Crafty Afternoon: "Fauxdori" Traveler's Notebook and Inserts

For a while now, I've been intrigued by the idea of the Midori Traveler's Notebook.  Since they're crazy expensive, I finally just broke down and bought myself a "fauxdori" from a seller on Etsy:

I loved the color, it was a good price, and it actually came with a CUTE little giraffe charm attached, which I removed with the intention of re-attaching at the bottom as a dangle-y charm.  Unfortunately, I left him on my desk at work, so he'll have to wait.  What worried me about this particular 'dori was that it was a weird size - a6.  I was right to worry, as it is almost impossible to find a notebook to fit, especially in the US.  Field notes and the small moleskines do fit, but they're much narrower than the cover, and I think it would look very strange with several inches of gap.  So today I stopped by the craft store, bought a few supplies, and set about making my own notebooks.  I wanted one to be a hobonichi-style planner/journal, and one filled with just plain drawing paper to start playing around with zentangles.  I was able to make both without too much trouble, although it was a bit of trial-and-error.

After accomplishing that, I decided to go ahead and take a big leap, and attempt to make my own fauxdori.  I had bought a scrap pack of leather, which had two pieces big enough to make either a field notes or passport size.  One piece was a beautiful gray leather, which immediately drew me to that pack in particular, and the other was a thin, rough reddish-brown.  I wanted to use the brown piece first as practice, so when I do make the gray one I'll know what I'm doing.  After only a tiny bit of struggle, I had a lovely new field notes size traveler's notebook!

Here's a size comparison of the two.  You can see how much narrower the one that I made is than the one that I bought:

And here's another comparison, this time of the spines.  Also you can see that the one I bought has a fancy metal clasp, whereas the one that I made just has knots tied on the inside that you can't see here.

All in all, it was a fun experience.  I can't wait to make my gray one, which will probably be the main one I use once it's all set up.  For the time being, I'll be using the one that I bought.  It's still a great little notebook, and I would highly recommend the Etsy seller - I'll link her shop if I can figure out how!  She communicated with me quickly and honestly, and her shipping was super-fast.  I would just know, from now on, to buy a more standard size.

Now, for the links!  That is, assuming I can figure out how to make links:)  I know alot of the stuff I've mentioned in this post is probably Greek to alot of people, especially if you're not a planner nerd like me.  So if any of these things interest you, here are some resources to check out:

First off, you might want to know exactly what a Midori Traveler's Notebook is.  A google search will turn up plenty, but I think this video explains it better than anything else I've seen.  Brian Goulet's videos just always seem to make sense to me.  If you want to order an actual Midori, I would recommend his shop, gouletpens.com.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmUbokv1HzQ

Ray Blake, the best Midori blogger out there, has a blog called My Life All in One Place.  I used his video as a guide to make my fauxdori:

http://www.mylifeallinoneplace.com/2013/08/making-your-own-midori-style-travelers.html

He will also make a "Raydori" traveler's notebook for you if you request one, at a very reasonable price.

Here's the very useful video I used to make my own wonky-sized notebook inserts:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suQUZNRy5m8

Here's the link to The Chic Sparrow, the Etsy shop where I purchased my fauxdori:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/ChicSparrow

If you're curious about Hobonichi planners, here's a good place to get the info on them:

http://lindsaynelson.com/techo/learn.html

And lastly, since I mentioned zentangles, here's a little explanation of what they are:

http://www.zentangle.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7&Itemid=111

Okay, thanks to anyone who has actually read my super-long Midori blog post!!!