Planning binder

I started with an old black textured binder.
The binder has a cookbook put together by a Portland area church in the mid to late 70's, while I love vintage recipes I need the binder more, so the recipes moved to a box with a binder clip securing them and the binder began the process of being re-purposed.   I love the 1/2 size binders so projects like this one. Avery has come out with a line of 1/2 sized binders in various colors and clear overlays to insert you own decorations. Fun yes, but right now I was trying to spending as little as possible on the project.

  I added 2 sample painter testers in the perfect colors.  Thanks to a recent coupon specific to Walmart I was able to pick up these paint testers for $.84 each after the coupon. These are great because they have a built in brush.  I know this is not the intended use for these but you can beat the price and the having a built in brush makes them easy to use for just about any project I want to do.

Since my mission was to spend as little as possible on this project I searched my scrapbook paper stash and pulled out 4 sheets of cardstock to fold and create pocket dividers to hold brochures, notes, etc.. I have a heavy duty old school 3 hold punch designed for the 1/2 size binders so making these was super easy. I started with a 12 x 12 piece. Folded up the bottom to create the pocket (about 3 3/4 inches) then folded the piece in half creating a piece 8 1/4 x 6. I trimmed off the edge to be sure it wasn't wider than 5 1/2  and hold punched the open edge of the paper.  Super easy and can be as plain or decorative as the paper you have... The pictured piece happens to be a piece from my Creative Memories stash. The other 2 pockets in the binder are basic Basil colors of textured cardstock.

A couple of weeks ago I scored 2 packages of monthly divider tabs at my local Staples. On clearance each pack was only $.50. They are plain white which for this project is fine..  The second package went into my son's school planner and he decorated each month with some funky hip hop stickers we scored on the same shopping trip.  Also remember to check the clearance aisle at your favorite stores. I have scored some awesome deals lately.


I printed a blog planner calendar for July (I started this project in time for the Ultimate Blogging Challenge this month) through December 2011. (I'm thinking of just a basic weekly planner pages for 2012).

I included some blank pages for sketching and doodling on as well as some ruled paper to take notes one, jot ideas, and outline articles.