Here are my top tips and ideas for putting together your own DIY travelers notebook journal. From inserts and covers to clips and washi tape, I show all my favorite accessories and let you know where to get them!
In my post about my bullet journal pages for bloggers, I showed my own travelers notebook and my peeps went NUTS wanting to know where I got all my cute and creative accessories, I figured why not let you in on all my secret best places to find cool and fun travelers notebook bits and bobs.
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Travelers Notebook Cover
Okay, this one is super personal but I LOVE my Dyan Reaveley Dyalog Travelers Notebook Cover
She is so cute and fun and, lets just get it out there, PINK! I love that it is bright and makes me smile to have it in my bag!
This one is made of canvas and is quite “large”, meaning that there is a big spine area that lets you put a ton of notebooks in there without the edges of the cover pulling in and exposing the notebooks inside.
I have 4 in the picture and could for sure put another two back to back and fit them in easily!
I saw a Facebook live the other day and the lady who makes these had like 10 inserts, folders, stencils and hers was about 8 inches tall!! That is too much for me to lug around, I would probably split it in two and maybe have a work planner and a family planner if I needed that many notebooks!
You can find all kinds of cool covers on Joggles or Etsy!
Travelers Notebook Inserts
Now comes the “meat” of a travelers journal… the inserts!
Yellow Paper House Inserts
When I first started with bullet journalling I found the cutest inserts on Etsy! Yellow Paper House has all different kinds of inserts and the cool thing about them is theirs are COLORED!
You can pick rainbows or gold, pastels or primary colors.
Pros of colored paper… one thing that I loved about using colored paper was that I could easily figure out which insert was which! I used a yellow/gold one for my marketing and a blue one for my planning.
Cons of colored paper… for SURE get light colored inserts. The blue you can see peeking out of the second one was WAY too dark to use, I could hardly see the writing!
Also, they have pre-printed boxes and calendars you can just pop in start using. I found this super helpful when I was just getting started and really didn't know how to use blank inserts.
Dylog Travelers Journal Inserts
Now I exclusively use the Dyan Reaveley Travelers Notebook inserts. I love them for a couple of reasons…
First they are super heavy paper that you could do artwork on (she uses them more for artwork than for planning). I like this because I can use any kind of pen and not really worry about it bleeding through. A Sharpie Ultra fine works great!
Second, I like that they are all the same color! I KNOW, funny since the first ones I got were all different colors. But I have found that I like the contents and ideas to be the star, not the inserts!
Dyan has different backgrounds like grids, dots, handwriting, etc.
The only pre-printed one I use now is the weekly Agenda which is easier than drawing out each week's days like I did last year!
I love that the different inserts have pretty, bright covers that are fun to use in my Instagram planner pictures so that I don't just have picture after picture of the exact same planner all the time!
Travelers Notebook Accessories
Now for all the different bits and bobs that make Travelers Notebooks so fun!
Folders
I LOVE that you can put a folder in to add anything that you want to carry around. I used mine for receipts while I was Christmas shopping and now I have stencils in there.
Clips & Washi Tape
Since I went to all one colored inserts, I like to have a way to separate my different sections and find my weekly agenda page.
I have a HUGE stash of washi tape that I run down the sides of planner pages so I can find them easily. You could put them on the long spine the way I do or across the top. I LOVE how colorful this makes my notebook feel without being obtrusive to my planning!
These Dylusions Creative Dyary Clips are my favorites right now, but I go back and fort with all different kinds of clips! These are a super fun way to flip right to the page you need.
Accessory Bag
Alright, I saved this one for last because it CHANGED MY LIFE!
I know it just looks like every other bag for pencils and “stuff” but it has that band across the back. This lets you “hook” it to your planner and keep all your pens, clips and tape handy!
I put mine on the back cover and it acts as a little holder for extra papers and pages that I have torn out of my notebook inserts.
If you don't get anything else today, for sure get the accessories bag!
How To Use A Travelers Notebook
Many of the items that I use are from the Dyan Reaveley Dyalog planners so I thought it would be fun to let you see her explanation of the products! Most of what I showed is this years release, but the old products are still available too a Joggles (my FAVORITE planner store!)
