 How are you today? All right So if you're seeing this video, then the journal flip video has already aired Where I show all of my journals documenting or recording my year, which I really kind of started doing in 2014 I sort of combined art journaling smash booking scrapbooking Junk journaling Maybe all into one thing. I don't know what to call it. I still don't know what to call it I started with using a small delusions journal. This is 2015. It was just easy to grab There's no rhyme or reason and if you want to see all of them you need to look at the flip video, but I Used the small delusions journal I still like using them But the problem with you doing this kind of thing in them and doing a lot of gluing and pasting and And tip-ins as they end up by the end of the year that look like this So then for 2016 I Took a cue from the people over at documented life and if you don't know who they are Oh my gosh, go look them up I'll try to remember to put a link in the description below Lots of great ideas for recording your year and your life and that sort of thing and this year They use binders not this binder a different one, but I had these and I thought mmm. That's an idea Let me try that so I tried this for 2016 and there are things like the delusions journal I love and don't love about it I have the same problem with these I had with that and then it gets too fat And because I like to take these traveling with me and I take them with me everywhere I don't just work on them only when I'm at home Taking them when they start to get really full with me in my carry-on. I always carry them on I never check my journals Is a problem I do like in that these binders are only two or three months per binder So by the time they start to get really fat and chunky like this one is That's time to start just start a new one and that aspect. I really liked about it It gave me an idea for this year, which we're going to work on setting up All right So for Christmas this last Christmas my husband got me this Which actually came with another smaller journal and hang on a second. I'm gonna go get it Okay, it's a bit teeny weeny and then this is like a traveler's notebook size and It came with this small like personal one and then it came with This pen holder, which I probably will never use I'm not sure now These are leather if you're against using leather by all means use one made out of fabric There's a tutorial here on my channel under sewing 101 for making a traveler's notebook cover out of fabric A really cute one you could do definitely do that Um Michaels makes it travelers notebook cover out of like a vinyl material So use what you have, but I think that I'm gonna do this. I like this size It's small enough to easily fit in my bag by the time it starts to get full and chunky I'll be taking the inserts out and putting new ones in and just using the cover all year and Then at the end of the year, I'll have a bunch of little booklets to put Into a box or storage thing and I kind of have an idea for that So it comes with a bunch of notebooks, which we're gonna remove We're gonna use this one It comes with the pen holder this little key was in there. I think it came with it. I don't know why Some kind of charm little You know Bro, sure Couldn't think of the name and it all comes in this nice canvas bag if you're interested in getting these I'll put the Amazon link if I can find it in the description below and there's something else in here Oh, there's spare Elastic cord so I guess if you don't like the orange cord that's in here you can change it out to this black one I don't mind the orange cord actually at all. So I'm gonna leave it. All right, and we're gonna take these out It has one with the lines and I don't have any problem with these you could use these actually I might leave one of them in I'm gonna take this middle one out and I think I'm going to It has the extra rubber band so you can get Three notebooks in here. I'm going to I Might use this this plane. This is like a craft paper one. I might use this one in here It would be nice to have the extra paper if I want to like make notes or do some journaling or maybe some doodles or something I don't know. Maybe we'll see if not. I can use these for something I have and a different one of these that I use for a messy sketch if you've seen my messy sketch videos All right, so we're not going to do to go too far with the cover or with this extra band We're going to just set it aside and now we're going to make our inserts out of craft Cardstock or manila folders something thick. I did to find out through this process I really like working on manila folder paper or cardstock something thicker I don't generally watercolor in this like I said It's more scrap bookie smash bookie kind of a thing with a little bit of doodling and acrylic paint thrown in But all of those things hold up really well To cardstock you can do all those on cardstock if I was a watery color water coloring in it Then I would need different kind of paper, but we're not so this is one folder plus a half and I think this is going to work just fine And I think that we're going to just sew down one side and then we have it where it opens on clip it So what we'll have in there is a notebook that will flip like this And I think I'm going to put my calendar here. I do did find out this year I like having a calendar in there and being able to document certain important days that happen in that month for that year So I think that'll go here Then we'll have this and This and then I can I have that I left the tab on even though it sticks out of the cover so I could put the month on there And I'm going to leave it So this is this will be able to be pulled out like that and I can work on the other side and And on this one, of course we can work on that side So I'll we're going to sew this together, but first I'm going to show you how I created this exactly Let's make a couple more. So the first thing you have to do is cut your file folders to size For the height Which is eight and a quarter inches cut this part off and I'm going to do One more I think it'd be any, you know, male envelopes whatever you have use what you have I happen to have a variety in the art room here craft paper ones regular traditional ones Give that blue ones and green ones somewhere use what you have So I'm going to do two more so I've got both of these and Then I'm going to take one of these Honestly, I actually had a leftover piece and I used that in the other one and So Let's see Ain't a quarter put all that aside because we're done cutting All right, so now we need the scoreboard and it really is better with the scoreboard You don't have to have one of course, but it's easier with the scoreboard now for this one I want This one to have the tab at the bottom this one is already at the top so I'm going to fold it this way And I'm going to start kind of backwards, so I'm going to line this up at the four and a quarter mark Am I going to do it that way? So I'm going to lift up the tab and line up this edge With a straight edge and then at the four and a quarter mark here. I'm going to score just to make it easier to fold and then Line the fold up with a straight edge and score it again. I keep doing that all the way across We're going to have a little piece here. We're going to need to trim off So we're going to take this one and we're going to do four and a quarter Fold four and a quarter And then fold this in this is that where the calendar will go Which will go in here, but we're going to have an extra piece of tab here. That's got to be cut off so Line the fold up with a four and a quarter mark Just trim that off Now of course you could trim all of these even and you could use some fancy tabs. Well, I couldn't you I like that All right, so let's do the other one The tab up so you can get that straight edge up against the straight edge of the file folder up against the straight edge of the scoreboard You hear all my devices ding ding ding All right And fold one more time and then on this one again We're going to do four and a quarter four and a quarter fold Okay, put this away Get our paper trimmer out one more time Let's line our fold here our last fold up with the four and a quarter Mark approximately Trim all that excess off so we have That one that one And then this one to figure out where I want to have this one Just want to have it be so your tabs aren't exactly right on top of each other So that you can just at a glance see which month is which That'll work. So that'll work All right So now we need to get out the sewing machine So I'm going to get out the little my little genome inexpensive one I use for paper and I'll be right back Okay, I've got the little genome out and I'm going to first test my stitches on a piece of the scrap paper And I fold it in half. So I have double layers and I'm just going to see if the Tension is good and if it's Not bunching up at the bottom. I do want to make sure I have the longest straight stitch length That's a good thing I checked because I'm on zigzag and I want D Yep D Let's try that shall we So this is an inexpensive machine. You want to go slow You are puncturing holes in the paper, which does in a sense create a weak point So you want to have the longest stitch length possible, which is why I switched it to D And that looks good. So let's get these sewn. I Have turquoise thread in here, but I like turquoise. So I'm good with that So I'm going to make sure That I have my insert Pushed up into the full its fold push up into the fold of the other outer piece and that those That fold those two fold or what I'm stitching on that line that I'm stitching right on top of that line And I'll hold my thread so I don't get a g-knot Now of course you could hand stitch this you don't have to do it on a machine, but there that looks good All right, let's do the other ones Okay, so now we have our three little booklets which will be for three months in our 2017 Journal where we're going to record our year And this is how they'll fit in here. So we're going to take the outside two of them Take the middle one and set it aside and take the outside two and we're going to hook them together with this extra rubber band Down that center line where we did our sewing Then we're going to take all of one journal and put it under this other rubber band in the cover And line it up where those two journals meet There we go, and then the third one goes underneath this extra rubber band And by the time you start gluing and pasting everything in here It's gonna really all lay in here really nicely the Like I said the tabs do stick out a bit, but I'm actually okay with that I do think I want to round off the corner on this one So whatever corner rounder you have that I have a big corner chomper, so I'm gonna use that Yeah, I like that better, and I'm okay. Like I said, I'm okay with the Edges sticking out that doesn't really bother me and I'll be able to close it Or do the tabs bother me after all that maybe the tabs do bother me I have this impulse to cut all the tabs off. I know right after I did all that to keep me them on there I am going to line it up at four and a quarter as best I can I'm gonna try to do this without taking it out again of the cover. I think I like that better Yep, I do that fits nicely in the cover I can still mark the edge front edge of each one with a little tab that sits flush That has the month on it and I like that and of course when I put them in their storage They're gonna be put in order But I think this is a lot nicer to carry around than the big binder or the small delusions journal And when it starts to get fat and full I'll just take that month out when the month is completed And so it won't be so bulky and cumbersome to carry around with me when I'm on vacation or out of town or something I think this is better. All right, so I hope that gave you some ideas. We'll be back on the next episode of Recording my year for lack of a better name if you guys think of a better name. Let me know and we will be setting this up and putting our calendars in it and That sort of thing and I will see you in the next episode So I hope you choose to join me and don't forget the most important thing Go out and have a great day. Do something nice for yourself because you deserve it and I'll see you later. Bye