Stitched Cover

I haven't posted the cover I made for the journal I am using for 2018.  I made the cover to fit the larger size 12-month Hobonichi.

I made this after taking an online class with Mary Ann Moss called Stitchbookery.  I've always liked her no-rules fun classes, and I adapted sone of the techniques for this particular cover.

The base of the cover is a medium weight canvas, which comes in a pad (Fredrix brand).  I cut a piece to the size I needed, then to that I sewed all the elements I used.  The spine is lightweight leather, and the rest is a combination of scrapbook papers, vintage postage and envelopes, old photo, and map.  The cover folds inward to make two end pockets into which the Hobonichi end covers slide.  The cover could be reused - "could", but if I do this again I'll probably make a new cover, just to have something different.

Here are some pictures:

Fall Colors

It's been far too long since I had play time.  I just needed to paint something.  So I got out some paint and stencils and spent a few minutes painting in my planner/journal.  I tried to leave enough room for writing :)

If it's August...

I should be finishing up the laundry... but instead I am playing in my planner...

 I should be packing, but instead I'm setting up a little travel journal.  I wonder if the Field Notes notebook will be too small.  I'll give it a try!

Happy 25th Year, Stampaway USA!

February Planner Pages

Playing catch up today and took pictures of my planner pages for February.  Just the normal--a little stenciling, a little stamping and painting, using anything lying around within reach!

 (Above right background art is by Lorraine Belle and is a free download as part of her online class which I took to make this journal/planner. For Info, click here.)

January Planner Pages

Hello again.  I know it looks like I'm doing nothing these days, but I do work on my planner pages each week.  Thought I would post the pages from January.  Nothing fancy, just feeling my way around this format and getting used to it.

Stamped on the first page.

How to fix a mistake when you realize you put 2016 in your 2017 planner.  I'm pretending I meant to do it that way!

January week 1.  Word of the year is Transform.  I didn't want a word of the year, but it keeps popping up everywhere I look!

January week 2.  I used the days of the week words I carved last year.

January week 3.

 January week 4.

Life is unsettled in my world right now, and playing in this planner is really good for me.  It's not too demanding, and I can play a little here, a little there, as I get time.  I'm enjoying it!

Plans Change

Some notes on how I prepared my planner/journal for this year.

Once I decided on my journal with the grid pages, I wanted to make the pages a little stronger to take whatever media I put on them.  I made sure I had enough pages available, then I used glue stick to glue every 2 pages together.  I ended up with pages that are double thickness and which should stand up well.

Another thing I did was to play around with calendar layouts in the back of the book on spare pages.  I worked on layouts for a full month calendar spread, and also the weekly calendar page.  I was pretty proud of myself, putting so much thought into my journal!

 After I had my full month sized out, I went to the front and drew out January and was getting ready to ink it in.  Then I realized that when I glued my pages together by 2's, I totally forgot to factor in the 12 monthly spreads I would need.

I have no problem changing plans before they even get started!  I decided I didn't really need separate calendars for each month.  So I went to Mr. Internet and searched for free printables and found a calendar that was bright and colorful.  I put that on the page that had originally been intended for a January double page spread.  I added some fun washi tape at the bottom.

I like the way it turned out.  Works just fine!

Making a Plan(ner)

Once upon a time in the land of planners....

....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!