Tag: travel

Creative Companion Book Binding DIY

November 23, 2019

I just received my personal copy of the 2020 Creative Companion in the mail and am pretty excited to get it ready for the new year ahead. My 2019 Creative Companion (which will disappear from Amazon at the end of the year) turned out to be quite valuable to me and I used it to plan out all of my projects, keep track of my art supplies, and more.

Though the book was originally designed with coloring book enthusiasts in mind, there are many ways you can customize this journal to fit your own creative needs whether you are a coloring book fanatic or not. If you like to sew, for example, you can use the book to save instructions and even fabric swatches. Jot down your ideas for projects and tape pics you grab from magazines to the pages. You can even stick yarn or embroidery thread samples to the charts in the back of the book. Although there are several pre-designed charts for colored pencils, there are plenty of blank charts, too. Use them however you like!

Check out the flip-through review by Paula Stone Leach to learn how she plans to use to book for her projects – very helpful!

Speaking of colored pencils … even if you are not a coloring book fanatic, grab a set of colored pencils anyway. Faber-Castell Polychromos work beautifully for me on the paper in these books, though any colored pencil brand is perfectly fine. I find that coloring the small pieces of art helps me not only relax, but also encourages new ideas. The Creative Companion is less for coloring masterpieces than for playing with colors and sparking creativity. No one has to see what’s in your journal, so take chances, experiment, and get your wild ideas down on paper.

You can, of course, use the 2020 Creative Companion as it is in simple book form. But you also have the option of deconstructing it for use in a binder or binding system. Once the spine is cut off the book, you can either have it bound at your local office supply store, or punch holes in the pages and insert them into a ring binder of your choice. You could also use a “discbound” system which uses a series of discs to keep the pages bound together. If you are not familiar with this system (which is super customizable) check out this article for a great overview. And check out the Cira disc-bound notebook system, too.

Why bother cutting up a book and putting it back together? I like flexibility! I like being able to add and subtract and move things around as needed and for me, using a ring-binder is ideal. Most of the time, the binder lives on my desk flipped open to my current project notes. But I also like being able to flip to my calendars and to my color charts easily while working on art. And I like that I can toss the whole thing in a bag and take it on the road. It holds my most important numbers, information about all my books, ideas for future projects, etc.. It’s where all my essentials live.

Since I am looking forward to filling up my 2020 Creative Companion, I thought it would be a good idea to show you how I deconstruct it and put it all back together in case you wish to try this DIY binding yourself at home.

I recorded a bunch of steps off-the-cuff to give you an overall feel for how this will work and I ramble a bit, of course. I am not a professional videographer and don’t aspire to being one so pardon my skills in that department. But do give each of the steps a watch before you start cutting up your own book!

Step 1: Before you start:

  • Consider having your local office supply do it for you!
    Ask them about your CUTTING / binding options (i.e. spiral-bound, ring-bound, etc.)
    Make sure they cut as close to the spine as possible

Step 2: Bind at Home – Tools Needed:

  • Consider the size of the folder / binder you wish to use.
  • The Creative Companion measures 7.5 inches wide by 9.25 inches tall by about 3/4 ” thick
  • Make sure you have the basic tools needed:
    Metal ruler
    Paper hole punch
    X-acto or other sharp metal blade
    Cutting matt (I use an Omnigrid (from JoAnn Fabric)

Step 3: What Type of Binder?

  • Large or small?
    Bigger = more room for stuff (depending on ring size), better edge protection
    Smaller = more portable
  • Determine ring number and placement (i.e. 3-ring, 4-ring, 7-ring, etc.)
    What type of paper punch will you need to put holes in your pages?
  • Consider ring size: This is the diameter of the rings themselves. A 1.5″ to (better yet) 2″ ring is ideal for the 2020 CC which has 333 pages.
    My new binder has a 1.25″ ring diameter – okay but not ideal. I highly suggest going a little bigger so you can more easily insert additional pages and pockets.

Step 4: Assessing the new binder

My new binder (a 7.5″ x 9.5 x 2″ deep Franklin Planner) uses 7 rings. I don’t have a 7-ring paper punch so I’ll need to use my single-hole paper punch! In this video, you can see my 2019 CC inserted into my new binder to check the fit.

Step 5: Time to make the cuts!

  • Pay attention to the natural fold line:
    Not too close to the very edge because of the glue in the spine.
    Make sure you are cutting on a surface you are not worried about scratching.
    Line up ruler along the fold line.
    Press down on the ruler firmly and keep fingers and thumb out of the way.
    Pull blade firmly down edge of ruler a few times.
    Pull loose cover and first few pages off book.
    Set pages aside and pay attention to page order.

Step 6: Keep cutting!

Use new cut edge as your guide.
Take your time.
Keep pages in order.

Step 7: Still cutting …

Tip: stay as tight to the edge as possible.

Step 8: Still cutting …

Tip: trim off little slivers of paper that may get in the way so you can keep a straight edge.

Step 9: Final cuts!

Bend back spine to give you a little more space.
Be sure you firmly hold book so it doesn’t slide around while cutting.
Consider trimming the inside edge of your book if you like.

Step 10: Making a hole punch guide

Use heavy card stock or plastic and cut to size of book cover.
Line up guide in your binder to figure out where the holes should go. Center to the top and bottom of your binder and make sure the holes will all fit on the page.
Mark the holes.
If you don’t have a plastic pocket or folder that already fits your binder, draw a line 1/4″ from the inside edge of your page. Each hole should be punched 1/4″ from the edge of the paper.

Step 11: Punch your guide holes

Match up to guide/template to book and binder again to be sure everything lines up properly.
NOTE: Once you are happy with the template, write “TOP FRONT” on the side of the template that will face you – the holes should be on the left (the inside edge). You may have a little more (or less) space between the top hole and top edge of your guide depending on how you lined everything up. Be sure you punch all pages using the guide from the same side. See Step 13 for how I messed this up! 😉

Step 12: Keep punching and keep your pages in order!

Pay attention!

Step 13: Keep punching

Step 14: Punching and trimming excess paper

Yep, my hands are getting a little stiff but not bad…

Step 15: Final punches!

Step 16: Putting the pages in the binder

I mistakenly said my rings were 1.5″ – they are 1.25″ so I ended up having to take a few pages out. You’ll see, at the end of the video, I popped my rings open because I had too many pages in the binder.

Come to find out, once I enlarged my punch holes a little bit, I could fit those pages back in. Necessity is the mother of invention, yes? Since the single-hole punch I used has a rather small circle, the first holes I punched didn’t allow my pages to flip freely enough. Enlarging my holes seemed to greatly help and I could even add in my November and December pages from my 2019 CC to finish off this year. Bonus!

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Old 2019 CC at top in black binder, new 2020 CC in blue binder

Tabs: I love tabs! I pick them up on sale at places like Target and love them because they make it easier to find things in books, and many of them are removable so you can move them around as needed.

2020_bookstabs

I used one on my Index page and started a list of the books I have published so far, plus a list of simple notebooks I’d like to make soon.

I like to use pencil in my Index so I can more easily make adjustments if needed. I tried to keep a lot of open spaces in the Index of the CC so you have room to add whatever entries you need to stay organized.

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The back of my planner has pockets for my sticky tabs – yay!

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Here’s how my books pages turned out. I like having a quick reference to my ISBN numbers, publication dates, sizes, how many pages are in each book, etc..

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By the way, it wasn’t until I finished taping little thumbnails of my books to these pages that I realized I have illustrated and published 9 books in 14 months! Of course, 3 of them are simple notebooks, but still. I used the whale on page 89 to write myself a little motivational reminder to help keep me moving forward with my goals to eventually be able to support myself doing what I love to do.

Life is short – enjoy each and every day!

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And use your planner to keep track of those days however best works for you!

 

Links that can help get you thinking …

2020 Creative Companion Flip-through and Review by Paula Stone Leach

How to use the 2019 Creative Companion

2019 Creative Companion Flip-through and review

 

How to Use the 2019 Ruby Charm Colors Creative Companion

November 26, 2018

Need a place to keep all your creative ideas and colored pencil lists / charts in one handy place? The newest addition to the Ruby Charm Colors project just might be the ticket—especially if you love to color, write, and stay organized.

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Original colored pencil art for the book cover, and the proof copy of the Creative Companion.

This unique 209 page book, which conveniently fits in most bags since it’s a little smaller than the Volume 1 & 2 Adult Coloring Art Journals, was designed especially for adult coloring book fans who need a place to keep all their notes and supply lists organized. While there is no right or wrong way to use the book, it is a place for you to explore (and keep track of) your creative ideas throughout the year through writing, coloring and even sketching.

Because this book is geared toward adult coloring book fans, there are formatted charts for seven of the most popular colored pencil brands (Polychromos, Prismacolor, Luminance, Pablo, Coloursoft, Holbein and Irojiten) and formatted charts for four popular watercolor pencil brands (Inktense, Albrecht Durer, Museum, and Neocolor II).

A big thank you goes out to the RubyCharmColors Facebook coloring community for helping me out with the “pencil poll”—the coloring experiences and knowledge you all shared with me has been very helpful!

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The Holbein colored pencil chart – ready to be filled in with your own pencils

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The Caran d’Ache Luminance pencil chart. I drew sloppy stars next to a few colors I need to order when I have a chance, and I also plan to mark which pencils I have more than one of. This will be super handy when it comes time to order more.

For each of the brands in the book, I included information about how the pencils are packaged in sets and how many total colors there are. There are also plenty of empty charts to fill in with additional pencil brands, and those charts include “space counts” on each page to help you take some of the guess work out of deciding how many pages you need to add your other brands. You can use these pages for swatches, but you can also (if you purchase your pencils individually or a few at a time like I do) use the charts to keep track of the pencils you have and what you still need or want.

I have accidentally ordered duplicates of some of my pencils, so I plan to use the charts to keep track of them so I don’t do it again—especially since I am on a budget. And I plan to jot down prices and other notes about my pencils. Keep this book handy at your desk, or take it along while shopping in your favorite art supply stores if needed.

As mentioned earlier, the book also has a section dedicated to charting popular watercolor pencil and pastel brands (Inktense, Albrecht Durer, Museum, and Neocolor II), a few blank charts, and room for charting out your gel pens. There are even black pages included throughout the book for swatching and charting your lighter colored pencils and pens.

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I used a mix of colored pencils, some pearlescent paint, and lots of gels pens to color this fish. There are a number of illustrations on black to experiment with in the book, so don’t be afraid to tackle them and make your colors leap off the page!

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I like to use small self-stick / removable tabs to mark the pages I use most often in my books. They can be found at most stores that carry office supplies.

In addition to all the charts, there is plenty of room to make lists, jot down ideas and techniques you want to try, tally up the coloring books you have (and want to get your hands on), or even make lists of your favorite YouTube colorists to follow. If you are addicted to social media, you can keep track of your favorite arty accounts. Or you can list your coloring or art projects and use the book to set goals for yourself.

You can even set it up like a bullet journal if you would like. If you are not yet familiar with bullet journals, you can check them out here and here for helpful overviews, and there are numerous websites dedicated to getting you started—just do a quick search. Some of the common features in a bullet journal are already done for you (like the index and calendars) in this book, but there should be enough free space to design the book the way you want.

The Creative Companion includes a yearly calendar overview for 2018 – 2020 (so you can easily look back or look ahead), plus 12 monthly calendars printed on black pages. You can write on them with pencils or gel pens, or simply use them as a reference and write down your important dates and events on the monthly highlight page next to it.

Like many of you, I use the calendar on my cell phone to set important reminders and keep myself organized day-to-day, but there are some things I wouldn’t (or simply can’t) put on my smart phone. It doesn’t let me be messy. I still like to write things down and love the feel of a book in my hands. The tactile nature of messing about with pens and pencils just can’t be replaced by electronics.

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Opaque gel pens, metallic gel pens and light colored pencils work best when writing or drawing on black. The back side of each month includes a full page illustration for coloring and the black page helps prevent the design from showing through.

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Each month in the book has a highlights page, plus lined pages for notes.

Oh gosh—I nearly forgot: there are lots of illustrations to color. Over 70! Some are small for those times you just want to play for a bit. Maybe while stuck on the phone, or when relaxing at a coffee shop, or while waiting for an appointment. Take it on vacation if you’d like because it can be a great little travel companion, too. Other illustrations fill up an entire page and allow for more sustained coloring sessions.

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I started coloring one of the leopards with a little watercolor and glittery gels pens. While the paper can handle some water, always use a protective sheet underneath. Same with markers as bleed-through can occur—better safe than sorry!

This book is meant to be used and get messy!

Don’t be too concerned if your book gets a little dog-earred and scruffy because it means you are exercising your creative side. The illustrations in the book are meant for playing with color and inspiring ideas so you can take things a step further if you wish.

My other two books, the Ruby Charm Colors Adult Coloring Art Journals, Volumes 1 & 2, have larger illustrated pages for your coloring masterpieces, and I also have PDFs on Etsy of all my illustrations for coloring if you are interested in printing on higher quality paper and card stock. The Creative Companion is just that—a companion.

Adult coloring has been popular for quite some time now, and I think it is exciting to see how many of you are taking your colorings to the next level by exploring patterns, texture, new techniques and new media to incorporate with your colored pencil work. It is healthy and satisfying to take part in the creative process, even if the bare bones are the simple lines of another artist like me. You have the ability to bring your own vision to a piece and fill it with your own magic.

Cheers to creativity, everyone! And if you have questions, comments (or even suggestions for my 2020 Creative Companion), please leave a note below!

New “Creative Companion” for 2019 hitting Amazon soon!

November 14, 2018

After months of work, my third book, the Ruby Charm Colors Creative Companion: 2019 Organizer and Coloring Art Journal, will be available on Amazon just before Thanksgiving. It is a cousin to the Ruby Charms Colors Adult Coloring Art Journals, but more geared toward journaling and keeping track of your creative needs.

As an artist of adult coloring pages, and as someone who loves colored pencils, I wanted to design a book that could keep all my creative necessities together—things like lists of pencils and other art supplies I have and need, calendars to help me keep track of projects, events and appointments, room to make yet more lists of things to do, blog post ideas, project goals, new techniques to try, a list of YouTube videos and podcasts I want to check out, and more. I can do a lot of that on my phone, but sometimes it is nice to have a real book—especially for the pencil charts. And yep, it’s also a book you can doodle and color in.

After getting to know so many wonderful people in the coloring community, I realized others might be interested in a book like this, too. Something that’s big enough to write in when needed and color in when the mood strikes, yet small enough to toss in a bag for trips to the art store (have it, have it, need it, want it) and compact enough to pack in a carry-on for vacations so you’re never too far from a creative outlet.

It is a book that’s meant to get messy. Fill it up with scribbles, colors, ideas! Let it become your well-worn, dog-eared friend.

The book is currently going through review, and once it is ready for sale, I’ll post an update and show you the actual book. In the meantime, you’ll have to be satisfied with a picture of the cover ….

Creative Companion RubyCharmColors

The Ruby Charm Colors Creative Companion: 2019 Organizer and Coloring Art Journal

 

 

 

 

 

My kind of plein air

June 11, 2018

This post is a little off the beaten path for someone who spends her days with pencils in hand and her bum planted on a five-wheeled twirly chair in the studio. But sometimes following a new road can be provoking.

A few nights ago, my husband and I hopped on his bike and took a ride to see his sister a few hours away. We left around 2:30 in the afternoon and the weather was perfect for riding–not too hot (a heavy black leather jacket can be torture)–not too cold (said jacket might as well be made of cobwebs and tissue paper when the temps drop). It was just cloudy enough to keep the glare from the sun at bay.

We made our way though Traverse City (which during the summer months is never fun due to the explosion of tourist traffic and a string of red lights) and then headed north on a few less traveled roads that connect a smattering of tiny towns that, after winter naps, spring to life to service and entertain the summer cottagers. Farms and lake houses. Woods and fields, A visual delicacy for an artist, but it was all the smells that turned the ride into a sensory feast.

Every turn and dip and hill along the road–every change in wind speed and direction and temperature–brought a rush of different smells: honeysuckle, newly cut grass, a blast of freshly laid asphalt, lake, pasture, tilled soil, cows, BBQ, cherry blossoms, pine trees, diesel exhaust, dry meadow weeds, fish, someone’s campfire … a kaleidoscope of odorifics.

You miss all of this when you are encased in the sterile bubble of a climate-controlled car.

Being on a motorcycle, plein air, changes everything. There is no buffer, no protection. No window to peer from. No knobs to adjust the air flow. The wind is loud and in my face. My senses are heightened and I feel weightless as we pass by trees, fields and rolling hills. Fancy houses, dilapidated shacks, stores, bars, cars, tractors and semis. We glide past them all and only hear the rush of air around our helmets and the glorious hum of the boxer.

I feel secure on my seat all the while knowing I could literally fly into the air at any moment. Scrape my hands and elbows into hamburger. Never be able to draw or paint again. Maybe worse. But perhaps being on a motorcycle, mere inches from the unforgiving pavement and just one mishap away from oblivion, is a righteous and needed wake up call. We are mortal. Everything could end in a second. I turn my head and and give the tail-gaiter behind us the evil eye even though I know he can’t see my face. I try to tell him, telepathically, that I have more art to create, a young daughter to raise, a son who’ll be getting married before too long. I vow to stay on the course I recently set for myself. Reaffirm that dying with regrets about the should’ve-would’ve-could’ves is, for me, worse than living the safe, un-examined life.

Those fleeting thoughts make me feel alive and appreciative of having what I have in this world.

After stopping for dinner and then finishing off the last hour of the trip, I got off the bike, pulled that tight helmet off my head, and unzipped my jacket. I could see our dogs at the front door, excited for our return. I felt exhilarated. And after sitting at my desk an awful lot the past few weeks, I felt recharged.

Please take care this summer and always watch out for motorcycles – you never who who’s under that alien-looking helmet. Somebody’s mom, dad, best friend, son or daughter. Or maybe just a girl who loves to draw.