I lowered the pressing rod until I couldn't go any further. My stamp was bigger than my blocks so I knew I would have to do 3 presses, and I chose to start in the middle. It is important to line everything up so that it will be balanced. I made sure the blocks were centered on top of each other. I then placed one of my metal blocks that come with the press on the frame, followed by the wet leather, then the stamp, and finally by my second block. I soaked my leather in cold water for about 10 minutes.

Leather National Parks Passport Journal.

Or you can print a template from my previous Instructable (the only differnce is that uses 5 holes across 2 cm, while this project uses 8 holes across the same 2 cm. (Did you know many libraries have Cricuts?) If you have access to a Cricut, you can use these.

2 Prong Diamond Stitching Chisel (for spacing).

Leather Stamps (1/4' Alphabet Set) (Or just 3D print the name too! Recommended).

1 Letter Sized Gold Paper Sheet (8.5' by 11').

1 12' by 12' Black Color Core Cardstock.

4 Yards (appox.) of 1 mm Mahogany Leather Cord (half for binding, half for bookmark).

28 Letter Sized Paper Sheets (8.5' by 11') 67lb White Cover Stock.

Vegtan Leather (about 3 to 4 oz) 12' by 1/2' (Yes, I know I'm mixing inches and cm, but sometimes in creation mode you just use whatever seems the most natural for that element, not thinking about the whole)

Vegtan Leather (about 5 to 6 oz) 26 cm by 15.5 cm.

The updates to this version are: 3D printed leather stamps, printed pages of states and US land marks to check off as she visits each, book mark with charm, elastic closure (lays flatter for stamping and maybe easier for youngster to operate), pockets for postage stamps and other memorabilia, cutout and foil quotes and embellishments. I was not told a name, but know the baby’s female, so just went with Miss, followed by her parents last name. I gambled at the supposed location of birth and put a diamond at the position of Denver on the Map as a signifier. The concept of this journal is symbolically giving the child the gift of travel. As I have a baby shower coming up and need a gift for my travel buddy, I thought I would revisit my first Instructable with a 2.0 version as a kind of reflective exercise before all my craft things get packed away for months during the moves. It's also been right at 5 years since I first joined the Instructables community and published my first project, which was a travel journal and also my very first project working with leather.

I'm feeling a bit sentimental and nostaligic at the moment as I'm in the process of selling my house and moving halfway across the country.

Leather travel journal