. I used my Crop-A-Dile hole punch to create holes in the spine of my book and strung the elastic banding through to create two loops. I tied the ends together at the top of the spine on the outside. I think I will add some more fun ribbon or doo-dads later. I kept the front simple by adding a printed sticker camp logo badge and the printed sticker "2016." Both of these are part of the down

The blank paper journals for inside are really easy to assemble. I used regular typing paper for inside (7 sheets each journal) and folded them in half. I rummaged through my scrapbooking stash and found a couple of double-sided 12x12 sheets to use as the covers. Both of these covers are from Simple Stories. I cut them slightly bigger than the inside pages and folded them in half.  To bind the books I simply used my long-reach stapler and stapled along the fold twice. 

Once that was done, I used more of my scrapbooking stash and some of the printed elements from the study resources to decorate the fronts. I insert the journals into the book by opening to the middle and tucking them behind an elastic cord.  If I find that I need more space, I can quickly and easily create an additional book and slip it into my journal binder.  

Now I'm all set for camp! The study begins soon. You can still register HERE if you're interested in joining the summer study. 

I'll be posting my journaling on my Instagram Accout and Facebook page most regularly, but it might show up here, too! Be sure to follow me on Instagram and Facebook (links upper right) to stay most updated.