I made a blog post notebook before and it worked quite well. It was the perfect size to fit in my handbag and jot ideas down on the go. But I still didn't think it worked well at organising myself any better. I still keep that little notebook with me, it's where I write down all my ideas, brainstorm and then after that when I have a finished/final idea for a post, I then put it into this book and tick off what I've done and what needs to be done.
So here is how I created my new blogging book/diary.
Step
one & two – Once I had chosen the paper I wanted to cover my
notebook with I cut around the front and back covers leaving about an
inch or so around the edges.
Step three & four – I'm not too pleased with the fact that I couldn't cover the binder/spine. I did try to but I think once the notebook is open the paper would rip in that area and get damaged. I folded along the length of the paper and stuck it besides the spine with glue. I then folded the rough edges over on the inside of the cover and glued them down. Almost like you're wrapping up a present.
Step
five – repeat step three and four.
Step
six – I wanted to make sure the edges were properly stuck down as
they're slightly “bulky” so I popped bulldog clips on those
edges whilst the glue dried.
Step
seven & eight – I wanted to personalise the cover a little,
just to make it more fun and appealing to use (is that really sad of
me?) I saw this image in a magazine a while ago and cut it out to use
in a scrapbook. I thought it would be perfect for the cover of my
blogging book and I think it works really well. I had a lot of room
left at the top and I wanted something on the cover that would state
exactly what this book is. So I cut a speech bubble out of white
printing paper.
Step
nine & ten – Using a black Sharpie pen I outlined the speech
bubble to make it look neater and I guess almost cartoon like.
Step
eleven & twelve – I then glued the speech bubble down and wrote
“blogging book” on the front. [as you can so obviously see]
Step
thirteen & fourteen – I had a few cut outs from magazine of
textures and clothes that I was going to put into a scrapbook. I used
this one of a model (love the colours of the clothes!) and added yet
another speech bubble. I just wanted to make it fun. I then covered the back with the same steps as three, four, five and six.
Step
fifteen and sixteen – Now was the time to figure out how I wanted
to layout my pages. I wanted enough room to write blog titles down
and include tick boxes as I know ticking things off lists ect is
something that works for me when organising things. There is
something very satisfying about drawing a tick. I can tick off when I have taken photos for a blog post, written the post up and scheduled it. Then tick it off once it has been published.
I think I'm going to play around a little more with the layout of the pages but overall I'm really happy with my blogging book :) I've got LOADS of paper in this book so I'm thinking of adding in sections where I can brainstorm ideas or write other bits and pieces in. Is it really geeky that I get so excited by these things?
Do you have a blogging book or diary you use when keeping ontop of your blog? Do you have any tips for staying on top of it? I'd love to know how other people plan their blogs so please share you tips and tricks :)
With Love,
Sian xx
