My Madori-Style FauxBonichi -The Cover

I was going through my Pintrist boards as I noticed I had several pertaining to DIY planners, book making, and other very similar topics, so I took the time to combine them all into one MASSIVE Inspirational board. As you have to select each and every pin you want to move, I had the opportunity to revisit many of the pins I had long since forgotten about. This was one of them:

I think I will use this as my cover. I found some solid spongy drawer liner I was using as a work surface modifier which didn't make it into my new work room. I plan on using that as the cover of my "FauxDori" and will attempt to over it with the jean material. Now, I know I snagged a pair of jeans from my husband before he through them away, but where could they be...

My Madori-Style FauxBonichi -The Plan

Before I became a stay-at-home parent, I worked a "9 to 5" in an office. I liked the stand alone, spiral-bound, floppy calendars my company would supply each year, but didn't like that I couldn't add to it or reorganize it like a you could with the FiloFax/Dayrunner ring-bound setup.

Then I found Office Max & Martha Stewart's (Levenger has one as well) disc-binding system, which uses discs and specialty holes to create a really nice and very flexible binding system similar to (but SO much better than) a spiral bound book. 

After I found that, the search was on for  a better calendar format. I had no use for the plan every hour of your day, I just answered the phones and "pushed paper." But still needed a calendar for meetings, events, appointments, etc. I watched countless YouTube videos of artists and others making their own out of this, that, and the other with brilliant colors, painted pictures and anything else you could think of. I didn't need all that either.

Just recently I found the Hobonichi. A calendar format popular in Japan. It is more free form than I have ever seen and very much geared toward art journaling, list making, what have you. It's more of a way to document your life than plan it, and as a now stay-at-home parent, I don't need to plan much.

But you can only get the Hobonichi in Japan, the only English version you can get is an A6 -not the A5 size I so love and adore, and it's a bound book, so you can't easily add/reorganize it. 

While I was searching YouTube, I also came across another binding system much like the spirals I love and with somewhat more flexibility. The Madori. And YouTube is filled with videos of people demonstrating how they made their faux items! (You can even make a  "fauxbonichi" using a book from Barnes & Noble and drawing everything.)

So, here's the plan:
I'm going to make a "FauxDori" and fill it with "FauxBonichi" books, pocket inserts, and the like and attempt to film the process and post it to my YouTube channel (which has nothing on it) during the process.

Specs:
SIZE: A5 - 5.5 x 8

13 calendar books (not all at once):
- 1 book for each month: 1 month= 31 days /4 days per paper = roughly 8 paper per book.
- 1 book of Hobonichi-style monthly planner pages.
- Various other inserts as found on YouTube.

I have an old 8.5 x 11 Pro Art sketch book I barely used for an art class I will deconstruct for paper. Covers have yet to be determined.

Now I just have to figure out how to make a YouTube video without a video camera...

My new project - and why it is always good to work on a beading mat

So, I have a new project I'm working on... Beaded Lanyards.

My mother-in-Law is the representative for her work in a group which meets several times a year. They wear name badges on lanyards during their conference.

I had made several lanyards for her a few years back, and just recently received a commission from one of the attendees for two lanyards.

I now have a new goal: I plan to make one lanyard each night, every night, until she comes to visit at the end of April. That should end up being about 20 lanyards.

These are the ones I've made so far:

The first two are the commissioned pieces, the last two are for my mother-in-law to take.

Now, on to WHY IT IS ALWAYS GOOD TO WORK ON A BEADING SURFACE:

When I was restringing one of the lanyards to add additional beads to the pattern in order to achieve the (roughly) 30 inches which is my standard, I dropped the string! If I had been working on my mats like I normally do, this would not have been a problem, but in an attempt to make the process move along more quickly, I took a "shortcut" letting the stopper end of the wire rest in my lap, allowing gravity to work in my favor. BAD IDEA! 

When I was almost done, the wire slipped through my fingers and the majority of the lanyard fell to the floor! The TILE floor. The sounds of beads bouncing is a beader's worst nightmare. I spent the better part of half an hour in a panic on the floor searching for beads. Under the shelves. Under the freezer. Under my work table. In boxes and around corners. 

Now normally I wouldn't worry much about dropped beads, but the particular piece I was working on was a re-work of a necklace I had been given and I didn't have any spares of most of the beads. Luckily, I was able to recover all of the beads I NEEDED to.  

I am now on the hunt for the material those mats are made from in order to make a larger mat for my work surface.

Artist's ADD... Ooo! Squirrel!

Ahh... So many art forms, so little time...

So, many, many years ago, I started out beading. I got really into it and everyone around me supported my love and talent by buying beads, and gift cards to big box craft stores, and giving me old costume jewelry, and... you get the idea. 

Then I met my (now) husband. When his contracted ended and he took a position 2300 miles away, I decided to follow love and made the trek with him. When we first arrived, (we moved back to his home state) we lived with his parents and moved all of our belongings into storage, including my now fairly massive collection of beading supplies. I didn't have a job and had all day to myself. I desperately needed something to do. 

So I taught myself how to crochet thinking, "Oh, this will be great to add to my skills as I can make beaded crochet pieces once I get my beads back. Ah, yeah, NO. All I did was teach myself how to crochet...

Fast forward several years and this time my husband took a position (a promotion) which moved us another 900 miles away from my home town but allowing me to be a stay at home mom and work on (finally) starting my jewelry business. And what do I do? Nothing. I have no desire to even OPEN my drawers of beads to make anything.

I decide I needed some inspiration. Enter YouTube. YouTube is like crack. Once you're hooked, there's nothing stopping you. And what did I start watching? Tutorials on beading? Creative ways to crochet? No. I found the world of art journalling and book altering and making. Yet. Another. Art.

Oh, I'm in trouble...

I'm posting my wish list as a means of documentation and conversation, in the hopes this list will inspire someone or so someone can provide feed back on something listed.

EdgeryDoo®

http://www.edgerydoo.com/catalog%20002F.html

The Foldio
http://orangemonkie.com/product/foldio/
Marti Mitchell: Perfect Patchwork Templateshttp://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Darts-crafts&field-keywords=Perfect%20Patchwork%20Template%20Set

Marti Mitchell's Perfect Patchwork Template
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Darts-crafts&field-keywords=Perfect%20Patchwork%20Template%20Set

Kumihimo Disks Set of Three Different Looms

http://www.amazon.com/Kumihimo-Disks-Different-Square-Beading/dp/B005DP73NY/ref=sr_1_2?s=arts-crafts&ie=UTF8&qid=1411421950&sr=1-2&keywords=kumihimo+disc

Lazee Daizee Viking Knit Bonus Kit

Beadsmith 1-step looper pliers

Books

http://www.interweavestore.com

Lampworking

http://www.sundanceglass.com/kitslamp.htm

Designs & Ideas for My Work Room Step 2

Dollar General Haul:
6 Sterilite Sweater Boxes $ 3.65 ea
10 Sterilite Shoe Boxes $1.00 ea

I already had:
2 4-drawer towers
5 large clear bins (no brand from Costco)
5 Sterilite small drawers
6 metal desktop pen holders
3 sets of snap-together boxes
a bunch of miscellaneous single plastic drawers & desktop drawer sets
more plastic baskets than I know what to do with
and more repurposed containers than I know what to do with

This is what I am working with now:

 

The large shelf is mostly filled with random containers and whatnot as I am waiting for all the supplies from my mom and have nothing else to put there.

I also seem to change something around every time I work. Move the location of something, transfer something from a bin to a drawer, combine two small bins into one large one... I'm sure you know the drill...

Designs & Ideas for My Work Room Step 1

 I Love Pintrest!

A few months ago we relocated from Kentucky to Florida. The move was prompted by my husband receiving a promotion located in Tampa, Florida. He came down for a week prior to moving, to "get some things done," one of which was to find us a place to live. His promotion (and subsequent raise) would allow me to stay at home with our one-year-old son and finally start my art business, so the residence had to have space for all my stuff. He found a wonderful house with a small but awkward formal dining room which was more a pass-thru from the front door to the laundry room than a dining room. It was perfect for my work room! I had a few pieces of furniture and large containers to put in it, but would need more when my mother would give me all of her stamping supplies. Not to mention a work surface.

I needed a plan. The space was awkward, like I said. No doors, a fairly small floor to ceiling window on an angled wall and a really weird inset on one wall. Not to mention the fact that our freezer would have to stay in there as there were no outlets in the garage besides the one for the sprinkler system. Who builds a garage without outlets?!?

But I love a challenge. And building my ideal work room was something I had always wanted to do. Enter Pintrest. But first, the wish list. I knew I wanted a work table, not just a desk or board against a wall and would need A LOT of storage, and nothing could be permanently attached to the floor or walls as we were renting. 

Here's what I found:

 

And this is what I came up with:

I had a great visit from my mom a while back. Thank you for all your help! We were able to get the "bones"of my workroom set up with:

• 2 Martha Stewart 9 bin shelving units
• 1 3' x 4' board
• 8 Martha Stewart cloth bins in green
• 1 6-shelf metal shelving unit
• 2 4-shelf metal shelving units

So, I found my work table. Next, organization ideas...