Simple Solutions: DIY Weekly Planner

It's freaking July already! You may remember this post earlier in the year lamenting the fact that my favorite Moleskine planner is no longer in production. As a result, I got desperate creative and made my own.

Just finished my third and, I gotta tell you, in many ways it's better than the original Moleskine. It has the added feature of being an original - as colorful or plain as I want. Of course, I don't do plain. But you get my drift. 

Here's a little peek and how I made it work for me.

I decided to make my third planner cover July through December. With that in mind, I needed to create this booklet using signatures (sections of folded paper as opposed to one booklet with one set of folded pages. Each set is called a signature). 

This booklet has four signatures. Each signature covers two months with the fourth being plain paper for adding extra notes. I used this tutorial for connecting the signatures to create the finished text block. 

Note: Since this is a planner and not a "forever" book, I took an easier route when connecting the text block with the outer cover. Here's what I did...

Once the text block was created, I attached it to the outer cover by stitching in and out, down once and then back up through to the center of the booklet using my waxed linen. (Similar to how you would create your first signature.) Once I went down and then back up I knotted the linen on the outside to form the finished booklet. Comment below or contact me if you'd like a more detailed explanation.

Now for the features...

(Source for Calendar Printouts)

I prefer the weekly planner. At the beginning of each month I attach a fold over month-at-a-glance page. I put a tab at the top of each one to easily find it. The image above shows the month open. Below it's shown closed. 

Again, using the weekly overview available through Scattered Squirrel, I show each week on one side and a blank page for notes and/or sketches on the opposing page. This took a bit of creative tweaking. Using Photoshop, I created a page with one week printed only on the left side. I flipped the page over and reprinted it, again, with the week printed on the left side, leaving the right side blank.

One of my favorite features of Moleskine is the back pocket. To make this, I used a greeting card envelope, again tweaked into an expanding envelope by replacing the lower part with an accordion folded piece of paper. The upper flap keeps important things safely tucked away.

That's it! July - December completed and ready for use.