i think yes. no matter what you call it, it's still...
and since it's not technically monday, i think it's pretty fitting that the book i'm sharing isn't technically a mini...but more of a biggie. lol. it's a revamped sketchbook/creative planner that i've customized and tricked out to suit my personal needs...yep, i'm all about binders, planners and organizing. i'm kind of a big nerd, but i'm pretty sure you already knew that :]
disclaimer: during the photo taking (which wasn't as successful as i'd hoped- think blurry, out of whack coloring) i was still in the mindset of using this project as the basis for my next online class (which means that i didn't want to show too much...just enough for you to get the general idea)...well, that idea has changed so i'll be taking more detailed photos soon to share with you. but for now, this is what i have :]
a little backstory: i made this one almost a year ago, and although it has been my trusty sidekick and has worked fabulously for me, i'm afraid that i've outgrown it...not only that, but i've been jotting down ideas for a sketchbook facelift if you will...a newer version of it that would really blow my hair back with the sheer productivity increase :] ok, that might be exaggerating a little...
so, the biggest change is that i'm switching over to a binder (8.5 x 11) which means i can easily add to, take away from and tweak with a lot less work. the binder i chose is from target and it came with 100 sheets of lined 'banana paper' (not really sure what banana paper is but i do know this much, i love lines, bananas and paper so i'm a fan!) it's made using 100% post-consumer waste...the cover is very kraft-like and although it was a bit pricey for a binder, it's super sturdy and i feel like it'll withstand the whirling dirvish of fury that is my creative process :]
it did have flourescent orange text across the front which was not super-inspiring to look at so i recovered it...i decided that i wanted pockets on the cover so that i could change the 'decor' out on a regular basis to keep it fresh. (more on the pocket fillers in a later post- this was one of the 'class' ideas which is why i didn't photo them...yet.) i used a cute piece of october afternoon patterned paper (the background, it's green and cream, love it!), a baseball card page protector (cut the binding strip off of the side), backed the page protector with white cardstock and then the perfect hue of red-orange dmc floss.
on the inside, the first page in my binder is a calendar...once again, i used my beloved baseball card protector pages...i cut one column (of 3 pockets) off of the protector so that there are 6 pockets. i used a piece of patterned paper and a border punch to jazz up the binding strip (studio calico patterned paper)...for the little calendar blocks, i made little calendars using microsoft excel (it's 2010 calendars for now, i also made 2011 just to be prepared) and printed them on kraft, cut them to size (approx. 2.5 x 3 inches). for a little something extra, i decided to cut 2.5 x 3.5 pieces of patterned papers and adhered the little calendars to the different papers and then added the 3 letter abbreviations for each month using october afternoon alpha stickers...
the paper right behind the calendar page is the yummo banana paper...it's quite dashing really. i plan to use the lined paper for etsy ideas mainly and for the occasional stroke of random genius, ha!
now, about the dividers, i had every intention of making my own dividers (as i normally do) however, i found these super fun woodgrain dividers that are kind of plastic-y and just all around un-pass-up-able. i swoon for woodgrain. true story.
behind the 'blog' tab, i printed out several blog planning worksheets (i designed them with my blog schedule in mind)...here's what they look like...
you can click on the image above to get a closer look...i did everything in different shades of gray...mainly because i prefer really light graph/grid paper. mini book mondays- i made a lined section for notes and ideas, as well as an open block of space for doodling/sketching. wednesday is another block for the triple sketch posts. and on the backside is the freebie fridays section...i planned freebie fridays to be predominantly downloadable files to be printed :] i've given it a test run and i'm pleased to say that all systems are a go on the blog agenda pgs. yay!
the 'ltr' tab is for 8.5 x 11 layout sketches...i tweaked these just a tad by adding more space for notes next to each sketch and i also made each sketch block with gridlines this time. grid is good. so here's what they look like...oh! and they're printed front and back too :]
if you'd like the pdf's for this, you can download them here (i made a 'front' and 'back' file so that you can punch holes in them and put them in a 3 ring binder)...
i made the 12 x 12 sketch pages the same way and you can download those files here...
and for cards, i generally only do 4 x 6 cards (i rarely do them at all but just in case, i made a file for those too). you can download those here...
so, the last tab in my album is 'minis' and i've found that i prefer using plain old graph paper for sketching mini album ideas...so i just filled this section with a ton of loose leaf graph paper :]
and that's that friends! leave me a comment if you have any questions or ideas, i'd love to hear 'em...
***eta: it's now 2:25 am wednesday morning...just realized that i didn't click on the 'publish' button earlier...no, no. instead, i opted for the 'save draft' button...jeez! i think i might be loosing my grip on this blog thing, lol. anyhoo, sorry for the mix up!***
