Travel Art Kit

For awhile now, I've been wanting to put together an art journal kit that I can take out and about with me. Sounds easy right? Just throw in some paints and pens and you're good to go, right? Um, wrong. For me anyway lol
I wanted my kit to have a bit of everything - colour, texture, collagey stuff etc. And of course I wanted a cute bag to keep it all in lol It took me awhile to narrow down exactly what I wanted and what was essential, but I'm happy to say I finally have it sorted and ready to go! Wanna take a look? Be warned, this is a verrry long and image heavy post lol

** Click on the pics for a closer look **

I picked up this make-up bag from my local thrift store for a teensy $1.99 - bargain right? It's the perfect size, can easily be wiped down when it gets a little messy and I quite like the pattern too. It has three zippered compartments, and is roomy enough that I can pop a couple of journals inside aswell.

Now, lets take a closer look at the goodies inside!

The pic below shows the contents of the smaller outer pocket. These are what I consider the essentials, so having them in the front pocket means I can access them super fast.

Glue - I use a small glue stick by Bostik, called BluStik. It's small, cheap, and works great for my needs.
India Ink Pen - this is a Big Brush pen from Faber Castell. It's actually india ink, which means it's permanent when dry, but blends well when still wet. Great for titles, borders etc, and also for stamping.
Pencil - just an average mechanical pencil, my preference because I hate dealing with pencil sharpening mess lol
Scissors - No clue on the brand of these. I picked them up at my local craft store for around $7 and I love that they have a safety cover (I'm a total klutz so safety is a good thing!)
Pilot Permaball - this is my go to pen for all mixed media. It's permanent, fade resistant and writes on just about every surface. The only time I have issues is if I try to write over oil pastel, or watercolour crayons that haven't been blended with water.
Washi tape -my current obsession (though I tend to collect more than I use ... hmm...) I bought the masking tape set in the tin, and also added some of my favourites by wrapping them around shipping tags and popping them into the tin. Much easier than carrying all those full rolls!
I also carry a basic eraser (for obvious reasons) along with a note book. I use my notebook to jot down ideas and also often rip pages out to use as super simple journal cards.

These goodies below all fit into one of the inside pockets.

Gesso - Just some of my regular gesso (Art Spectrum brand) in a little container.
Paintbrushes - pretty self explanatory lol I also threw in a waterbrush to use with my Neocolours
Watercolour crayons - Caran Dache Neocolour II crayons. Blend them with water for easy, no fuss colour.
Ink - A few basic colours of Versa Colour inks. I prefer to use Stazon or Archival, but these are small and were already in my stash lol
Rewards card - this is my favourite tool. I use it like a pallette knife to scrape on gesso and colour. Compact, lightweight and it was free! lol
Paper towel - For clean ups
Baking paper - to protect the surface I'm working on, and as a great disposable pallette
Punchinella - cheap and easy stencils!
I also have a date stamp, foam stamps, stapler, a spray bottle of water adn a couple of tiny rubber stamps. All pretty self explanatory really.

And now for the other pocket - colour! This pocket will change often, depending on what my go to colours are at the time.

Paint dabbers - these are perfect for art on the go! They are acrylic paints with a sponge dabber tip so there is no need for paintbrushes at all! These ones are from Ranger.
Acrylic paints - these are little tubes of acrylic by Eraldo dePaolo. Great travel size, affordable and available in a huge range of colours.
Distress stain - Love this! Made by Ranger, this is a liquid form of Tim Holtz's distress inks, with a sponge tip so you can easily apply a wash of colour over your page. These aren't permanent, so you need to keep that in mind when layering - anything wet will activate again.
Pens - just some cheapie fine tip pens form my local discount store.

In the main part of the bag, I have popped in two journals, a baggie of stamps and a small folio filled with goodies. These last few pics give you a look at those. No description for these pics though, as I think it's pretty self explanatory lol

So, there it is. My travel art kit...and a very long winded description of it lol Pretty sure I covered everything, but if you have any questions at all, don't hesitate to ask! If you have a travel kit or similar, I would love a peek - be sure to link me up in the comments!

Til next time, happy arting,

Lita xo