So – I’m late to the party,

...

--- as usual…

[said in my best Eeyore voice…]

But it seems like EVERYONE is using take-offs of the 

midori traveler’s notebooks  these days ---
[not an endorsement of this seller - 
just a link to show what I'm talking about -
I know nothing about this specific cite. ]

I know you’ve seen them – even if you’re not aware of the origin…

AND they are really cute, and handy, and easily transportable. 
Ha. [Is that a word?]

 Somehow, I seemed to have started collecting them – lol – 

Mostly from the Illustrated Faith Kits – but from some other sources too…. 
And I remembered Debby Schuh sharing 
a little tutorial back in the day 
[now a class she teaches around THE WORLD] 
about a fun way to corral them, and also 
Christy Jordan sharing how she just made her own…

And I thought to myself – It’s a wonderful life.

Truly – isn’t it wonderful that we have ALL OF THESE RESOURCES right at our fingertips?

But I really thought to myself, Hey - I can do that too!
That’s when I starting googling, or binging, or yahooing… 
and realized that the whole take-off began about two years ago. 
[Seriously – lots and lots of blog posts from 2014 about how people are using them!]

 So this is my take of it – ha.

 

I’ve had a couple of children’s books tucked away for this use since 
Debby’s original post – so I decided to GET BUSY. 

 First I had to gut the book – It’s easily done with scissors 
[An exacto knife would make quick work of it also!] 
 
Using a thumb tack to make the holes on the spine, and a giant embroidery needle to hold the elastic, I threaded and tied until I had five bands down the middle of the book.

I also added a little charm to the binding… Then I just tucked the book[let]s inside. 
The elastic you see sticking out is from a piece I used to tie it shut - I rarely use it now, as it mostly stays closed on its own...

 I have five little notebooks in mine – 

 1] a travel highlights / diary / planner [Enjoy the Little Things – Together] – 
I'm using a couple of pages each month to highlight our little trips [to jog my memory for when I scrapbook them later - ]

 I made this one – So easy – just measure and cut patterned paper for the outside and plain paper for the inside – You could easily use grid paper, or lined paper as well.

 2] An Illustrated Faith Devotional [right now it’s “Blessings or Lessons.”] 
You can see I added tabs to each book...

 3] My daily food counter [– Looking Good -]  I made this one too!
[I need to make peace with this whole healthy body thing - ha]

  It’s not all professional looking – but I love having a place to track the foods I need to be putting into my body [hello oatmeal and tuna and milk – lol] 
Eat to live, not live to eat
and all that, you know -- 

 I also track my exercise by putting a little yoga / walking icon 
on those days that I get going.

  4] Is blank right now – but I plan to use it for Daily Pages .
 [- Right Now –] where I just spend a few moments letting the words flow out… 
[Is that from The Artist’s Way?]
Or to track the blog posts I plan... It’s one I got from Amy Tangerine.

 And 5] Another one from Illustrated Faith that I use for – Prayer – 
[Amen – Amen – Amen] where I do a little ‘prayer mapping’ 
[my term, I think – ha] 
to stay focused during my conversations with God…

So that’s it – and I love that my book is titled- Angel in Charge It made me think of the verse, “For He will order his angels to protect you wherever you go.” 
- Psalm 91:11, New Living Translation – 
In fact, I’ll probably do a little printable with that verse and put it on the inside cover… 
Other people add pockets, pen holders, photo pages, etc. 

There are lots and lots of ways to make it your own. 
And I love that you can swap the notebooks out at any time!
[The most important thing is to choose a book that is the right size to cover your notebooks.]

Let me know – 
Have you been using these for a while now? 
How do use them – daily? Weekly? For Travel or journaling?

I’d love to hear your ideas!