Binding My Blog Planner

I want to do a better job at posting new post to myblog.  I want toshare more with everyone.  I also need to keep my thoughts together.  Hmm, what was I saying.  Oh, yes.  So I wanted to make a blog planner forever now and just got to it.

I am using a free blog planner printable from here, http://www.infarrantlycreative.net/2012/02/free-printable-blogplanner.html. She did a wonderful job and made a video on it too.

So I wanted to make one.  I decided to make one using my binding system I got at the FPEA convention.  I was so excited to find this, that I had to take it home.  You can find it here, http://www.bindingbooksbeautifully.com/index.html.

I would love to call this a tutorial, but I think it is more of just a show how it went together.

So I got it all printed out, again I am making it just like Infarrantlycreative did her planner.  Except she went to the store to bind it and i did mine at home.

Then I got my binding things.

Next I got my covers.  I used craft card stock from just stampin up.  I like it because it is pretty sturdy.  

So here is where I just go my own way.  I love all the creations made by Lisa Cannon. If you go to her website you can see the fabric covers and man they are WOW!  For this project I really don't need a cover like that.  I am very happy to just have a good soft cover.  In the future, you will probably see a lot of soft style covers versus a hard covered fabric cover.  This is purely my preference.  I bind a lot of free books off google books.

The file folder is to create the divider for the month calendar just as she did in the video.  next I trimmed the file folder to fit the cover.

so first order of binding was the monthly calendar on the file folder.

to make it stay I used the big clips from staples.

To make sure I got the holes where i wanted them, I drew a line across the top.

I forgot to take a picture of lining it up.  In order to fit it in the bracket vise, I folded the file folder back.

here it is out and then I stitched it together.

here is the file folder altogether.  see the holes on the otherside?  that is because I had to fold it over to get it to fit in the vise

Next, I am assembling the rest of the book.  If you look close you can see that I have notebook paper at the front and back.  I like to take notes.  Now the file folder part with the monthly calendar is flipped out and the rest of the file folder is in to be bound. 

here is another view.

Then I stick it in the vise.

now i got it in and got the nails set, now take it apart.Now this is not how it is supposed to come apart.  My little engineering brain has concluded that I gripped the paper too tight and paper being wood held onto those nails pretty good. (if you want to know about this phonemina watch How stuff Works?  On Netflix about wood.).  But with some work it came apart.

Here are all my holes to stitch.

Then, I stitched and was finished.

Turned out great, have a look.

see, the monthly page can be teared off for the following month and the pad can flip out to hide the weekly pages, just as in the blog tutorial for the planner.

I like it!
I usually bind with hot glue and vices and the Your Story from Provo craft.  i like this better.  My fingers were not burned from the hot glue.  I had more control and not near the mess.  I plan to be stitching my binding from here on.

This little system runs $35 at http://www.bindingbooksbeautifully.com/order.html

Now let see if my planner gets me to do my work!  Just a hint, I now plan to bind the kids portfolio for school this year, well, if I get those portfolios done in time.

~trish
fyI - if you ever wonder why my caps are all squirrel-ly.  the monkey broke my shift key and i am still training my brain to use the shift on the right.