Traveler's Journal: Vintage Santa Christmas address book and cover

***If you're looking for my Reverse Confetti Blog Hop post, please scroll down***

Welcome to this month's Traveler's Journal post! This month the team has busy been working on creating some fun covers for our journals and/or some clips and embellishments! I just couldn't resist working on an entire Santa themed project that is perfect for the season! For my project, I have created a Traveler's Journal Address Book that is specifically made for me to use to get all of my Christmas cards addressed. As a card maker, I'm sending out cards on a regular basis and always searching for addresses. Unfortunately, I only need some of them at Christmas time. This will be a place for me to have them all together. I love that with the Traveler's Journal: Passport Page Blanks I can add more pages if I need to. I also created a fabric cover and a few clips for my book, which I show further down.

 Isn't this fabric the cutest? I found it at my local fabric/quilt shop when I was buying fabric for handwarmers. I didn't have a clue what I would be making with it, but I knew it needed to come home with me! LOL! I'm so glad it got used on this project, because it turned out so well and it is so useful! The fabric is called "Swell Christmas by Urban Chiks for Moda. It is so yummy! I'm running out of time to get other projects made with it! Eek! I measured it so that it is the exact dimensions as the Traveler's Journal: Passport Cover. I contemplated adding some grommets on the spine to thread it like a regular journal, but decided that it wouldn't be necessary since my address book is the only thing going inside.

I sewed on a large Sweet Blush Vintage Button and some elastic cord to secure the cover. I love all of the variations in buttons that you get in each bag. This particular button had silver reinforcements around the holes which gives it some extra detail that I love!

I went to the Post Office so that I could get some stamps. The local Post Office has a display of current stamps that are magnetic so that you can see them when you get up to the register. I spotted these Vintage Santa stamps and was beyond thrilled! Aren't they PERFECT for this project? Not to mention my love affair with these particular Santa images! These bring back so many fond memories of my childhood Christmases! Anyway, I asked the clerk if he still had the vintage Santa stamps and he said, "No...we don't have anything like that." (as I'm staring at the magnet that shows that they clearly DID or DO have them). I replied that I wanted these stamps and picked up the magnetic board. He said,"That is SANTA!" I said," I know...vintage Santa". LOL! I said," Ya know...old-fashioned? " He chuckled and said that they did! Whew! I clearly can't use befuddling words like "vintage" these days! LOL!

I added a pocket on the inside of the cover that is the perfect size to hold a book of stamps. Now I want to go back and buy every last Santa stamp so that I will never run out! LOL!

The address book is created using the same measurements as the page blanks cover. I just made my own using Vintage Jadeite cardstock. Look at me, using confusing words like that again! LOL! I decorated the cover using images from one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE sets; Santa Stationery. 

I also added a strip of felt that has been die cut using the rickrack border die. Rickrack also brings back fond holiday memories. My mom made us felt stockings with rickrack trim and I always LOVED them! The address book is tied up with red baker's twine.

I wanted to make a few clips so that I could use them with my book. Oftentimes I will rip off a return address when a card comes if I don't have that particular address. This way I can clip them inside until I can get them transferred, or just keep them with the sender's handwriting for nostalgia. 

Many of you know how much I love shrink plastic. I wanted to use the large Santa image from the Santa Stationery set, so I stamped it in red ink onto the shrink plastic. I die cut them using a circle die cut and then used my heat gun to shrink them. I made two so that it would be double sided. The bow clip that you can see at the top of the book is created using Pure Poppy Saddlestitch ribbon. 

The paper ones are made using some other images from the Santa Stationery set.  I used the Postage Die to die cut the Santa stamp image. All of these are hot glued onto paper clips that are slightly larger than normal. I did use a glue dot for the shrinky dink because you can see the hot glue through the two layers. I had to make two, so I know! LOL!