....I started this year (actually back in December) thinking about what I wanted for a planner or journal or art journal. Several years ago, I picked up a 5 x 8 journal with grid paper inside. It was on a sale table and worked really well for just writing, which is all I wanted it for at the time. I was lucky enough to find a few more pretty cheap over the years, and as time went on, I was adding more to the pages than just writing. Not a lot, but strips of washi tape I had purchased, tags from gifts, stamped images from stamps I got, etc.
So I started looking for a grid journal for 2017, but struck out at the office supply stores. I looked at alternatives. I looked at the Midori Traveler's Notebooks. I looked at the Hobonichi Techno planner. These were appealing to me, but I was on the fence, since I couldn't hold one first and look at it. I was only seeing them online.
I finally decided to order a Moleskine grid journal. I wasn't able to hold one of those either, but I was pretty sure I knew what I was getting. When it arrived, I was surprised that it was pretty much exactly the same as the cheap grid journals I had used for years, except that it wasn't $5. In fact, it was so similar, I think the cheap ones I've been using are knock-offs of the Moleskine and maybe that's why I can't find them anymore.
I put it aside for the time being, but as 2017 got closer, I started thinking about how I wanted this one to have more, to work better for me and all the things I wanted to put in it. That reminded me of the Art to the 5th artists and the journal/planner they did back in 2014. I wasn't in on that year's journal, but remember how fascinated I was with what they were doing. And it led me to sign up for their Documented Life Journal in 2015 and their Documented Life UnPlanner in 2016.
See their 2014 planner (here).
Around that same time, I saw a post on Instagram by Lorraine Bell, who originally came up with the planner they were doing. I immediately signed up for her $12 class, Plan-Journal-Play, where she shows exactly how they set up their planner. See her planner (here).
They used a Moleskine planner, but I figured my Moleskine grid journal would work the same. The only thing I would like to do differently is get the soft cover rather than the hard cover. This journal is already so thick, I'm not sure it will survive the year-long journey without the spine cracking. But there's a fix for that if it comes to that, and I could end up with an interesting cover!
So I punched out some tabs for the months, and I added lots of extra fold out pages, attached with lots of colorful washi tape, and I'm excited to see if this works for me this year.
I'm not affiliated with the websites I provided, nor do I get anything in return for referring anyone there. But I have taken lots of free classes from these ladies (and some paid ones too), and since they have been so generous, I try to throw business their way when I can.
Stay tuned to see where this planner/journal takes me this year!
